1. Practice, Practice, Practice (Quantity)– All of the subtests of the UKCAT require practice. A lot of practice. The questions in the UKCAT tend to be quite hard, especially considering the harsh time constraints. Practicing a large quantity of questions in each subtest will improve your speed immensely.
2. Practice, Practice, Practice (Quality) Quantity is very important, but it is not the only thing that counts. Some sites impress you by offering thousands of UKCAT questions. Unfortunately, the quantity of questions does not say much about their degree of difficulty. producing a tough question that reliably simulates actual test questions is hard work. Producing thousands of them require extensive resources. When choosing a preparation package, don't neglect the quality of questions if the questions seem easy, or if you managed to finish all of them on the first try they might be too easy.
3. Be thorough After finding a preparation package with good, difficult questions, and going through the questions for the first time, make sure you understood each question, even if you were correct. If you feel you "lucked out" and you're not sure why you were right, read the explanations and make sure next time it won't be a matter of luck.
4. Find the right method for you many courses and online preparation kits offer various solving tips and solution methods for each of the UKCAT sub-tests. Following too many tips might be very confusing, and you might end up even more perplexed than in the day you started preparing. For each subtest, find the method that best works for you, and then stick to it. Being thorough and methodical is much more important than any specific method or tip.
5. The issue of time At first, familiarise yourself with each of the subtests, and try to solve some questions in each section, without putting yourself in time constraints. Only after you feel you've got the gist of the subtest, and practiced a nice amount of questions without time constraints, it is time to start testing yourself in real-time. Real time testing is extremely important, since being
able to solve the questions in a timely manner, ends up being just as important as giving the right answer. Dedicate the first part of your preparation to learning how to get to the correct answer, and the second part to learning how to get it fast.
6. There are no "unimportant sub-tests" One of most common pitfalls students to fall to, is the notion that one of the subtests isn't as important as the others and thus does not require as much preparation as the others. Typically, people tend to have that notion about two tests, for two different reasons: the verbal reasoning subtest and the non-cognitive analysis subtest.
Many consider the verbal reasoning test, being basically a reading comprehension test, to be relatively easy compared with the other tasks that seem more complex. But, neglecting to prepare for it might be costly, since the actual test contains reading passages that are rather complicated, and "True/False/Cannot say" question format requires logic and good attention to details. Practicing solving methods, such as reading the question and searching the passage for the right answer, instead of reading the whole passage, can bring great results.
The non-cognitive analysis is neglected by many students, as well as prep sites, for two main misconceptions:
- "Non-cognitive analysis doesn't result in a numerical score, so it's probably not as important as the aptitude tests" This is a real misconception. Would you accept a candidate with a 680 score who is deemed as "impulsive and uncompassionate" or one who scored 640 and is described as "emotionally engaged and outgoing"?
- "Non-cognitive analysis is basically a personality test, and you can't prepare for personality tests" People often think that you can not prepare for personality tests since ones behaviour is consistent; an aggressive person will always be aggressive, a generous person will always be generous and so on. Our experience shows that people behave differently in different situations. This is especially true if the situation is stressful. Someone who is usually calm may find himself irritated and intolerant in a stressful situation. So what does this mean? Is he tolerant or not?
Personality tests are based on the assumption that you have never seen the test and that you are not familiar with the basic principles. Practicing similar tests beforehand and receiving constructive expert feedback will increase your performance dramatically.
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