top of page
🖥️  UCAT
🔬  BMAT
🦷  Dentistry
💼  Application Guide
📚  Personal Statement
💬  Interviews
🐶  Veterinary Medicine
🏫  Medical Schools 
🌍  International Medicine
🎓  Graduate Entry Medicine

Application Guide 2024: 

UCAT

UCAT Decision Making 2024

<p class="font_8"><a href="https://www.theukcatpeople.co.uk/ucat-bmat-tutors"><strong>Dr. Akash Gandhi&nbsp;</strong></a></p>
<p class="font_8">Medicine Admissions Expert</p>

Dr. Akash Gandhi 

Medicine Admissions Expert

Introduction

The latest UCAT decision making tips, tricks & techniques to help you master the section in 2024. 


Find out about scoring, question types, and have a go at a Decision Making Practice Question. 



👉🏻 Read more: The Ultimate UCAT Guide 2024

🏫

What Is UCAT Decision Making?

The UCAT Decision Making questions assesses your ability to evaluate logic and capacity to reach a conclusion or judgment. It also assesses your ability to assess arguments and analyse statistical data. 


You have 31 minutes (and 1 minute of instructions) to complete 29 questions. The items are ordered from easiest to hardest.



👉🏻 Read more: UCAT Preparation 2024 - The Ultimate Guide

UCAT decision making questions, decision making UCAT, UCAT decision making, decision making UCAT questions, decision making, UKCAT decision making, how many questions in decision making UCAT, decision making questions UCAT, UCAT decision making practice questions, UCAT decision making practice

Why Include UCAT Decision Making?

Many clinical situations require doctors and dentists to make complex decisions and interpret information daily. This needs to happen in a wide range of scenarios and situations. Clinicians require good problem-solving ability and need to have the ability to assess and manage risk, whilst dealing with uncertainty.


This is a new section only introduced after 2016, which replaced the old decision analysis ucat subsection. A quick word on UKCAT decision analysis - this was a section that required the interpretation of codes of text to be converted into sentences. It is important to be aware of these questions, as some textbooks and question banks may still reference them.



👉🏻 Read more: UCAT Reflective Revision - the most important UCAT Tip

👉🏻 Read more: UCAT Burnout - How To Avoid It

👉🏻 Read more: UCAT Revision Timetable - how to create one

📚

What are the UCAT Decision Making Question Types?

Items in the UCAT exam are typically presented as brief passages or figures that describe a situation. You must select an answer choice from among five options to each question. Items vary in difficulty and some require you to demonstrate stronger abilities than others. This is one of five sections within the UCAT test.


The Decision Making section is one of the five subtests in the UCAT, designed to assess your ability to make sound decisions and judgments using complex information. There are six different types of questions in the Decision Making subtest:


  1. Logical Puzzles: These questions require you to use deductive reasoning and logic to solve puzzles or problems. You may need to identify patterns, relationships, or rules to determine the correct answer.

  2. Venn Diagrams: You will be presented with sets of data represented using Venn diagrams, and you will need to interpret the diagrams to answer questions related to the data.

  3. Probabilistic Reasoning: These questions involve using probabilities and statistical information to make decisions. You may be required to calculate or compare probabilities to determine the most likely outcome or the best course of action.

  4. Interpretation of Information: You will be given text, charts, graphs, or tables containing information and asked to draw conclusions based on that information. This may involve identifying trends, making comparisons, or evaluating data.

  5. Recognising Assumptions: In these decision-making questions, you will need to identify underlying assumptions or premises in arguments or statements. You may be asked to evaluate the validity of these assumptions or determine the impact of these assumptions on the conclusions drawn.

  6. Evaluating Arguments: You will be presented with arguments and asked to assess the strength, validity, or relevance of those arguments. This may involve identifying flaws or weaknesses, determining the relative importance of different factors, or comparing and contrasting different arguments.



We cover all of these questions in our UCAT Courses and 1-1 UCAT Tutoring.


It is paramount that you practice all of these types of questions as all of them are likely to come up in your exam. Often, some students find that the Yes/No questions are more difficult, therefore, requiring more practice before their UKCAT exam.


Either there will be four answer options and you must seek only one correct answer. Other answers may require you to respond to five statements with a “yes” or “no” next to each statement. In this section, you may use an on-screen calculator or the whiteboard and pen provided.



👉🏻 Read more: UKCAT Key Dates in 2024

👉🏻 Read more: UCAT Registration 2024 - The Ultimate Guide

❓ Applying in 2024 for 2025 Entry?

✅ Join our incredibly successful Ultimate Package programme

✅ Receive 1-1 mentoring from qualified doctors & dentists
✅ Advice on work experience, volunteering, wider reading & universities
✅ Expert UCAT TutoringPersonal Statement Editing & Interview Tutoring

✅ 100s of successful students

✍️

Decision Making UCAT Timing & Questions

32 minutes (with 1 minute of instructions not included within this time) to answer 29 questions in the UKCAT Decision Making subtest.


We would recommend having an idea before you begin how you will approach the timing of this section. We recommend having different milestones that you can use as a guide to help you through the passage.



