ATAR Notes: Forum
National Education => Admissions tests => UMAT => Topic started by: kido_1 on February 04, 2008, 06:08:53 pm
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I understand that UMAT is a pretty important test for people looking to get into Medicine, Dentistry, Optometry, Physiotherapy, Pharmacy and Other Health Science Related Courses. :uglystupid2:
So, wouldn't it be a great idea if a seperate thread was created, discussing the UMAT, what it is?, the unis you can apply to, what scores you need?, how to improve logical reasoning and spatial thought(e.g Mensa tests)?. Interview techniques when applying to unis...
NB: I've been researching UMAT stuff for a while. It's compulsory for most medical/dental/health science related courses.
Any opinions? :P
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I understand that UMAT is a pretty important test for people looking to get into Medicine, Dentistry, Optometry, Physiotherapy, Pharmacy and Other Health Science Related Courses. :uglystupid2:
So, wouldn't it be a great idea if a seperate thread was created, discussing the UMAT, what it is?, the unis you can apply to, what scores you need?, how to improve logical reasoning and spatial thought(e.g Mensa tests)?. Interview techniques when applying to unis...
NB: I've been researching UMAT stuff for a while. It's compulsory for most medical/dental/health science related courses.
Any opinions? :P
That is one awesome idea, mate!
I have heard about the UMAT from a few blokes at school, but I want to find more about it and how you can improve.
I was wondering why there was not a UMAT thread here in the first place.
You would be a good UMAT mod too.
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This kid as a mod, lol, lol, lol (you obviously haven't been on this forum that long)
This bloke doesn't even know what he is talking about quoting from wikipedia what a few zionist thinktanks and researchers said about the holocaust.
Besides, there is No need for a UMAT thread. umat is common obvious sense, but it will be a good laugh..
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Would you please clarify why quoting wikipedia for 'zionist thinktanks' and researchers about the holocaust is:
a) relevant to this thread, and
b) problematic?
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I understand that UMAT is a pretty important test for people looking to get into Medicine, Dentistry, Optometry, Physiotherapy, Pharmacy and Other Health Science Related Courses. :uglystupid2:
So, wouldn't it be a great idea if a seperate thread was created, discussing the UMAT, what it is?, the unis you can apply to, what scores you need?, how to improve logical reasoning and spatial thought(e.g Mensa tests)?. Interview techniques when applying to unis...
NB: I've been researching UMAT stuff for a while. It's compulsory for most medical/dental/health science related courses.
Any opinions? :P
That is one awesome idea, mate!
I have heard about the UMAT from a few blokes at school, but I want to find more about it and how you can improve.
I was wondering why there was not a UMAT thread here in the first place.
You would be a good UMAT mod too.
Thanks. I just thought it might not be a bad idea to have a UMAT thread if enough people find it appropriate.
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Yes, a UMAT thread would be a great idea.
I am in its support bigtime.
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Yeh, UMAT is equally as important and in some unis more important than the ENTER, so a thread 4 it would be a good idea.
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YEAH THIS IS A GREAT IDEA, but maybe we should pick someone who got 300 out of 300 for the UMAT.
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Collin, I am not saying that UMAT is difficult but anything above 205 is in the top 1%. Usually 260-280 is the top UMAT score. 300 is practically impossible.
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Collin, I am not saying that UMAT is difficult but anything above 205 is in the top 1%. Usually 260-280 is the top UMAT score. 300 is practically impossible.
Sources? I know of many people who got above 205. That's less than 68.4% of 300!
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210(scaled) last year was the cutoff score for the top 1% (150 out of the 15000 people that do it).The highest I know of is a friend of a cousin of mine from Adelaide who scored a whopping 243!
I have been doing UMAT since early high school, and have been to 2 prep courses already and have done about 5000 UMAT questions (3000 from NIE, 1500 from AMEPP, and about 500 from various other sources(ACER booklet, website questions). I am planning to go to the med-entry prep course this march.I am pretty experienced in the UMAT field.
I doubt that I will EVER score 300(scaled score) in the UMAT, but I can offer a load of resources/answers/ideas/techniques. Personally if you read newspaper editorials and journals at a fast accurate pace, with practice it becomes easier to catch on unseen arguments, premise and judgements..
Btw: ARE you talking about 210 percentile or 210 scaled. 210 percentile is sinch(top 22%), 210 SCALED is in the top 1%
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I never did the UMAT, but I know there are 3 sections and you get a percentile in each section, and you just add it up to get a score out of 300 right?
I know someone who got in the 290s - but it's not a typical case: she got the scholarship in Melbourne for Medicine.
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I never did the UMAT, but I know there are 3 sections and you get a percentile in each section, and you just add it up to get a score out of 300 right?
I know someone who got in the 290s - but it's not a typical case: she got the scholarship in Melbourne for Medicine.
True, true but that was before 2007.
