2 Things That Helped Me Score 890 in Abstract Reasoning

March 10, 2021

Applicants' first impression of the UCAT Abstract Reasoning (AR) subtest is usually one of disbelief 😱.

"How do they expect ANYONE to solve a pattern and choose the correct answer within 13 seconds?!?!" - Everyone seeing AR for the first time

I said the same thing to myself when I first saw AR and, fast forward a few months, I ended up getting 890 in AR!

The truth is that there is no magic pill 💊 you can take to make yourself better at AR. What you can do, however, are the following 2 things that I did to go from 😱 to 😎 when it came to AR.

1. Keeping a mistakes book 📕

No one likes being reminded about their mistakes except for those that ace the UCAT AR section ✅ .

The rationale behind a mistakes book is simple:

1. ✍️ Record the most difficult patterns you come across,

2. 📖 Revise the book as much as you can and,

3. 🤓 Never be tricked by the same pattern again!

I remember in the actual UCAT, I came across 2 patterns (which had 10 associated questions) that I recorded in my mistakes book. Thanks to the book, I whizzed through all 10 of those questions 😎.

2. Frequently doing Abstract Reasoning questions, even if it's a tiny, microscopic amount 🔬

Good pattern recognition comes from repeated exposure to AR questions. The more you're exposed to AR questions, the better you'll be at AR 💪.

Now this doesn't mean you mindlessly 🤯 attempt thousands of AR questions and hope for the best. What it does mean is that you should attempt at least some (this could be as little as 10 or 20) AR questions as frequently as you can while sustaining a sensible approach to completing the questions.

By sensible, I mean:

1. 😤 Giving the question a solid attempt

2. 😮 Checking why you got a question right (to see if your thinking was correct) or wrong (to see what you can improve on next time/add to your mistakes book if it's an especially hard pattern)

I personally did ~10-15 minutes of AR before going to bed 🛏 on most nights for 2 months.

These are simple things you can do to skyrocket your AR score 🚀!

I haven't recommended anything outrageous. These are things that everyone can do to improve their AR scores.

I hope I gave everyone something to add to their night routine 😈!