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SUBSET OVERVIEW THINGS YOU SHOULD BE CONFIDENT WITH FOR THIS SECTION:
•9 scenarios ü Working out simple mathematical operations
•4 questions/scenario ü Working with proportions, percentages and ratios
•36 questions ü Applying different kinds of average
•24 mins ü Working with fractions and decimals and being able to convert
•40 secs/question between them
ü Converting between different measurement systems quickly
SUBSET PURPOSE ü Solving basic equations
To test your ability to ü Speed, distance, time calculations
interpret data and work out ü Calculating areas and volumes for different shapes
calculations. It’s relevant to ü Interpreting graphs and charts
Medicine & Dentistry as ü Solving money problems
both professions will require Remember: The level of Maths required is only up to GCSE level,
proficiency in drug
calculations and interpreting so you need to make sure you brush up on the easy stuff! If you’re
not 100% confident in anything above, go to Bitesize and fix it.
data from clinical research.

PITFALLS! STRATEGIES!
• Don’t be put off by the context of the question, they’ll
• Take note of whether the question
most likely be on topics you know nothing about, but
tells you to work out something
remember you’re being tested on your mathematical
ability and not your knowledge on the topic! precisely or to approximate – if the
• Beware of typos when using the on-screen calculator – question uses approximate you
can estimate and round numbers
make sure to brush up on your mental maths to limit
to save time
your dependence on the calculator
• Have a look at the answer options
• If you can’t solve a question, just guess & flag! – don’t
waste time, remember each question is worth the same – if they’re very close together
number of points despite varying levels of difficulty you’re going to need to work more
precisely. The further away they
• Read the question first, then look at the data – don’t
are from each other, the more you
become fixated on trying to understand the data!
can afford to round!
• The labels on the graph axis can
TIME-SAVING CALCULATOR TIPS give you a good idea of how
• The on-screen calculator is only very basic, so it will much you can round
carry out calculations in the exact order that you input • Bear in mind whether you’ve over
the numbers – it doesn’t obey BODMAS or under-estimated throughout
• For decimal numbers below 1, you can omit the 0 your working to know whether the
before the decimal place when typing it: save a couple true answer will be higher or
of seconds by typing .01 rather than 0.01 lower than your result
• There isn’t a power function – learn your common • Practice using the on-screen
square and cube numbers! calculator on the UCAT website
• To save a number click M+ and it’ll be saved under MR (you can use the mouse or
– if you need to recall the number press MRC keyboard to control it)
• Draw Venn diagrams for questions
Get used to using and navigating the that have different categories
calculator – don’t practice with a phone
calculator/ a scientific one!
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Extra tip: ”Flagging” is a useful feature you METHOD FOR APPROACHING QR QUESTIONS:
have on the UCAT test interface, but it is
1. Skim the data (5 seconds) and get a general
particularly useful in the QR section because the
gist of what it’s about and how complicated
variation of difficulty between different
it might be to interpret
questions in this subset is huge – try using it
2. Decide whether the question is too complex
when practicing for the harder questions.
and if you’d like to flag
3. Read the question stem (do not look at the
QR is a section that can feel particularly
answer options yet)
frustrating for applicants because many of us
4. Go back to the relevant parts of the data
come from a scientific/mathematical
(you’ll already be familiar with which part to
background and we want to get the answer
go to because you had a brief look earlier)
right. Remind yourself that in this subset it is
5. Quick mental arithmetic is key: use the
speed > accuracy.
calculator and round figures as needed
6. Eliminate any obvious outliers - from looking
at the general trend of the data you should
KEYBOARD SHORTCUTS be able to immediately cross out some
• Alt + C = Calculator answer options
• Alt + N = Next 7. Select the closest answer option/the answer
• Alt + P = Previous option that’s most likely to be right based on
• Alt + F = Flag how you rounded.
• Num Lock = Activate number keyboard 8. If none of the answer options match what
you calculated, just take a guess from those
Consider using the above shortcuts in this you haven’t eliminated, flag and move on –
section as they’ll save you time. Make sure to you can come back to it if you have time.
practice them on the UCAT website’s mock test.

QUICK MATHS RULES TO KNOW

COMPLEX DATA • X:Y = X / Y
Most of the data sets in QR are actually filled • % change = (difference/original) *100
with simple information that’s displayed in a • Speed = distance/time
complex manner. You need to familiarise • Area of a circle = pi * radius ^2
yourself with looking at graphs and charts being • Circumference of circle = pi * diameter
able to quickly notice trends and get the gist of • Area of a triangle = ½ x base x height
them. • First 15 square numbers: 1, 4, 9, 16, 25, 36,
49, 64, 81, 100, 121, 144, 169, 196 and
As well as using QR question sets, another easy 225
way to increase your ability to look at and • First 12 cube numbers: 1, 8, 27, 64, 125,
interpret data is by looking at research papers 216, 343, 512, 729, 1000, 1331, 1728
and trying to quickly interpret the data they
present. The data in these papers will be far
more complex than QR so if you can master UNIT CONVERSIONS
doing them quickly that’ll really help you with Before you start doing your calculation it’s a
this subset. good idea to have a look at the units your
answer options are in, you can then work in
those units from the beginning to make sure you
MENTAL MATHS TRICKS! don’t make a silly mistake by forgetting to
Here are some videos with quick tips on how to convert to the right units at the end.
do various calculations in your head, quickly,
saving you those precious seconds: If you choose to work in different units, make
•Fast multiplication sure to make a note of it on the scratchpad so
•Calculating fractions you don’t forget to convert it back at the end.
•Calculating percentages
•Square roots The questions will expect you to make silly
•Squaring numbers mistakes like this so will have answer options
that match them – don’t be tricked.
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NUMERICAL PREFIXES TO KNOW
• Cent = 100 e.g. 100 centimetres in a metre
• Milli = 1000 e.g. 1000 millimetres in a metre
• Kilo = 1000 e.g. 1000 grams in a kilogram
• Mega = million
• Giga = billion

CONVERSIONS TO KNOW
Length
• 1 m = 100 cm
• 1 cm = 10 mm
• 1 km = 1000 m
• 1 m = 1000 mm

Area
• 1 m2 = 10,000 cm
• 1km2 = 1,000,000m

Mass
• 1 kg = 1000 g

FRACTION, DECIMAL, PERCENTAGE

CONVERSIONS TO KNOW
• 1/20 = 0.05 = 5%
• 1/10 = 0.1 = 10%
• 1/9 = 0.11 = 11%
• 1/8 = 0.125 = 12.5%
• 1/7 = 0.14 = 14%
• 1/6 = 0.17 = 17%
• 1/5 = 0.2 = 20%
• 1/4 = 0.25 = 25%
• 1/3 = 0.33 = 33%
• 1/2 = 0.5 = 50%

AVERAGES

• Mean: add up all the values and

divide the total by how many
there are
• Mode: the most common value
• Median: the middle value when
the numbers are ordered
• Range: difference between the
highest and lowest values

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