If Medicine or Dentistry is your target course, the UCAT is almost certainly the admissions test you'll need -- it's the most widely required of the five UK admissions tests, used by nearly every UK medical school, and it now covers Oxford and Cambridge too, which is a real change from what older advice online may still say.
Who requires it
The UCAT is a compulsory entry requirement at the great majority of UK medical and dental schools, including University of Cambridge, University of Oxford, Imperial College London, UCL, King's College London, University of Edinburgh, University of Bristol, University of Glasgow, University of Warwick, and University of Nottingham, alongside dozens of other UK Medicine and Dentistry programs. If you're applying to almost any UK medical school as a US student, assume you need to check the UCAT requirement -- it's the exception-free default for this subject, not one option among several.
Oxford and Cambridge are relatively recent additions to that list: both moved from the now-discontinued BMAT to the UCAT starting with the 2024 entry cycle, alongside every other former BMAT medical school. What changed, and why it matters if you've read older BMAT-focused prep advice covers that transition in full.
What's actually in the test
The UCAT runs just under two hours, with no breaks between sections, across four separately timed subtests:
- Verbal Reasoning (44 questions, 22 minutes) -- critically evaluating written information.
- Decision Making (35 questions, 37 minutes) -- logical reasoning and judgment with complex information; a calculator is allowed here.
- Quantitative Reasoning (36 questions, 26 minutes) -- critically evaluating numerical information; a calculator is allowed here too.
- Situational Judgement (69 questions, 26 minutes) -- understanding of real-world clinical and professional scenarios.
The three cognitive subtests (Verbal Reasoning, Decision Making, Quantitative Reasoning) are each scaled from 300-900, for a combined score out of 900-2700. Situational Judgement is scored separately, in four performance bands. There's no penalty for a wrong answer on any subtest, so leaving a question blank only costs you the marks you'd have had a chance at.
Dates, registration, and cost for 2027 entry
For 2027 entry, you sit the UCAT between 13 July and 24 September 2026, and only once per cycle. Account creation opens 20 May 2026, booking opens 23 June 2026, and the booking deadline is a firm 16 September 2026 with no exceptions. The test is delivered through Pearson VUE centres in the UK and 130+ other countries, and an online-proctored option (OnVUE) exists if traveling to a physical test centre is difficult -- worth checking directly if you're US-based and want to avoid an in-person centre.
The fee is £70 for a UK-based sitting or £115 internationally, which is what a US-based test-taker should expect to pay. A bursary scheme waives the fee entirely for eligible UK candidates, but -- as with the LNAT -- there's no equivalent waiver built in for a US-based applicant.
What this means for you
- Assume UCAT applies to your UK Medicine or Dentistry application by default -- it's required almost everywhere, including at Oxford and Cambridge now.
- The booking deadline (16 September) is firm and comes before most UCAS deadlines -- don't wait until closer to your UCAS submission to book.
- If you're US-based, check whether OnVUE's online-proctored option is available for your situation before assuming you need to travel to an in-person centre.
- Ignore any prep material built entirely around the BMAT -- see our explainer on the BMAT's discontinuation if you've come across it and aren't sure whether it still applies to you.
For how a UK Medicine degree is viewed if you plan to practice in the US afterward, see our breakdown of UK medicine degree recognition for US practice.