Jamie Thannoo FOR decades, those with medical |
Admission Test,” Dr Boyapati said. One benefit of the section was that |
|||||
aspirations have been required to |
it asked participants to assess visuals |
|||||
demonstrate their abilities to rotate |
rather than handle large amounts of |
|||||
black dots and other miscellaneous |
text, meaning those who spoke Eng- |
|||||
geometric shapes with their minds. |
lish as a second language were less |
|||||
The skill is meant to demonstrate |
disadvantaged. |
|||||
that they had the intellectual chops to |
With the first UCAT test under the |
|||||
make it through medical school. |
new approach coming soon, he said |
|||||
But no more. |
students were studying earlier, which |
|||||
Late last year, the organisation |
was necessary for the skills tested by |
|||||
behind the University Clinical Apti- |
the remaining sections, which will |
|||||
tude Test( UCAT) said it was ditch- |
now have more questions. |
|||||
ing the abstract reasoning component |
What about that wider question: |
|||||
which assesses the ability of candidates to analyse visual patterns. |
Which figure completes the statement?* |
does UCAT as a whole determine who will perform well at medical school? |
||||
It turns out that you can be |
A systematic review of the UK |
|||||
coached to do it well, thereby under- |
latter an attempt to measure a candi- |
version( UKCAT) published in 2021 |
||||
mining the general philosophy underpinning UCAT: that it can measure elements of human intelligence |
Dr Ray Boyapati. |
date’ s grasp of medical ethics. There is no explanation as to why it has taken UCAT so long to discover |
in BMJ Open found:“ The results indicate that UKCAT scores predict performance in medical school |
|||
which do not benefit from a posh |
that analysing shapes was not fit for |
assessments. |
||||
education. |
predicting candidate performance |
coachable compared to the other cog- |
purpose. |
“ The relationship is generally |
||
And perhaps more importantly, it |
at university.” |
nitive subtests”. |
But for Dr Ray Boyapati, founder |
weak, although noticeably stronger |
||
does not predict whether you will do |
It said his- |
It means that |
of MedEntry, one of the many com- |
for both the UKCAT total score and |
||
|
well at medical school either.
A statement on the UCAT Consortium website, says:“ Researchers have consistently shown weaker predictive and incremental validity of the Abstract Reasoning subtest compared
|
torical data had shown that candidate performance had increased, and response times |
‘ It has been a part of intelligence testing for generations.’ |
UCAT, which is taken by around 12,000 Australian students each year, will be restricted to ver- |
panies which provide professional coaching to pass the UCAT, the change was one of the biggest surprises in the history of the system.
“ This kind of non-verbal reasoning test has been a part of intelligence
|
the verbal reasoning subtest. There is some evidence that UKCAT continues to predict performance throughout medical school.”
Whether it predicts who will actually make a good doctor is not
|
|
to the other subtests.“ That means the subtest is not |
decreased, over the past 10 years, with the nature |
bal reasoning, decision-making, quantitative reason- |
testing for generations, whether it’ s Mensa testing or the old Undergrad- |
addressed. BMJ Open 2021; 22 Jan. |
||||||
as effective as the other subtests in |
of the subtest making it“ more |
ing and situational judgements, the |
uate Medicine and Health Sciences |
* The correct answer is A. |
||||||