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.