Tao Education

Medicine

Medical school admissions tutoring by Oxford medics

Oxford Medicine graduates, several now NHS doctors, coach the UCAT, personal statements and mock interviews. One-to-one online, from £90 an hour.

The record so far

Students our tutors have worked with who got an Oxbridge offer

78%

Oxford and Cambridge applicants who got an offer

19%
Oxford and Cambridge admissions statistics, 2025
The facts
Oxford
A*AA with Chemistry. The shortlist ranks your UCAT and GCSEs equally, and about 425 get an interview.
Cambridge
A*A*A with Chemistry, usually the A*. They look at the UCAT cognitive score only. Six applicants per place.
UCAT
Sat between 13 July and 24 September, booked by 16 September. You get the score the same day.
Work experience
Both universities want it. What you learned matters more than where you were.

The numbers that decide the shortlist

At Oxford the shortlist is arithmetic. Your UCAT cognitive score, out of 2,700, and your GCSEs, counted as the share of 8s and 9s and compared with your own school, with equal weight. About 425 people get an interview out of roughly 2,000. Cambridge uses the UCAT cognitive score too, ignores situational judgement, and doesn't have a fixed threshold.

That makes the UCAT the biggest lever you've still got in Year 12. You see your score before you leave the test centre, and applications go in on 15 October, so you choose your four medical schools knowing your number. Our medics coach it section by section from the spring, then run full timed tests.

What our doctors tell applicants

Emily and Emmie read Medicine at Magdalen and now work in the NHS. Bhargava, Sai and Geena read it at New College, Green Templeton and Keble. Their advice is always the same. Work experience is about what you noticed, not where you were. The A* needs to be in Chemistry. And the interview is a science interview with ethics in it, not a chat about wanting to help people.

Oxford interviews are online, with two colleges, and lean on data and unfamiliar biology. Cambridge's are often in person and lean on chemistry and physiology taken a step further. For the other medical schools on your form we prepare the station-based mini interviews most of them use.

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Every tutor is interviewed by us, reference‑checked and DBS verified.

Testimonials

What families
say.

“Sai tutored our son George for the UCAT, and he came away with a score of 2440, including a maximum 900 in QR. She is a medical student herself, so the advice is current and practical rather than textbook. George knew the maths but kept running out of time, and Sai's work on pacing turned the section around. She also kept us quietly informed about how he was progressing. We'd recommend her without hesitation.”

Gill

Parent of a UCAT Candidate

“Emily's professionalism, enthusiasm and maturity as a tutor really shined through when she tutored me on interview skills and helped me secure an offer to read Medicine at the University of Cambridge. I could see myself improving in each session we had. Emily is great at explaining things effectively and patiently.”

Fiona

Cambridge Medicine Offer Holder

“Emily is a great tutor! She did a mock interview with me when I was preparing for my Cambridge Medicine interview and I am so grateful for her help as I went on to receive an offer. She made the supervision/tutorial style interview very interactive and proposed a wide variety of questions to me and concluded the session with thorough and useful feedback. I would definitely recommend her to anyone looking for a tutor as not only is she an amazing tutor, but is also a very kind and helpful person 🙂”

Hilary

Cambridge Medicine Offer Holder

FAQs

When should I sit the UCAT?

July or early August, booked from 23 June. You only get one go a year. Start preparing in the spring of Year 12. Cramming in the last two weeks raises your stress more than your score.

Does situational judgement matter?

Not for Cambridge this year, and Oxford ranks on the cognitive score. Other schools do use the band, and some won't consider a band 4, so it still matters for the other choices on your form.

What UCAT score does Oxford want?

There's no cut-off. Oxford publishes its shortlisting statistics every year, and the people they interview sit well above the national average. GCSEs carry the other half, so a strong set of 8s and 9s can carry a middling UCAT, and vice versa.

My GCSEs were mixed. Is Oxford realistic?

Oxford measures your GCSEs against your own school, so strong results from a school with modest results count for more than they look. Cambridge weighs GCSEs less formally. We'll tell you what we think on the call. Sometimes the right answer is Cambridge plus three other strong schools.

Do you do graduate entry?

Yes. Oxford's and Cambridge's graduate-entry courses both use the UCAT, and Cambridge has used an online mini interview with a recorded video stage. Our medics coach the test and our postgraduate tutors handle the statement.

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