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Application Guide 2025:
UCAT
Ultimate UCAT Guide 2025 - What is the UCAT Test?
Medicine Admissions Expert
Introduction
Welcome to the definitive resource for the University Clinical Aptitude Test (UCAT) 2025, tailored for candidates aspiring to enter medical and dental schools for 2026 Entry.
This guide is meticulously crafted to demystify the UCAT exam, providing both prospective students and their parents with an in-depth understanding of what the test entails, its significance, and how it plays a pivotal role in the admissions process for medical schools and dental schools in the UK, Australia, and New Zealand.
This guide provides a thorough overview of the UCAT exam for the 2025 sitting, aiming for 2026 entry. It is designed to equip you with all necessary information, verified against the official UCAT guide for 2025, ensuring you are well-prepared to tackle the exam with confidence.
Written by doctors of today, for doctors of tomorrow by our expert UCAT Tutors.
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What Is The UCAT Test 2024 for 2025 entry?
What is the UCAT test for 2025 entry?
The University Clinical Aptitude Test (UCAT) is an admissions test that is designed to help Medical & Dental Schools differentiate between candidates, by testing their aptitude, attitude, decision making and professionalism to cope in a career in Medicine or Dentistry. It is an exam for aspiring doctors and dentists of tomorrow.
It is an online, multiple-choice exam that is sat either at home or in special Pearson Vue test centres set by the UCAT consortium.
Any students intending to apply to study medicine or dentistry in the UK or Australia/New Zealand should be sitting the UCAT exam.
What are UCAT exams?
The UCAT exam is one of the key factors that help to differentiate candidates - it is used along with the GCSE grades, A-Level grades, personal statement and interview ability to help UCAT universities decide on whether you will receive an offer to study their course.
Year after year more and more candidates are applying to study Medicine & Dentistry, so it looks as though the UCAT exam performance could be even more important this year - as it helps set students apart from other candidates also sitting the UKCAT in the UK.
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Who Should Take The UCAT Test?
Anyone looking to study or apply to a university in the UK that uses the UCAT in their application process will need to sit the UCAT. Currently, this pertains to Medical & Dental Schools in the UK.
There are also a couple of degrees for Physician Associates that require the UCAT (such as Manchester and St Georges).
Everyone applying to any of these UCAT universities must sit the UCAT in the UK - there are no exceptions at these universities.
If you are sitting the exam from Australia or New Zealand - you will need to sit the UCAT ANZ.
👉🏻 Read more: Sitting The UCAT ANZ
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Which Universities Require The UCAT Exam in 2025?
In the UK there are over 40 universities that require the UCAT. To help gauge which universities look at the UCAT, and more importantly, how they use the UCAT.
Remember, the BMAT was an exam that was also used during the admissions process for medical and dental schools - but this is no longer being used. Therefore, you must sit the UCAT instead.
The BMAT was an exam that was previously used for entry to some UK Medical schools - however, the BMAT has been cancelled from 2024 onwards.
👉🏻 Read more: How UK Universities Use Your UCAT Score
👉🏻 Read more: BMAT Cancelled - Replaced With The UCAT In 2024
👉🏻 Read more: UCAT Medical Schools - UCAT Cut Off Scores
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What are the UCAT Test Dates? When Do I Sit The UCAT?
You must sit the UCAT between June and September 2025.
You can choose when you sit the UCAT during this period.
Visit our UCAT test dates 2025 page to understand more about key dates for your diary and how to register for the exam.
Remember - the UCAT is sat the year before you are due to start university. For most students, this means that you must sit the UCAT between Year 12 and Year 13. It is usually sat 1-3 months before the October UCAS Deadline.
👉🏻 Read more: UKCAT Key Dates in 2025
👉🏻 Read more: UCAT Registration 2025 - The Ultimate Guide
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What Are The UCAT Sections? What Are The 5 UCAT Sections?
How many sections are there in the UCAT?
There are 4 sections to the UCAT which encompass 4 key areas for assessment. In terms of what is on the UCAT test, we have written key guides to all of these areas.
It is worth noting that the UCAT in 2025 removed the Abstract Reasoning Section, hence taking the total from 5 to 4 sections.
Each section is allocated a specific time frame, contributing to the overall UCAT timings. It's important for candidates to familiarise themselves with the time allowed for each part to strategise their approach effectively.
Click on each heading to find out more about each UKCAT section.
👉🏻 Read more: Top Tips For UCAT Verbal Reasoning
👉🏻 Read more: Top Tips For UCAT Quantitative Reasoning
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How long is the UCAT test? What are the UCAT Timings?
How long is the UCAT test?
The UCAT exam length is just under 2 hours long and once the UCAT test begins, there are no pauses or stops, which makes the total UCAT duration fixed unless you are taking the UCATSEN exam (those that have special dispensation for extra time in exams).
You have a one to two minute instruction screen (this increased in the 2025 UCAT changes) before each section begins - please remember that this time is discarded if you skip this section - so remember to use this full minute to focus on what is coming up and think about the timing for the upcoming UCAT section.
The order of the UKCAT sections are fixed, and each of the UKCAT timings is also fixed:
Verbal Reasoning (22 minutes + 1.5 minutes of reading)
Decision Making (37 minutes + 1.5 minutes of reading)
Quantitative Reasoning (26 minutes + 2 minutes of reading)
Situational Judgement (26 minutes + 1.5 minutes of reading)
What are the UCAT time per question and the number of questions and time?
