What Is The UCAT?

The University Clinical Aptitude Test (UCAT) ANZ is an admissions test for entry into undergraduate medical, dental, and clinical science degrees in Australia and New Zealand. The test is used by a consortium of universities as a means of standardising access to their programs. The UCAT is adapted from the UK Clinical Aptitude Test (UKCAT) which is used in the United Kingdom for the same purposes as UCAT. For 2019, the UCAT replaced the previously used UMAT exam in Australian and New Zealand. Along with the student's grades from secondary school and performance in the medicine entry interview, UCAT is used to rank students for entry into undergraduate programs. Students sit the UCAT in the same year that they apply to university, which can only be sat once per year.

The UCAT ANZ is a multiple-choice exam. It is split into the following sections which aim to assess a range of mental abilities:

• Verbal Reasoning – evaluate information that is presented in a written form
• Decision Making – apply logic to reach a decision or conclusion, evaluate arguments, and analyse statistical information
• Quantitative Reasoning – evaluate information presented in a numerical form
• Abstract Reasoning – use convergent and divergent thinking to infer relationships from information
• Situational Judgement – understand real world situations and identify critical factors and appropriate behaviour in dealing with them

The UCAT ANZ 2022 will be held in the month of July 2022 and can only be sat once by each student during this period. Though there is no specific curriculum for the UCAT, the innate skills assessed can be developed and improved through quality practice. Students sitting the exam are required to complete several questions in each section according to set timings spanning two hours.

The structure and content of the 2022 UCAT ANZ exam, with scaled score ranges

Candidates sitting the UCAT are scored using a specific system marked on the number of correct answers given, with no negative marking for incorrect answers. Question sets are randomly generated, and all test forms are scaled so that candidates receive impartiality between subsets. For each section of the exam, each candidate receives a UCAT score of between 300 (minimum) and 900 (maximum). A total scaled score of 1200–3600 is produced by adding the individual scaled cognitive section scores of Verbal Reasoning, Decision Making, Quantitative Reasoning and Abstract Reasoning. 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. On average, students sitting the UCAT will achieve scores ranging from 500–700 on each of the cognitive sections of the UCAT exam. Final scores for the exam will be provided to the candidate on the day of the examination. For reference, summary mean UCAT ANZ scores from previous years are shown below.

Mean UCAT ANZ scores from 2019–present, with individual scaled scores for each cognitive subtest, total scaled score, and situational judgement subtest. This table was adapted from UCAT Test Statistics.

Concessions/access arrangements are available for candidates with special educational needs, disabilities, or temporary injuries. Such students may be entitled to extra time or accommodations when sitting the test. Candidates need to register and create an online account via UCAT official to arrange a testing date and are encouraged to book early to avoid missing out on a place at their nearest Pearson VUE testing centre.

Results from UCAT ANZ 2022 can only be used to apply for courses commencing in 2023. The current UCAT Consortium universities include:

• University of Adelaide
• Curtin University
• Flinders University
• Griffith University
• Monash University
• University of Newcastle / University of New England
• University of New South Wales
• University of Queensland (including Central Queensland University Regional Medical Pathway for provisional entry)
• University of Tasmania
• University of Western Australia
• Western Sydney University / Charles Sturt University

The following key dates for the UCAT ANZ 2022 should be noted: