Demand for Medical School Keeps Climbing

The UCAT ANZ 2026 preliminary statistics are out, and the headline is not the scores. It is the sheer number of people sitting the test.

Just over 17,330 candidates sat UCAT ANZ 2026. Four years ago that figure was under 14,000. That is roughly a 25% increase in the applicant pool in four testing cycles — while the number of medical school places has not grown anywhere near as fast.

Seven years of UCAT ANZ, side by side

Abstract Reasoning was removed from 2025 onward, so the published Total Cognitive figures for earlier years are not directly comparable. In the table below, AR has been stripped out of every year so all seven sit on the current three-subtest structure.

Year	Candidates	VR	DM	QR	Total Cognitive (VR+DM+QR)
2020	14,092	577	635	671	1883
2021	~14,000	586	622	679	1887
2022	13,891	578	630	672	1880
2023	14,109	605	634	663	1902
2024	15,240	616	637	667	1920
2025	16,950	620	642	679	1941
2026	17,330+	619	655	691	1965

Demand is rising, and so is the standard

Two trends are moving together, and that is what makes 2026 significant.

More candidates. The pool bottomed out at 13,891 in 2022 and has climbed every year since. From 2024 to 2026 alone it added more than 2,000 sitters.

Better performance. The three-subtest total has risen from 1883 to 1965 — and 2026 delivered the biggest single-year jump of the whole series, up 24 points. A bigger field is also a stronger field.

Put simply: more people are competing, and they are competing better. The same raw score buys you less than it did a few years ago, because your position is decided by percentile, not by the number on the page.

Where the 2026 movement came from

Quantitative Reasoning – 691. Up 12 points and the highest QR mean in seven years. Candidates are clearly drilling calculator speed and timing.

Decision Making – 655. Up 13 points, also a seven-year high. This used to be the section people wrote off. Not anymore.

Verbal Reasoning – 619. Down 1 point, and flat at 616–620 for three straight years. VR remains the hardest section to move — which is exactly why it is the biggest opportunity for anyone willing to train it properly.

What this means for your prep

1. Chase the percentile, not the number. A total that looked competitive in 2022 sits lower in the pack today. Always check where your score lands in the current distribution.

2. Verbal Reasoning is where the ground is soft. While the field has pushed DM and QR up, VR has not moved. Gains there are gains against a stalled average.

3. Do not assume DM is the easy section. Two consecutive years of strong rises mean the bar has shifted. Practise by question type, not in bulk.

4. Remember what UCAT actually does. It opens the interview door. It is not the final word. A strong score gets you into the room — what happens in that room is a separate skill, and it deserves separate preparation.

The bottom line

Medicine and dentistry in Australia and New Zealand are getting more competitive, not less. Record numbers are sitting the test and the average sitter is stronger than they have ever been.

That is not a reason to panic. It is a reason to prepare deliberately — targeted practice, honest review of mistakes, and a plan that treats the interview as part of the journey rather than an afterthought.