Which UCAT section has the least time per question?

Situational Judgement (~23 seconds) and Verbal Reasoning (~30 seconds) are the tightest. VR is where most people feel the time pressure first.

Should I guess on the UCAT?

Always. There's no negative marking, so never leave a blank. Flag anything you're unsure of, guess, and return if time allows.

UCAT timing strategy: how to stop running out of time

The UCAT is a speed test wearing the costume of a reasoning test. Most people who underperform knew how to answer the questions — they just didn't reach enough of them, or burned their time on the two hardest items. Timing is the highest-leverage thing you can train.

Know your seconds-per-question

Verbal Reasoning gives you about 30 seconds a question (44 questions in 22 minutes). Decision Making is more generous at roughly 63 seconds (35 in 37). Quantitative Reasoning sits near 43 seconds (36 in 26). Situational Judgement is about 23 seconds (69 in 26). Internalise these so you instantly know when a question has overstayed its welcome.

The flag-and-move rule

Set a personal ceiling — for most people, hitting ~1.5× the average time on a single question is the trigger. When you hit it: pick your best current answer, flag the question, and move on. A flagged question you return to with five spare minutes is worth far more than a perfect answer that cost you the next two questions you never saw.

Answer everything

Because there's no negative marking, an unanswered question is a guaranteed zero and a guess is free expected value. In the final 60 seconds of any section, 'sweep' — fill every blank with a sensible guess. On True/Can't tell/False and best-answer items, a quick elimination still beats a random pick.

Don't re-read

Re-reading is the silent time thief, especially in VR. Read with intent the first time: skim the passage to map where information lives, then go to the question and scan back for the keyword. If you find yourself reading a paragraph a third time, that's your cue to commit and flag.

Use the tools deliberately

In QR, the on-screen calculator is slower than mental maths for round figures — build percentages from 10%, 5% and 1% instead of typing. In DM, sketch on the noteboard rather than holding a puzzle in your head. The fastest candidates offload to paper early.

Train timing on purpose

Always practice with the clock on once you know the methods. Do timed sets in the real exam interface so the countdown, flagging and navigation are muscle memory on test day — not a new thing to manage. The interface should be invisible to you by the time you sit the real one.