Using the simplest methodologies will help you to save time. It is important to note that the quantitative reasoning subsection contains questions of varying difficulty, some questions may not require numerical manipulation and can be calculated by inspecting and interpreting the data source. Note how precise your calculations need to be. By initially reading the answer options you can gauge how precise your working needs to be. Where there is large differentiation between the answers you may be able to use rounding and estimation in your calculation. If you do round figures, remember which way you have rounded your numbers so that you can consider how this will affect the magnitude of your answer. Similarly, questions will often state the value of pi but it can be useful to estimate pi as 3 when calculating geometry questions. Utilising the whiteboard will be required for several methodologies, so consider if you can present the data as a Venn diagram or create an algebraic formula.
The availability of a virtual calculator can be very useful for the quantitative reasoning subsection if it is utilised appropriately. Avoid excessive use of the calculator when mathematical operations can be calculated mentally or using the whiteboard. To access the calculator, use the keyboard shortcut Alt + C. When using the calculator use the keyboard to enter numbers rather than manually using the mouse – before you begin your UCAT make sure that the “Num Lock” is turned on. When practising UCAT questions, do not use a manual calculator as the time it takes to do calculations manually will be much less. The UCAT calculator also has limited operations compared to a manual scientific calculator so practising using this will help you familiarise yourself with the function of each button.
Many quantitative reasoning questions contain excess information. It is important to understand what the data presented is about and how it is organised, but you do not need to read every statistic in the figure. Locate the appropriate headings and don’t overanalyse the introductory text.