The UCAT is an incredibly tough exam to prepare for because it’s a test of general thinking skills rather than any specific subject knowledge. Many people find that the most effective way to get ready for the UCAT is to learn through a course and study with specially-designed resources. But with so many options available, how do you decide what’s right for you?
It’s important to consider exactly what it is you are hoping for from a UCAT course and what you would expect to get within your budget. These courses can sometimes be fairly large investments, so you need to ensure you’re getting something that actually helps you improve your score. After all, the UCAT is going to be one of the most important aspects of your med school application, so investing in the right course could greatly increase your chances of success.
Choosing the Best UCAT Course
The key to choosing the right UCAT course for you is to know what support you need and research your options based on that. There are a few questions you should ask yourself when looking at the different courses and resources available:
What Are You Looking For From A UCAT Course?
There aren’t many UCAT courses that will tailor themselves exactly to your own needs, so the first step of this process is to set your expectations and understand what you want from your preparation support. Different people learn in different ways and the variety of courses available means you’ll more than likely find one that gels well with how you work.
Think back to how you studied for your GCSEs or equivalents. Were you better at learning through independent studying, or did you get more value from answering practice questions and taking mock exams? We would argue that both are very important, but everyone will have a more effective method. This can even come down to something as simple as your preference between physical or digital exam papers to practice with. Don’t be afraid to explore every avenue if you feel it will help with your development.
What Free UCAT Courses Are Available in 2024?
As it currently stands, there are no reputable, complete UCAT courses available for free online, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t helpful resources available. Most course providers will provide some form of free demo or trial to allow you to get a taste of what you can expect. Not only is this handy for helping you decide if the course is right for you, but some of these trials can be very substantial.
Using 6med as an example, anyone can sign up to UCAT.Ninja (included our UCAT Tutoring Bundle) for free, where they will have access to a large amount of UCAT practice questions to try out. Various other providers also provide free-to-use question banks featuring 100’s, or sometimes over 1,000 practice questions. As well as this, most course providers have tonnes of free content in the form of guides and video tutorials. So for those who don’t have the budget for a more in-depth course, there are still a good variety of options available.
After seeing this, you may be thinking to yourself “Why would I pay for a course with all these free resources available?”. For some applicants, the resources available for free may be enough to support their independent preparation. However, the vast majority of these resources will be nowhere near as in-depth as what you can expect from a paid course. Within the best UCAT courses, you can expect to find all of the following:
- Engaging live sessions ran by experts, who will explain everything you need to know and give you the chance to ask questions.
- In-depth supporting materials such as workbooks and video tutorials that explain everything in simple and easily-accessible ways.
- An extensive question bank covering every question type in the UCAT, complete with worked solutions and flexible settings.
- A platform to sit past papers with customisable options and automatic grading.
Utilising all of these features together is the most effective way to ensure you get the UCAT score you need to succeed, which is why so many applicants will tell you that the investment of a high-quality UCAT course is worth every penny!
Prepare with the Best, Prepare with 6med!
With our UCAT Bundle, you’ll get a chance to be taught by an expert tutor and gain access to tonnes of resources to get you ready for UCAT success. Our guidance will help get you into the university of your dreams!
UCAT Crash Course
UCAT Crash Course
UCAT TUTORING BUNDLE
Prepare with the Best, Prepare with 6med!
With our UCAT Tutoring Bundle, you’ll get a chance to be taught by an expert tutor and gain access to tonnes of resources to get you ready for UCAT success. Our guidance will help get you into the university of your dreams!
UCAT.Ninja
UCAT.Ninja
Are You Looking For A Live Course Or A Self-Paced Course?
One of the major distinctions to make clear is the difference between Live UCAT Courses and Self-Paced UCAT Courses. Between these two styles of teaching, there isn’t one that is objectively better than the other and in many cases, it would be most beneficial to utilise both. However, there are pros and cons to each:
Live UCAT Courses
This is fairly self-explanatory; these are courses run either in person or via video conference that will typically last one or two days. These will be headed by one or more expert tutors who will guide the attendees through everything they need to know about the UCAT and help build their exam techniques. These will be achieved with a mixture of lectures, worked examples, activities and Q&A Sessions.
