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In our previous article, we touched briefly on the application process into medicine - including the standardized BioMedical Admissions Test and University Clinical Aptitude Test.

Different medical schools ask for different tests. For example, the BMAT is a requested by universities such as University College London and Imperial College London, whereas other universities such as King's College London requests the UCAT.

Let us first look at what each test entails.

The purpose of the UCAT is is to assess students' ability to work in the field of medicine and dentistry.

Test questions are divided into five separate tests, including verbal reasoning, decision making, quantitative reasoning, abstract reasoning, and situational judgment. In addition to situational judgment, if students are able to achieve Band 1 to Band 2 for their last test, and the total score of the four tests is 2,850 points or above (out of 3,600), they should consider these grades as relatively good.

Basically, achieving a score of 2,900 can definitely be classified as the top 20 percent. Of course, this score requirement will change every year.

Students taking the UCAT will start taking the test in the middle or end of July, and the test results will be announced within a day. Students can use the UCAT scores as an indicator as to which medical schools they have a better chance of securing interviews.

Another test which students might consider is the BMAT. This is an aptitude test which is required by certain schools in the UK, including Cambridge University and Oxford University.

BMAT test questions are divided into three parts.

The first is the aptitude test, which assesses students' critical thinking, analytical reasoning and other abilities.

The second tests applied science and knowledge abilities, and the questions generally cover secondary school biology, chemistry, physics and mathematics. This means that students who haven't chosen said subjects (for example, IB students who haven't studied physics) might have to prepare further ahead.

The third tests students' ability to develop, organize ideas and write. There is a minimum score of one and a maximum score of nine points for the first and second parts, whereas the third part is scored according to two scales: quality of content, which is scored from zero to five, and quality of written English, which is scored by five levels, A to E. The total raw score for each section is converted to a BMAT scale.

Again, the standard of score conversion varies from year to year. Generally speaking, the average score of the first part and the second part is about five points, and six to seven points are considered good.

Students can only take both tests once per application cycle. These tests are competitive - thus sufficient preparation, with regular and targeted practice is needed.

For students who have secured an interview, congratulations, you are one step closer to the offer. This is not an easy feat, especially for international students.

Interviews are usually spread across a few months, and are generally held during November to March, but each school works differently.

UK medical schools generally conduct their interviews in two styles: multi mini interviews or panel-style interviews.

Multi mini interviews have been popularized in medical schools in recent years. There are generally six to eight small stations during the interviews. Each station has one interviewer, and students answer each interviewer's questions (around five to seven minutes answering time).

Each interviewer asks different questions to test the student's abilities, some might be ethics scenario questions, others might be on communication skills and role play, or on analyzing data.

Alternatively, students might have to undergo a panel interview. The traditional panel style usually has three interviewers to each student.

Questions asked may pinpoint the student's profile, experience or interest in the university program.

The questions can be similar to the multi mini interviews, but without the pressure of time.

Mock practices are beneficial in familiarizing students with possible formats or questions.

For example, for panel interviews, students may wish to do more research into the medical school's teaching structures, whereas for the mini interviews, students might wish to polish their skills to target possible tasks or stations, or get a sense of how long a five to eight minute answer might be.