Every candidate has an inherent flair for a different subject. What is your flair? Before you start preparing for the test, have a clear and honest perception about your own strengths and weaknesses. If you think that you have a good command over understanding of language, then make UKCAT section 1, verbal reasoning, your biggest strength.

In order to command good scores over this particular section of UKCAT exam, it is essential to have an equally good command over the language as well. In this section, you need to think logically about written information, and derive a logical and justified conclusion with the given information. In this section, a passage will be followed by four different statements. All you need to do is, state whether these statements are true or false, by meticulously reading the passage, and grasping its meaning carefully. If you think that the statement can be derived from the data provided by the passage, then mark it ‘true’, otherwise mark it ‘false’. In case you are being unable to state, mark ‘can’t tell’. However, it is not as easy as it sounds. You actually need to read in between the lines in order to deduce those data which are not mentioned in the passage directly. In many cases, the passage is overloaded with unimportant and unnecessary data, with the sole purpose of confusing you. Do not fall prey to these tricks and consider only those information, that are relevant to that particular statement.

Nevertheless, it is expected that getting a good command in this section will not be too tough, if you have a good command over logic and language. In that case, please make an effort to brush up your skills further, so that you are hundred percent confident about the first section of UKCAT examination.

How to brush up your verbal reasoning skills?

1. Practice: Practice this section every day. Make sure that you practice so much that by the last month of your preparatory period, you get your reasoning skills completely under your command.
2. Solve puzzles that are pertained to verbal reasoning: This would not only be a good productive recreation before UKCAT test, but would also give a good exercise to your brain and gray matters.

If money is not a constraint for you, then it is always better to get enlisted to a good and reputed UMAT preparatory course. Although they might at times pinch your pocket a bit more than expected, it actually helps you in the end. By the end of the course, you will realize how you got enlightened with a number of useful tips and ideas, which would have been impossible otherwise. You will also get enriched with several new insights and perspectives, which self preparation does not enable, due to the students’ lack of experience regarding this examination.

How Would UMAT preparatory classes Contribute To Your Scores?

• These courses are backed by experts who have enough knowledge about this examination, and therefore, their lectures and inputs turn out to be really helpful, which a self preparation might deprive you of.
• It shows you the correct technique for preparation. You, as a high school student, might not be aware of the right strategies and tactics for preparation. These courses show you the right direction and several easy techniques and approaches, to which you can resort to, while conducting your UMAT preparation.
• If you study by yourself, you are left with several problems, questions and queries, which go unsolved and unanswered, as you have no one to take guidance from. These courses would give instant solutions to your problems and answer all your queries, right from the horse’s mouth. Whenever you are having a problem, you can immediately ask the experts who are guiding you, to get a solution.
• They would provide you with good UMAT books and other study materials, which you might not get hold of, in case you are preparing for the exam without any formal guidance. You can blindly rely on these study materials, as they are developed by experts and people directly associated with the exam.
• You can sit for several UMAT practice exams through these courses. These organizations keep conducting examinations in regular intervals, and by the end of the course, most of them organize a string of mock UMAT tests. Therefore, you need not take the effort of getting enrolled for another UMAT practice test.

UMAT exam might seem like a big challenge to you, as all through pout your schooling, you might have not confronted a competition at such a mass scale. Competing with a large number students from all over the nation, is definitely equivalent to a challenge, which you have not been through before. Therefore, in order to know your standing, along with the standard of the rest of the candidates you are competing with, you have to sit for several UMAT practice exams.

These exams are always designed on the lines of the original exams, following the same pattern and the same standard. Therefore, you will be able to get a prior idea about the examination, and also get a real feel of it from before. As a result, your confidence will get more boosted with the number of mock examination you sit for. Secondly, these examinations will also let you know about the standard of the other candidates. Practicing is definitely essential. However, just practicing by yourself, would deter you from assessing your own standard in comparison with the others. The scores you derive in these tests would also let you know where you need to put more effort. This is therefore regarded as one of the best ways to know your standard and get more confident about the test. Most of the experts say that sitting for a mock UMAT test is as important as the actual examination itself.

