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Author Topic: UMAT REPLACED - What is the UCAT?  (Read 12535 times)

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Joseph41

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UMAT REPLACED - What is the UCAT?
« on: October 01, 2018, 02:31:40 pm »
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For students hoping to enter courses in medicine, dentistry and some other clinical science courses, the UMAT (Undergraduate Medicine and Health Sciences Admission Test) has long been a thorn in the side. Difficult to prepare for, the UMAT has traditionally been a major source of energy for very many Year 12 students. The last ever UMAT was in July 2018.

But the UMAT is no longer...
At least, not for our purposes. That is because the UMAT has been replaced by the UCAT (University Clinical Aptitude Test) - and this is relevant for those sitting the test in 2019 and beyond.

Whilst the basic premise of the UCAT is the same as the UMAT (to provide tertiary institutions information about applicants), the two tests are not the same. This is a really important consideration for those of you looking for resources, and ways to get ahead of the pack.

So - what is the UCAT?
The UCAT is widely used overseas, serving a similar purpose to the UMAT up until 2018. Despite this, there are some major differences. For one, the UCAT is computer-based and, unlike the UMAT, there is no specific date where you must sit the UCAT. Instead, you simply need to sit the test within a period of multiple weeks.

Those who have sat the UMAT before would be familiar with the horrible wait between test day and results day. This is no longer; you will receive your UCAT results on the day - definitely a plus of a computerised test. But those results aren't in the same format as UMAT results, because the structure of the UCAT is different.

You can get an understanding of what the UCAT might look at here, covering sections in Verbal Reasoning, Decision Making, Quantitative Reasoning, Abstract Reasoning and Situational Judgement.

What should I do now?
The first thing you should do? Try not to panic. At this point in time, there are many unknowns. There are many things that will become clearer with time, from test structure, to expectations, to advice and resources for those wishing to sit the UCAT in 2019 and beyond.

You will doubtlessly see groups and organisations try to position themselves as UCAT leaders. Those that have previously offered UMAT services may even try to masquerade their previous UMAT products as applicable to the UCAT, but again, you should be mindful that the UMAT and the UCAT are entirely independent. Be vigilant, and do not get sucked into those trying to sell to unsure students - particularly before we get more information about what is involved.

For now, sit back and take it all in - this is, fundamentally, a pretty big change. However, you're all in the same boat, and although many of the resources previously available to those sitting the UMAT may now no longer be relevant, time will be your best friend in seeing what's needed, and what's not.

Stay tuned, because we're going to bring you heaps of UCAT updates to make sure you're not at all disadvantaged from this change!
« Last Edit: October 01, 2018, 02:34:46 pm by Joseph41 »

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bashir

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Re: UMAT REPLACED - What is the UCAT?
« Reply #1 on: October 27, 2018, 02:57:41 pm »
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I am year 10 student, what is the best way to prepare for uCAT? and what are some tips to smash UCAT?

vox nihili

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Re: UMAT REPLACED - What is the UCAT?
« Reply #2 on: October 27, 2018, 10:05:38 pm »
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I am year 10 student, what is the best way to prepare for uCAT? and what are some tips to smash UCAT?

We don't really know yet, as the UCAT is only very new.

There were some studies about UMAT preparation that concluded that purchasing UMAT teaching didn't materially change exam scores, except for a small increase in performance in section III. On the basis of that, I think it's safe to recommend against wasting your money with such a course.


EDIT: just to clarify the evidence.

Wilkinson, T. M., & Wilkinson, T. J. (2013). Preparation courses for a medical admissions test: effectiveness contrasts with opinion. Medical education, 47(4), 417-424. —> says that UMAT preparation doesn't help but that you think it helps because of confirmation bias.

Laurence, C. O., Zajac, I. T., Lorimer, M., Turnbull, D. A., & Sumner, K. E. (2013). The impact of preparatory activities on medical school selection outcomes: a cross-sectional survey of applicants to the university of Adelaide medical school in 2007. BMC medical education, 13(1), 159. —> says that UMAT preparation does help but didn't factor in potential confouders such as SES, which is silly and makes me doubt the results are accurate.

Puddey, I. B., Mercer, A., Andrich, D., & Styles, I. (2014). Practice effects in medical school entrance testing with the undergraduate medicine and health sciences admission test (UMAT). BMC medical education, 14(1), 48. —> infers that practice makes perfect because sitting the UMAT multiple times is associated with improving results
« Last Edit: October 27, 2018, 10:10:10 pm by vox nihili »
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georgia228

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Re: UMAT REPLACED - What is the UCAT?
« Reply #3 on: January 04, 2019, 09:59:53 pm »
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Hi there, im starting year 12 this year and im considering medice but ive never heard of the UCAT or even the UMAT before. I read the post but what does the UCAT or even UMAT test do for you? Does it secure a postion in clinical sciences for you? Or does it get you into medical school without doing premed courses? Should we only take the UCAT test when we know we want to go into medicine? Being a year 12, im still not 100% if i want to go into medicine. So some guidance would be very welcome.
Thankk youu

PhoenixxFire

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Re: UMAT REPLACED - What is the UCAT?
« Reply #4 on: January 04, 2019, 10:29:17 pm »
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Hi there, im starting year 12 this year and im considering medice but ive never heard of the UCAT or even the UMAT before. I read the post but what does the UCAT or even UMAT test do for you? Does it secure a postion in clinical sciences for you? Or does it get you into medical school without doing premed courses? Should we only take the UCAT test when we know we want to go into medicine? Being a year 12, im still not 100% if i want to go into medicine. So some guidance would be very welcome.
Thankk youu
Hey, I'm probably not the best person to answer this given I haven't done it myself (but I'm sure someone else can help if you have more questions) but basically you need to do the UCAT (previously the UMAT) to get into an undergraduate medicine degree. If you want to do graduate medicine then you have to do a different test (GAMSAT) later. Your UCAT result, ATAR, and interviews are what determine if you will get a medicine offer. The scores needed in each section and the weighting of each section vary depending on what uni you're applying to.

