How does Scoring work in the UCAT?

The scoring system differs between the ‘cognitive’ subtests (Verbal Reasoning, Decision Making, Quantitative Reasoning and Abstract Reasoning) and the non-cognitive subtest (Situational Judgement).

Scoring of ‘cognitive’ subtests

For Verbal Reasoning, Quantitative Reasoning and Abstract Reasoning, questions are worth one mark each.

For Decision Making, some questions (those with multiple statements) are worth 2 marks. In these questions, one mark is awarded to partially correct statements.

Raw marks (the number of questions you got right) are converted into ‘scaled scores’ which range from 300-900. A total scaled score is generated by adding together the scaled score of each of the ‘cognitive’ subsets. The total scaled score for the cognitive subtests therefore ranges from 1200 to 3600.

Scoring of the ‘non-cognitive’ subtest (Situational Judgement)

In the Situational Judgement subtest, full marks are awarded if your response matches the correct answer, and partial marks are awarded if your response is close to the correct answer. For example, if you mark an answer as ‘important’ and the answer is actually ‘very important’, you may receive partial marks.

Raw scores in this subtest are expressed in one of four bands, with band 1 being the highest:

• Band 1: demonstrate an excellent level of performance, showing similar judgement in most cases to a panel of experts
• Band 2: demonstrate a good, solid level of performance, showing appropriate judgement frequently, with many responses matching model answers
• Band 3: demonstrate a modest level of performance, with appropriate judgement shown for some questions and substantial differences from ideal responses for others
• Band 4: demonstrated low level of performance, with judgement tending to differ substantially from ideal responses in many cases

Calculation of scores

There is no negative marking in UCAT. This is because the more questions you answer, the more the psychometricians will know about your ability. Negative marking is avoided to encourage you to answer all questions, which benefits them.

The Rasch model that is used in calculating your final ranking (scaled score) takes into account various factors, not just the number of questions you got right. This is discussed further in the MedEntry UCAT Course.

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