👉🏻 Read more: UCAT Test Day Tips 

👉🏻 Read more: UCAT Verbal Reasoning

👉🏻 Read more: UCAT Abstract Reasoning

👉🏻 Read more: UCAT Quantitative Reasoning

👉🏻 Read more: UCAT Decision Making

👉🏻 Read more: UCAT Situational Judgement

📜

Maximum UCAT Decision Making Score

  • Maximum UCAT Decision Making Score: 900

  • Minimum UCAT Decision Making Score: 300


Remember to contact our UCAT Tutors to find out more about how we can boost this score.



👉🏻 Read more: Top Tips For UCAT Verbal Reasoning

👉🏻 Read more: Top Tips For UCAT Abstract Reasoning

👉🏻 Read more: Top Tips For UCAT Quantitative Reasoning

🏫

Average UCAT Decision Making Score

The average UCAT decision-making score over the last four years is 632.


  • 2017 UCAT Decision Making Average Score - 647

  • 2018 UCAT Decision Making Average Score - 624

  • 2019 UCAT Decision Making Average Score - 618

  • 2020 UCAT Decision Making Average Score - 625


This is around the average score of the UKCAT, which means that this is a section you can use to try to boost your overall score.



👉🏻 Learn More: 1-1 UCAT Tutoring in 2024

👉🏻 Join UCAT Courses in 2024 to boost your score!

Example UCAT Decision Making Question

My friend is a palaeontologist and is sorting through his archives. He notices some extinct animals that he needs to categorise. Some spironetals are arachinoleda.


All crimeritonia are spironetals. No spironetals are piloredonters. Some crimeritonia are rektilioni. Some piloredonters are arachinoleda.


Which of these statements are true?

A.  Some rektilioni are spironetals.

B.  No crimeritonia are arachinoleda.

C.  Some arachinoleda are both piloredonters and crimeritonia.

D.  All spironetals are piloredonters.


ANSWER A

A. This Is definitely true since some crimeritonia are rektilioni and all crimeritonia are spironetals, then all the rektilioni that are crimeritonia are also spironetals.

B.  May or may not be true since although we know that some arachinoleda are spironetals, they may not intersect with the subgroup of crimeritonia.

C.  Although some arachinoleda are piloredonters and some arachinoleda are crimeritonia, no thupp is both a groshter and a snargle, since all crimeritonia are spironetals and no spironetals are piloredonters.

D.  The same explanation as C can be applied here.



👉🏻 Read more: How UK Universities Use Your UCAT Score

👉🏻 Read more: UCAT Dental Schools - UCAT Cut Off Scores

👉🏻 Read more: UCAT Cut Off Scores 2025 Entry

😊

UCAT Decision Making Tips and Tricks 2024

How to improve decision making UCAT

It is paramount that you focus on learning key decision-making ucat strategies for the decision making subsection of the UKCAT. 


These are all covered in our UCAT 1 day course and our 1-1 UCAT Tutoring.


Decision Making UCAT Tips

  • Do not draw on existing knowledge to answer questions, you must assume that you are unfamiliar with the content of the text shown to you.

  • Some questions may be best suited to making some notes or drawing an aide-memoire out onto the board and pen.

  • Think about how you will time yourself during this section. To succeed, you must devise a strategy that works for you and plays to your strengths.

  • You might want to consider allocating a certain amount of time to each question, which will help prevent you from getting stuck and running out of time.

  • Some questions will require you to “drag and drop”, make sure that you practice this beforehand.

  • Some of the most common questions that come up about decision making include probability and Venn diagrams.

  • Use the flag option if you need to, especially in the practice tests.

  • Make sure that you do enough decision making UCAT practice and re-read these tips for UKCAT decision making.

  • Most people who do not do well in their DM have not done enough decision making ukcat practice.


Remember to contact our UCAT Tutors to find out more about how we can boost this score.



👉🏻 Read more: BMAT Cancelled - Replaced With The UCAT In 2024

1 to 1 UCAT Tutoring - Weekly

Intensive UCAT Tutoring - Cover VR, QR, DM, AR & SJT

Expert UCAT Tutors - top-scoring tutors will guide you through

Perfect your practice - we will iron out weaknesses with bespoke help

1-1 Online Tutoring - no group work - have a personal 1:1 tutor

📚

🩺

💼

📚

🏆

UCAT Tutoring with Experts in 2024

📈 Want to boost your chances of succeeding this year? Join one of our bespoke 1-1 UCAT tutoring programmes today.




🏆 UCAT Tutoring is also available as part of our Ultimate Packages - alongside mentoring with a qualified doctor, personal statement editing, interview coaching and more!




👉🏼 Want to find out more information before booking? Book a FREE CONSULTATION with an expert UCAT tutor today - click here.

💪🏽

🚀

Applying In 2024 For 2025 Entry?

Need help making your application stand out?

Our admission experts will guide you through exactly what you need to be doing to boost your application including UCAT preparation - which starts now!

100s of 5* reviews

Interview - 1-1 Coaching & 1-1 Mock Interviews [Panel & MMI]

Need help preparing for Interviews?

Interview experts will provide tailored coaching to all four of your universities including MMI & Panel mock interviews

100s of 5* reviews.

Find out how we can help you get into university in 2024 (2025 or 2026 entry)

Book your FREE consultation today

Thank you - we will be in touch!

bottom of page