If there's any chance you want to study undergraduate medicine then you should do the UCAT.
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AngelWings

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Re: UMAT REPLACED - What is the UCAT?
« Reply #5 on: January 04, 2019, 10:42:52 pm »
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Hi there, im starting year 12 this year and im considering medice but ive never heard of the UCAT or even the UMAT before. I read the post but what does the UCAT or even UMAT test do for you? Does it secure a postion in clinical sciences for you? Or does it get you into medical school without doing premed courses? Should we only take the UCAT test when we know we want to go into medicine? Being a year 12, im still not 100% if i want to go into medicine. So some guidance would be very welcome.
Thankk youu
I've never really wanted to do med either, but here's a few tidbits of info I'm going to add.

Apart from undergrad med courses, some undergrad health sciences and similar courses also required the UMAT previously and likely will make the switch to the UCAT in 2019 as well. The UCAT website is here.
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AKACHACHING

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Re: UMAT REPLACED - What is the UCAT?
« Reply #6 on: February 01, 2019, 04:49:35 pm »
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Hi Guys,

So i wanted to get into medicine but didn't achieve a good umat score and my atar was 88, not so high. So i was planning to do health and medical science at uni for a year, keeping a high gpa and good ucat to transfer into medicine. So i was wondering what percentile do you need to achieve for UCAT in universities such as uni adelaide?

Lear

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UMAT REPLACED - What is the UCAT?
« Reply #7 on: February 01, 2019, 05:07:55 pm »
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No one really knows yet. I even asked a member of the admissions team at one uni who themselves had no idea what they were going to do.
Best thing you can do is forget the number game and do the best you can.

.. and also keep your options open in terms of other careers.
« Last Edit: February 01, 2019, 05:11:48 pm by Lear »
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A.Rose

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Re: UMAT REPLACED - What is the UCAT?
« Reply #8 on: April 20, 2020, 02:09:49 pm »
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Hi, I'm doing my UCAT test this year and I just have a few questions about preparation.

1. On the preparation plan, it recommends that you read newspapers/articles to improve speed reading ad critical reasoning skills. But what kind of articles would I read in my spare time to build up my verbal reasoning skills? Or should I not worry about this and focus on verbal reasoning questions specifically to build up these skills?

2. The preparation plan also recommends browsing the GMC's Good Medical Practise. On the UCAT youtube channel, a speaker recommended making a poster to assist with situation judgement which has notes from the GMC website to help you choose the right scale, as in 'appropriateness' or 'importance' of a response. What kind of notes from the GMC should I take to help me with this? Are there certain key points/rules on the website? Should I read through the Good Medical practice guide book and take keynotes?

3. Also if anyone has any advice for Abstract reasoning that would be amazing. Such as how to look for patterns quickly especially for the Set A and B questions.
Thank you!!   ;)

Sine

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Re: UMAT REPLACED - What is the UCAT?
« Reply #9 on: April 20, 2020, 03:23:43 pm »
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Hi, I'm doing my UCAT test this year and I just have a few questions about preparation.

1. On the preparation plan, it recommends that you read newspapers/articles to improve speed reading ad critical reasoning skills. But what kind of articles would I read in my spare time to build up my verbal reasoning skills? Or should I not worry about this and focus on verbal reasoning questions specifically to build up these skills?

2. The preparation plan also recommends browsing the GMC's Good Medical Practise. On the UCAT youtube channel, a speaker recommended making a poster to assist with situation judgement which has notes from the GMC website to help you choose the right scale, as in 'appropriateness' or 'importance' of a response. What kind of notes from the GMC should I take to help me with this? Are there certain key points/rules on the website? Should I read through the Good Medical practice guide book and take keynotes?

3. Also if anyone has any advice for Abstract reasoning that would be amazing. Such as how to look for patterns quickly especially for the Set A and B questions.
Thank you!!   ;)
Heaps of aptitude tests such as the MCAT, LSAT, GAMSAT etc have a verbal reasoning section and there is a little bit of a divide on whether "reading widely" helps. Some people don't feel like it will help them immediately so would rather go onto just spamming practice questions whilst others back it. Personally, I think it is a hard section to improve within the normal time frame someone studies for the UCAT (usually less than a year) as these skills are generally developed over a whole lifetime. Find out what works for you and which method you will be more motivated to study.

Not too sure on number 2. But seems like it could be useful to take a glance at for the situational judgment section. However, the GMC seems more suited for medical doctors and students rather than applicants. The UCAT websites states you will not need "medical or procedural knowledge"  but knowing a little wouldn't hurt too much.


A.Rose

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Re: UMAT REPLACED - What is the UCAT?
« Reply #10 on: April 28, 2020, 08:09:49 pm »
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Hi!
I have a few UCAT Questions I'm stuck on and I would really appreciate some help  :)
I have taken snapshots of the questions on a word document and have attached.
Thank you!