Pros
- Ran by an expert who has first hand experience in both the UCAT and live teaching/tutoring.
- Covers all the essentials without any filler.
- The most engaging form of UCAT course, as you can interact with the tutor and ask questions.
- Will usually come with some form of supporting resources that can be used at any time after the course.
- Always up to date with the latest information and specification.
Cons
- Only lasts one-two days, which may not be a lot of time to retain all the information provided.
- You will need to attend the course at the time stated, no flexibility in this (although you can select a date in advance out of those available).
- You cannot choose your own breaks or repeat sections if needed, you need to work at the courses pace.
Self-Paced UCAT Courses
These types of courses are comprised of pre-made resources that have been curated and organised into a syllabus that applicants can follow at their own pace. These resources can include written guides, workbooks, video tutorials and question banks, all designed to gradually build your UCAT abilities when used effectively.
Pros
- The resources can be used over however many days, weeks or even months that you need them, you choose your own pace.
- Depending on the course you choose, you will often have unlimited access to these resources until the end of the admissions season.
- Some of these resources can be highly interactive, such as dedicated software or platforms to use the included question banks.
- Generally, more topics will be covered and more content will be included than a live course, which will only include content that fits in it’s limited time-frame.
Cons
- Your work will be independent, meaning if you’re stuck or don’t understand a part of the course, you’re going to need to find the solution yourself (or with someone outside of the course).
- The amount of content can be overwhelming for some, although you will typically be guided through it.
- Some content may be out of date if changes to the exam have been made very recently (the UCAT doesn’t frequently change so this hopefully won’t be too much of a problem).
The choice between these styles of course comes down to personal preference at the end of the day. How do feel is the most effective way to study? Do you retain information very quickly? Do you like to engage with other people or ask questions to someone more knowledgeable? Live UCAT courses are perfect for that. Or do you prefer to take information over time? Do you find it easier to re-read information or practice questions individually? Self-Paced courses sound more up your alley. And of course, you may find it better to have a mixture of both. Thankfully, most of the best UCAT courses will offer an extensive mixture of both course types, such as the UCAT Bundle.
What Resources Do You Want From The Course?
We’ve touched on this briefly already, but many of these courses aren’t just a single product. They’re comprised of a variety of components to cover multiple teaching and revision styles. The live course is obviously the major draw for packages that include them, but you’re almost always going to find at least one supplemental resource to provide support before and after the course is finished. These are the most common resources that you can expect to find in the best UCAT courses:
UCAT Workbooks
UCAT Workbooks or Textbooks are pretty helpful things to receive as part of a UCAT course. These may sometimes be written as a companion to the live course, with some courses requiring you to use them during the session. Alternatively, they may be a stand-alone book that can also be purchased separately. Either way, these books will contain plenty of UCAT theory, exam tips, practice questions and worked examples to sink your teeth into.
UCAT Tutorials
These are also the most common format for Self-Paced UCAT courses and are essentially a curated collection of lessons designed to take you through a full syllabus in the same way that a live course might. This could be done via written tutorials or videos and have the benefit of being available on demand, with the ability to pause and rewind whenever needed.
UCAT Question Banks
For the UCAT in particular, preparing through practice is seen by many to be the most effective way to improve your skills. Of course, you would expect a good question bank to contain hundreds or even thousands of questions for each section of the test, along with worked solutions, automatic marking and the ability to sit mock exams.
Bear in mind that the number of questions included isn’t really the most important thing to consider when looking at question banks. In 2020, it was found that on average, students only answered 900 practice questions when preparing for the UCAT. Therefore, the more important thing to consider is the available features and flexibility of the bank. Progress tracking and statistics are particularly helpful features to utilise.
How Long Do You Have To Prepare?
This is certainly a question that will affect your decision-making process, as you’re going to want to get your money’s worth out of the course you choose. Most live courses will run up until mid-to-late September, just in time for the final UCAT testing date of September 29th (6med’s UCAT Crash Course runs until the weekend of the final UCAT testing date). You may benefit from taking these courses closer to your booked testing date, as the information will be fresher in your mind.
