Medical students in UK to face computer test

Many students applying to university in UK to study medicine or dentistry will be required to undergo a 90-minute computer aptitude test as part of their course application. The UK Clinical Aptitude Test (UKCAT), which is being developed by a consortium of universities with testing company Pearson VUE, will affect students applying to 24 medical schools nationwide. The UKCAT will feature verbal reasoning, numerical reasoning, abstract reasoning and problem solving questions; it will not cover academic subjects. The exam will not necessarily have a pass mark, but results will be used by each medical school as part of the overall assessment of the candidate. "One of the things the admission staff are anxious to gain hold of is some other measure they can use other than academic excellence," Professor Johnson, head of the UKCAT consortium and sub-dean for admissions at Nottingham University's medical school said, "We don't believe that just academic excellence will make a good doctor." There were advantages for the test being carried out on a computer - the test is generated from a large bank of questions, from which students can practice. Results can also be processed quickly. The tests will start this summer, for candidates hoping to enter medicine or dentistry schools in 2007. Students will be able to book the test online, choosing to take it in one of 150 centres over a two and a half month period. Click here to read more.

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