We can work out the exact UCAT time per question for each subsection, please find them below along with how many questions there are per section of the UCAT:
Verbal Reasoning (22 minutes, 44 questions, 30 seconds per UCAT verbal reasoning question)
Decision Making (37 minutes, 35 questions, 63 seconds per UCAT decision making question)
Quantitative Reasoning (26 minutes, 36 questions, 43 seconds per UCAT quantitative reasoning question)
Situational Judgement (26 minutes, 69 questions, 23 seconds per UCAT situational judgement test question)
👉🏻 Learn More: 1-1 UCAT Tutoring in 2025
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How Is The UCAT Test Scored?
Visit our UCAT Scores Guide for a comprehensive overview of how the UCAT is scored. You will get a score of between 300 and 900 for each of the 3 main UCAT sections. Your UCAT result is an average or combination of these 4 sections. E.g. an average score of 750 is the same as a score of 3000 in the UCAT.
In addition, you will receive a score for the Situational Judgement Test, which is a band between 1 and 4. Find out more about what the ucat is out of and how the UCAT scores are used by universities and how to interpret these scores here as well as find out what the UCAT is out of. We also have all of the results from the UCAT 2024.
👉🏻 Read more: UCAT Scores 2025 - The Ultimate Guide
👉🏻 Read more: UCAT Deciles 2025 - Everything You Need To Know
👉🏻 Read more: UCAT Score Converter - For When You Are Practicing UCAT Questions
👉🏼 Read more: Where To Apply With A Low UCAT Score (2025)
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How Do I Register For the UCAT? Key Dates & Deadlines 2024
Registration for the UCAT is a two-step process where you must register for the exam and then book a UCAT date before the deadline. In the UK, UCAT registration opens in June 2025, with testing beginning in July 2025.
Registration closes in mid-September, with the last UKCAT test date being the end of September.
More information: UCAT test dates and UCAT Registration for 2025.
👉🏻 Read more: How To Choose A UCAT Test Day
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How Do I Prepare For The UCAT?
Online, you will be able to read many suggestions of ways of preparing for the UCAT exam. With over 10 years of experience, we have created a step-by-step guide to approaching and tackling the UCAT exam, containing the best UCAT preparation advice and resources that are tried and tested.
As well as this, we have online UCAT courses and 1-1 UCAT Tutoring to coach and boost your UCAT Scores.
The best UCAT preparation you can have is by starting your UCAT journey early:
UCAT Preparation Guide 2025 - containing all of the official UCAT preparation materials and free online practice materials.
👉🏻 Read more: UCAT Preparation 2025 - The Ultimate Guide
👉🏻 Read more: UCAT Reflective Revision - the most important UCAT Tip
👉🏻 Read more: UCAT Burnout - How To Avoid It
👉🏻 Read more: UCAT Revision Timetable - how to create one
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How Does The UCAT Test Day Work?
The UCAT is an online, computer-based test administered at Pearson Vue centres, ensuring a standardised testing environment.
Practical Tips for UCAT Test Day:
Arrive at the test centre early to allow ample time for the check-in process.
Ensure you have a clear understanding of the test format, especially the online interface.
Wear comfortable clothing and consider layers, as room temperatures can vary.
Practice mindfulness or stress-relief techniques to maintain focus throughout the exam.
Remember you get your UCAT results straight away after you finish the exam printed for you.
👉🏻 Read more: UCAT Test Day Tips
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Is There A UCAT Syllabus?
The UCAT (University Clinical Aptitude Test) is not structured around a conventional academic syllabus, as it aims to assess a broad spectrum of innate abilities and skills, rather than knowledge of specific subjects.
This assessment comprises five distinct sections: Verbal Reasoning, Decision Making, Quantitative Reasoning, Abstract Reasoning, and Situational Judgement, each designed to evaluate different competencies crucial for success in medical and dental professions.
Verbal Reasoning tests the ability to appraise information presented in text form critically.
Decision Making assesses the examinee's capability to make sound decisions and judgements using complex information.
Quantitative Reasoning is aimed at measuring numerical problem-solving abilities
The Situational Judgement section gauges the ability to understand real-life scenarios, identifying key factors and appropriate behaviours in addressing them.
Preparation for the UCAT, therefore, focuses on honing these aptitudes and becoming acquainted with the test's format and timing, rather than studying a predefined content syllabus.
👉🏻 Join UCAT Courses in 2025 to boost your score!
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How Many Questions Are There In The UCAT?
There are 184 questions in total in the UCAT Exam in 2025 (after the latest changes)
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Struggling with the UCAT?
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Why Did The UKCAT Change To The UCAT?
The UKCAT (United Kingdom Clinical Aptitude Test) was renamed in mid-September to the UCAT (University Clinical Aptitude Test) in January 2019.
Is There A Difference Between UKCAT vs UCAT?
There is no difference between the UKCAT and the UCAT, they are both the same, you can call this exam either the UCAT or the UKCAT.
There is no difference between the UKCAT and the UCAT Test. The sections are the same, as are the timings and difficulty of each section, which means that instead of sitting the UKCAT in 2025, you will be sitting the UCAT Test in 2025 - they are both the same!
Therefore, any resources that were previously labelled as use for the UKCAT CAN still be used to revise for the UCAT - please note, do not use any Decision Analysis questions, a section which was removed in 2016.
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UCAT Tutoring with Experts in 2025
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👉🏼 Want to find out more information before booking? Book a FREE CONSULTATION with an expert UCAT tutor today - click here.
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