If you wish to gain admission to the Bar Professional Training Course (BPTC) you will be expected to sit the Bar Course Aptitude Test (BCAT). This is the gateway to your career in law.
This bar aptitude test is designed to evaluate a candidate’s reasoning and critical thinking skills so they can experience the type of exam questions they’ll be asked during the actual test. By practicing this test, you’ll be able to assess whether or not you pass the exam and challenge yourself to improve on trickier questions that you might get incorrect.
About the BCAT
The BCAT exam is based on the Watson Glaser critical thinking assessment, which is renowned within the law industryand other professions.
The test is one hour and split among five sections including:
- Drawing inferences from facts
- Recognition of assumptions
- Deductive reasoning
- Logical interpretation
- Evaluation of arguments
The test is completed on a computer at an authorised Pearson VUE test centre.
What does the BCAT assess?
The bar course aptitude test is an assessment which focuses on your critical thinking ability, logical approach to evaluate and using relevant information to draw conclusions. It will also assess your written English skills and ability to work under pressure since the test is timed.
The BCAT Exam Format
Test-takers of the Bar Course Aptitude Test are given 55 minutes to answer 60 multiple-choice questions. The questions take the form of a statement, where you must choose whether the statement is ‘true’, ‘probably true’, ‘insufficient data’, ‘probably false’ or ‘false’. No prior knowledge is required to answer the questions.
Section 1 – Drawing inferences from facts
You will be presented with a short passage of information followed by statements, which could be inferred from the text. You will need to decide whether the statement is accurate based on your understanding of the passage. This will evaluate your ability to draw conclusions based on information provided.
Section 2 - Recognition of assumptions
You will be presented with a statement followed by an assumption. You will need to determine whether the assumption is made within the statement or not.
Section 3 - Deductive reasoning
In the deductive reasoning section, you will be presented with a series of facts, which is followed by a conclusion. You will need to determine whether the conclusion is supported by the first statement.
Section 4 - Logical interpretation
You will be presented with a passage of information followed by a statement. You will need to determine whether this possible conclusion follows or not.
Section 5 - Evaluation of arguments
You will be presented with a statement followed by a number of arguments. You will need to determine the strength or weakness of each argument.