For Self-Paced Courses, you’re going to want to dedicate more time to get through everything they have to offer. These courses work best when utilised over a longer period of time in order to space out your learning and dedicate enough time to perfecting each section. While you may not get through every question or read every single page of a workbook, you should be aiming to get through as much as possible to cover as much ground as you can when it comes to your UCAT knowledge and skill.
With that being said, most courses do offer packages designed for quicker learning. They will strip back features or reduce your access time in order to provide you with a UCAT course at a reduced price and with less of a time commitment required. Last-minute cramming isn’t a particularly good way to learn or practice, so these reduced packages work better as supplements to an already effective revision strategy (which you’ve hopefully been working with over the past few months!).
Do You Need UCAT Tuition?
One thing we haven’t mentioned yet is UCAT Tuition, as this is a completely different style of teaching that is separate from most UCAT Courses. The majority of UCAT Courses do not include 1-1 tuition within their packages, but many of the course providers do offer tuition as a separate service (which will sometimes be bundled with their UCAT Courses for an increased price).
Tuition is the most tailored form of UCAT Preparation, as a good tutor will always look to you to determine the areas of study and methods of teaching you prefer. These are 1-1 sessions so you are in complete control of each session, although under the guidance of your tutor’s syllabus. Tuition is typically priced either in blocks or by the hour(although most will require a minimum amount of time to book), so you will have some flexibility with how long you want tuition, as well as the times and dates of sessions.
The key issue here though is the price. While some tuition bundles may be priced slightly cheaper than fully-fleshed-out UCAT courses, that price will only include the tuition hours and one or two supplemental resources. That’s not to say that it isn’t worth the cost, but it’s important to consider that you will likely have to invest in additional resources outside of your tuition hours in order to create the most effective preparation plan. At the end of the day, what you’re paying for is the dedicated guidance of a UCAT expert, which can be the most effective resource of all when used correctly!
Choose the best UCAT support with 6med.
Prepare yourself for the UCAT with comprehensive resources, an expert preparation course and full access to UCAT.Ninja, available as soon as you sign up.
UCAT.Ninja
UCAT.Ninja
UCAT TUTORING BUNDLE
Choose the best UCAT support with 6med.
When you sign up to 6med’s UCAT Tutoring Bundle, you’re getting access to world-class support for medical students who succeeded in the test!
UCAT Crash Course
UCAT Crash Course
Which UCAT Courses are the Best?
Now you know what you’re looking out for, let’s take a look at the leading providers of UCAT Courses to see which one is right for you!
Year Established: 2013
We’ll admit, we’re quite fond of our UCAT offerings! However, we truly believe that the work we have put into creating the best UCAT Course has paid off.
At 6med, we provide all of the options and resources that have been mentioned above within our UCAT Tuition Bundles. There are three tiers of bundle available, in which you’ll get access to:
- Up to 40 hours of one-to-one tuition with a UCAT expert
- The full-day UCAT Crash Course
- 7+ hours of video tutorials within the UCAT Masterclass
- Complete Access to UCAT.Ninja, our dedicated UCAT question bank
- A 300 page UCAT Workbook
- Additional Personal Statement support and resources (Advanced)
- Guaranteed interview or continue for free (Advanced)
UCAT Crash Course
The majority of Live UCAT courses in 2024 are held via a video conference (most likely Zoom), but we felt this limited the engagement with our students (and is just overall a bit boring!) That’s why we launched our brand new UCAT Crash Course via Gathertown! This exciting platform allows for more interactivity and personalisation than ever before.
Create your avatar and enter 6emd’s private teaching space, where you can interact with tutors and peers 1-1 or as a group. You can enjoy your lectures all together and break away into smaller groups for exercises, then have fun during your breaks chatting to other attendees or playing fun mini-games!
Gathertown provides both our tutors and attendees more ways than ever to engage, so we’re confident in saying this is the most fun UCAT Course available!
Year Established: 2009
Medify is definitely one of the most well-known UCAT support providers in the business, but how do their products stack up?
