Can you use a calculator in UCAT Decision Making?

Yes. A basic on-screen calculator is available in Decision Making and Quantitative Reasoning, but it cannot do scientific functions. At a test centre you also get an A4 laminated notebook and a pen for working, which is where logic grids and Venn sketches go. Practise with the calculator in the official Tour Tutorial and practice tests so you know how it behaves before the day.

What does some mean in UCAT Decision Making?

The Consortium's Decision Making tutorial defines some as more than one but less than all. So if a premise says some students play chess, you know at least two do and at least one does not. That is stricter than reading some as at least one. The same tutorial defines most as a majority, few as less than half and not all as anywhere from 1% to 99%.

Do you need maths or formal logic for UCAT Decision Making?

No specialist knowledge is needed. The Consortium says you do not need mathematical or logical reasoning terminology, and that the questions use practical, everyday reasoning with statistical information. It does recommend brushing up on Venn diagrams and probability, including multiple and conditional probability, because those question types use them directly.

Will UCAT Decision Making be the same in the 2027 test?

No changes for 2027 had been announced when we checked in October 2026. The Consortium says registration and booking instructions for the UCAT 2027 will be published in March 2027, so check its test format page then. The last big change came in 2025. Until then, prepare for the current format of 35 questions in 37 minutes. In 2026, testing ran from 13 July to 24 September.

UCAT Decision Making: Question Types, Timing and Strategy

Q: What is a good UCAT Decision Making score?

In the 2026 test the average Decision Making score was 640. A score of 710 was at the 80th percentile and 760 at the 90th, so about a fifth of candidates scored above 710 and about a tenth above 760. In 2025 the average was 628. Universities use the UCAT in different ways, so check how each school you are considering uses it.

The basics

What UCAT Decision Making tests, and why medical and dental schools use it

This is one of four UCAT section guides, alongside Verbal Reasoning, Quantitative Reasoning and Situational Judgement. For the whole test, from booking to an eight-week plan, start with the UCAT prep guide. UCAT prep guide

Decision Making is one of the four subtests in the UCAT (University Clinical Aptitude Test), which a consortium of UK universities uses to help select applicants for medicine and dentistry. The UCAT Consortium, which runs the test, says this subtest assesses how well you apply logic to reach a decision or conclusion, evaluate arguments and analyse statistical information.

You do not need formal logic or advanced statistics. The Consortium's tutorial says no knowledge of mathematical or logical reasoning terminology is required, because the questions use practical, everyday reasoning. Questions can refer to text, charts, tables, graphs or diagrams, and each one stands alone.

Why it matters for both courses: the Consortium explains that doctors and dentists often make decisions in complex situations, which takes problem solving and the ability to assess risk and deal with uncertainty. Applicants for medicine (MBBS or MBChB) and dentistry (BDS) sit the same subtest, so everything in this guide applies to both.

UCAT Decision Making at a glance, as set in the 2026 test
Questions	35, each one standalone. In 2025, 31 counted towards your score and 4 were unscored trial questions mixed in with them.
Time	37 minutes, after a separately timed instruction screen of 1 minute 30 seconds. That averages about 63 seconds a question.
Answer formats	Multiple choice with one correct answer, or five statements that you mark Yes or No by dragging and dropping with the mouse.
Marks	1 mark for a single-answer question. 2 marks for a five-statement question, or 1 mark if your set is partly correct. No marks are taken off for wrong answers.
Score	Raw marks become a scaled score from 300 to 900. It is added to your Verbal Reasoning and Quantitative Reasoning scores for a total out of 2700.
Tools	A basic on-screen calculator with no scientific functions and a flag for review button. At a test centre you are also given an A4 laminated notebook and a pen; the online (OnVUE) version of the test has its own note-taking rules.
With approved extra time	46 minutes 15 seconds with 25% extra time, 49 minutes 20 seconds with 33%, and 55 minutes 30 seconds with 50%.

Decision Making changed in 2025. When Abstract Reasoning was removed, it went from 29 questions in 31 minutes to 35 questions in 37 minutes. The Consortium warns that older commercial and online advice may now be wrong, so check any timing you read against its own test format page. UCAT test format and scoring

Question types

The six UCAT Decision Making question types

The Consortium's own tutorial names six types. Two are answered as five Yes or No statements; the other four are multiple choice with one correct answer.

The six question types, how you answer them and how many scored questions of each the 2025 test used
Question type	How you answer	What it asks you to do	Scored questions in 2025
Syllogisms	Five statements, Yes or No (2 marks)	Decide which conclusions must follow from a short set of premises	30 across five test forms, about 6 per test
Interpreting information	Five statements, Yes or No (2 marks)	Decide which conclusions follow from a passage, table, chart or graph	25, about 5 per test
Logical puzzles	One answer (1 mark)	Use clues to work out what must, or might, be true	25, about 5 per test
Recognising assumptions	One answer (1 mark)	Pick the strongest argument for or against a proposal	20, about 4 per test
Venn diagrams	One answer (1 mark)	Read a Venn diagram, turn a passage into one, or choose the diagram that fits a set of statements	35, about 7 per test
Probabilistic and statistical reasoning	One answer (1 mark)	Judge how likely an outcome is from short statistical information	20, about 4 per test

Counts are the scored questions across all five 2025 test forms, from the 2025 UCAT Technical Report; the per-test figures divide by five. Every test also held 4 unscored trial questions.

That mix matters for your marks. On the 2025 figures, a typical test had about 11 five-statement questions worth up to 22 marks, which is more than half of the 42 marks available from scored questions. They were also the harder kind: the technical report found the drag-and-drop questions more difficult than the multiple-choice ones.

Syllogisms: test every statement on its own

You get a few premises, sometimes about made-up things, then five conclusions to mark Yes or No. Mark Yes only if the conclusion must be true whenever the premises are true. A conclusion that is merely possible, or that sounds sensible, is a No. Pay close attention to quantifying words such as all, some, none and only, which the tutorial defines: see the next section.

Interpreting information: only what the data shows

You read a passage, table, chart or graph and mark five conclusions Yes or No. The Consortium's advice is to use only the information given and not to judge a conclusion by how plausible it sounds. Rounding numbers can help you check a claim quickly. Watch for conclusions that go beyond the data, such as a cause the graph never shows.

Logical puzzles: draw a grid, then check must against might

Clues in text, a table or a diagram lead to one correct answer. Note whether the question asks what must be true or what might be true, and rule out options that cannot be true. The Consortium notes that candidates often draw a grid, starting from the facts they are given.

Recognising assumptions: choose the strongest argument

You get a proposal, such as whether something should be banned, and four arguments that each say Yes or No with a reason. The Consortium says strong arguments connect directly to the subject, while weak ones rely on assumption or opinion. Put your own views aside: the right answer is the best-supported argument, not the one you agree with.

Venn diagrams: the easiest marks to bank

You may read a Venn diagram, turn a passage into one, or pick the diagram that fits a set of statements. Venn diagrams were the easiest question type in both 2024 and 2025, so they are good marks to bank quickly. A sketch on your notebook beats juggling the numbers in your head.

Probabilistic reasoning: verdict and reason must both be right

A short passage gives some statistics and asks how likely an outcome is. The options often pair Yes or No with a reason, so check the arithmetic behind the reason, not just the verdict. The Consortium suggests revising probability, including multiple and conditional probability.

Syllogisms

UCAT syllogisms: how the test defines all, some, most and only

A syllogism gives you premises, statements you must accept as true, and asks which conclusions follow. The Consortium says quantifying words carry their everyday meaning, and its tutorial defines them like this.

Quantifying words as the UCAT Decision Making tutorial defines them
All	The whole of the group: every one of them.
Some	More than one, but less than all. So some is not the same as at least one, and it never covers the whole group.
Many	An undetermined number, similar to some: part of the group, not all of it.
Most and majority	Most is a majority, the largest part. Majority means more than half of the whole, but not all of it.
Few	A small number, less than half.
Not all	Anywhere between 1% and 99% of the group.
None and nothing	Not even one; not a single thing.
Only	Nothing else qualifies. It can also introduce something that must happen before something else in the sentence.
Either	A or B, but not both.
Unless	Introduces the only circumstance in which the statement would not be true.
Always	On every occasion, without fail.

