King's College London Medicine Entry Requirements
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King's College London's own entry-requirements page confirms A*AA with grade A required in both Biology and Chemistry, no published UCAT cut-off, and that the Situational Judgement Test is not used when shortlisting. The UCAT Consortium confirms Abstract Reasoning was withdrawn from the 2025 sitting, leaving three scored cognitive subtests.
King's College London has been training doctors for nearly two centuries, and that history is visible in everything from its riverside campus to its deep integration with some of the busiest NHS hospitals in the country. What makes King's genuinely distinctive is not just its reputation, but the sheer density of clinical opportunity available to its students from remarkably early in the course. London is not simply a backdrop here — it is the curriculum.
The medical programme at King's follows an integrated model, meaning that the sciences underpinning medicine are taught alongside clinical and communication skills from the very beginning. Students are not expected to spend two years buried in lecture halls before meeting a patient. Early patient contact is built into the programme, and by the time students reach their clinical years, they are rotating through hospitals that collectively handle some of the most complex and diverse caseloads in Europe. The culture at King's tends to attract students who are intellectually ambitious, comfortable in a large urban environment, and genuinely interested in the breadth of what medicine can be.
International (overseas-fee-paying) students apply to King's College London Medicine through the same UCAS process as UK applicants, and are assessed within the same competitive pool for the five-year MBBS (A100) programme -- King's does not publish a separate, smaller quota specifically for international applicants on this course. The core academic and admissions test requirements do, however, have genuinely international-specific detail that generic guides often skip.
The UCAT is compulsory for every applicant, worldwide. King's official entry-requirements page confirms that "all applicants are required to sit the University Clinical Aptitude Test (UCAT)... prior to applying to this programme," and that the test must be taken in the same calendar year as the application to be valid -- there is no exemption or alternative route for international candidates on this programme.
English language requirement: international applicants must meet King's Band B English language proficiency standard, reflecting the communication demands of a clinical training environment involving patient contact from the first year.
International Baccalaureate applicants need 38 points overall, or an aggregate of 19 points from three Higher Level subjects, and must include grade 6 at Higher Level in both Biology and Chemistry. The 38-point total incorporates Theory of Knowledge and Extended Essay marks -- a detail that trips up applicants who calculate their IB total from the six main subjects alone.
Equivalent international qualifications (national high-school diplomas, European Baccalaureates and similar) are assessed case by case against King's published subject requirements -- grade-equivalent Biology and Chemistry are still required regardless of the qualification route. Applicants who have not sat GCSEs or IGCSEs because they were educated outside the UK are not penalised for this; King's instead looks for equivalent evidence within their existing qualifications.
For international students who have not taken A-Levels, the IB, or an equivalent recognised qualification, King's own recommended route is the King's International Foundation Programme -- Health, Life & Biosciences Pathway. Students who complete this Foundation year and separately meet the Medicine MBBS entry requirements, including the UCAT, are guaranteed an interview for the five-year A100 programme -- a genuinely useful, King's-specific route that most competitor guides do not mention.
One structural rule specific to fee status: King's does not permit deferred entry for Overseas fee-paying applicants to this programme (except in cases of military or national service), whereas Home fee-paying applicants can request deferred entry directly on their UCAS form. International applicants who need to delay a start date should plan around this before applying, since a post-offer deferral request is unlikely to be accepted.
Across all of King's undergraduate medicine programmes combined, the university receives around 5,500 applications a year for approximately 410 places; of that total, roughly 4,000 applications are specifically for the five-year A100 route, with 1,200 to 1,400 applicants interviewed and around 300 places available on A100 itself. Home and international applicants compete within this same shortlisting process, which is why a strong UCAT score, in the context of holistic academic and personal-statement review, matters just as much for an overseas applicant as for a UK one.
The King's MBBS is a five-year programme, with the option of an intercalated BSc built in at the end of Year 2 for those who wish to pursue it — making it a six-year route for students who take that path. The intercalated BSc is a genuine academic opportunity, not simply a box to tick, and King's has a strong research culture that makes this year particularly valuable for students with an interest in academic medicine or specialist fields.
The first two years focus on the biomedical and clinical sciences in an integrated way, with early clinical placements introducing students to real healthcare settings before the fully clinical years begin. From Year 3 onwards, students are based primarily in clinical environments, rotating through placements across the King's Health Partners network — one of the largest academic health science centres in Europe.
Clinical placements span a remarkable range of settings, including:
This breadth means King's graduates encounter a genuinely wide spectrum of medicine — from rare and complex tertiary referrals to everyday primary care. For students who want their training shaped by real clinical variety, this is a significant advantage.