UMAT practice exams are conducted by several UMAT preparatory classes. Similarly, there are also a few more independent organizations, which do the same before the actual UMAT examination. Most of them are conducted online. All you need to do is get yourself registered in lieu of a certain amount of money and sit for the test. It is suggested that you should enroll yourself for more than one such UMAT preparatory exams. This will make you better equipped with the test format and generate more confidence within yourself. On the D-Day, you will perhaps sit for the examination with a cool disposition, and thereby be able to concentrate better for the UMAT test.

While preparing for UKCAT, students need to keep a few things in mind. There are a few things that they should avoid doing, while undergoing the preparation.

1.    Stressing yourself too much. This would not only take a toll on your well being, but also your overall performance. Instead, design your preparation tactics in such a way, so that, you do not undergo too much pressure.
2.    Avoid concentrating on one particular section. Many students have the tendency of focusing only on that particular section, which they are least confident about. Similarly, another group of students prefer to concentrate only on that section, which they find easiest. Avoid doing that, as they are bound to take a toll on the equal distribution of your overall score. Give equal weight to all the five sections. You may focus a bit more on one of the sections, which according to you is your weak point, but that definitely does not mean that you would completely ignore the rests.
3.    Do not start preparing late. However, since it is completely on your ability and understanding about yourself, it is upto you to decide when you start with your preparation. However, be sure that the time you allot for your preparation, would actually be more than enough to get prepared for the examination properly. Anything less than that can actually weaken your performance and your level of confidence. Therefore, assess yourself honestly and decide properly.
4.    Do not solve just one paper a day, during the last four months before the actual UKCAT examination. Solve three to four UKCAT test papers regularly. The more you solve, the more you acquire confidence about yourself.
5.    Avoid last hour studies. Although this is the most popular trend amongst the students, this strategy would not work at least for UKCAT. Please do not stay under the impression that your cramming strategy would yield good scores in any competitive exam, as it might have done for your school examinations.
6.    Do not just limit your studies to UKCAT books and study material. You should extend your knowledge by interacting with others. Join UKCAT forums and preparatory classes. Interact with friends and seniors to know more about the test and get several new ideas and approach regarding the examination. This will also help you in assessing your standard among the rest.

You might have been an unsurpassed student all throughout your student life, and by now, you must be confident enough to be thinking that just a few can outshine you in the competitive exams. In case you are planning to sit for the UKCAT examination with the same mind-set, then think twice, as just your intelligence would not ensure a good UKCAT score. This is because it is not an IQ test, where you generally perform well. It is rather an aptitude test, where you actually need to have a natural flair to bag good scores and pursue medicinal studies.

How would UKCAT exam judge you?

• It will judge your flair for logical reasoning. In most of the sections, what you need to apply the most is your sense of logic. Deriving the right information from a given set of data and deducing the latent data amidst a number of essential and trivial information definitely require an extensive application of logic.
• Apart from your flair for logical reasoning, the test would also judge your time management skills. Solving those tricky questions, in a limited span of time, definitely requires natural aptitude. Many students can solve these questions by taking their own sweet time, but compressing it within a stringent time limit, is what the challenge is all about!
• UKCAT paper would judge your analytical skills. How well you analyze the information and consume them to get your own purpose served with ease, are what they would love to find out. How accurately you relate to the set of ambiguous information and put things in place, is a desirable trait to succeed in this examination.
• UKCAT would judge your non-cognitive intelligence that is a pre-requisite for becoming a doctor. Your ability to handle a situation, your presence of mind, your understanding of yourself and your surroundings, your degree of sympathy towards others will get revealed in UKCAT section 5.

However, UKCAT test will not at all judge you on your academic intelligence and knowledge. Therefore the formula of merely mugging up your syllabus to produce good scores will not serve the purpose in this particular test.

UKCAT questions can be solved with a lot of ease, if it is accompanied by a lot of logical application and dedication. Reading the questions properly, would actually mean that half the battle is won. Grasping the correct meaning out of the tricky language translates to a sure shot victory in the UKCAT battle field.