2007 onwards all universities that use UMAT will look at the SCALED score rather than the Percentile. For instance, assume person 'x' scored the following scores in UMAT:
Section 1) Scaled Score-61 Percentile- 96
Section 2) Scaled Score-72 Percentile-98
Section 3) Scaled Score-65 Percentile-96
Combined Scaled Score-198
Combined Percentiles-290
Overall Score(Average Of Combined Scaled Score)-66
This would place student 'x' roughly in the top 2% of the UMAT cohort.
You can however EVEN get a scaled score greater than 100. A scaled score is a score standardised with how well the cohort did, a percentile is how much of the Cohort you beat.
Say you get a raw score of 92 in section 1 where the average score is 23, your score might go up to 132(crazy).
Say you get 62 in section 3, where the average score is 65, your score would go down to 56.
(NB:Some of these figures, excluding facts are arbitrary and have been used just for example)
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The fundamental flaw of prep courses is that they direct to go to the umat and your interview with certain assumptions, these assumptions can kill your chance of getting in
Not only is umat prep looked upon unfavourably by universities, the Australian medical student assocition is a strong opponent to these cash grabbing schemes that operate mostly on, you guessed it, assumption.
Whilst there could be benefits for some, and tips shared from SUCCESSFUL students can be useful as long as they are presented with the disclaimer that the advice given relates only to personal experience. No one has sat more than one umat for SUCCESSFUL entry to medicine. You are not experienced in the "umat field", because you have never sat one.
Congratulations, much like myself, you've wasted money on a prep course that may have predisposed you to certain biases in your preperation, my advice to any potential health science student is to buy the ACER practice question. Umat prep courses rely on keeping their materials constant via asking students for feedback, most of these students will unsuccessful in gaining a place in their chosen course
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I know from a friend of mine who did a prep course a year before UMAT that it REALLY helped him out, especially with Section 3 (the spatial reasoning).
Some prep courses, can be misleading however last year the UMAT Exam had questions nearly identical to those found in a certain prep course resource guide.
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I also disagree. Like many things, practise helps improve your skill for a certain issue/event.
I personally have found that a prep course helped my sister (who is doing 1st yr med at UNSW) achieve a really good score. I am not saying prep courses are essential but they do help.
Maybe though in your case, the prep courses did NOT help you out, but people are different in many respects. Generally, however prep courses help. ACER does not endorse prep courses because they screw the entire purpose of the UMAT, however I would say they are in most cases very helpful.
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Exactly, they were nearly identical, you don;t think acer might screw with the rich kids trying to get a leg up? All prep courses are misleading because there is no such thing as umat experience until you have sat a real one. The leaders of the main prep courses cannot lay claim to that. Section 3 can be helped by using the acer q booklets and mensa quiz books, expensive alternatives to the "prep curses"
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Btw, UMAT is more about the techniques you apply and the timing/pace of the questions you do (which you learn from practise).
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Hahahaha, how perfectly naive, a seemingly consistent opinion
Acer are not the only ones who dissaprove, as do AMSA and every other medical school in the country. Mostly because of price. It is a ridiculous investment that often tells you to say certain things in your interview, tells you to expect certain questions. The predispose you approach the whole admission process from an ultimately biased perspective. Getting hints is fine, but the risk vs. price is absurd
I do not only discourage them from experience, but also on the principles. These are overpriced organisation who use recycled questions and spread rumours about interviews which are untrue and greatly piss off the faculties. Avoid them, and their so called experts.
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i practises icarus' prep course for about 1.5years before i sat the umat and i just attended a med entry lecture before that...and i totally screwed the damn thing up. Goes to show that alot of work doesnt always pay off.
well its either that or im just not a smart guy.
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I wouldn't trust ICARUS if i were you. The person who runs it is not the most trustworthy of people, and I have seen him make a poor girl cry. The organisation has also been embroiled in law suits for pinching other companies' materials for many years now. Keep a wide berth of the ICARUS organisation.
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http://community.boredofstudies.org/332/medicine-medical-health-studies/149057/umat-07-thread.html
"Did anyone else find a couple of the questions familar from a certain UMAT prep course?"
"^^ yep, recognised at least 5 of them"
NB: Season is a current medical student.
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The person who runs it is definitely NOT trustworthy. One of my friends went to one of his lectures and had a very similar experience. I would also NOT recommed ICARUS.
Note, I am not aiming to say prep courses are amazing, I am just trying to say it might be a good idea to create a seperate thread that discusses UMAT techniques, ways of improving UMAT score, "wide context reading" as quoted by ACER. There are other ways to improve UMAT other than prep courses.
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haha, no, it was more like 2 or 3, and the answers were slightly different anway
So you'd happily respend the $1200 you've spent on the course to maybe get some similar questions, listen to bilgia, it doesn; guarantee success and hard work does not equte to results on the umat
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I find that "wide context" reading does help with UMAT (from experiences with older siblings), and practising certain techniques DOES help.
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I reckon a UMAT thread would be a good idea.
At least it recognises the importance of the UMAT and it could offer ideas by people of what they THINK could help. It allows discussion about alternatives to ENTER medicine, the GAMSAT and other topics (as well as advice from people, such as BA22. Your interview would have been bloody awesome).
Discussion, is a good thing.
