How is UCAT Scored
How is UCAT scored? What UCAT results are required by Australian and New Zealand Universities?
If you’re thinking about a career in medicine or dentistry in Australia or New Zealand, chances are you’ll need to sit the UCAT ANZ (University Clinical Aptitude Test). Understanding how the UCAT is scored can help you prepare more effectively. Here's a simple breakdown:
1. Four Sections – Different Scoring
As of 2025, the UCAT ANZ is made up of four sections:
- Verbal Reasoning
- Decision Making
- Quantitative Reasoning
- Situational Judgement
Each section tests different skills and is scored separately.
2. All Sections Use a Numerical Score
The three sections (Verbal, Decision, Quantitative) are each scored on a scale from 300 to 900. That means:
- The total score for these four sections ranges from 900 to 2700.
- Most students score somewhere between 1650 and 2250.
Each question is usually worth 1 mark, but some questions in Decision Making can be worth 2 marks or allow partial credit.
3. Situational Judgement Is Scored Separately
This section is about ethics and decision-making in real-life scenarios. It’s scored out of 900, which is then converted into a percentile score, which is seen by the universities to which the applicant may have applied.
4. No Penalties for Wrong Answers
You won’t lose marks for getting a question wrong—so it’s better to guess than to leave an answer blank.
5. Your Final Score
When you finish the UCAT, your score report will show:
- A separate score for each cognitive section
- A total score (sum of the four cognitive sections)
- Your Situational Judgement percentile
- Sometimes, you'll also see percentile rankings to compare your performance to other test-takers
How UCAT ANZ universities will use the test
UCAT results are made available before most of the university applicationdeadlines, and you should use them to help inform youruniversitychoices, otherwise, you might be wasting an application.
Our universities will provide information on their websites regarding application deadlines and how they use the test in admissions.
For some, the UCAT score is a significant factor in their consideration of applications. For others, it may be a less significant factor or only used in marginal situations. Most universities consider the total score (i.e., the score after each of the cognitive subtest scores has been added together). Some, however, do look at individual subtest scores and may even have a cut-off score for a particular subtest.
Some universities have a threshold score that candidates have to achieve in order to be considered further in their admission processes. This score is often determined each year, but universities will usually indicate on their website the threshold scores that have been used in previous years.
Other universities use the UCAT alongside factors such as academic achievement and interview performance. The factor may be significant or may contribute a small amount to the final outcome.
Some universities use the score (sometimes in addition to the above uses) to discriminate between candidates who have ‘scored’ equally at some point in the process. The UCAT score provides an additional way of ranking such candidates in order to decide who can proceed to the next stage.
A small number of universities use the test to provide opportunities to candidates who perhaps would not have progressed to interview (for example) using traditional selection methods. This may advantage candidates who have not achieved the highest academic score but have performed particularly well in the UCAT.