What test should I take for UK medical school admissions now that the BMAT has been discontinued?

A common misconception is that UCAT is somehow a UK-domestic test with a separate international version. It is not: Indian applicants sit the identical UCAT that UK-based students take, just at a Pearson test centre rather than in the UK.

What UCAT Actually Checks and How Indian Applicants Sit It

• One sitting per cycle: you cannot retake UCAT within the same admissions cycle, so preparation timing matters more than with a repeatable test.
• Same test, different venue: Indian applicants sit UCAT at Pearson VUE centres rather than needing to travel to the UK.
• Not the only requirement: your board result, predicted or achieved grades, and English-language proficiency all still need to meet each medical school's separate requirements.

School-by-School Thresholds Still Vary

UCAT itself does not set a pass mark; individual medical schools set their own thresholds and interview policies. Sheffield's 2027-entry MBChB, for example, currently states a minimum UCAT threshold of 1800 out of 2700 for that cycle, with international applicants interviewed online. Another school on your shortlist may weight UCAT differently or set a different cut-off entirely, so check each target school's own published requirement rather than assuming a single UK-wide benchmark.

This Information Is Also Available On

UCAT Consortium, Eligibility page, Medical Schools Council, International Applicants and UK Medical School Entry Requirements pages.

My Advice

Because you only get one UCAT attempt per cycle, treat your preparation timeline as fixed and non-negotiable rather than something you can push back if you feel unready. Apply to a spread of schools with different UCAT weighting and interview styles rather than concentrating only on the highest-threshold programmes, since selection methods genuinely differ beyond the raw score.