Top 5 tips for Making the Most out of MedEntry
4 months ago by Chris
In the January of year 12, I bought the UCAT Platinum package. MedEntry had come highly recommended by numerous people who had used it previously, and MedEntry honestly proved priceless in helping me prepare for the UCAT.
I completed the MedEntry free UCAT practice exam a few months earlier when I had started thinking about applying to Medicine, but having been warned of a finite number of resources available to help with UCAT preparation I then paused all further UCAT work until six months before my UCAT.
However, I should not have been worried! MedEntry has a wealth of UCAT information, exercises, more than 20+ mock exams and 40+ subtest mocks and UCAT video guides to help get you ready for the UCAT. Here’s my top 5 tips on how to make the most of these resources.
Create a UCAT Plan
Leaving UCAT preparation to when you ‘might’ have time is not the best choice. For me, I have to be super organised and have a timetable. So, at the start of the year I created a timetable with all my school subjects and the UCAT that I would follow every week. I treated UCAT as another subject to prepare for and dedicated about three hours or so every Sunday to UCAT preparation and made sure I stuck to it. I also tried to create a plan of what I would do each week for my UCAT preparation, splitting the UCAT exams up evenly throughout the few months. It was easier to make a more concrete plan after the first few UCAT practice exams and UCAT questions when I could see what UCAT subtests I really needed to pay more attention to.
Find your weaknesses
For me I really struggled with UCAT Abstract Reasoning and UCAT Verbal Reasoning the most. I tried to make a conscious effort not to spend the majority of my time on tests for my stronger subtests, which I was prone to do at the beginning of my UCAT prep-work to avoid the ones I was weaker at.
However, I soon realised if I seriously wanted to improve I needed to focus on my downfalls. This is where the MedEntry UCAT exams come in really handy. They not only provide fully worked solutions to each UCAT question, but at the end of the exam, the feedback shows where your strengths and weaknesses are. When you know your weaknesses, you can use the curriculum and QBank to target and improve certain areas.
Be an early-bird
I got the Platinum package and so had a UCAT preparation course with Dr Ray as well as having access to all the resources on the online learning platform. From the several workshop dates, I chose to do one of the first courses and I was so glad I did. I gained vast amounts of important tips and information on how best to use my MedEntry Online Learning Platform, how to properly prepare for the UCAT, and loads of general information on the UCAT exam itself that really helped me in my subsequent UCAT studies. Also, hearing from past students who had been through UCAT and are now currently studying medicine, was really encouraging and a good reminder that all this UCAT prep will be worth it!
Read and watch the guides
Don’t be tempted to skip the guides thinking they’re a waste of your UCAT preparation time. I made sure to allocate time during my UCAT prep slot in the early weeks to reading the guides and watching the video guides so that I had watched and read them all. The guides are extremely helpful. I found it handy to have worked through them all early on as when I came across an issue again I could refer back to the guide relating to my problem and found myself able to recall what I had previously read or watched. The general UCAT guide in particular was helpful in teaching me to increase my efficiency.
Try to replicate the real deal
When doing schoolwork, I found I would often take a snack break here or a phone check there. When doing UCAT preparation I also found myself taking a break halfway through to go and make some toast. This ritual started to creep in even when doing UCAT practice exams with me taking a break, despite the fact that I knew it was so important to try and replicate the live UCAT exam timing. The time in the two hour UCAT test goes so quickly, that it’s vital to learn to sit and focus on the UCAT test in one go. So, I eventually put an end to taking the breaks. It was definitely a good move as I gained a much better understanding of the time pressures of the real UCAT exam.
These were the 5 ways that helped me in preparing for the UCAT. If you are taking the UCAT, I would recommend starting your preparation now!
