Who did well in UMAT? HOW? (2 Viewers)

[simplyyme]

1. How did you prepare for the UMAT?

MedEntry exams the ACER practice booklets as well.

2. When did you prepare for it? Is it the earlier the better?

lol i only decided i was going to do the UMAT in may, and i didn't start practising till mid june - it is definitely better to start earlier, i wish i had, i was so stressed on the day before the actual UMAT fearing i would fail section 3 or go there with completely no idea of what was happening.

3. Did you go to any UMAT preparation programs? If so, which one did you select? Do you suggest future students do choose that institute?

yea, i went to MedEntry. i would recommend you chose it, has VERY GOOD practice exams as well as a ton of drills to do and the workshops are pretty helpful too.

4. Any additional advice on how do perform well in each section?

- don't stress ! i know it's hard, but don't go walking in there thinking you're going to fail, just remember you've done all you can to prepare for it and that there are people in there who have done nothing at all prior to the test and going in there to either wing it or see what they can get ( makes you fell slightly better and not as nervous, well for me it did xD )

p.s when there's 10 minutes left for each section, try and remember that someone will yell into a microphone otherwise they'll scare the crap out of you !

 

[Charity F]

If I want to go Medentry, does it mean its better to go earlier i.e. January? Or its better to go a bit later so the skills you learnt is still fresh?

personally i'd have gone for somewhere mid-way, january seems a bit too early

provided you starting working on the online material before then

 

[almar]

oh dear, starting the UMAT preparation debate eh? I think if it makes you feel better and more confident about the UMAT, and you or your parents can afford it, go for those courses. Otherwise, as that lecturer from UNSW said, you do't need it. UMAT is testing you as a person, how you think by youself. I found that really scary, I've always thought that better preparation = good marks in any exam. But after thinking about what they are actually testing in UMAT, I realised there really was nothing I could do: either you SHOULD be in healthcare, or not (even if the questions are not perfect, that's what they're testing). That's what they want to find out, I think they assume you know how to study b/c they assume you're pretty smart to get the ATAR. Develop a fatalist attitude I say

I completely disagree with this. How can a two and a half hour test decide who is best fitted to a health care professional?? The test is more academic if you ask me. However, some people do have natural ability at stuff like that, which may have come from reading a lot (helps in section 1) staying quite and observing others (helps in section 2) and being good at maths and puzzles (helps in section 3). Now im sure there are many people out their who are excellent readers (hence they ace s1), very good observers of others (hence ace s2) and excellent at maths and puzzles (hence ace s3) but are unable to show these skills in a REAL LIFE situation. THE UMAT IS NOT A REAL LIFE SITUATION. It is simply another test which involves test taking strategies (which come from experience and training).

 

[Kearnzo]

2008:
S1:47
S2:59
S3:57
Overall score:163
Percentile: 72%

2009:
S1: 69
S2: 58
S3: 67
Overall score: 194
Percentile: 98%

Last year I was quiet lazy and wasn't fully committed to a career in medicine. I was already planning to take a year off so I didn't prepare at all expect for the ACER material.

This year I did do a medentry prep course, worked through a lot of the practice exams and went to a 2 day workshop as well.
I would contribute the improvement in section 1 entirely to simply practicing harder comprehension questions, which boils down to reading more quickly, learning how to find the key phrases in passages (guided by reading the question first) and simply becoming accustomed to the style of question. Clearly medentry practice exams helped with that, but you could as easily practice yourself by:
- reading scientific, (more in depth explanations of anything really) and while reading, memorise the key phrases. Writing down what you have memorised after reading a page of information will give you an idea of how much you are retaining in your short term memory. It also provides something for you to improve on!

Section 2 I didn't do as well compared to 2008 so no advice there!

The third section is about breaking the overall pattern down into component parts, figuring them out, then comparing them together to understand how the pattern works as a whole.
There are a lot of different patterns that are used, if you are struggling with this section, you will probably need to get your hands on some UMAT like questions and figure out how these patterns are moving and memorise them. This will firstly give you insight into how the questions are put together, and secondly enable you to exclude (or see) some patterns you have memorised straight away.

 

[carmsandiago]

does a 71% [percentile] give you any chance for an interview?

 

[joben]

nope i doubt youd get any interviews - except from JCU med

 

[Charity F]

does a 71% [percentile] give you any chance for an interview?

nope i doubt youd get any interviews - except from JCU med

only if they like your application. similar situation to a friend, and they ended up getting in.

 

[lizajane91]

@ macca

well if u got an interview already ur predicted ATAR, RRMA and UMAT must have been good enough to make the cut off... so ace the interview, get your predicted ATAR(if not better) and you should be in a fairly good position.
Congrats on your UMAT and interview offer! i might see you there, whens ur interview?

 

[melaniestrollll]

idk it's just like you're sitting there in the room, you know? looking at the paper. and then you see an answer and it just clicks. so you put it down and you're all sweet, yeah?

 

[desh15]

i'll have to face the umat next year. and at the moment i'm confused becuase i always thought if you try your best and believe in it you can acheive us goal.
so u guys are tell us that's it not what counts here, you have to "naturally" be smart. Help

 

[desh15]

personally i'd have gone for somewhere mid-way, january seems a bit too early

provided you starting working on the online material before then

could you tell me where you went please and the details and your view