A printable Year 12 checklist you can hand to any student thinking about medicine, dentistry or veterinary medicine. It runs through the year by term, from deciding on the course and finding work experience in the autumn, to UCAT registration and the first personal statement draft over the summer. Every one of the 20 steps is a single action with a link to the free guide that helps your student do it.
Written by Dr Akash Gandhi, NHS GP and founder of TheUKCATPeople. Updated 16 September 2026.
You do not need to know anything about medical admissions to run this. The checklist is the agenda; the linked guides carry the detail.
Grouped by term. Each step names one action and the page that helps your student do it.
The research term. Nothing here is hard work, but a student who skips it ends up applying to the wrong four universities a year later. The aim is a student who can say what the course involves, what the entry requirements are, and which schools are realistic for them.
1.Decide which course they are actually applying for
Medicine, dentistry and veterinary medicine are three different careers with three different application routes. Ask the student to read the career guide for the course they think they want, then explain the day-to-day job back to you in their own words.
Where to send them: Deciding on medicine, step by stepA career in dentistryUK vet schools
2.Check the entry requirements against the A levels they are already taking
This is the single highest-value thing you can do in the autumn term. Subject combinations are fixable in Year 12 and almost never fixable in Year 13, so any mismatch needs to surface now.
Where to send them: UK medical school entry requirementsWhat A levels do you need for dentistryUK vet schools
3.Build a longlist of eight to ten universities to research
A longlist in Year 12 becomes four confident choices in Year 13. Use the school hubs so the student is reading the same facts about every university rather than whichever one has the best open day.
Where to send them: UK medical schoolsUK dental schoolsUK vet schools
4.Start looking for work experience now, not in the summer
Placements that need a DBS check, an application form or a waiting list are gone by spring. The finder lists free and virtual options alongside the ones that need arranging, so a student with no family contacts is not stuck.
Where to send them: Work experience finder
5.Set up one long-term, regular volunteering commitment
Selectors care much more about something done weekly for a year than about a single impressive week. A care home, a charity shop, a youth group or a school mentoring scheme all count. Read the work experience guide first so the student knows what they are meant to get out of it.
Where to send them: Medicine work experience guideDentistry work experience guideVet work experience guide
6.Give them a reflection log and make it a habit from day one
Reflection is what universities actually assess, and it cannot be reconstructed a year later. Our teacher work experience page carries a printable log the student fills in within a week of each activity.
Where to send them: Printable reflection log
7.Join or start a MedSoc
A school MedSoc gives applicants a weekly hour together, peer support through the UCAT and interviews, and a reason to read something beyond the syllabus. It also saves you running everything one to one.
Where to send them: Running a school MedSoc
The building term. Work experience is confirmed for the summer, the supracurricular record starts to look real, and the student meets the UCAT for the first time without any pressure to score well yet.
8.Learn what the UCAT is and how universities use it
Before any practice, the student needs to understand that different universities weight the UCAT completely differently. The cut-offs page shows how each school uses the score, which is what turns a number into a sensible application strategy later.
Where to send them: How universities use the UCATUCAT deciles
9.Pick one free online course and finish it
A finished short course the student can talk about beats three abandoned ones. The directories are filterable by topic and length, so you can set one that fits a half-term.
Where to send them: Free medicine coursesFree dentistry coursesFree veterinary courses
10.Start a wider reading list they will genuinely keep up with
Books, podcasts and documentaries all count, and a student who commutes will keep up with a podcast when they will not keep up with a book. Ask for one line of opinion after each, not a summary.
Where to send them: Medical podcasts for applicantsBest books for a dentistry application
11.Decide whether an EPQ is worth it for this student
An EPQ on a relevant question gives an applicant something concrete to discuss at interview, and some universities make a reduced offer for it. It is a real workload though, so make it a deliberate decision rather than a default.
Where to send them: The EPQ for medicine, dentistry and vet applications
12.Confirm the summer work experience in writing
Chase anything still unconfirmed by Easter and add a free virtual programme as a backup. A confirmed backup in March is worth more than a promised placement in July that falls through.
Where to send them: Work experience finder
13.Try the free UCAT trainer once, with no score pressure
A single untimed session on the free trainer shows the student what the question styles look like, which is enough for now. Scores in the spring term mean nothing and worrying about them helps nobody.
Where to send them: Free UCAT trainer
The doing term. UCAT registration and testing happen over the summer, the personal statement gets its first real draft, and the summer work experience actually takes place. This is the window that decides how calm the autumn of Year 13 feels.
14.Register for the UCAT as soon as booking opens
Registration and booking open in the summer and popular test centres fill first. A student who registers late is left choosing between a bad date and a long journey. Check the current cycle's dates on the registration guide.
Where to send them: UCAT registration guide
15.Choose a test date that leaves room for preparation and a holiday
Students routinely book either far too early, before they have prepared, or the final week, with no margin if they are ill. Work backwards from the date with them rather than letting them pick one at random.
Where to send them: How to choose a UCAT test date
16.Build a written UCAT preparation plan before any practice starts
Six to eight focused weeks beats four months of drifting. The plan should name the days, the subtests and the review time, because reviewing wrong answers is where the score actually comes from.
Where to send them: UCAT preparation guideUCAT revision timetable and strategy
17.Practise on the free UCAT trainer through the summer
Timed practice under real conditions is the whole point. The trainer is free to use and needs no budget from the school, so every applicant in your cohort can be told to use it.
Where to send them: Free UCAT trainer
18.Convert practice scores into a realistic university list
A raw UCAT score means nothing on its own. The calculator turns it into deciles and shows where it sits against the schools they are considering, which is the conversation that stops a wasted application.
Where to send them: UCAT score calculator
19.Write a first draft of the personal statement over the summer
The UCAS personal statement is now three structured questions rather than one essay, so the student needs to answer each question in turn. A rough summer draft is what makes the autumn edits possible; the students who start in September never finish comfortably.
Where to send them: Medicine personal statement guideDentistry personal statement guide
20.Write up each piece of work experience within a week of doing it
Send them back to the reflection log every time. What they learned and what surprised them is the material both the personal statement and the interview will draw on, and a week later it is already vague.
Where to send them: Printable reflection log
Prints on roughly three sides of A4 with a tick box against every step. Your browser's own print option (Ctrl+P on Windows, Cmd+P on a Mac) does exactly the same thing.
The Year 13 list picks up the day UCAT results arrive and runs through choosing universities, the reference, the October deadline, interview season, offers and results day.
Ultimate Package students from our 2025/26 cycle, with their UCAT scores and offers, who trained with us for the UCAT, personal statements and interviews.
“Harry got my UCAT up to 2,590, working through the sections I kept dropping marks on week by week. Gemma then ran my interview practice so the MMI stations didn't catch me out, and Dr Akash mentored me the whole way through. I'm off to King's for Medicine.”
“The interview prep was the part that actually moved the needle. Proper mock MMIs, not just lists of questions, and feedback that was honest about what I was getting wrong. I ended up with four offers and firmed UCL.”
“The Ultimate Package kept me organised from UCAT through to interviews. They knew what dental schools actually ask and tightened up my personal statement. Four offers in the end, and I'm going to Birmingham.”
“Vet applications come down to the written SAQs as much as the interview. Dr Rebecca went through my SAQs line by line, sharpened my answers and prepped me for the panels. I came away with four offers and chose the RVC.”
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