So you’re a parent and your son/daughter tells you they have to take the BMAT. Naturally, you look around the internet trying to find information about it, but it’s hard to find a single website that explains the exam in a coherent manner. We know this because we’ve had plenty of phone calls from parents confused about the BMAT, and after explaining how it works many times, we thought it would be helpful to write up an article about it. Let’s answer your questions.
What is the BMAT?
BMAT stands for BioMedical Admissions Test. It’s a 2-hour exam, taken by Medical (and Vet) school applicants every year at the start of November. The exam is split into 3 sections – (1) Critical Thinking and Problem Solving, (2) Science and Maths, and (3) Essay. You can find detailed information about each section in our Free BMAT Guides here.
When is the BMAT?
As mentioned above, students sit the BMAT in early November and usually the test date ranges from the 3rd to the 5th. This is after the applications are submitted on the 15th of October, which means that taking the BMAT is somewhat of a gamble in that you only take the exam after you have applied. If you do very badly in the BMAT, you’re very likely to get rejected without an Interview.
Who has to take the BMAT?
We’ve written an extensive article on the subject here – How universities use the BMAT. The short answer is that students applying to study Medicine at Oxford, Cambridge, Imperial, UCL, Leeds, Lancaster and Brighton & Sussex need to take the BMAT. Students applying to study Veterinary Medicine at Cambridge and the Royal Veterinary College also have to take the exam. Finally, if you’re reading this from Singapore or The Netherlands, you need to take the BMAT if you’re applying to Lee Kong Chian School of Medicine (Singapore) or Leiden University (Netherlands).
How much does the BMAT cost?
We couldn’t possibly put it clearer than the official BMAT website does here – BMAT Dates and Costs. Just to summarise, it costs £61 for students from the UK (and EU) and £92 for students from the rest of the world.
How do you prepare for the BMAT?
Attending the BMAT Crash Course is a pretty good shout if your son/daughter is hoping to score highly in the BMAT. Other than that, practice papers are the way forward under exam conditions. It’s important to learn the content and exam technique first and then move on to practice questions.
What can I do to help my child prepare?
Enrol them on our Crash Course! Other than that, unless you’re a Critical Thinking/Maths/Science teacher, there’s probably not an awful lot you can do personally. Depending on your parenting style, you might want to encourage/force them to start preparing by September (two months is plenty of time to prepare). Also, if they write practice essays for Section 3 (and they should), it would be helpful if you read through them and give them constructive criticism.
What's a good BMAT score?
The BMAT scoring system is a little weird and confusing. Section 1 and 2 are graded from 1 – 9, and Section 3 is graded out of 5 with a letter from A-E. A score of around 5/9 is the average mark and tends to translate to around 50% of the questions correct.
We consider a score in the 6s “pretty good”. A score in the 7s is “exceptional”, and a score above that is so good that it’s almost unheard of. Importantly, to get a score of 9/9 (and therefore, to be in the top 10 in the world), you don’t actually need 100%. For example, in one year, 29/35 on Section 1 was equivalent to 9/9. It’s an odd scaling process that we explain more in-depth in our BMAT Scoring and Results Article.
Our tip would be as follows: “Aim for 9 but be very happy with 7”. We are experts at maximising BMAT scores so if you’re looking for the best support (from an amazing company) for your BMAT, check out our BMAT Bundle!
- A place on the BMAT Crash Course
- Our Awesome BMAT Online Course
- 12 Months access BMAT Ninja (Used by 1 in 2 applicants)
- 300-page BMAT workbook
- 5 x Section 3 Essay Edits