What is a Good UCAT ANZ Score?

2 months ago by Robert
Students who sit UCAT ANZ receive their UCAT score report on the same day, often within an hour of sitting the test. Students will be notified via email once their UCAT score report is available. The format of UCAT scores can be confusing, and it can be difficult to know what is a ‘good’ UCAT ANZ score. This blog answers some common questions about UCAT ANZ scores.
What will my UCAT Score Report look like?
Your UCAT score report will be in the following format:
Your scores in each of the four cognitive subtests (UCAT Verbal Reasoning, UCAT Decision Making, UCAT Quantitative Reasoning and UCAT Abstract Reasoning) are added together to form an overall UCAT cognitive subtest score, which ranges from 1200 to 3600. You will also receive a separate score for UCAT Situational Judgement, ranging from 300-900.
How are UCAT ANZ scores calculated?
UCAT ANZ scores are calculated by converting the number of questions you got right into a ‘scaled score’. Scaled scores range from 300-900 in each subtest. Pearson VUE do not publicly release details of how they calculate scaled scores, but they use statistical tools involving IRT (Item Response Theory). For more information, check out our blogs on UCAT scoring.
What is a good UCAT ANZ score?
Ultimately, UCAT scores are a comparison of your own performance against others sitting UCAT. This means that achieving a ‘good score’ means performing well in UCAT compared to others.
The 2023 UCAT percentile calculator is available at https://www.ucat.edu.au/results/test-statistics/
It shows that you needed to score above 2990 to achieve the 90th percentile.
Interim statistics are available for 2023 at https://www.ucat.edu.au/media/1537/preliminary-ucat-anz-statistics-for-2023.pdf
Detailed statistics for 2023 will be available soon.
The 2023 UCAT ANZ statistics shows how each decile converted to overall cognitive scaled scores in UCAT:
Percentile |
Total UCAT cognitive scaled score |
90th+ |
2980+ |
80th |
2830 |
70th |
2710 |
60th |
2610 |
50th |
2530 |
40th |
2450 |
30th |
2360 |
20th |
2260 |
10th |
2130 |
What UCAT ANZ score do I need to get into medicine?
At Auckland University, UCAT is weighted at 15% of your overall score (it is worth approximately one paper). At Otago, a minimum threshold must be reached for each subtest.
You should aim to get an overall percentile rank of 80+ in UCAT to have a high probability of getting into one of the New Zealand medical schools. The precise UCAT score required depends on your GPA, interview performance (at Auckland) and your entry category (lower UCAT scores required for Maori/Pacifica, rural and low decile school students).
In general, for standard applicants to medical courses in Australia, students need to be in the top 10% of those sitting UCAT (>2990 in 2023).
Where can I get more information?
You can find UCAT ANZ test statistics at:
https://www.ucat.edu.au/results/test-statistics/
You can find information about how medical schools will use UCAT in our blog:
https://www.medentry.co.nz/blog/how-will-medical-schools-use-ucat