The quantitative reasoning subset of the UKCAT examines your numerical skills, among which are the ability to interpret data that is presented in the form of charts and graphs, speed, and attention. The techniques used in this section are commonly used to assess a person's mathematical orientation and cognitive skills, since mathematics is considered a field of logic that incorporates abstract patterns of thought together with applied techniques.
Understanding basic concepts
Let's take a close look at a somewhat simplified, yet relevant, question type, to have a better grasp of the UKCAT quantitative reasoning section obstacles:
A clothing business is trying to increase its brand awareness through the distribution of advertizing items. It has addressed a number of advertising companies for their price quotes.
Let's start by examining the nature of this table: As you can see, it contains prices of products, but the prices refer to the amounts of products specified in parenthesis. Thus, any conclusion regarding the prices of product quantities musy take into account that the price is per X units.
Second, notice that additional information is provided in the bottom, which, if not used when necessary, can turn your answer into the wrong one. You can be sure that some distracters are especially created for displaying an answer that overlooks some important details.
Now let's have a look at a sample questions that might be asked with respect to this information:
Q: If "Brand mad" were to increase their prices in 10%, what would be the net change in price of an order that includes 1000 pens, 2000 match boxes, and 300 shirts?
- 926.2
- 833.58
- 888.79
- 907.51
- 1014
This question involves a number of calculations and the use of additional information. Try to solve it and notice that the first distractor is again designed to capture those who have ignored the additional information provided below the table. The answer is B.
Another sample question (level of difficulty - easy)
Percentage of reported sick days in sectors
Q: For every 600 people working in the Financial services sector, how many typically report sick days in the July-August period? A. 27 B. 45 C. 2.7 D. 4.5 E. 5.5
Solution: The percentage of reported sick days for the Financial services sector during the Jul-Aug period stands at 4.5%. This means that for every 600 employees in the Financial services sector, 27 report in sick (600 x (4.5/100)) = 27.
The answer is 27.
Read more about:
UKCAT verbal reasoning
UKCAT abstract reasoning
UKCAT decision analysis
UKCAT non cognitive analysis