The UCAT (University Clinical Aptitude Test) was taken by over 28,000 Medicine and Dentistry applicants each year – but what was a good UCAT score for them?
With such strong competition for a limited amount of places at medical and dental schools, it’s no wonder that all students want to find out whether they had a good UCAT score compared to the rest of the year’s cohort.
Unfortunately, there’s no definitive answer for what counts as a good UCAT score and there is no such thing as a “score you need to get into X medical school” as the UCAT forms only one component of the application and your personal statement, A level grades, GCSE and interview performance all need to be strong too.
However, we can take a look at the score distributions of the previous year to give you an idea of where your UCAT score stands within your cohort year.
How is the UCAT scored?
The UCAT consists of five sections: Verbal Reasoning, Quantitative Reasoning, Abstract Reasoning, Decision Making and Situational Judgement. Your raw score for each of the first four sections will be converted to a score ranging from 300 to 900. The majority of students score in the range from 500 to 700 and the total average score is usually around 660 each year.
The average varies for each section of the exam – here are the average scores for different sections over the last four years:
| 2020 | 2019 | 2018 | 2017 | 2016 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Verbal Reasoning | 571 | 565 | 567 | 570 | 573 |
| Decision Making | 627 | 618 | 624 | 647 | Decision Making wasn't tested in 2016. |
| Quantitative Reasoning | 666 | 662 | 658 | 695 | 690 |
| Abstract Reasoning | 655 | 638 | 637 | 629 | 630 |
| Total | 2,519 | 2,483 | 2,485 | 2,540 | 1,893 |
| Number Of Candidates | 34,013 | 29,375 | 27,466 | 24,844 | 23,359 |
The Situational Judgement Test has a different scoring system.
| 2020 | 2019 | 2018 | 2017 | 2016 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Band 1 | 31% | 17% | 21% | 28% | 26% |
| Band 2 | 37% | 40% | 34% | 42% | 44% |
| Band 3 | 23% | 33% | 32% | 21% | 22% |
| Band 4 | 9% | 10% | 13% | 9% | 9% |
Each candidate is assigned a Band from 1 to 4, with 1 being the best score.
Ideally, you should aim to get a Band 1 or 2 to put yourself in a good position. Some universities have a cut-off band for the SJT so will not accept candidates with a Band 4 score in the SJT.
The averages for 2020, along with the decile ranges are now released and shown in the tables above.
This information should give you a better idea of how your UCAT scores stand compared to others in your application cycle.
The important message…
Remember that each university also uses the UCAT score differently, so the best way to make the most of your score is to apply to the medical schools you like which place the right level of emphasis on the UCAT.
If you’ve scored highly, you might consider a medical school with a high UCAT cut-off score.
Alternatively, if the UCAT score you’ve got isn’t as high as you wanted it to be, don’t be too disappointed, as there are plenty of medical schools for which the UCAT only makes up a small portion of the application.
Hopefully this post helps you understand what makes up a good UCAT score and where you stand!
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