King's describes its own MBBS curriculum in three formal "Stages" rather than simply by year number, which is worth knowing alongside the year-by-year placement description above. Stage 1 provides the foundation in biomedical and population sciences, alongside the skills to begin integrating these with clinical practice. Stage 2 organises teaching around the human life-cycle and common pathological processes, and includes a longitudinal component in which students follow the same patients over an extended period to learn whole-person care rather than isolated snapshots of illness. An optional one-year intercalated BSc sits between Stage 2 and Stage 3 -- this is what turns the five-year MBBS into a six-year route for students who choose it. Stage 3 is oriented towards future practice: it includes an elective period that can be taken abroad, quality-improvement projects, and increasingly realistic inter-professional simulation training.
On successful completion, graduates receive the MBBS -- a Primary Medical Qualification (PMQ) -- which entitles them to apply for provisional registration with the General Medical Council (GMC), subject to no Fitness to Practise concerns. Provisional registration is time-limited to a maximum of three years and 30 days (1,125 days in total), during which graduates must complete Foundation Year 1 through the UK Foundation Programme Office (UKFPO) selection scheme before they can apply for full GMC registration. This Stage 1 through Stage 3 architecture, with the PMQ and provisional-registration clock built in at the end, is the specific curriculum structure King's uses -- and it differs in framing from many other UK medical schools' simple "pre-clinical/clinical years" split.
King's College London requires A*AA at A-Level, with grade A required in both Biology and Chemistry. The third subject is flexible, though academic rigour matters — King's is looking for students who can handle demanding scientific content alongside the broader intellectual demands of medicine.
King's uses the UCAT as part of its selection process, and the score carries real weight. While King's does not publish a fixed cut-off score, competitive applicants typically achieve a strong total UCAT score across the three cognitive subtests, alongside a strong Situational Judgement Test (SJT) result. In practice, applicants with a noticeably below-average UCAT score are at a significant disadvantage, particularly given the volume of applications King's receives each year. King's has around 300 places available on the five-year A100 programme each year, and competition for those places remains intense.
International Baccalaureate applicants need 38 points overall, or an aggregate of 19 points from three Higher Level subjects, including grade 6 at Higher Level in both Biology and Chemistry. Scottish Highers applicants should check directly with King's admissions, as requirements may differ.
King's College London's own entry-requirements page is explicit that there is no published UCAT cut-off score, and -- importantly -- no published percentage weighting split between the individual UCAT subtests either. The official wording is that the overall UCAT score averaged across the subtests "is given more consideration than the individual subtest scores," and that the Situational Judgement Test (SJT) "is not taken into account when shortlisting." If you see a specific weighting formula (for example, a fixed percentage split) quoted for King's Medicine elsewhere online, treat it with caution and check King's live entry-requirements page before relying on it, since King's itself does not publish one.
What has changed for the current cycle is the UCAT format itself: Abstract Reasoning was permanently discontinued from the 2025 sitting onwards, so the test now has three scored cognitive subtests rather than four.
| UCAT section (2027 entry format) | Maximum score | What it tests |
|---|---|---|
| Verbal Reasoning | 900 | Interpreting written information |
| Decision Making | 900 | Logical reasoning and problem-solving |
| Quantitative Reasoning | 900 | Numerical problem-solving |
| Cognitive total | 2,700 | Averaged score King's weighs most heavily |
| Situational Judgement Test (SJT) | Band 1-4 | Scored separately; not taken into account when shortlisting |
Source: UCAT Consortium, Test Format and Scoring, retrieved 26 September 2026.
Admissions specialists who track King's interview outcomes (rather than King's itself, which does not publish this figure) report that the average UCAT score among interviewed applicants sits well above the typical UK medical-school range -- a figure worth treating as an informed benchmark rather than an official threshold.
King's own entry-requirements page does not name the interview format it uses: it confirms only that no offers are made without an interview, and that interviewers assess communication skills, general social and ethical issues, and suitability for the programme. Check your King's Apply invitation for the format used in your cycle.
Our medicine admissions specialists work with King's applicants on UCAT preparation and interview coaching, with sessions tailored to the communication, ethical reasoning and situational awareness King's interviewers assess. Book a free consultation to discuss a preparation plan for the King's College London Medicine application.
Where King's uses an MMI-style interview, stations have commonly assessed communication skills, ethical reasoning, empathy and professionalism, and the ability to think clearly under pressure. You might be asked to respond to a scenario involving a patient interaction, discuss an ethical dilemma in healthcare, or demonstrate how you would handle a challenging interpersonal situation. Some stations may involve role-play with an actor, which tests how naturally you can engage with another person rather than simply recite prepared answers.