The first thing to note with Medify is that they do not offer any form of Live UCAT Course, all of their support is based on their pre-made resources. While that is fairly limiting, it does mean that their resources are pretty feature-rich. There are no individual products to purchase, so your subscription to Medify will provide you with access to the following:
- 50+ Hours of video tutorials
- 20,000+ Practice Questions
- 22 Mock Papers and 40+ Mini Mocks
That’s a lot of content to get through in time for the UCAT! Subscription lengths can be billed weekly, monthly or annually, allowing for price flexibility.
Year Established: 2017
Medic Mind caters to a wide variety of entrance exams and subjects, with a lot of different options for each. Applicants can access their UCAT Online Course or add-on access to the Live UCAT Day (note that the Live UCAT Day cannot be purchased separately from the Online Course). With the Live Day Package, you’ll gain access to all of this:
- 100+ UCAT tutorials
- 7,000+ Practice Questions
- Regular Live Online Seminars
- Access to the Full-Day Live UCAT Course
Personal Statement/Interview support, and one-to-one tuition are also available to purchase separately for an additional cost.
Year Established: 2014
The Medic Portal have various options available when it comes to its UCAT courses and resources. If you’re looking for just a Live Course, then The Medic Portal is currently offering both virtual and in-person events (at different costs). However, you can also bundle these in with their selection of UCAT Resources with the UCAT Prep Package. Within this package, you’ll find the following:
- 2 - 15 hours of one-to-one tuition
- 10 hours of video tutorials in the UCAT Online Course
- Access to The Medic Portal Question Bank
- Your place in either an online or in-person Live Course
The higher tiers of Prep Package provide unlimited access to all resources until the end of the admissions season, or access to the online course and question bank can be purchased for as few as 4 weeks. 1-1 Tuition hours can also be purchased separately.
Year Established: 2019 (UK)
MedEntry provides both Live and Self-Paced UCAT courses which can be bundled together. Their UCAT Training Event is headed by Dr Ray and is held over two days online. Alongside this, you’ll have access to the following from MedEntry’s Online Learning:
- An interactive curriculum with video guides
- A Question Bank of over 20,000 questions
- Access to the exclusive Medentry App
Access to all of these features is included in the Premium Bundle, with the Comprehensive Bundle offering 10 hours of 1-1 tutoring alongside this.
Year Established: 2013
UniAdmissions is known as the Oxbridge Preparation School, but also offers services relating to Non-Oxbridge Medicine, as well as a dedicated UCAT course. This is by far the most high-end and complete medicine course available, as it features 1-1 tuition as standard, alongside a whole collection of curated resources and a live course. When you sign up for the UCAT course, you get all of the following:
- 10+ hours of 1-1 tuition
- Access to the UniAdmissions portal, which contains the UCAT Academy Course and practice questions
- The Ultimate UCAT Collection (5 in 1 Book)
- Access to the live UCAT Intensive Course
- Weekly Live Enrichment Seminars
Higher-priced courses will provide you with more tuition hours or can be added separately. All of these features are also included within both the Oxbridge and Non-Oxbridge Medicine courses, which give you access to even more tutorials, intensive courses and books, as well as additional tuition hours to cover every part of the medicine application process.
There are even more options than this available out there, so we encourage you to do your own research as well. However, out of the major providers, which one is best? That is, of course, not a question we can answer definitively, as each course offers benefits that may be more valuable to some than others. Here are some of the key pieces of information you should consider when deciding on which course is right for you:
UCAT Course Comparison
Live Course?
Live Course Format
GatherTown
In-Person/ Zoom
In-Person/ Zoom
Online
Online
Online Course
Question Bank
15,000 (via UCAT.Ninja)
20,000
7,000
Thousands
20,000
Mock/Past Papers
Text Books
Tuition Included?
4 – 40 Hrs
2 – 15 Hrs
0 – 10 Hrs
30 Hrs
Tutors from Top 10% of Students?
Not Specified
Length of Access
End of Admissions Season (+12 Months UCAT.Ninja)
12 Months
End of Admissions Season
6 Weeks – Season Long
Up to 12 Months
UCAT Deadline
Price
£149 – £1,299
£182
£129
£383 – £1,174
£35 – £925
£4,000
Guarantees?
