Wrapping up QR

Use the Medify Top Tips for Quantitative Reasoning in every question:

1. Find the goal: Always read the question first before you look at the data so you know what to solve for.
2. Select the relevant data: Look at the data with the goal in mind and pick out the essential data you need to solve for the goal.
3. Set up and solve: Take a moment to think before you calculate and see the required steps. Then, use the calculator to follow the steps with speed and accuracy.
4. Confirm and click: Be sure to check your answer matches the question before you click it and move on. Beware of wrong answer traps that omit a step, make a common error or fail to answer the question.

Good pacing is essential for top QR scores. No matter what happens, you must keep moving through the questions and never linger too long on any one question.

QR questions challenge your mental maths abilities. You must be ready to turn words into maths and select the right data before you use the calculator.

Build your QR score with a brisk pace on simpler questions. This will allow you more time for complex questions that you flag for review on a second pass.

Above all, you must be an active test-taker and ensure you take control of the test to answer the most questions in the shortest time. This approach is unlike other maths exams, but you can improve with practice.

Take steps as you practise QR so you can develop your skills to save time in the section.

Always check the question first to find the goal before you go to the visual data and select the relevant numbers you need to use.

Take a moment or two to set up the steps in your head, then solve using the onscreen calculator.

Take another moment to compare your calculated value to the question and confirm that it makes sense as an answer in terms of logic, scale and units.

Use the 3 E’s to help save time where possible in Quantitative Reasoning.

• Estimate: Work with simpler, close values such as rounded decimals or omitting factors like 1,000 or 1,000,000. Remember to account for your estimate when clicking an answer.
• Eyeball: Make a rough visual comparison using broad approximations rather than precise values.
• Eliminate: Reject answers that are far too large or too small, or that otherwise do not fit the data and the goal. A good option if you need to make a quick guess.

You can use the 3 E’s before or after calculating, or sometimes instead of calculating. The key is to spot any shortcut that will let you minimise maths on Test Day.

You must train yourself to answer almost all QR questions in 30 seconds or less.

If a question is very simple, try to be very fast while maintaining focus and accuracy.

If a question seems difficult or time-consuming, be quick to flag for review without attempting to solve.

If you answer the vast majority of questions in under 30 seconds, you will have a few minutes leftover to return to flagged questions.

The time pressure can be especially intense in Quantitative Reasoning and you may find yourself running out of time despite your best efforts.

If time is running out, try the following tactics:

• Work quicker than usual: No more than 15 seconds per question. This will allow you to get back on track ASAP without the lack of time snowballing, but you may need to guess based on partial work.
• Eliminate answers which are obviously too large or small. A guess from 2 remaining answer choices has a much better chance of success than a guess from all 5 answer choices. This may feel awkward, but it’s better to make a quick rough guess and click an answer than to leave a question blank.
• Always click an answer choice for every question. There is no negative marking, so you are only assured to lose points if you don’t click an answer.
• If a question looks long, confusing or complex, make a guess and flag for review.

You can’t know what will show up on Test Day, so you should prepare for running low on time now.

Once you are comfortable attempting all the questions in a practice session in 30 seconds each, try to push yourself to answer questions in 15 or 20 seconds whenever possible.

For example, a question with one or two calculations may not need a full 30 seconds. Look for opportunities to trim seconds and drive towards faster QR pacing.

You may need to push further and answer some questions in under 15 seconds if running out of time. Preparing for tight QR timing will make you more comfortable with picking up the pace on Test Day.

Remember that each question is worth one mark – the difficulty of a question does not change how much it contributes to your overall score.

Flag and skip difficult questions in order to maximise your score by locking in as many of the easier marks available as you can before spending time on the hardest questions.

It’s better to miss one mark on a harder question that you saved for the end than to miss out several marks on simpler questions because you attempted the harder question first.

From now until Test Day:

• Practice to refine your Quantitative pacing.
• No more than 30 seconds per question on your first pass through the section.
• Get very familiar with the common three-part formulae: mean, speed, percentage and percentage change.
• Develop your ability to turn words into maths with both speed and accuracy.

As you revise, try to distinguish mental maths from calculator use.

You must find the goal in the question stem, then mentally set up the steps needed to solve for the goal.

With practice, you can learn to set up instinctively based on the maths concept and the sequence of operations to solve for the unknown value.

At its most basic level, a QR question is simply a matter of doing the right operations in the right order.

Ask yourself: Do I need to add, subtract, multiply or divide?

Allow yourself to think before you calculate to unleash faster calculations.

Practise using the number pad on a desktop computer keyboard with the onscreen calculator.

Even if you must do some UCAT revision in a computer lab or at a public library – it will help to get acclimated to the test tools available on Test Day.

It’s fine to do much of your revision on a laptop, tablet or mobile – but be sure to use a pen and scrap paper to simulate the rough working you will do in the QR section.

As you finish each Quantitative question, take a moment to:

• Check your answer for the correct units.
• Check that your answer answers the question.
• Watch out for a final step that you might have missed out.

Eliminate wrong answers as needed to save time or to make a quick guess.

You may need to eliminate:

• Answers that are clearly too large or too small.
• Answers in the wrong units or that omit a unit conversion.
• Answers that are in the wrong scale, such as incorrect powers of 10.
• Fraction or ratio answers that are greater than 1 when they should be less than 1.
• Fraction or ratio answers that are less than 1 when they should be greater than 1.

Build your QR score through consistent pacing.

For most questions, that means 30 seconds or less.

Try to work even quicker on shorter, simpler questions.

Use any leftover time to maximise marks on the questions you flagged for review.