Getting into dentistry or medicine: start in Year 9, not Year 12
Dental and medical schools choose on three things: GCSE and A level grades, an admissions test of thinking skills, and an interview. Most families first meet the test in Year 12, with a few weeks to prepare. The skills it uses can be built much earlier.
The route, year by year
- Years 9 to 11: GCSEs. Dental and medical schools look at them closely, above all maths, English language and the sciences.
- Year 12: A levels, usually with chemistry and biology, and work experience or volunteering with people.
- The summer after Year 12: the admissions test. The UCAT is sat on a computer at a test centre, between July and September.
- The autumn of Year 13: the application, which closes in mid-October, earlier than for other courses. Interviews follow.
Every school sets its own requirements and they change from year to year. Always check each school’s own admissions page.
The four thinking skills in the test
Verbal reasoning
Read a passage and decide what it does and does not say. Outside knowledge does not count.
Decision making
Work out what must be true from a set of statements, and judge which argument is strongest.
Quantitative reasoning
GCSE maths used quickly and exactly: ratio, percentages and rates, from a sentence or a table.
Situational judgement
Choose what to do when honesty, safety, confidentiality or teamwork is tested.
None of these is science knowledge, and none can be crammed. They improve with short, regular practice and with seeing why a wrong answer is wrong.
Try four questions
One for each skill, written by Prism. They are pitched for Years 10 and 11.
A dental clinic sent text reminders to half of its patients the day before their appointment. Over three months, 8% of the patients who were sent a reminder missed their appointment, compared with 19% of those who were not. The manager plans to send reminders to every patient from January.
“Missed appointments cost the clinic money.” Is this true, false, or can you not tell from the passage?
Show the answer
Cannot tell. It may well be so, but the passage does not say it. Only what is on the page counts.
All zorbs are plims. Some plims are tavs.
Does it follow that some zorbs are tavs?
Show the answer
No. The plims that are tavs might all be plims that are not zorbs. A conclusion follows only if it must be true.
A cleaning concentrate is mixed with water: 1 part concentrate to 4 parts water.
How much concentrate is needed to make 500 ml of the mixture?
Show the answer
100 ml. There are 1 + 4 = 5 parts in all, so one part is 500 ÷ 5 = 100 ml. Dividing by 4 gives 125 ml, the commonest slip.
On work experience at a dental practice, you hear that a neighbour of yours has had treatment there. That evening a friend asks you what the neighbour had done.
What is the most appropriate thing to do?
Show the answer
C. Information about a patient is confidential. Saying so plainly is honest and ends the question. A is a lie, and B and D both share a patient’s information.
Tell me when it opens
Prism is building a pathway for Years 9 to 11: weekly practice in the four thinking skills, with the slip behind every wrong answer, alongside GCSE maths, English and science. It is not open yet. If enough families ask for it, we will build it first.
Questions parents ask
When should my child start preparing for dentistry or medicine?
The admissions test is sat in the summer after Year 12, but two things start earlier. GCSE grades are looked at by almost every dental and medical school, and the thinking skills the test uses grow slowly with regular practice. Years 9 to 11 are the time to secure the grades and start the skills, a little each week.
What is the UCAT?
The University Clinical Aptitude Test is a two-hour test taken on a computer at a test centre. Since 2025 it has four parts: verbal reasoning, decision making, quantitative reasoning and situational judgement. It does not test science knowledge. It is used by UK dental schools and by most UK medical schools.
Which GCSEs matter most?
Maths, English language and the sciences. Many schools ask for grades 6 or 7 and above in them, and some score your child’s best GCSEs as part of the decision. Every school is different and requirements change each year, so check each school’s own admissions page.
Does my child need work experience?
Schools want to see that an applicant understands what caring for people involves. Volunteering with people, for example in a care home or a charity shop, counts as well as time in a dental practice or hospital, which can be hard to arrange under 16.
What will Prism offer, and when?
We are building a pathway for Years 9 to 11: practice in the four thinking skills with the slip behind every wrong answer, alongside GCSE maths, English and science. It is not open yet. Join the waitlist and we will email you once, when it opens.
Is Prism connected to the UCAT?
No. Prism Learning is independent and is not affiliated with or endorsed by the UCAT Consortium, UCAS or any university. The official test and its free practice materials are at ucat.ac.uk.
Prism Learning is independent and is not affiliated with or endorsed by the UCAT Consortium, UCAS or any university. The sample questions are written by Prism and are not taken from any admissions test.