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yeh, it does help, but is it WORTH it, i'm not saying they don't work, i'm saying they are overpriced and not nearly as useful as THEY claim
**I'm done discussing this
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BA22 caned the interview big time.
True, Jimo1, the UMAT thread would recognise the importance of the UMAT and offer tips and advice regarding med/dent entry and allow discussion on these issues.
Note: there are many students who miss out on medicine simply because they don't even do the UMAT.
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Note: there are many students who miss out on UMAT simply because they don't even do the UMAT.
That's like a tautological tautology :D
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I don't believe the UMAT thread should be simply about prep course, but techniques and skills to improve performance as well as recognising its importance in the field of med/dent.
I would give it the go ahead.
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I think it is unnecessary. Any advice would mainly be anecdotal, and would fit in General VCE discussion. One thread would suffice.
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Note: there are many students who miss out on UMAT simply because they don't even do the UMAT.
That's like a tautological tautology :D
lol, good pickup.
I didn't even recognise my mistake the first time I posted, now I have *edited* it.
Thanks, anyways..
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I dont think the suggetion is really worth it, we only have very students who sat the umat, and not all of them are doing a health science course, if i may post a link
www.medstudentsonline.com.au
There is much more specific discussion on there an a good policy on med prep course discussion, it's mostly banned
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Note: there are many students who miss out on UMAT simply because they don't even do the UMAT.
That's like a tautological tautology :D
oooh thats from the comedian economist :p
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Yeh, www.medstudentsonline.com.au is a great forum. I thought prep courses can't be named.
However, wouldn't it be better if we had a UMAT section on THIS forum. I mean it could even be a mini subforum if not enough people are interested.
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Explain why there would be more than 2 threads regarding the UMAT? One would be "how did you go?" and that would be yearly, and one would be about advice. This can fit in the General VCE Discussion.
Sorry, but I don't see a use for it.
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Then again you could go onto the Medical Section of the tertiary section of the *site NOT to be named*. It has UMAT info.
Though, a UMAT thread on this forum could still be a good idea. It depends on interest though.
A UMAT thread could be expanded to include information on medical/dent entry. Wide reading, interview offers and interview questions/good responses, Graduate entry medicine/dent, new med/dent courses (e.g CSU, UOW and JCU dent), etc..
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We could just trial the section on UMAT and see how it goes...
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Any thread that could offer advice on how to get into med/dent, pathways, etc I would be highly grateful for.
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You may be eternally grateful, but who cares man.Just relax. Don't worry about UMAT. this kid who set up the whole thread doesn't know what he is talking about(from previous threads).
Let the idea go.
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I think we need a thread on UMAT.
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Oh okay. What year level are you guys in, and what subjects are you doing, out of curiosity?
I genuinely see a point for a thread that is based on finding career pathways - including tips in entry programs, such as advice on the UMAT, art folios, and other tests and entry criteria. It should be on the tertiary section of the board. Currently General University Discussion covers this, but it is getting highly flooded recently. enwiabe has already mentioned that he has plans to split this up into sub-sections in the near future.
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You may be eternally grateful, but who cares man.Just relax. Don't worry about UMAT. this kid who set up the whole thread doesn't know what he is talking about(from previous threads).
Let the idea go.
Whats up with you. Most people on this site want a UMAt thread and so do many of the guests I know. Don't start with your previous rant again
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I am doing: Latin 3/4 , Spec Maths 3/4, Chem 3/4, English 3/4, Psychology 3/4.
I did methods last year and scored 43 raw.
I also did accounting last yr and scored 48 raw.
I personally would like to do med/dent and have little clue about caree pathways and teh UMAT.
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2008: Spec, Chem, Bio, Physics, Lit
2007: Hebrew(37 raw), Methods(42)
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http://freestudynotes.com/VCEforum/index.php/topic,1928.msg26653.html#msg26653
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Those are some pretty good scores guys. Btw, welcome to FSN.
If yous guys keep working hard, get a good UMAT score and do alright in the interview then you should get into med hopefully.
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http://freestudynotes.com/VCEforum/index.php/topic,1928.msg26653.html#msg26653
Oh, sorry, that was a totally inappropriate link. I don't know what I was smoking. There's some pretty harsh side-effects of that drug.
I think the best "trial" of such a UMAT forum is to have a UMAT thread, as dcc suggested.
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Here is some of the Icarus experiance...\
[IMG]http://img512.imageshack.us/img512/3638/wtfoh7.th.jpg[/img]
Oh theres more:
[IMG]http://img401.imageshack.us/img401/5887/watthehj9.th.jpg[/img]
Not done yet:
[IMG]http://img137.imageshack.us/img137/9060/lolquestionsct8.th.jpg[/img]
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By all means make a THREAD on the UMAT. A specialised forum set aside only for the UMAT though seems like a waste of time ... I'm guessing only about 5 people on this site would visit it. Like coblin said it fits fine in the university subforum.
Actually don't we already have a thread on the UMAT?
EDIT: yes we do.
http://freestudynotes.com/VCEforum/index.php/topic,499.0.html