1. In Section 1, Verbal Reasoning, the questions would be based on a particular passage. These passages may be taken from a magazine, short story, novel, feature, or any other documents. To answer correctly, you need to have a clear understanding of the passage, so that you correctly deduce the right meanings, and at the same time gather those facts that are not mentioned in the passage, by relating the other given information.
2. In Section 2, Decision Analysis section, you need to apply your mind to get the meanings of the codes and decode them to reveal the right meaning. A particular numerical code would symbolize a particular word, and you have to get the meaning of the questions by deriving the right meaning of the combination of the given codes.
3. In Section 3, Quantitative Reasoning of UKCAT test paper, you would be provided with some numerical data. The following questions would be attributed to these information. You have to comprehend the meaning of these numerical information and answer the questions by applying your basic mathematics knowledge.
4. In Section 4, or the Abstract Reasoning Section of the UKCAT examination, you have to establish your spatial skill, dealing with abstract figures and geometric shapes. Answering properly would only be enabled, if you are able to determine the correct relationship between all these figures. You need to study the patterns and the nature of these figures very meticulously without any use of verbal illustrations.
5. The Section 5 and the last section of the UKCAT paper is called Non-cognitive Analysis. This section would rather aim to know more about you as a person, and how suitable you would be as a doctor. It would try to find out your personal approach of dealing with a situation. The questions would be in the form of a statement, followed by 5 options of different degrees- “Strongly Agree”, “Agree”, “Neither Agree nor Disagree”, “Disagree” and “Strongly Disagree”.

Since UMAT is not an easy exam to deal with, getting prepared for it is bound to take a toll on your regular activities. Many students also suffer from tremendous stress, being unable to handle the exam pressure, coupled with the anxiety attributed to getting admitted to the desired college after high school. What makes the situation even worse is the tension associated with the cut throat competition involved with the UMAT examination.

However, since many students have already cracked the exam with remarkable scores, despite all the tension and anxiety, we came to the conclusion that the best means for succeeding in this examination is “PRACTICE”. The more you practice, the better you perform. However, practicing extensively also has various other merits. It helps you in having a better command over time management; it makes you more accustomed to the question patterns, familiarizes yourself more with the tough standard of the UMAT paper and definitely helps you in assessing your own standard. Therefore, right from the very beginning, UMAT preparation should be backed with practice. Solve more than one test paper in a day. Collect test papers from various sources, in order to enrich your stock.

From where you may get UMAT practice papers?

1. There are many UMAT preparatory classes which offer good sets of practice papers. If possible, subscribe in at least two of these classes, so that you get these test papers at regular intervals. In the mean time, you would have enough material in your stock to go about with your preparation.
2. You may avail them in the internet. These days, there are several online preparatory groups and retailers, who offer good test papers. Buy them online and start solving!
3. Get them from your seniors and friends. You must be acquainted with several other people who have appeared for UMAT examination before. Some of them must have retained their study materials, from where you might borrow some. Ask some of your friends who have collected the UMAT practice papers by now, and get their photo copies.
4. Join UMAT preparatory classes. That would not only provide you with professional help, but would also provide you with enough practice papers.

If you think that only solving UMAT test papers in enough to yield great scores, then think twice! Your UMAT preparation needs to be backed with several other activities, if you actually want to outscore the others. This is because, if you want to outshine the rest of your competitors, which add up to more than thousands of the cream student, you actually need to have an idea about their standards and level of preparation. This purpose would be best served through interaction and socialization.

What should you do in order to assess the quality of your competitors and thereby judge your standing amongst the rest?

• Make sure that you interact with your peers. You should never limit your preparation to yourself only. Just ask the rest what they are doing, and what exactly they are focusing on. However, once again, interaction within your comfort zone is also insufficient, as there are many good students all across the nation who might turn out to be the toppers.
• Make sure that you join more than one UMAT forum. These forums will familiarize you with a number of good students, who would put forward their views, questions, problems. You may utilize these platforms to interact with the good students and professionals, to absorb their suggestions and put forward some of yours. You would have a broad idea about what the rest are doing, how they are planning for the UMAT exam, and what sort of problems they are facing. You might even identify with a few of their problems.
• Join a good UMAT preparation course, if you can. This would give you an opportunity to interact directly with the experts, who specialize in UMAT training. You can ask your queries and know about the easier ways of solving the tough and time consuming UMAT papers.
• Sit for UMAT practice tests. Sit for as many tests as you can, as that would generate more confidence within yourself. Firstly, you will be better familiarized with the question patterns, scoring techniques and assess yourself more than once. That would also give you an opportunity to pull up your socks and get charged up with the study spree. Second, you will know how the others are performing, and compare your scores with the rest. According to that, you can work on uplifting your standard with a good competitive spirit.

You perhaps had a lot of fun all throughout your high school days. However, the massively popular strategy of eleventh hour study would hardly help, in case you are serious about cracking UMAT with a desirable score. Get a reality check now, as your golden days are set to hibernate for the time being, while you undergo UMAT preparation and the best way to do that is by solving as many UMAT practice papers as you can. Regret less about eliminating the pre-existing fun out of your life. Instead, wait until you resume them once again, when you land in your desired medical college.

On that note, get serious and gather some good sets of UMAT practice papers. How would that help?

• You are bound to make a better UMAT preparation, if you solve the test papers regularly. Do not stress yourself, and start with just one in the initial days. Gradually, increase it to multiple of them, as you get more confident and habituated with the exam pressure.
• You will judge your standard better, if you solve these test papers regularly. Perhaps you are under the impression that you are one of the best when it comes to logical thinking, but the tricky and inconclusive UMAT sample questions might just prove you wrong for the first time. Therefore, know about your strengths and weaknesses right from the very beginning.
• The more you practice, the better you strategize for the test. As you know your strengths and weaknesses now, you can asses where you need to focus more and where you can feel reasonably secured. Keeping that in mind, you can design your UMAT preparation routine, and also take proper guidance from the professionals, if required.
• You can get better at time management if you practice UMAT papers regularly. Many good students fail to succeed in this exam, just because they are unable to abide by the stringent time limits. Do not be one of them, as you still have a lot of time in your hand to bring the time absolutely under your control. Practice the test papers with a watch, and gradually make sure that you compress your cognitive activities within the allotted time.

UKCAT questions are not that easy. You will actually get to know about its standard, the very moment you get a bird’s eye view about the question patterns and the sections included in the test. It would not take much time for you to realize that in order to be a good scorer in the UKCAT exam, a remarkable performance has to be equally distributed among all the five sections.

Many students naturally garner strength in one particular section, but concentrating the score in just one or two sections would hardly be helpful. Therefore, every UKCAT aspirant has to brush up their command on every single section equally, so that their scores get dispersed, and that too, with a good standard. What would ensure this challenging resolution? The one and the only answer is practice! Solve as many UKCAT test papers as you can. There are several test paper series offered by different companies that are available in the market and can be bought from the Internet too. Make an effort to collect them several days before the exam. Start solving UKCAT practice test papers, when you still have at least nine months left for the exam. That is the only way by which you can get a comfortable command and get your cognitive process right at your finger tips, when just a month would be left for the D-day! Doesn’t that sound exciting?

What should you do?

• Start with solving just one test paper in a day in your initial days. As a starter, do not focus on time, but rather on your quality.
• From the second month onwards, when you are more or less accustomed to the pattern and standard, increase your target to two papers a day, making an attempt to stick to the time. You may also solve the third paper, focusing more on your quality and less on the time limits. This way, you can simultaneously grow a command on both your quality and the quantity.
• From the fourth month onwards, when you are absolutely comfortable with the time management, solve two papers per day within the allotted time.
• When you succeed in doing that, solve more than three papers in a day, by not exceeding the time bounds at all.

Although this may look tough, if executed with proper diligence, it is bound to give you the final success in UKCAT examination.