Two habits follow from these definitions. First, read some strictly: if the premises say some students play chess, you know at least two do and at least one does not. Second, be careful turning a statement round. All doctors are graduates does not tell you that all graduates are doctors.

The quickest test for any conclusion is to try to break it. Picture a situation where every premise is true. If you can make the conclusion false in that picture, the answer is No.

Syllogism, worked

Premises: all the violinists in the orchestra are students. Some students in the orchestra are left-handed. Mark each conclusion Yes or No. 1: some violinists are left-handed. 2: all students in the orchestra are violinists. 3: at least two students in the orchestra are left-handed. 4: not every student in the orchestra is left-handed. 5: no violinists are left-handed.

Yes for 3 and 4 only. Some means more than one but less than all, so at least two students are left-handed and at least one is not. Conclusions 1 and 5 are both possible but neither is guaranteed, because the left-handed students may or may not include violinists. Conclusion 2 reverses the first premise.

Made-up words work the same way: the logic decides the answer, not the vocabulary.
A conclusion you cannot rule in or out is a No.

Practise the drag and drop before test day. Five-statement questions are answered by dragging Yes or No next to each statement, and that only works with the mouse. The Consortium's Tour Tutorial and practice materials let you try it. UCAT test tools

Methods

Logic grids, Venn sketches and probability rules for Decision Making

At a test centre you get an A4 laminated notebook, a pen and a basic on-screen calculator. Three methods cover logical puzzles, Venn diagrams and probability questions.

Logical puzzles: build a grid

01

Set out the categories

Write the people down the side and the options along the top, so every pairing has its own cell.

02

Enter the certain facts first

Mark Yes for each fact you are told directly, then cross out the rest of that row and column, because each person takes only one option.

03

Apply the remaining clues one by one

Cross out whatever each clue rules out. Each time a cell is fixed, look back at the earlier clues, because one new fact often settles another.

04

Answer the question that was asked

If it asks what must be true, the answer has to hold in every arrangement the clues allow. If it asks what might be true, one possible arrangement is enough.

A grid after three clues: Priya must play hockey, but Uma and Wes are still open
Person	Hockey	Rowing	Squash	Tennis
Priya	Yes	No	No	No
Tom	No	No	No	Yes
Uma	No	Open	Open	No
Wes	No	Open	Open	No

The puzzle: four friends each play a different sport. Tom plays tennis. Priya neither rows nor plays squash. Uma does not play hockey. So Priya plays hockey must be true, while Uma rows is only something that might be true.

Venn diagrams: fill from the middle out

Sketch the circles even when the question does not draw them. With two sets, write the overlap first. Subtract it from each set's total to get the parts that sit in one circle only, then subtract everything inside the circles from the total to find how many are in neither.

With three sets, start with the region all three share, then each overlap of two, then each circle's own part. Before you answer, check that every region adds up to the total you were given.

Probability: five rules to know

Probability rules worth knowing by heart for Decision Making
A and then B, independent	Multiply. A 0.5 chance twice in a row is 0.5 × 0.5 = 0.25.
A or B, when both cannot happen	Add the two probabilities.
At least one	Take the chance of none away from 1. The Consortium's tutorial uses two independent games, each won with probability 0.3: the chance of at least one win is 1 − 0.7 × 0.7 = 0.51.
Without replacement	After each pick, reduce both the number left and the number you want. Two reds from 4 red and 2 blue counters: 4/6 × 3/5 = 2/5.
Given that	Shrink the total to the group you are told about, then count within it. If 3 of the 8 biology students also take physics, a biology student takes physics with probability 3/8.

The on-screen calculator is basic and cannot do scientific functions. Use it for awkward divisions and percentages, and keep simple sums on the notebook or in your head.

Strategy

Decision Making timing strategy: pacing 37 minutes and banking partial marks

You average about a minute a question, but the questions are not equal: some are quick and others take far longer. These habits protect your marks.

Pace checkpoints on the countdown timer, worked out from 35 questions in 37 minutes
28 minutes left	About 8 or 9 questions done.
18 minutes left	About 18 questions done.
9 minutes left	About 26 or 27 questions done.
5 minutes left, timer turns yellow	About 30 done. Put an answer on every question before you go back to flagged ones.