Interview Guarantee (Advanced)
Minimum Content Guarantee
Tutors from 97th Percentile Guaranteed
UniAdmissions Quality Guarentee
Live Course?
Live Course Format
GatherTown
Online Course
Question Bank
15,000 + (via UCAT.Ninja)
20,000
Text Books
Tuition Included?
4 – 40 Hrs
Tutors from Top 10% of Students?
Length of Access
End of Admissions Season (+12 Months UCAT.Ninja)
12 Months
Price
£149 – £1,299
£182
Guarantees?
UCAT Retake Guarantee
Minimum Content Guarantee
Live Course?
Live Course Format
In-Person/ Zoom
In-Person/ Zoom
Online Course
Question Bank
7,000
“Thousands”
Text Books
Tuition Included?
2 – 15 Hrs
Tutors from Top 10% of Students?
Not Specified
Length of Access
End of Admissions Season
6 Weeks – Season Long
Price
£129
£383 – £1,174
Guarantees?
Live Course?
Live Course Format
Zoom
Zoom
Online Course
Question Bank
20,000
Mock/Past Papers
Text Books
Tuition Included?
0 – 10 Hrs
30 Hrs
Tutors from Top 10% of Students?
Length of Access
Up to 12 Months
UCAT Deadline
Price
£35 – £925
£4,000
Guarantees?
Tutors from 97th Percentile Guaranteed
UniAdmissions Quality Guarentee
As you can see, there are a lot of factors to consider in your decision-making process, and what’s displayed here isn’t representative of every package each brand provides. These are the most complete courses each of them have available (excluding bundles with tuition hours), so be sure to check out each of their sites to get a better sense of their products and services.
What is the Cheapest UCAT Resource?
You may have already decided that you don’t want or need to commit to a full UCAT course, whether it’s due to time, money or just not requiring it. So we took a look at some of the cheaper options from each provider to see who provides the most value in their courses
Product/Service
UCAT.Ninja Access
Medify Access
Live Course
Question Bank Access
Online Package
Length of Access
12 Months
1 Week
1 Day
4 Weeks
30 Days
Price
£50
£15
£60
£35
£35
Product/ Service
Length of Access
Price
UCAT.Ninja Access
12 Months
£50
Product/ Service
Length of Access
Price
Medify Access
1 Week
£15
Product/ Service
Length of Access
Price
Live Course
1 Day
£60
Product/ Service
Length of Access
Price
Question Bank Access
4 Weeks
£35
Product/ Service
Length of Access
Price
Online Package
30 Days
£35
There are options available for every budget and time frame, so you’ll have access to a high-quality course for a reasonable price no matter how much time you have to study!
Choosing to invest in a UCAT Course isn’t a small decision to make. For the £100s or even £1,000s that you’re potentially going to spend, you’re going to want to get the highest quality course and the most value for your money. After all, this is all for the sake of your future as a doctor, so making the right choice now will pay off big time in the future. We hope that you’ll now be able to make an informed decision with all the information we’ve provided you.
Since you’re already here, and you’ve no doubt seen the many benefits of working with us, we feel that our UCAT Tutoring Bundle may be exactly what you’re looking for in a UCAT Course. You’ve already seen all the great things it comes with, but you may not have seen our Medicine Mastery Bundle, which guarantees you a place in Medical School! That’s a bold statement, but we mean it! Take a look and see how our support can get you on the right track for your future career!
Prepare with the Best, Prepare with 6med!
With our UCAT Bundle, you’ll get a chance to be taught by an expert tutor and gain access to tonnes of resources to get you ready for UCAT success. Our guidance will help get you into the university of your dreams!
UCAT Crash Course
UCAT Crash Course
UCAT TUTORING BUNDLE
Prepare with the Best, Prepare with 6med!
With our UCAT Tutoring Bundle, you’ll get a chance to be taught by an expert tutor and gain access to tonnes of resources to get you ready for UCAT success. Our guidance will help get you into the university of your dreams!
UCAT.Ninja
UCAT.Ninja