King's receives a very high volume of applications from candidates who meet the academic threshold. What distinguishes successful applicants is usually the quality of their reflection rather than the quantity of their experience. Work experience in healthcare — whether in a hospital, GP surgery, care home, or voluntary setting — matters not because it fills a line on your personal statement, but because it gives you something genuine to say about what medicine involves and why you want to be part of it.
Your personal statement should demonstrate that you have engaged seriously with the realities of clinical practice, not just the idea of medicine. King's values students who show intellectual curiosity, an understanding of the NHS and its pressures, and a clear sense of why medicine specifically — rather than another health profession — is the right path for them. Avoid vague enthusiasm. Be specific about what you observed, what it made you think, and what you want to explore further.
Super-curricular reading, engagement with medical ethics, and any experience that demonstrates resilience or teamwork can all strengthen an application, provided they are discussed with genuine insight rather than listed for effect.
For full entry requirements and up-to-date admissions information, see the King's College London Medicine admissions.
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Reviewed September 2026: dates, figures and rules checked against King's College London's own MBBS course and entry-requirements pages, and the UCAT Consortium's test-format and 2025-changes pages..
From the first year of the programme. King's integrates clinical placements and patient contact into the early years of the course rather than reserving them for later. Students begin developing clinical and communication skills alongside their biomedical science teaching, which means by the time the fully clinical years begin, they are not encountering patients for the first time.
A strong total score across the three cognitive subtests is a reasonable target for a competitive application, alongside a strong Situational Judgement Test band. King's does not publish a fixed threshold, but given the competition, a noticeably below-average score makes it significantly harder to progress to interview. Preparing for the UCAT seriously — ideally over several months — is not optional at this level.
In an MMI-style format, rather than sitting in front of a panel for a single extended interview, you rotate through a series of short stations, each assessing a different skill or quality. This format means a weak performance at one station does not define your overall result, but it also means you cannot rely on building rapport with a single interviewer over time. Each station is a fresh start, and the ability to engage quickly, think clearly, and communicate naturally under time pressure is what the format is designed to test.
Most applicants sit the UCAT in the summer before Year 13, which means the bulk of preparation falls in Year 12 and the summer between the two years. Starting UCAT practice early — familiarising yourself with the format and question types from around January of Year 12 — allows you to build skills gradually without it competing directly with exam revision. The UCAT tests aptitude rather than knowledge, so consistent timed practice is more effective than intensive last-minute cramming. Your A-Level grades remain the foundation, so neither should be neglected at the expense of the other.
No. King's own entry-requirements page states that the overall UCAT score averaged across the subtests is given more consideration than individual subtest scores, and that there is no published cut-off or fixed weighting formula. The Situational Judgement Test is scored separately and is not taken into account when shortlisting. Applicants who see a specific percentage weighting split quoted for King's elsewhere should treat it as unverified and check King's own admissions page directly, since King's confirms no such fixed formula exists.
King's does not publish a cycle-by-cycle breakdown of applications, interviews and offers on its own site. What King's does confirm directly is that its undergraduate medicine programmes receive around 5,500 applications a year for approximately 410 places in total, with around 4,000 of those applications for the five-year A100 route, 1,200 to 1,400 applicants interviewed each cycle, and around 300 A100 places available.
King's describes the course in three official Stages. Stage 1 covers biomedical and population sciences with introductory clinical skills. Stage 2 organises teaching around the human life-cycle and common pathological processes, including following the same patients over time. An optional one-year intercalated BSc sits between Stage 2 and Stage 3, turning the programme into a six-year route for those who take it. Stage 3 focuses on elective study, quality-improvement projects and realistic clinical simulation, preparing students for the Foundation Year 1 selection process.
International applicants must sit the UCAT in the same year they apply, exactly as UK applicants do -- there is no exemption. English language proficiency must meet King's Band B requirement. International Baccalaureate applicants need 38 points overall (or 19 points aggregated across three Higher Level subjects), including grade 6 at Higher Level in both Biology and Chemistry, with the 38-point total incorporating Theory of Knowledge and the Extended Essay.
King's receives around 5,500 applications a year across its undergraduate medicine programmes for approximately 410 places in total, with roughly 4,000 of those applications specifically for the five-year A100 route. Around 1,200 to 1,400 applicants are interviewed each cycle across all medicine programmes, and approximately 300 places are available on A100 itself, making it one of the largest single medical school intakes in the UK.
Our medicine admissions specialists provide targeted UCAT preparation covering the current three-subtest cognitive format (Verbal Reasoning, Decision Making, Quantitative Reasoning) and the Situational Judgement Test, alongside interview coaching tailored to King's own interview format once your invitation confirms it. We also support personal statement development and work-experience reflection specific to King's holistic shortlisting process, for both UK and international applicants. We work with applicants from Year 12 through to results day -- book a free consultation to build a preparation plan around King's UCAT, academic and interview requirements.
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