01

Read the question line first

Before the information, read what you are asked: must or might, the strongest argument, which diagram fits. The Consortium's tutorial advises solving only what each question needs.

02

Bank the quick wins

The Consortium suggests answering the questions you find easier first and flagging harder ones for review, so one hard puzzle early on cannot eat the time you need for easier ones later.

03

Cap any single question

If a puzzle is still unresolved after about 90 seconds, choose your best answer, flag it and move on. A guess you can come back to is worth more than a blank.

04

Always place all five statements

A five-statement question still earns 1 of its 2 marks when your set is partly correct, and wrong answers cost nothing. Never leave a statement empty, even if you have to guess it.

05

Answer everything before time runs out

When the timer turns yellow at 5 minutes, fill in every blank. If time expires, press OK on the pop-up straight away, or you lose time from the next section.

06

Use spare time on flagged questions

Go back to your flagged questions from the review screen, hardest-looking last, while the subtest's time lasts.

Treat every question as if it counts: the unscored trial questions sit among the scored ones. The Consortium also equates its test forms, which means it adjusts the scoring so that a scaled score means the same whichever version you sit.

Time is tight, but most people finish. In 2025, 94% of candidates reached every Decision Making question, compared with 87% in Verbal Reasoning and 90% in Quantitative Reasoning. On average, candidates used 36 minutes 39 seconds of the 37.

Worked examples

UCAT Decision Making worked examples: one for each question type

Pick an answer, then check the explanation. In the live test, syllogism and interpreting-information questions come as five Yes or No statements; these use a single answer so you can check one step of reasoning at a time.

Example 1Logic puzzle

Anna, Ben, Cara and Dan each ordered a different one of: pizza, salad, soup, sushi. Pizza and soup are served hot; salad and sushi are served cold. Anna didn’t order pizza or sushi. Ben ordered something hot. Cara’s order was the same temperature as Ben’s. What did Dan order?

Build the grid. Anna ∈ {salad, soup}. Ben ordered hot → pizza or soup. Cara same temperature as Ben → also hot. So Cara, Ben ∈ {pizza, soup}. No two people ordered the same dish, so Ben and Cara take pizza and soup between them. Anna can’t have soup, so Anna = salad, and Dan = sushi (only option left). A quick grid makes this routine; holding it all in your head is slower and easier to get wrong.

Example 2Syllogism

Premise 1: All trained doctors are graduates. Premise 2: Some graduates work in finance. Which conclusion necessarily follows?

D simply restates P2 from the other direction. The UCAT defines some as more than one but less than all, so if some graduates work in finance, at least two people who work in finance are graduates - valid. (It says “at least two” rather than “some” because P2 doesn’t tell you whether every finance worker is a graduate.) (A) is invalid - “some graduates work in finance” doesn’t guarantee any of those graduates are doctors. (B) reverses P1. (C) could be true, but nothing in the premises guarantees it. The trap is A: it “sounds” reasonable because doctors ⊂ graduates and some graduates are in finance - but the overlap could be entirely outside doctors.

Example 3Probability

A bag has 5 red and 3 blue marbles. Two are drawn without replacement. What’s the probability both are red?

P(first red) = 5/8. P(second red | first red) = 4/7. Combined: 5/8 × 4/7 = 20/56 = 5/14. (B) is the with-replacement answer. (D) is just first-draw. Use the calculator: 5 ÷ 8 × 4 ÷ 7. Don’t try this mentally - it’s easy to forget the “without replacement” adjustment.

Example 4Venn diagram

In a class of 30 students: 18 study French, 14 study German, 7 study both. How many study neither?

Draw two overlapping circles. Both = 7 in the centre. French only = 18 − 7 = 11. German only = 14 − 7 = 7. Total in either = 11 + 7 + 7 = 25. Neither = 30 − 25 = 5. The sketch makes this trivial; mentally it’s easy to double-count the “both” bucket.

Example 5Recognising assumptions

Argument: “The new road must have caused the rise in pedestrian accidents - accidents have risen since it opened.” Which assumption does the argument depend on?

