Speed Reading Techniques for UCAT

With only 21 minutes for 44 questions across 11 passages, reading speed is the single most important factor separating average from high-scoring VR candidates. This lesson covers the specific speed reading techniques that are effective in the UCAT context — not general speed reading advice, but targeted methods designed for the particular challenge of extracting information from short passages under extreme time pressure.

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The Fundamental Problem

Consider the arithmetic:

Budget	Calculation
Total time	21 minutes = 1,260 seconds
Per passage	1,260 ÷ 11 = ~115 seconds
Per question	1,260 ÷ 44 = ~29 seconds
Reading time per passage (if you spend 60 seconds reading)	115 − 60 = 55 seconds for 4 questions = ~14 seconds per question
Reading time per passage (if you spend 30 seconds scanning)	115 − 30 = 85 seconds for 4 questions = ~21 seconds per question