UCAT Score Converter: Deciles, Percentiles and What Your Score Means

A UCAT score converter turns your total scaled score, out of 2700, into a decile or percentile, which shows how you performed against everyone who sat the test in the same cycle. The UCAT Consortium publishes the deciles each year, and the key facts on this page list the latest thresholds, so you can read off your position directly. Converting raw practice marks into a scaled score is a different matter: the official practice tests give no score and the Consortium does not publish its scaling, so any raw-to-scaled calculator is an estimate.

How UCAT scoring works

The UCAT gives you a total scaled score from 900 to 2700 and a separate Situational Judgement band from 1 to 4. The total is the sum of three cognitive subtests, each scaled from 300 to 900, and the Situational Judgement result is never added to it.

Raw marks are converted to scaled scores because the subtests have different numbers of questions, so raw marks cannot be compared directly between them. There is no negative marking, so an unanswered question costs the same as a wrong one. Each subtest also starts with a short timed instruction section, which is why the whole test runs to just under two hours.

How to convert a UCAT score into a decile

Find your total in the decile thresholds in the key facts: your decile is the highest threshold your score reaches. A total at or above the 5th-decile figure puts you at or above the median candidate, and a total at or above the 9th-decile figure puts you in the top tenth.

The same method works for each subtest, since the Consortium also publishes the decile thresholds for Verbal Reasoning, Decision Making and Quantitative Reasoning separately. For an exact percentile, the UCAT website's test statistics page has an official percentile look-up for the current cycle's total scores.

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What is a good UCAT score?

A good UCAT score is one that clears the threshold or carries enough weight at the universities you apply to, and that varies widely between medical schools. As a rough guide in terms of the national distribution, a total in the 6th decile or above is above average, the 8th decile or above is strong, and the 9th decile or above is in the top tenth of candidates.

The Situational Judgement band is judged separately. Bands 1 and 2 are the bands most applicants hold, and some universities exclude Band 4 or weigh the band in selection, as the Consortium notes that a growing number of universities use the Situational Judgement Test in their selection.

Universities use the score in different ways:

• Thresholds: some set a minimum total, either fixed and published or set each year from the applicant pool, and usually show previous years' figures on their admissions pages.
• Weighting: others combine the UCAT with academic results, such as GCSE grades, in a points score.
• Marginal use: a few use it mainly to decide between otherwise similar applicants.
• Subtest cut-offs: most look at the total, but some also look at individual subtests.

The UCAT guide covers how medical schools use the result in more detail, and the UCAT Consortium's How Universities use the UCAT page links to every university's own policy.

Can you convert raw practice marks into a scaled UCAT score?

Only approximately. The official UCAT practice tests show which answers were right and wrong, with an explanation for each, but they are not set up to give a score, and the Consortium does not publish the tables it uses to scale raw marks. Any calculator that turns raw practice marks into a scaled score is therefore built on assumptions.

A practice result is still useful if you read it the right way. Track the percentage of marks you get in each subtest across several timed attempts, using the official practice tests and question banks, and watch whether it rises. A higher percentage of raw marks will generally mean a higher scaled score, but the exact scaled figure for a given percentage cannot be known in advance.

Why third-party UCAT score calculators give different answers

Commercial calculators each use their own model, usually a straight-line mapping from raw marks to the 300 to 900 range or a model fitted to their own users' reported results. Two calculators can give the same raw marks scaled scores that differ by tens of points per subtest, and neither can be checked against official data.

Can scores from different years be compared?

Scores from the same cycle can be compared directly, but comparisons across cycles need care. The Consortium notes that mean scores shift between testing years, and when Abstract Reasoning was removed the total range changed, so totals from before that change are not comparable with totals now. The Abstract Reasoning page explains what changed. When a university publishes a previous year's threshold, compare it with the deciles from that same year, then find the equivalent decile in the current table.

When do you get your UCAT score?

Your score report is issued at the test centre before you leave, and the result appears in your UCAT account within 24 hours. The Consortium publishes preliminary deciles during the testing window and final figures after testing ends, and it sends results directly to your UK university choices in early November, so you do not need to add your score to your UCAS application.

Related guides

• How to prepare for the UCAT
• UCAT practice questions and official practice tests
• UCAT dates, registration and fees
• How to apply to UK medical schools
• Medicine super-curricular activities
• University admissions tests in the UK

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