The UCAT is done. This replaces the August map, which was built expecting 2450 to 2550. The shortlist has changed, and one school turns out to fit him far better than anything else in the country.
The UCAT Consortium's final 2026 deciles are now out, across 42,359 candidates. These replace the preliminary numbers used earlier on this page.
| Decile | Total | VR | DM | QR |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | 1590 | 500 | 520 | 530 |
| 2nd | 1700 | 540 | 560 | 580 |
| 3rd | 1780 | 560 | 590 | 600 |
| 4th | 1850 | 580 | 620 | 640 |
| 5th | 1920 | 600 | 640 | 670 |
| 6th | 1980 | 620 | 670 | 700 |
| 7th | 2050 | 640 | 690 | 730 |
| 8th | 2140 | 670 | 710 | 780 |
| 9th | 2250 | 710 | 760 | 820 |
1940 sits above the 5th decile (1920) and below the 6th (1980), so roughly the 53rd percentile. He is above the national median.
| Subtest | Score | Percentile | Read |
|---|---|---|---|
| Decision Making | 700 | ≈ 75th | His strongest. Between D7 and D8 |
| Verbal Reasoning | 630 | ≈ 65th | Comfortably above average |
| Quantitative | 610 | ≈ 32nd | The drag. Between D3 and D4 |
| SJT | Band 1 | top 15% | Band 1 was 15% of 42,359 candidates |
He spotted it himself: everyone scores high on the maths and he does not. He is right, and the decile table proves it. At the median, QR (670) sits 70 points above VR (600). QR also has the widest spread of any subtest, 530 at D1 up to 820 at D9, against VR's 500 to 710. So a weak QR costs more total points than a weak anything else.
His arithmetic slightly overshoots. Lifting QR to the median 670 would give 2000, which is the 6th decile, not the 8th. To reach the 8th (2140) he would need QR at 810, near the top decile.
But the diagnosis is exactly right. QR is 43 percentile points below his Decision Making. It is also the most coachable section on the test, which means it is where the upside is if a third sitting ever happens.
Also correct. Against 2025's finals, every decile moved up: +10, +20, +20, +30, +40, +30, +40, +40, +30. The median went from 1880 to 1920, so +40 points, and the lift was biggest in the middle and upper deciles.
Which makes the real headline this: 1820 was exactly the 4th decile in 2025, the 40th percentile. 1940 is roughly the 53rd. He gained about 13 percentile places against a field that moved up 40 points underneath him. The raw +120 understates what he did.
His Medify mocks two days before predicted VR 547 and DM 580. He delivered 630 and 700. The mocks understated him by 83 and 120 points, because he sat them having done eight full mocks in seven days while describing himself as overwhelmed. QR came in at exactly the mock figure, 610.
Decision Making at 700 is his standout. The 2026 cohort mean for DM is 657.
Checked against Lincoln's own admissions guidance today, not an aggregator.
Spencer's most recent qualification is A-levels. His GCSEs are therefore not scored at all. His UCAT is doubled instead, forming a combined academic score out of 60.
His single biggest structural weakness, the six 6s at GCSE, is deleted at Lincoln. And the SJT bands score 15 / 10 / 5 with Band 4 rejected outright, so his Band 1 takes the full 15 against the 42% of candidates on Band 2 and the 32% on Band 3.
No other school on his list removes his weakness and maxes his strength at the same time. Lincoln is the anchor.
Three realistic, one stretch. Every one accepts resits and takes AAA rather than A*AA.
I first wrote KMMS off by comparing his 1940 against their 2490 benchmark. That was a scale error. KMMS's own page states the 2490 threshold corresponded to the 47th centile, which places it on the old /3600 scale, before Abstract Reasoning was removed in 2025. It is not comparable to a /2700 score.
Now the final deciles are out, this can be pinned down. On the 2026 scale the 40th percentile is 1850 and the 50th is 1920, so the 47th centile lands near 1900. Spencer is at 1940, around the 53rd.
He clears the equivalent of their last threshold by roughly 40 points, rather than sitting on the line as I first put it. KMMS still states plainly that it does not commit to the same threshold for 2027.
And the offer itself fits him exactly: AAA or AAB in any order, so a B in Chemistry is explicitly allowed. GCSE gate met. Eligible as he stands, with no resit at all.
KMMS states: "KMMS does not accept A level re-sits (except through extenuating circumstances policy)", and requires the three A-levels to be taken in the same examination year.
So the two routes pull against each other. The resit opens Lincoln, HYMS, Brunel, Southampton and Leeds, all of which need AAA. It may simultaneously shut the one school that already accepts him.
This is now the single most important phone call. Ask KMMS: "He holds AAB in one sitting and meets your offer. He is also entering a June 2027 Chemistry resit for other applications. Does declaring that resit disqualify him with you?" Everything else in this plan waits on that answer.
Fifth UCAS choice: a non-medicine science degree that leads to graduate entry. It costs nothing and it is the difference between a fallback and a gap.
Buckingham sits outside UCAS entirely, so it uses no slot. No UCAT, eligible today, roughly £187k self-funded across 4.5 years. A financing conversation, not an admissions one.
| Grade | Boundary /270 | He scored 177 |
|---|---|---|
| A* | 234 | needs +57 |
| A | 200 | needs +23 |
| B | 164 | achieved |
OCR A H432, June 2026 boundaries.
Every school on his open list asks for AAA. Lincoln, HYMS, Brunel, Leeds, Southampton, BSMS, Anglia Ruskin. An A in Chemistry satisfies all of them.
The schools that demand A* from resitters are Manchester (A*A*A), Liverpool (A* in Chemistry), Newcastle (A* in the resat subject) and Lancaster (A*AA). Every single one of those is GCSE-blocked for him anyway.
It costs two and a half times the work of the A, for zero admissions value, and risks the grade that every one of his four applications actually depends on.
Get the tutor. Point them at making the A certain, not at the A*. Nine months, three papers, 23 marks. That is the highest-value money in the entire plan, because all four applications convert to a place only if that A lands in August 2027.
The August audit was built from official pages, but it is six weeks old and I have already caught aggregators misreporting Lincoln today. Nothing goes on the form second-hand.
Ring KMMS. Two weeks to the deadline and the whole shape of the application turns on their answer about the resit. Nothing else is on the critical path.
The other four verification calls from section 05. Lincoln next.
Book the Chemistry tutor. Target the A. Three papers, 23 marks, nine months.
Personal statement refresh. Honest about the year, the resit and the improved UCAT. Band 1 SJT is worth referencing.
UCAS submitted. Four medicine choices plus a non-medicine fifth. Resit declared as pending.
Enter the June resit through school or a private centre. Entry deadlines run to roughly February.
Interviews. Prep starts when the first invite lands, not before.
Three Chemistry papers.
Results, conditions met, place confirmed.
Three failure points, each with a landing.
He is 18. A 2028 start makes him 20 on day one, which is unremarkable in a modern medical school intake.
The preparation demonstrably works. DM +80 and QR +40 came off a September in which he did eight full mocks in seven days and walked in exhausted. That is not his ceiling. It is a badly executed run at it, and there is room in a properly paced year.