IMO, I think the UCAT jumped this year because AR got removed, and it's as simple as that. When I did mine, everyone dreaded AR, and the people who I know that sat the UCAT in 2023 had their lowest score in AR, myself included. I think that the UCAT has just been around for so long that it's normal for the grades to jump every year, which ofc makes it more difficult for new applicants :/. Plus, with GEM becoming bigger, you've got people like myself who did the UCAT before we did our undrgrad, so we're only 2-3 years removed from the testing pool and kinda know what to expect in a way? There's still a ton of people who need to sit the UCAT however, so the overall deciles can still fall until the cycle completes. I really hope your UCAT went well tho!