UCAT Interpreting Information Practice Questions, Tips & Techniques

Advice & Insight From UCAT Specialists

In this article we will show you how to tackle interpreting information questions in the Decision Making section of the UCAT. These questions test your ability to interpret a graph, diagram or tables.

Each question will have different techniques required to answer the questions. The main thing is to effectively extract the right piece of data to evaluate each conclusion; you will get better at this with practice

It is essential to know how to interpret different types of graphs, as there are often a number of questions based on graphs.

To Approach These Questions:

Skim though the data to understand the question format and key information
Read one conclusion at a time
Obtain the relevant data for each conclusion

Now, we will complete worked examples of these questions provided by the UCAT consortium in Practice Test A. Before you read the solution, try to obtain the answers yourself.

UCAT Interpreting Information Practice Questions

This line graph shows the incidence of influenza and of an unknown condition over a year in the northern hemisphere.

Let’s review one conclusion at a time:

‘The condition mostly follows a bout of influenza’

The pattern of the solid lines representing the unknown condition follows the pattern of the Influenza line: the peaks on the influenza line is followed by the peaks on the unknown condition lines. This conclusion follows.

‘Younger children are more likely to be affected by the condition’

There are a higher number of cases of the condition in 5-16-year olds compared to children less than 5-years. This conclusion doesn’t follow.

‘A record high sale of Vitamin C pills was most likely recorded in December’

There is not really a way to infer the sales of vitamin C. However, we can assume that there would be more sales after the release of the research paper in January. This conclusion does not follow.

‘The condition is prevented by raising Vitamin C intake amongst children’

You may first think this is right as there is a decline in the incidence of the condition after the vitamin C paper release. However, there is no way to tell that it was the vitamin C that directly prevented the condition. This conclusion does not follow.

‘Influenza and the condition have a strong relationship with the temperature and sunshine patterns’

The condition and influenza rise and have peaks in the colder, winter months and their incidence decreases in the warmer, summer months. So, this conclusion follows.

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This question presents its information in the form of text in a paragraph, similar to the verbal reasoning section. As it is a short paragraph you can afford to read it quickly rather than skim it to find the answers to the questions.

Let’s review one conclusion at a time:

‘Digital entertainment has made all traditional arts appear out of date’

The first sentence indicates that puppetry is extinct but does not mention any the other traditional arts. This conclusion does not follow.

‘Puppets as learning tools are valuable for school children of all age groups’

The whole text only refers to the value of puppetry for young children: kindergarten, pre-school and primary school, so not all ages. This conclusion does not follow.

‘The importance of the art of puppetry has been prompted by experts in the field.’

There is no mention of experts, so this conclusion does not follow.

‘Puppetry has not been used previously in primary schools because it was regarded as old fashioned’

The paragraph doesn’t mention that puppetry was used previously in primary schools. This conclusion does not follow.

‘Puppetry helps in developing the verbal ability of children who have started formal education’

Puppetry in primary school is stated to be “valuable in building oral language skills”. This conclusion follows.

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I hope this article shows you how to tackle Interpreting Information questions. Finally, it is important to note that these questions only garner a single mark or half mark for completing all the conclusions. Therefore, if these questions seem comparatively time-consuming or challenging, flag and review at the end.