UCAT Scores 2026: Averages, Percentiles and What's Good

How the UCAT is scored

The UCAT has three cognitive subtests (Verbal Reasoning, Decision Making and Quantitative Reasoning) and a Situational Judgement Test. According to the UCAT test format and scoring page, raw marks on each cognitive subtest are converted to a scaled score from 300 to 900, because the subtests have different numbers of questions. The three scaled scores are added to give your total score of 900–2700. The Situational Judgement Test is reported separately as a band from 1 to 4, with Band 1 the highest.

There is no negative marking, so a wrong answer costs you nothing more than a blank. You get a copy of your score report before you leave the Pearson VUE test centre, and it appears in your UCAT account within about 24 hours.

Scores from 2025 onwards are out of 2700. UCAT notes that Abstract Reasoning was removed in 2025, so 2025 and 2026 scores are not directly comparable with older totals out of 3600. If you're reading an older forum post with a “good score” of 2800, that is why. For the full timing of each section, see our UCAT format guide.

UCAT 2026 average scores

The UCAT Consortium publishes final averages once testing ends. Its 2026 test statistics cover tests taken up to 24 September 2026, the last test day, and are based on 42,359 tests. The 2025 figures are shown for comparison.

Two things stand out. First, the 2026 average total rose by 27 points on 2025, mostly from Decision Making and Quantitative Reasoning. Second, Verbal Reasoning averages are much lower than Quantitative Reasoning averages in both years. That matters when you judge your own subtest scores: a 650 means something different in each section.

UCAT score to percentile: the 2026 deciles

UCAT publishes deciles rather than a full conversion chart. The 1st decile is the score at the 10th percentile, the 2nd decile is the 20th percentile, and so on. Here are the official 2026 deciles for the total score and each subtest.

1. Find the two decile scores your total sits between. A total of 2100 falls between 2050 (7th) and 2140 (8th).
2. Read off the percentiles. 2100 is roughly the 70th–80th percentile, so you scored higher than about seven in ten 2026 candidates.
3. For an exact figure, use the percentile look-up box on the UCAT test statistics page, which converts a 2026 total into a percentile.

The subtest columns show why raw subtest scores can mislead. A Verbal Reasoning score of 670 was at the 80th percentile in 2026, but the same 670 in Quantitative Reasoning was only the median. If one subtest looks low next to the others, check it against its own column before you worry.

UCAT also points out that some universities generate their own percentiles from their own applicants, which can look quite different from the national figures.

Situational Judgement bands in 2026

The Situational Judgement Test has no scaled score. Instead, UCAT places you in one of four bands and gives a short description of your performance, for example that Band 1 candidates showed judgement similar to the expert panel in most cases. Here's how candidates were spread across the bands.

Fewer candidates reached Band 1 in 2026 than in 2025. Band 4 matters most: the University of Edinburgh says applicants with a Band 4 will not be considered, and Nottingham says the same for interview selection. You can practise this section with our UCAT Situational Judgement practice questions.

What is a good UCAT score?

There is no single answer. UCAT says plainly that no single score guarantees selection and that not all universities have a minimum score. A useful way to think about it is in two steps: where you sit nationally, and what your chosen universities do with the score.

• Above about 1920: better than half of 2026 candidates (the 5th decile was 1920).
• Above about 2140: roughly the top 20% in 2026.
• Above about 2250: roughly the top 10% in 2026.
• SJT Band 1 or 2: where 55% of 2026 candidates landed. Band 4 can rule you out at some universities.

For a sense of how competitive some courses are, the University of Oxford publishes its own figures. In the 2025 admissions round (for 2026 entry), the mean overall UCAT score was 2217.5 for all applicants to A100 Medicine, 2377.5 for those shortlisted and 2407.1 for those who received offers. For context, 2220 was the 9th-decile total for all 2025 test-takers, so the average Oxford applicant was already around the national top 10%.

Other medical schools set a fixed minimum instead. Edinburgh's minimum UCAT total for 2027 entry is 1850, which happens to equal the 2026 4th-decile score, so roughly six in ten 2026 candidates reached it. Edinburgh also gives eligible widening access applicants an uplift to their total score, so read its page in full if that might apply to you.

How universities use UCAT scores

The UCAT Consortium explains that universities use the test in different ways. Some set a threshold score, which may be fixed or change every year. Others weight the UCAT alongside academic results such as GCSEs. Most look at the total, but some look at individual subtests, and an increasing number use the SJT, sometimes to exclude lower bands. Here's what four universities say on their own pages.

Nottingham's published scale is a good example of a university looking beyond the total. Each cognitive subtest earns points by score range, with up to 40 points for the cognitive subtests and up to 10 for the SJT.

Under that scale, a Verbal Reasoning score of 710 is worth more to a Nottingham applicant than the same score in Quantitative Reasoning, because Verbal Reasoning points are doubled. This is why it pays to read each university's page before you finalise your choices.

What happens to your score now

You don't send your UCAT result to anyone. UCAT delivers results directly to your chosen UK universities in early November, after UCAT matches your details with UCAS, and universities only accept results provided directly by the UCAT Office. Oxford even asks you not to put your score on your UCAS application, because interviewers don't see it.

If you sat the UCAT in 2026, your score is for 2027 entry (or deferred 2028 entry). You can only test once per year, but UCAT says there is no penalty for taking it again in a later year. If you're planning a future attempt, start with our free UCAT practice test and the UCAT test hub, and see our guide to UK admissions tests for international students if you're applying from abroad.

Frequently asked questions

Sources

Every source below was accessed on the listed date. Pages — especially department admissions pages — change without notice; the links go to the live versions.

1. Test Statistics 2026 — UCAT Consortium. Accessed 2026-10-01.
2. Test Statistics 2025 — UCAT Consortium. Accessed 2026-10-01.
3. UCAT Test Format and Scoring — UCAT Consortium. Accessed 2026-10-01.
4. UCAT Results — UCAT Consortium. Accessed 2026-10-01.
5. How UK universities use the UCAT — UCAT Consortium. Accessed 2026-10-01.
6. UCAT Frequently Asked Questions — UCAT Consortium. Accessed 2026-10-01.
7. UCAT (Medicine requirements) — University of Oxford, Medical Sciences Division. Accessed 2026-10-01.
8. Medicine: Shortlisting Process and Admissions Statistics — University of Oxford, Medical Sciences Division. Accessed 2026-10-01.
9. The University Clinical Aptitude Test (UCAT) — University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh Medical School. Accessed 2026-10-01.
10. Undergraduate medicine selection process — University of Nottingham, School of Medicine. Accessed 2026-10-01.
11. Medicine (MB BChir) — University of Cambridge. Accessed 2026-10-01.

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