19 Top UCAT Quantitative Reasoning Tips - How I Scored 880 in QR

The University Clinical Aptitude Test (UCAT), formerly known as the UKCAT,  includes a Quantitative Reasoning section designed to test your ability to use critical thinking and numeracy skills to solve problems.

Given the time pressure, we understand why quantitative reasoning is often the section that so many students are apprehensive about.

Having sat my UCAT in 2019, achieving in the top 1% of my cohort, and scoring 880 in QR, here are my top 19 tips to ensure that you are excellently prepared to sit your quantitative reasoning UCAT section! 

Check out our free guides to other sections to aid your UCAT preparation, and check out our expert UCAT tutoring services if you need a bit more guidance! 

The level of understanding that UCAT examiners expect you to have is that of GCSE Mathematics. 

However, we know that not everybody has sat or passed Maths exams, therefore we recommend taking a look at the current curriculum to familiarise yourself with the skills that you’ll be required to demonstrate during your UCAT. 

This will also be helpful if you don’t currently take maths at A-level and haven’t used your mathematical skills since secondary school level. 

👉🏻 Read more: How To Pick The Perfect UCAT Exam Date

There are a  limited number of question types that the UCAT examiners can give you, so with practice, you can reduce the risk of having an unwanted surprise during the exam! 

Being confident with every question type puts you in a strong position to sit your exam, and the only way to reach this position is through regular practice of each question type. 

The question types that you might face in the QR subtest of the UCAT exam include:

👉🏻 Read more: Answering Data Interpretation Questions

One of the hardest types of questions you’ll face in the UCAT is compound interest. 

For some students, it might be worth skipping this question, but if you want to score highly, it’s worth revising how to answer these questions before your exam. 

Some students are more confident with calculating the interest built up in one year, multiplying this new value by the interest value for the following year until they reach the number of years passed. 

However, for larger periods, students might find it more helpful to memorise the formula for compound interest, which will lead them to the correct answer more quickly. 

A = P(1 + r/n) ^(nt)

Where:

👉🏻 Read more: Answering Calculation Questions

Tax brackets are yet another one of the UCAT’s most feared QR questions, therefore it’s worth getting to grips with how to answer these questions to maximise your marks. 

In your exam, you’ll likely face at least one question where you’re asked to interpret or calculate a value pre- or post-tax. 

The most important factor to remember when facing tax questions is that tax isn’t a flat value calculated from what’s been earned. It is calculated in portions. 

Having strong estimation skills is very beneficial for maximising your speed in this section. However, it’s important to recognise which questions are appropriate and not appropriate to use estimation and approximation. 

This can be determined by looking at the closeness of the given answers. If the answers are close together, it shows that you’ve got a very small room for error, therefore through approximation, you’re likely to reach the wrong answer when using round numbers. 

However, when appropriate, rounded estimates allow you to quickly eliminate illogical answers and reach the correct answer more quickly. 

With the time pressures of this subtest, choosing to use the calculator for every question may lead to you running out of time in the exam. 

We recommend practising using your mental maths skills as much as possible, such that on the day you are confident in completing simple maths calculations in your head, rather than relying on the calculator. 

To help you revise this, we recommend looking over your times tables grids up to 15 and improving recall speed. 

👉🏻 Read more: Making a UCAT Revision Strategy

One of the common categories of UCAT quantitative reasoning questions involves the use of geometry. In the exam, you likely won’t be given any formulas, so it’s worth learning these in advance. 

Units are very easy to forget, especially after you’ve already taken several steps to reach an answer, but always double-check the units of your answer compared to the units of the question answers!

Examiners may include the answer pre-unit conversion to trick you out. Read the question carefully after you've chosen an answer to double-check this! 

👉🏻 Read more: Avoiding UCAT Burnout During Revision Periods

The on-screen UCAT calculator is notoriously clunky and time-consuming to use, so the earlier that you become familiar with it, the better. 

It is guaranteed that you’ll be required to use the UCAT calculator at least once during your exam. Unlike a scientific calculator which you may be used to, the UCAT calculator cannot save any previous answers, nor raise numbers to a power. 

Make sure that you practice this!

It is well known that students who use a numerical pad to type into the UCAT calculator save time and answer QR UCAT questions faster. 

A numerical number pad follows the shape and layout of a number pad on a mobile phone, with 3 rows of 3 numbers, so you must move your fingers less to reach the desired numbers. With practice, this can massively improve your speed in the UCAT QR section and help deal with the time pressure of the exam. 

The keyboards in the exam centre where you will take your exam will have a numerical keypad on the right side of the keyboard, therefore it’s worth practising using this if you can. 

