Verbal Reasoning Sample Question - What does it assess?
Verbal Reasoning (VR) questions assess your ability to critically evaluate written information and draw logical conclusions. They measure how clearly you think, how you analyse information, and how quickly you make informed decisions.
Quick and easy tips for success:
Identify the keywords in your question and scan the passage for those (or their synonyms)
Don’t use your general knowledge (it’s a trap) – the information you need is within the passage!
Practice, practice, practice sample UCAT VR questions to get comfortable!
Passage: "Many students today are unaware of the career opportunities that exist within healthcare beyond medicine. These jobs are not only rewarding but also offer work-life balance and flexibility."
Question: According to the passage, what is the perception of healthcare careers?
a) Most students see them as difficult.
b) Healthcare careers offer work-life balance.
c) Students are unaware of healthcare opportunities.
d) Healthcare careers are only for medical professionals.
Decision-Making Sample Question - What does it assess?
Decision-Making questions test your ability to assess situations and make logical decisions. These questions often involve ethical dilemmas or logical problems where you need to decide on the best course of action.
Quick and easy tips for success:
Use quick visual aids, such as a Venn diagram, to help narrow down your answer (especially if the answer is numerical).
Quickly look for patterns, relationships, and rules to identify the underlying logic in each scenario.
Practice, practice, practice sample UCAT VR questions to get comfortable!
Scenario: You are a team leader and two team members have conflicting opinions on a critical decision. One team member has more experience, while the other is more enthusiastic and has good ideas.
Question: How should you resolve this conflict?
a) Follow the more experienced team member’s advice.
b) Take the ideas from the enthusiastic team member and compromise.
c) Mediate a discussion between both to come to a consensus.
d) Make the decision independently without consulting either team member.
Situational Judgement Sample Question - What does it assess?
Situational Judgement questions measure your understanding of appropriate behavior in different professional or ethical situations. These questions involve scenarios where you must decide the most appropriate or least appropriate response based on the situation provided.
Quick and easy tips for success:
Identity if it's an ‘importance’ question or an ‘appropriate action’ question – this will help you to quickly reach your answer.
This section assesses your understanding of ethics and appropriate behaviour as a GMC-registered medical professional (i.e. doctor) A good place to get an understanding of this is the GMC’s Good Medical Practice guide.
Practice, practice, practice sample UCAT VR questions to get comfortable!
Scenario: You are a healthcare worker and notice a colleague struggling to manage their workload. They appear stressed, but you are also busy.
Question: What would you do?
a) Offer to help with some of their tasks, if possible.
b) Ignore the situation since you are also busy.
c) Report the colleague’s performance to your supervisor.
d) Ask if they need help but do not offer to take on any tasks yourself.
Want to keep practicing UCAT Sample Questions with The Medic Life?
Dive into 500 free UCAT questions and a mock exam that reflects the subtests, question types and timings of the live test. Work with real examples of UCAT questions, covering Decision-Making, Verbal & Quantitative reasoning and Situational Judgement, so you know what to expect on exam day. You’ll get a score at the end to track your performance, helping you refine your test skills the more you practice.
What kind of questions are asked in UCAT?
The UCAT is a computerised test that’s split into four subtests – verbal reasoning, decision-making, quantitative reasoning and situational judgment – and takes just under two hours to complete. You can see an example of the types of questions asked in our FREE Q bank.
Is the UCAT very hard?
Each year, around 36,000 students sit the UCAT – so the stakes, the competition and the numbers are high. How “hard” the UCAT is influenced by how well you prepare. A lot of students find it tough because the test’s unique structure demands a lot of work under time pressure. However, through practice and becoming familiar with the format, you can smash the UCAT.
How can I practice for the UCAT?
Practice using mock questions in a timed setting, attend free workshops, and once you feel ready, come along to the 2-day UCAT courses taught by Dr. Bak. Find everything you need here.