Testing the test - new study sheds light on medical school admissions

A clinical aptitude test originally pioneered by The University of Nottingham has been proven to be a significant predictor of performance in medical students. The UKCAT was launched in 2006 in response to a need to widen access to medical education and provide a supplementary assessment in the context of so-called A level grade inflation. The test has become a market leader in the selection process and is now used by 26 out of the 32 medical and dental schools in the UK. Now new research into its fairness and effectiveness, published in the open access journal BMC Medicine , has revealed that the UKCAT is a powerful indicator of performance of medical students in their first year examinations. Fair competition. The collaborative study, 'UKCAT-12', examined 4,811 students in 12 medical schools using the UKCAT from 2006, when it was first launched, to 2008. First year medical school exam results from these cohorts were available in 2008 to 2010.