The BMAT has now been discontinued. All applicants for undergraduate medicine in the UK will be required to sit the University Clinical Aptitude Test (UCAT) for their application. Check out our wide selection of Free UCAT Guides to get started with your preparation.
In April 2017, the Admissions Testing Service added an optional date to take the BMAT. This year (2018), the optional date is Saturday 1st September 2018, which is why that famous day is known as “BMAT – September”. Check out the official website for more info on this.
Should you take the BMAT in September?
The short answer
Yes, if possible.
The long answer
It makes sense to take the BMAT in September because you’ll have your results before you apply. This means you can take your BMAT score into account when applying. In the past, this wasn’t possible – students taking the BMAT in November take the exam after their UCAS application has been sent, which means the BMAT is a blind test that a lot rides on. Having both your BMAT and UCAT results before applying lets you make the most tactical decision about where to apply.
Who can take the BMAT in September?
The information below was taken from the Admissions Testing Service website. We do our best to keep it up-to-date, but of course, please do check the official website to make sure it’s up-to-date.
| Institution | Course |
|---|---|
| Brighton and Sussex Medical School (B74)* | A100 Medicine |
| Imperial College London (I50) | A100 Medicine A109 Graduate Medicine |
| Lancaster University (L14) | A100 Medicine & Surgery A900 Foundation Year for Medicine & Surgery |
| University College London (U80) | A100 Medicine |
| University of Cambridge (C05) | A100 Medicine |
| University of Leeds (L23) | A100 Medicine A200 Dentistry |
| University of Oxford (O33)** | A101 Graduate Medicine only |
| Keele University (K12)† | A100 Medicine A104 Health Foundation Year |
| Thammasat University: CICM and Dentistry‡ | 642901 Doctor of Medicine (English language) 642902 Doctor of Dental Surgery (bilingual English/Thai) |
| Mahidol University | Medicine |
If I’m taking the BMAT in September, when should I start preparing?
Good question. The first thing to say is that you probably want to get the UCAT out of the way before you take the BMAT. We would suggest taking the UCAT within the first few weeks of the summer holidays (by mid-July ideally). That gives you all of August to focus on the BMAT.
So if you’re serious about the BMAT, we would suggest starting preparation for it as soon as you finish your UCAT (maybe after a 1-2 day break). Ideally this would be in late-July/early-August, which gives you 4+ weeks to prepare for it before the exam on 9th September.
We’ve got some courses running precisely around that time if you’d like to supercharge your BMAT preparation. Check out the Register page to see our dates and venues.
- A place on the BMAT Crash Course
- Our Awesome BMAT Online Course
- 12 Months access BMAT Ninja (Used by 1 in 2 applicants)
- 300-page BMAT workbook
- 5 x Section 3 Essay Edits
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