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March 29, 2024, 09:12:21 am

Author Topic: How to improve on AR for the UCAT?  (Read 1519 times)

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thenuttyprofessor

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How to improve on AR for the UCAT?
« on: January 20, 2021, 03:42:22 pm »
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Hey,

Right now doing UCAT practice, AR is a section I am clueless on. How did people get super high scores? What are some tips and strategies to aid my preparation and solving skills? Do I need to make a pattern list? Does anyone have a pattern list I can use?

Thanks

fun_jirachi

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Re: How to improve on AR for the UCAT?
« Reply #1 on: January 20, 2021, 05:08:42 pm »
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Hey :D

Early on (particularly if you're struggling) go slowly. This gives you extra time to think and helps with the two most common issues with AR - the time constraints and the pattern recognition.

If it helps, by all means make a pattern list. Categorising questions into pattern types helps you reduce the problem a bit (and it is internalised to an extent as well) - it's much the same thing that you do in maths exams and the like. Don't feel the need to do so if it doesn't work, and it may not work for all problems either given that not all patterns of a certain type have similar solutions and some questions may masquerade as questions of a different type. By and large it should still work :)

Common patterns include even/odd, black/white, shapes, literal patterns, and there's quite a few more I can't remember. There are quite a few to jot down.

I think once you're confident enough in your own ability to solve questions (or alternatively 'see' the solution) you'll be fine to go with gradually decreasing time constraints. AR is a confidence thing imo - if you're not confident, you will go back and fret over the questions you've already answered, and the ridiculous time limit will absolutely screw you over for doing so. So just be really really careful with this.

People with super high scores that I know have done it in a variety of ways - (personally I just brute-forced everything because I get patterns?) but one of my friends was super methodical and reduced the problems in the way I described it above. It really doesn't matter which tips or strategies you choose or we suggest as long is it does work - remember these are just suggestions. To start, just slowly work through them, then review why the answers are the answers, and also review your thought process as you get to the answer.

Hope this helps :)
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