The argument leaps from correlation (accidents rose after road opened) to causation. For that leap to be valid, no other factor can explain the rise - that’s the missing assumption (B). (A) actually weakens the argument. (C) and (D) might support causation but aren’t necessary assumptions. Trap: students pick what sounds true rather than what’s logically required. In the live test, Recognising Assumptions questions ask you to pick the strongest argument for or against a proposal; the same skill decides them, because the weak arguments only work if you assume something the question doesn’t tell you.

Example 6Interpreting information

A bar chart shows annual revenue (£m): 2020 = 40, 2021 = 50, 2022 = 65, 2023 = 70, 2024 = 84. What was the percentage change from 2021 to 2024?

(84 − 50) / 50 × 100 = 34/50 × 100 = 68%. (A) is the absolute change in £m, not the percentage. (B) is a rough estimate. (D) confuses 2020 to 2024. Use the calculator if you can’t do 34/50 = 0.68 mentally.

Timed quiz

Timed Decision Making practice: all six question types

Each set has seven questions: one of every type plus a second Venn diagram. The two five-statement Yes/No questions are marked as the test marks them, 2 marks or 1 for four right. The clock runs at the live pace of about 63 seconds a question, with a basic calculator to hand.

Decision Making practice sets

Pick a set and work through it as you would in the test: flag anything you are unsure of, open the calculator when you need it, and check the review screen before you finish.

Choose a set

Set 1Running club and clinic bookingsNot tried yetSet 2Garden volunteers and cycle countsNot tried yetSet 3Sleep survey and a hockey tournamentNot tried yet

7 questions covering all six question types
7 min 25 s: about 63 seconds a question, as in the test
2 five-statement Yes/No questions worth 2 marks each (9 marks in all)
Quantifiers as the UCAT defines them: 'some' means more than one but less than all, 'most' means more than half and 'few' means less than half
On-screen calculator

Time me at test pace

Original questions written for practice in the real format. They are not taken from the UCAT.

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Pitfalls

Common UCAT Decision Making mistakes and how to avoid them

Bringing in outside knowledge. The Consortium's tutorial says to base your answers only on the information in the question, not on your own beliefs or opinions. A conclusion can be true in real life and still be a No.

Reading some as at least one. In the UCAT, some means more than one but less than all. Read every quantifier strictly, and never flip an all statement round: all A are B does not mean all B are A.

Treating might as must. A logic puzzle that asks what must be true needs an answer that holds in every arrangement. One arrangement where it works only shows that it might be true.

Picking the argument you agree with. On recognising-assumptions questions, the strongest argument is the one tied directly to the issue and backed by the information, not the one closest to your opinion.

Right verdict, wrong reason. Probability and argument options often pair Yes or No with a reason. Two options can share the right verdict, so check the number or the logic in each reason.

Forgetting without replacement. When items are not put back, both the number left and the number you want fall after each pick.

Counting the overlap twice. In a Venn question, anyone in two circles belongs in the overlap once. Subtract the overlap from each circle's total before you add the parts together.

Leaving statements blank. There is no negative marking, and a partly correct five-statement set still earns a mark, so place all five answers every time.

Fighting one puzzle for too long. No Decision Making question is worth more than 2 marks. Flag the long ones and come back with the time you save.

Not practising with the real tools. The drag and drop needs the mouse and the calculator is basic. Use the Tour Tutorial and the official question banks so neither costs you time on the day.

Practice

How to practise Decision Making with the official UCAT materials

The Consortium recommends working through its free materials in this order.

01

First

Tour Tutorial

Learn the test software: answering, the calculator, moving between screens and flagging questions for review. For Decision Making, practise dragging Yes and No into place with the mouse.

02

A 42-page walkthrough of the subtest, with strategies for each question type, the official definitions of quantifying words and example questions with explanations.

03

Main practice

Four Decision Making question banks

Practice questions with an Explain Answer button that shows the reasoning. Your progress is not saved, so keep a note of which questions you have done.

04

Final weeks

Practice tests A to D

Four full tests, each with standard timing, 25% extra time or untimed. They give no score, but the review screen shows which answers were right and explains each one. Keep them for nearer your test date.

