The short answer
Abstract Reasoning was withdrawn from the UCAT from the 2025 test onwards. The UCAT Consortium says it predicted university performance less well than the other subtests and had become highly coachable. The freed time went to the remaining subtests.
Abstract Reasoning was withdrawn from the UCAT from the 2025 test onwards. The UCAT Consortium gives two reasons: the subtest predicted how candidates go on to perform at university less well than the other sections, and it had become highly coachable. Removing it freed time for the remaining subtests and made room for more questions in Decision Making. The test now has three cognitive subtests plus Situational Judgement.
What changed, and from which test year
UCAT announced the change in late 2024, ahead of the 2025 test. Its UCAT 2025 page states that in 2025 Abstract Reasoning would be withdrawn and that the test would consist of Verbal Reasoning, Decision Making and Quantitative Reasoning alongside the Situational Judgement Test. Because the UCAT is sat in the summer before you apply, that first affected applicants for 2026 entry. The 2026 test kept the same structure, and as of October 2026 UCAT's test format page lists these four subtests and no Abstract Reasoning:
| Subtest | Questions | Time | Scoring |
|---|---|---|---|
| Verbal Reasoning | 44 | 22 minutes | 300–900 |
| Decision Making | 35 | 37 minutes | 300–900 |
| Quantitative Reasoning | 36 | 26 minutes | 300–900 |
| Situational Judgement | 69 | 26 minutes | Bands 1–4 |
Each subtest is preceded by a short timed instruction section, and the standard test takes just under two hours. The three cognitive subtests add up to a total of 900–2700, while Situational Judgement is reported separately as a band, with band 1 the highest. There is no negative marking.
Why UCAT removed Abstract Reasoning
UCAT says it monitors how each section of the test performs, and it reports two findings about Abstract Reasoning.
- Lower predictive validity. UCAT's own analysis, and the published research it cites, found that Abstract Reasoning predicted candidates' later performance at university less well than the other subtests. In UCAT's words, the subtest was "not as effective as the other subtests in predicting candidate performance at university", which is the job universities use the test for.
- High coachability. Over the previous ten years, candidates' Abstract Reasoning performance had risen while their response times fell. UCAT describes the subtest as much more coachable than the other cognitive subtests.
Taken together, the two findings describe a section whose scores were increasingly shaped by practice, while it added less to selection than the other subtests. Removing it also let UCAT give the remaining subtests more time and add questions to Decision Making.
What it did to UCAT scores
Until 2024 the total cognitive score added four subtests, each scaled from 300 to 900; from 2025 it adds three. UCAT's 2024 statistics page states that 2024 scores are not directly comparable with those from 2025 onwards, and the published means show why: the mean total cognitive score was 2523 in 2024 and 1891 in 2025, according to UCAT's test statistics for those years (see the 2025 figures).
The individual subtests changed little. UCAT says subtest scores remain broadly comparable with previous years, and the means bear that out: Verbal Reasoning averaged 601 in 2024 and 602 in 2025, Decision Making 620 and 628, Quantitative Reasoning 649 and 661.
The practical consequence is simple. A university threshold, average or "good score" quoted from 2024 or earlier was built on a four-subtest total and cannot be compared with a total from 2025 onwards. Use current figures from UCAT and from each university's own published information.
What it means for your preparation
- Check the date on any material. UCAT warns that, because of these changes, advice from commercial preparation companies, and advice found more generally online, may be incorrect. A book or course that still drills Abstract Reasoning is preparing you for a section that no longer exists.
- Start with the official practice material. UCAT updated its free practice tests to the 2025 format and recommends working through its tutorials and question banks before moving on to timed practice tests.
- Give Decision Making its due. It now has 35 questions in 37 minutes, the longest of the cognitive subtests, and its multiple-statement questions are worth two marks, with one mark for a partially correct response.
- Train speed where it is tightest. Verbal Reasoning remains 44 questions in 22 minutes, about 30 seconds a question across eleven passages, the tightest of the cognitive subtests.
Where this leaves students in the UAE
For students applying from the UAE, the timeline has not changed: the UCAT is taken during the summer testing window, usually at a Pearson VUE test centre, and your result is known before the UCAS deadline in October. What has changed is where the preparation time goes. Without Abstract Reasoning, the work is Verbal Reasoning speed, Decision Making logic and Quantitative Reasoning accuracy, with Situational Judgement prepared as its own discipline. Our UCAT preparation programme is built on the current four subtests.
Medicine applicants usually carry school science through the same months. If A Level Biology is the subject under pressure, plan it alongside the UCAT rather than letting one crowd out the other.