Failed BMAT? Here's Your Recovery Plan

Pro tip: While the test ran, candidates whose performance was affected on the day used the special considerations process through their centre rather than a retake, and Oxford's 2021 admissions report confirms it took that information into account at shortlisting. Access arrangements were requested at registration, with modified question papers for the October 2023 session due by 15 September 2023. Anyone applying to medicine now should book the UCAT through ucat.ac.uk instead, which has its own once-per-cycle rule.

• Preparing for BMAT in the first place
  BMAT was withdrawn after 18 October 2023. Every UK university that used it, including Oxford, Cambridge, Imperial, UCL, Lancaster and Brighton and Sussex, now requires the UCAT. Check the entry requirements page for each course on your UCAS list before you buy any preparation material.
• Leaving questions blank because you are unsure
  Every BMAT question paper printed the instruction that there were no penalties for incorrect responses and that candidates should attempt all questions. Blanks scored zero, guesses scored one in five on average across five-option questions. Shade something on every line before time is called.
• Revising biology and chemistry but skipping physics
  Physics carried 7 of the 27 Section 2 marks, the same as biology and the same as chemistry. Candidates who dropped physics after GCSE routinely lost all seven. Rebuild circuits, half-life and the equation list before you polish biology you already know.
• Treating Section 2 as a knowledge test rather than a speed test
  Twenty-seven questions in 30 minutes is 67 seconds each, with no calculator and no extra paper. The content is age-16 level, so the marks go to whoever can balance an equation or run a mole calculation fastest. Drill arithmetic, not new content.
• Answering Section 1 questions in printed order
  The 2023 paper alternated critical thinking and problem solving irregularly, and a three-step optimisation question sat next to a one-line conclusion question worth the same mark. Sweep for the fast marks first, then return. Sixty minutes across 32 questions gives 1 minute 53 seconds each on average, and some questions genuinely need four.
• Writing a Section 3 essay that refuses to take a position
  The marking criteria rewarded a resolution. Explaining the statement, giving the counter-case and then stopping scored below an essay that resolved the tension. Decide your conclusion in the 5-minute planning window and write towards it.
• Overrunning the one-page Section 3 answer box
  The answer sheet had a fixed single side of A4 and nothing written outside it was marked. Roughly 550 to 600 handwritten words fit. Practise longhand on a real A4 sheet, not on a laptop, so you learn your own word count per page.
• Ignoring handwriting legibility
  Section 3 scripts were scanned and the image was sent to every institution the candidate applied to, then marked by two examiners. An illegible script could not earn content marks and the written English grade suffered as well. Slow down enough to stay readable.
• Assuming a score of 6.0 was needed everywhere
  There was no universal threshold. Oxford ranked applicants on a weighted composite rather than a per-section cut, and its 2021 shortlist mean was 65.8 per cent on that composite while the applicant mean was 53 per cent. Other schools scored sections separately. Check the institution, not the forum.
• Bringing a calculator or a dictionary to the centre
  Both were banned outright, including bilingual dictionaries for candidates testing outside the UK. The instruction appeared on the front page of every section. Bringing one into the room risked being treated as malpractice.

• 3 sections: Aptitude, Scientific Knowledge, Essay
• Section 2 tests GCSE-level science and maths
• Essay must be completed in 30 minutes
• No calculator allowed
• Practice with official past papers
• Required for Oxford, Cambridge, Imperial medicine