UCAT is different from School tests
3 years ago by Rob
I am sure you know kids who don’t do so well in school, yet somehow manage to ace tests like UCAT. And you probably know other students who do really well in school, yet when it comes to UCAT, they don’t do nearly as well – and sometimes even bomb the test completely.
Why do so many bright students have so much trouble on the UCAT? Because taking the UCAT is nothing like taking the tests at school. Some examples:
- School tests rarely last more than an hour. In the UCAT you’ve got to stay mentally focussed for about two hours
- On school tests, your teachers generally give partial cerdit for partial answers. If your answer to a long complicated question was mostly right, except for a “silly mistake”, your teacher would probably give you full credit. In the UCAT, there is only one right answer for each question, and no partial credit. On the UCAT there is no such thing as “just a careless mistake” since any mistakes costs you full credit, and then some. The computer does not have any empathy!
- School tests generally test pure knowledge, so you can cram for them the night before. UCAT however tests your thinking skills which need to be developed over a period of time.
MedEntry UCAT Prep discusses many “classroom-correct, UCAT risky” methods.
