Starting my UCAT prep 12 weeks before my test date and trying to set realistic targets. Diagnostic scores: VR 590, DM 620, QR 530, AR 640, SJT Band 2. QR is clearly the weak point and I'm studying about 2.5 hours daily on weekdays and 4-5 hours on weekends.
I've been using official past papers plus a third-party question bank. Most advice says aim for 650+ across the cognitive subtests for competitive UK medical schools, but I've heard Australian schools weight sections differently. I'm applying to both so I'm unsure where to concentrate.
Timing is what's getting me - in QR I'm averaging about 58 seconds per question when I need to be at 40 seconds. I've started 15-minute mental arithmetic drills every morning. Has anyone gone from 530 to 650+ in QR over 10-12 weeks? It feels ambitious but I want to know if it's realistic.
Twelve weeks is a good runway. I only had 6 weeks and still improved from 2,300 to 2,610 total. The biggest gains usually come in weeks 6-10 when the strategies start clicking. Don't burn out early.
I went from 540 to 660 in QR over about 9 weeks - it's doable but you have to be religious about timed practice. The arithmetic drills you mentioned are exactly right. I used a free app every morning for 10 minutes and noticed a real difference by week 5.
For Australian schools check each university's specific cutoffs - Monash and Melbourne weight things differently than Sydney. Your AR of 640 is already solid, so QR is the right place to concentrate your energy right now.
SJT Band 2 is competitive enough for most schools. Spend 80% of your time on QR and VR and don't stress too much about SJT - the cognitive subtests carry more weight in most ranking formulas.
Your QR score is actually not as bad as you think — I was at 510 diagnostic and got to 680 by test day, so 530 is workable. The thing that helped me most wasn't doing more practice sets, it was going back through every single wrong answer and figuring out exactly where my reasoning broke down. Not just "oh I picked C instead of B" but like, what assumption did I make that was wrong, or which step did I skip. It's slow and kind of painful but your brain stops making the same mistakes once you've really interrogated them.
For VR, you're already in a decent spot but it can slip if you don't keep the timing tight. I'd say don't neglect it just because it feels okay right now. Honestly 12 weeks is plenty of time if you're being that intentional about it — the students I've seen plateau are usually the ones drilling questions without reviewing properly. You're clearly not doing that, so trust the process.
I was in a similar spot last year, working full-time and squeezing prep into early mornings and lunch breaks. Honestly your QR score isn't as bad as it feels at 530 — I started lower and got it to 680 by test day just by drilling one topic block at a time instead of doing full mocks every session. The weekday grind is rough but those short sessions add up faster than you'd think.
With 12 weeks you've got enough runway to realistically push QR into the 650-680 range if you're consistent. Don't ignore AR though, it's easy to let a strong score slide if you stop practicing it. SJT Band 2 to Band 1 is very doable with a couple focused weeks near the end. Your overall target probably depends on which unis you're applying to, but the diagnostic you've described isn't a panic situation at all.
Your QR starting point is actually similar to mine - I was sitting around 540 and managed to pull it up to 690 by test day. The one thing that genuinely moved the needle wasn't doing more questions, it was timing. I'd been practicing untimed and didn't realise how badly I'd collapse under real conditions. Once I started doing every single practice set with a strict timer from week 6 onwards, my accuracy under pressure improved way faster than I expected.
Twelve weeks is plenty of time with your study hours. Don't panic about QR being weak this early - it's the most trainable subtest. Just make sure you're reviewing every wrong answer properly, not just noting you got it wrong and moving on. I wasted probably three weeks doing that before I started actually understanding where my reasoning was breaking down. Your SJT Band 2 is solid, so honestly QR is the one to just grind and you'll be fine.
Your QR approach matters more than hours logged. I spent weeks drilling practice questions before realizing I was just memorizing patterns without understanding the actual method, and my score barely moved. What changed things was stopping after every wrong answer and figuring out exactly where my reasoning broke down, not just checking the explanation and moving on. It's slower but you actually build the skill instead of faking it.
With 12 weeks and your starting point, 650+ on QR is realistic if you're honest with yourself about the process. Don't rush past the questions you get right either, sometimes you're right for the wrong reason and that'll bite you under time pressure. Your AR at 640 is solid, so lean on that confidence and treat QR like a logic puzzle rather than a maths test.