BMAT Section 3 Tips & Techniques

Written by Oxbridge & Imperial College London Medical Students

Fail To Plan & You Plan To Fail

There are two important aspects to planning; planning your time allocation and planning your essay. We would recommend the following time allocation:

2 Mins: Select Your Essay Title
5 Mins: Plan Your Essay
20 Mins: Essay Writing Time
3 Mins: Proof Reading

As BMAT Section 3 Essay Reviewers, it is extremely easy to differentiate between those who have planned their essays (fluid structure with appropriate ordering of points) with those who have failed to plan (poor choice of point ordering, stars, arrows and addendums). Planning is an easential part of being a medical professional; with everything from deciding which order you will complete a range of emergency scenarios to appropriate resource and task delegation. Hence, make sure that you highlight your credentials in this domain with a well-structured BMAT Section 3 Essay.

Two Sides To Consider..

Do you need to include a counterargument if the question only requests one side of an argument? Yes, you most definitely do! The BMAT Section 3 Mark Scheme clearly states that candidates need to ‘provide and generate a reasonable counter-proposition or argument’ in order to score 3 out of 5. Hence, failing to provide at least one counter argument will restrict your ability to score three or more in this important BMAT Section.

Three Parts to Each Question

Almost all BMAT Section 3 Questions will consist of three parts; it is essential to answer all three parts with equivalent emphasis in order to score highly. Failing to address one of the required sub-questions or addressing two sub-questions very well, and one sub-question with limited content and support (eg. Due to limited space) will restrict your ability to score highly in BMAT Section 3.

3,4,5 of BMAT Section 3

Unfortunately, this one’s too good to share however if you’re attending a Blackstone Tutors BMAT Course we’ll be more than happy to share our tried and tested formula that has helped hundreds of our BMAT students consistently score 5/5 in BMAT Section 3 over the last 10+ years.

Time v Space

Effective time allocation is essential in BMAT Section 3. However, equally if not more important, is efficient space allocation. With the Official BMAT Section 3 Answer Sheet providing you with less than one page of written space, making every line count is imperative. Additionally, to better reflect the exam setting, ensure that all practice essays are under timed conditions on official BMAT Section 3 Answer Sheets.

Always Keep the Question Paper Visible

There is an unfortunate tendency amongst many candidates to offer tangential drifting answers answering what they hope the questions are asking, rather than addressing what the questions are actually asking. Candidates who keep the question paper open, visible and regularly review the questions being asked throughout their essay construction are far less likely to offer tangential answers.