Do you need paid courses? The UCAT Consortium, the Medical Schools Council and the Dental Schools Council do not endorse paid-for preparation and say it is unnecessary. Make the official materials the core of your practice, whatever else you use. Official preparation resources

Between mocks, sort every wrong answer by question type, using the six types above, then drill your weakest type from the question banks before the next timed test. A top-scoring 2025 candidate quoted by the Consortium describes the same loop: do a practice test, spend the next week on the skills it exposed, and keep your scores in a spreadsheet to see your progress.

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Scores

What is a good UCAT Decision Making score? 2024 to 2026 averages and deciles

Each cognitive subtest is scaled from 300 to 900. These are the Consortium's published figures for all candidates.

Decision Making scaled scores at each decile, 2026 and 2025 tests
Decile (percentile)	2026 score	2025 score
1st (10th percentile)	520	520
2nd (20th)	560	560
3rd (30th)	590	590
4th (40th)	620	610
5th (50th)	640	630
6th (60th)	670	650
7th (70th)	690	670
8th (80th)	710	700
9th (90th)	760	740
Mean	640	628

2026 figures cover 42,359 tests up to 24 September 2026; 2025 figures cover 41,354 tests. Each decile score sits at that percentile, so about 90% of 2026 candidates scored 760 or below.

So a Decision Making score of about 640 was average in 2026, about a fifth of candidates scored above 710 and about a tenth above 760. For comparison, the 2024 average was 620, when the subtest had 29 questions in 31 minutes. The Consortium said subtest scores would stay broadly comparable after the 2025 change, but its statistics pages warn that scores from before 2025 are not directly comparable with later ones. In 2025, candidates whose first choice was medicine averaged 651 in Decision Making, and those whose first choice was dentistry averaged 645.

Small gaps mean little. The 2025 technical report puts the measurement error of a Decision Making score at about 39 scaled points, so two scores 20 points apart are not clearly different. Universities use UCAT results in different ways, and the Consortium says no single score guarantees selection.

For total scores, Situational Judgement Test (SJT) bands and what different scores mean for your applications, read the guide to good UCAT scores. What is a good UCAT score?

FAQ

Decision Making: your questions answered

In the 2026 test, Decision Making had 35 questions in 37 minutes, after an instruction screen of 1 minute 30 seconds. That is about 63 seconds a question on average. It has been this length since 2025, when Abstract Reasoning was removed; in 2024 it was 29 questions in 31 minutes. With approved extra time you get 46 minutes 15 seconds (25% extra), 49 minutes 20 seconds (33%) or 55 minutes 30 seconds (50%).

The UCAT Consortium's tutorial lists six: syllogisms, logical puzzles, recognising assumptions, interpreting information and drawing conclusions, Venn diagrams, and probabilistic and statistical reasoning. Syllogisms and interpreting information are answered as five Yes or No statements. The other four are multiple choice with one correct answer. In the 2025 test, Venn diagrams were the most common type and also the easiest, while the five-statement questions were harder on average than the multiple-choice ones.

Single-answer questions are worth 1 mark. Five-statement questions are worth 2 marks, and a partly correct set earns 1 mark. There is no negative marking, so always answer. Your raw marks are converted to a scaled score from 300 to 900, which is added to your Verbal Reasoning and Quantitative Reasoning scores for a total out of 2700. In 2025, 31 of the 35 questions were scored and 4 were unscored trial questions.

Start with the UCAT Consortium's Decision Making Question Tutorial so you know all six question types and how the test defines words like some and most. Then work through the four official Decision Making question banks, sorting every wrong answer by type and drilling your weakest one. Use a grid for logic puzzles and a quick sketch for Venn diagrams, never leave a five-statement question half answered, and keep the four official practice tests for timed runs nearer your test date.

It is among the harder ones question by question. In the 2025 technical report, the average Decision Making question was answered correctly by 56% of candidates, against 57% for Verbal Reasoning and 67% for Quantitative Reasoning. But the report calls it relatively less speeded: 94% of candidates reached every question, compared with 87% in Verbal Reasoning. Careful method matters more here than raw speed.

Keep reading

Sources

Where this guide's facts come from

Checked against these sources on 19 October 2026. Rules change between cycles, so confirm anything that decides your application on the official page for your entry year.