👉🏻 Read more: Strategic UCAT Applications

Several validated keyboard shortcuts work in the UCAT exam software. These are hugely beneficial for increasing your speed. 

Every student revising mathematics will have different strengths and weaknesses, and struggle with different question types. 

For instance, when I sat my exam, I knew that I struggled massively with Venn diagram questions if I wasn’t provided with a diagram. 

Having insight into your weaknesses is hugely useful for the UCAT, as it highlights which questions might be worth skipping if you’ve got little time left. 

Reflection is an important and often overlooked part of revision. When doing practice questions, you should be dissecting your incorrect answers until you fully understand the mistakes you have made. Through reflection, you will maximise your learning from practice questions and likely improve your quantitative reasoning score. 

👉🏻 Read more: Reflective Practice

In the UCAT, you are provided with a whiteboard to make notes. We recommend that you use the whiteboard mostly in the decision-making and quantitative reasoning sections of the UCAT. 

There are various applications in which the whiteboard may be useful for you in QR. 

For instance:

Multi-step quantitative reasoning questions require breaking down the problem into distinct steps and solving each component in sequence. 

These are the most time-consuming questions in the QR section and may be worth skipping if you are low on time during this section. 

Make sure that you read the question properly so that you know which part is relevant.

👉🏻 Read more: What To Expect On The Day - UCAT

With 36 questions and only 24 minutes to answer them, to prepare for the UCAT quantitative reasoning questions, you should become comfortable with answering in just 40 seconds per question. 

As discussed, through revision you should begin to identify which questions you find more challenging. As a result, you should begin to learn when to use the “strategic skip”, to avoid spending excessive time on difficult questions. 

Given that all questions are worth the same number of marks, you are much better spending time on answering the easier questions correctly, than spending lots of time on a difficult question.

You can always flag these questions and come back later if time permits. In short, answer as many questions as you can, and guess the ones you can't! 

You should attempt to answer every question in the quantitative reasoning topic subtest of the UCAT, even if you are not certain of the correct solution. 

Given that the UCAT is not negatively marked, it’s worth choosing your best estimate or approximation, as leaving questions blank will guarantee zero marks. 

👉🏻 Read more tips for UCAT success in our  Free UCAT Guide

In your quantitative reasoning preparation, it is crucial to practice answering sample questions and mock exams under timed conditions.

This allows you to realistically simulate the time pressure you will face on exam day and improve your pacing, increasing your chances of a high score and success in the UCAT. 

The UCAT consortium has provided several free official Mock exams and practice questions. These are an invaluable resource to practice quantitative reasoning questions at the same difficulty as the real exam questions. 

We recommend sitting these mock exams around a week before your UCAT exam to get a feel for how you would score in the real exam, and highlight any further weaknesses in your quantitative reasoning skills to brush up on before your exam! 

👉🏻 Read more: Everything You Need To Know For The UCAT QR Section

The UCAT Quantitative Reasoning section is one of the subtests in the UCAT (University Clinical Aptitude Test) examination. It assesses your ability to interpret, analyse, and solve problems involving numerical data.

The UCAT Quantitative Reasoning section consists of 36 multiple-choice questions. Test-takers are given 25 minutes to complete this section.

The Quantitative Reasoning section assesses your skills in basic arithmetic, applied mathematics, and data interpretation. Topics include percentages, ratios, proportions, basic algebra, and graph interpretation.

You are not allowed to bring calculators into the UCAT Quantitative Reasoning exam. However, there is an in-built calculator in the UCAT exam software, which you can use.

Effective preparation involves practising mental calculations, reviewing basic mathematical concepts, and familiarising yourself with the question format. Utilise official UCAT practice materials and timed practice tests.

The Quantitative Reasoning section is scored on a scale from 300 to 900, with 600 being the average score. Your performance is measured against other test-takers.

No, there is no negative marking. Therefore, it's important to manage your time effectively, answer questions you can, and guess the rest. 

Yes, you can review previous answers. It is worth flagging the questions you have struggled with. However, the UCAT is a computer-based test, and once you move on to the next section, you cannot go back to review or change your answers. 

Time management is crucial. Prioritise questions based on your confidence level, and don't spend too much time on a single question. Focus on understanding the problem and choose the most appropriate answer.

Each of the four UCAT subtests, including Quantitative Reasoning, contributes equally to your overall UCAT score. Your performance in this section, along with the others, will be used by medical schools as part of their selection process.

Check out our UCAT tutoring packages, our UCAT Courses and our Ultimate Package to help boost your scores and success.