The Ultimate Guide to UCAT Mindset Mastery

In this comprehensive guide, we explore how to build an optimal mindset, practical strategies to help you throughout your UCAT journey, as well as techniques to implement on test day. By focusing on mastering your mindset, you can enhance your performance, boost your confidence, and ultimately achieve your best possible UCAT score. 

How do I build an optimal mindset during my UCAT preparation journey?

Acknowledge feelings of uncertainty

If you’re experiencing doubt, low mood, stress, or anxiety, the first thing you should do is acknowledge your feelings and understand that this is completely normal. Once you recognise how you feel, you can take the necessary steps to manage this.

Keep in mind that even the most high-achieving students will face these challenges, so be kind to yourself, normalise what you’re feeling, and remember this is simply a reflection of your desire to embark on your dream career. If you’re feeling continuously disheartened, such as dealing with disappointing mock scores, follow the steps outlined in our article to increase your motivation.

Establish a hierarchy of needs

A hierarchy of needs is important for focusing on the underlying foundation of what’s important to you. At the top of the hierarchy is self-actualisation which means reaching your full potential. In this case, your dream of entering the healthcare profession and having a fulfilling career is the ultimate goal that you’re striving for, and getting a high UCAT score is a crucial part of this.

However, to reach self-actualisation (i.e. achieving your dream), you can’t ignore all of the needs that come before this. Focus on taking care of yourself (good nutrition, hydration, sleep etc) and ensure you’re meeting all of your basic and psychological needs which support your aspirations. After all, if you’re not taking care of yourself properly, you won’t be in an optimal state to go through the UCAT preparation cycle properly.

Adapt advice to your journey

Advice from friends or family members can be beneficial, but make sure that you adapt it to your own preparation journey. For example, while guidance like ‘You only need to revise for six to eight weeks as any more than this will cause you to burn out’ may be helpful for some, it doesn’t take into account individual differences such as someone’s natural ability and their knowledge level when starting UCAT preparation.

On the other hand, you might also be encouraged to go through all questions available to you, but this may not be necessary if you already have a good set of skills in particular areas, such as QR.

Manage external expectations

It’s likely that you’ll be managing not only your own expectations, but the expectations of those around you too, most notably your caregiver. While this can intensify the pressure you’re under, remind yourself that often these expectations stem from a place of caring and wanting you to do well. If the pressure becomes overwhelming, it could be helpful to have a frank conversation with your caregiver, as they may not realise that their idea of motivating you is having the opposite effect.

In addition, while confiding in loved ones can be beneficial, you don’t have to tell everyone how you’re feeling. Setting boundaries with your emotions can be hugely important in order to work through them.

What techniques can I use to manage my mindset while preparing for the UCAT?

Remind yourself of the bigger picture

Motivation and aspiration are going to be the major drivers throughout your journey. We recommend honing in on what makes you happy and what inspires you, and adding these as sticky notes to a board.

Perhaps there’s a doctor you really like who inspired you to pursue medicine, or a book that you’ve read countless times because it makes you feel good about yourself. Add everything you can think of to the board and place it somewhere that’s always visible so that when you enter the room, it gives you a boost of motivation. 

Find an outlet such as a hobby or passion 

During this period of your life, you need something beyond the UCAT to keep you going. For some people this may be exercise, such as running a lot, for others it could be binge watching their favourite Netflix show.

Whatever it is, find an outlet that can help you to continuously manage your stress levels. Once you know what self-care looks like to you, you can lean into this when times are tough, and use this as a source of escapism that allows you to completely disconnect from the world for a little while. 

Check in with yourself regularly 

If you don’t prioritise your mental wellness, it will become significantly harder to look after your physical health, emotional wellbeing, and practically every other aspect of your life. We previously spoke about establishing a hierarchy of needs – you can use this framework to keep yourself on track.

Ask questions such as: Am I eating well? Am I getting enough sleep each night? Did I do enough exercise this week? This will ensure you’re continuing to optimise all parts of your life, which will provide the best opportunity for you to be highly driven and motivated. 

Space out revision to avoid burnout

Burnout can lead to symptoms of exhaustion, disturbed sleep, and even low mood in certain cases. It is the enemy of building momentum, and something you want to try and avoid at all costs. For instance, instead of last-minute cramming, try to space out your revision at a steady pace over an optimal amount of time (for most people, 3+ months of revision yields the best results for preventing burnout).

Remember that building both physical and mental stamina takes time, and this timeframe can vary from person to person. If you’re someone who easily becomes stressed or anxious, you need to do everything in your power to feel in control of the exam. The easiest way of doing this is to simply give yourself enough time to build and refine the skills needed to do well in the UCAT. 

Finally, don’t forget that while the UCAT is important, there will always be a way towards your dream career. To put your mind at ease, explore plan B options such as taking a gap year and studying abroad.

What strategies can I use on test day to help me perform at my best?

Leading up to the UCAT, you should have implemented a range of techniques that allowed you to get into the best headspace during your preparation journey.

But what about test day itself? What strategies can you use to keep calm and ensure you perform at your best? We explore tried-and-true UCAT exam day strategies below. 

• Use the one-minute introductions between each UCAT section as an opportunity to take a breath and reset. If you had a previous stressful section, it’s critical that you’re able to calm yourself down and clear your head so that it doesn’t impact your performance in the following section.
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•  While mock exams can closely emulate the test day experience, of course there isn't the real pressure of the actual exam, so it's impossible to fully replicate the test day experience. Despite this limitation, you should practise with test-like conditions (e.g. no disruptions, absolutely adhering to the timing) to minimise any anxiety.
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• Ensure you’re nimble on test day as this allows you to adapt to whatever you’re faced with. For example, you may have found VR questions easy in practice but struggle with this section in the exam. At the same time, you may have expected difficult DM questions, but you’re surprised that they’re relatively easy in the real test. If you’re not ready for anything that comes your way, this can throw you off and destroy your mindset. 
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• Implement time-saving techniques that allow you to be nimble, such as guess, flag, and move on. High scorers understand how to maximise marks without wasting precious seconds. This is going to become a game of the test versus you, so in moments of doubt, you need to learn when it’s best to skip a question to revisit later and when it’s more efficient to take a logical guess.

Final thoughts

If you follow the advice in this article, the best thing you can do on test day is to simply have faith in your ability to perform well. By this point, all your preparation will be complete, so try to refrain from worrying about what might happen, and instead focus on applying everything you’ve learnt during your UCAT practice.

Remember that the week leading up to your exam is hugely important: use this time to introduce or increase self-care, and learn about the UCAT test environment if you haven’t already. We go into more detail about what you need to do leading up to the UCAT in our test day preparation article.

Best of luck!

Ace the UCAT with Medify

Do you need help with getting ready for test day? 

To prepare in the most efficient way possible, we recommend using trusted UCAT resources, such as our UCAT Online Course. 

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