UKCAT

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The UK Clinical Aptitude Test (UKCAT) is used in the selection process by a consortium of UK university Medical and Dental Schools. It was introduced in 2006 and is run by the UKCAT Consortium in partnership with Pearson VUE.

The test helps universities to make more informed choices from amongst the many highly-qualified applicants who apply for their medical and dental degree programmes. It ensures that the candidates selected have the most appropriate mental abilities, attitudes and professional behaviours required for new doctors and dentists to be successful in their clinical careers.

1 Format
2 Participating Universities
3 See also
4 External links

[edit] Format

Sample verbal reasoning question from the UKCAT program

The UKCAT is designed to be a test of aptitude rather than strictly academic achievement, which is already demonstrated by GCSEs, A-Levels, Scottish Highers or undergraduate degrees. This is different to the BMAT. It assesses a wide range of mental abilities and behavioural attributes identified by Medical and Dental Schools as important. It is designed to see if the candidate is intellectually capable of studying medicine. The entire test is delivered by computer.

For candidates sitting the examination in Summer 2006 the UKCAT consists of four subtests:

Verbal reasoning - assesses candidates' ability to think logically about written information and arrive at a reasoned conclusion.
Quantitative reasoning - assesses candidates' ability to solve numerical problems.
Abstract reasoning - assesses candidates' ability to infer relationships from information by convergent and divergent thinking.
Problem solving - assesses candidates' ability to deal with various forms of information to infer relationships, to make informed judgements, and to decide on an appropriate response.

Including warm-up time (time allocated to reading the instructions) the test is delivered in less than two hours (approx. 90 minutes). Each of the subtests is in a multiple choice format and is separately timed.

There is no curriculum content as the test is designed to probe innate skills. There will be a more extensive non-congnitive element from 2007 onwards.

[edit] Participating Universities

For 2007 entry, the UKCAT must be taken by all applicants applying to study medicine or dentistry at the following university Medical and Dental Schools: