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How is UCAT Scored

How is UCAT scored? What UCAT results are required by Australian and New Zealand Universities?

 

The below information has been extracted from the VUE Pearson official website.

When you leave the test centre you will be given details of how you can log-on to the Pearson VUE system and retrieve your UCAT Score Report.  Results are valid for the 2020 university admissions cycle only (for entry to university in 2021). 

 

UCAT Percentile

In order to help you make your university choices, you may want to understand how your test result relates to those used of other candidates in your cohort.  This will be of particular interest to those wishing to apply to universities who use a threshold score.  Summary test statistics will be available soon after the end of testing.  

UCAT Scores, UCAT Percentiles, and Universities

After the university application deadlines have passed we then communicate your test result directly to our UCAT ANZ Consortium universities, usually in early September. You do not need to pass your test result to your universities yourself. 

For clarity, VUE Pearson does not and cannot pass your mark onto any universities outside the UCAT ANZ Consortium. 

You will have your test result before the university application deadline so please ensure you use this to help inform your university choices, otherwise, you might be wasting an application.  

Further information on how our consortium universities use the UCAT score within their admissions process will be published on their websites later in 2019.

The UCAT is marked on the number of correct answers you give.  There is no negative marking for incorrect answers.  Your performance on one question does not influence which other questions are presented.

As the number of questions varies between the four cognitive subtests it is not possible to make a direct comparison of the raw marks between these subtests. Raw marks are therefore converted to scale scores that share a common range from 300 to 900.

A total scaled score is generated by summing the individual scale scores of Verbal Reasoning, Decision Making, Quantitative Reasoning and Abstract Reasoning.  In 2019 a total scaled score ranges from 1200 to 3600.

Cognitive Subtests

Questions

Scale Score Range  

Marking

Verbal Reasoning
Assesses the ability to critically evaluate information presented in a written form.

44

300 - 900

Questions are worth 1 mark each.

Decision Making
Assesses the ability to make sound decisions and judgements using complex information.

29

300 - 900

Questions with one correct answer are worth 1 mark. 

Questions with multiple statements are worth 2 marks.  One mark is awarded to partially correct responses on the multiple-statement questions. 

Quantitative Reasoning
Assesses the ability to critically evaluate information presented in a numerical form.

36

300 - 900

Questions are worth 1 mark each.

Abstract Reasoning
Assesses the use of convergent and divergent thinking to infer relationships from information.

50

300 - 900

Questions are worth 1 mark each.

Total Scaled Score Range

1200 - 3600

UCAT Situational Judgement Test

Within the Situational Judgement Test, full marks are awarded for a question if your response matches the correct answer and partial marks awarded if your response is close to the correct answer. 

For 2024 you will receivea scaled score for the Situational Judgement Test.

How UCAT ANZ universities will use the test

UCAT results are made available before most of the university applicationdeadlines and you should use them to help inform youruniversitychoices, otherwise, you might be wasting an application. 

Our universities will provide information on their websites regarding application deadlines and how they use the test in admissions. 

For some, the UCAT score is a significant factor in their consideration of applications. For others, it may be a less significant factor or only used in marginal situations.  Most universities consider the total score (i.e. the score after each of the cognitive subtest scores have been added together). Some, however, do look at individual subtest scores and may even have a cut-off score for a particular subtest. 

Some universities have a threshold score that candidates have to achieve in order to be considered further in their admission processes. This score is often determined each year but universities will usually indicate on their website threshold scores that have been used in previous years. 

Other universities use the UCAT alongside factors such as academic achievement and interview performance. The factor may be significant or may contribute a small amount to the final outcome. 

Some universities use the score (sometimes in addition to the above uses) to discriminate between candidates who have ‘scored’ equally at some point in the process. The UCAT score provides an additional way of ranking such candidates in order to decide who can proceed to the next stage. 

A small number of universities use the test to provide opportunities to candidates who perhaps would not have progressed to interview (for example) using traditional selection methods. This may advantage candidates who have not have achieved the highest academic score but have performed particularly well in the UCAT.

 

UCAT 2024 testing begins in...


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