Admissions Tests for Medical School
Find out about admissions tests for medical school and our GAMSAT bursary.
Admissions tests
Some medical schools need you to sit an entry exam, particularly for graduate entry. You will need to investigate this before applying.
You usually need to register and complete admissions tests by a specific date. Check with the university you want to apply to which admissions test they use. It is likely to be one of the following:
- University Clinical Aptitude Test (UCAT) is used by a consortium of UK medical schools
- The BioMedical Admissions Test (BMAT) is a subject-specific medicine and related courses admissions test
- The Graduate Medical School Admissions Test (GAMSAT) is used by a few graduate-entry medical schools
After taking the right test, your score is sent directly to the universities you have applied to.
Bursaries for admissions tests
Check with individual courses, but it is rare for any of them to offer financial support due to the large volume of applicants.
The UCAT offers bursaries, but eligibility criteria apply.
Admissions scores and shortlisting
The threshold is likely to change every year for admissions test scores. The performance of the applying cohort as a whole changes every year.
Thresholds vary depending on the number of applicants, and their average score. Any national changes in scoring will also change thresholds for individual universities.
Some universities do publish information on previous years applications. For example Newcastle University give previous UCAT score thresholds and admissions.
While the score is usually the main criteria used to shortlist for interview, it is not the only criteria.
Many universities take account of contextual information. This is intended to help widen access and encourage participation in medicine by students from all backgrounds, . The threshold may also vary for applicants who fulfil certain criteria.
More information
Our Recruitment Tests page has general recruitment tests. These can be helpful for certain sections of the admissions test.
Preparing for admissions tests
It can help to work through some practice tests online, so you know what to expect. Even 10 minutes preparation a day can help your performance.
The following resources can be helpful when preparing for admissions tests:
- UCAT preparation advice and practice tests page. UCAT say that students who do the best have carried out at least 30 hours practice on their free web resources.
- UCAT YouTube channel - advice from past candidates. Also a playlist collecting admissions videos from the majority of their consortium universities
- Cambridge Assessment Admissions Testing - Preparing for BMAT - free materials, including past papers
- The medicportal - guide to BMAT
- The medicportal - UCAT advice
- The medicalportal - GAMSAT guide
- GradMed also offers preparatory courses for GAMSAT. You have to pay for some of their resources but they do have some free advice.
You can buy books or even go on courses to practice, but some medical schools feel the courses aren’t worth the money.