ATAR Notes: Forum
Archived Discussion => UMAT => Exam Discussion => Victoria => 2011 => Topic started by: REBORN on September 19, 2011, 05:01:22 pm
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...may you divulge your secrets to ripping out such awesome scores? :P
Any tips for the 2012'rs? When to start? How to think about certain sections? Did you do MedEnt?
any advice appreciated. :)
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lol, I'm not the best for advice. But I wouldn't start now. Start around Dec/Jan with a few drills. Then I would advise that you space out all your exams. I didn't, and crammed like 4 in the week before and left most drills empty... Which is bad. Space it all out and best of luck :)
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Get some of the random MENSA spatial logic books for section 3 practice. Do the ACER booklets for practice of the other 2.
I don't think doing hundreds of practice questions is beneficial unless you have problems thinking through the underlying concepts. Take a question and dissect it yourself and see if you can figure out some strategies for s1/2. If you can't, then think about a prep course.
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I agree, the most improvement can be made in S3. S2 is widely luck and S1 is all about critical reading (can be helped with practice, but not by much I think).
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Ummm...I didn't do medentry and i did okay....you really don't need to go (imo its a waste of money)
But practicing mensa puzzles definitely helps with section 3
The key is probably doing more papers (if you can get your hands on any) and UNDERSTANDING where or why you are wrong :)
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Ummm...I didn't do medentry and i did okay....you really don't need to go (imo its a waste of money)
Okay matt, you're beast, we geddit :P
But yeh, I don't think medentry helped TOO much. If anything, it helped a bit with S3, but also made me feel guilty for not using all of it, as it costed a bucket load to my parents...
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Ummm...I didn't do medentry and i did okay....you really don't need to go (imo its a waste of money)
Okay matt, you're beast, we geddit :P
But yeh, I don't think medentry helped TOO much. If anything, it helped a bit with S3, but also made me feel guilty for not using all of it, as it costed a bucket load to my parents...
LOL i didn't mean to gloat or be cocky....i'm just trying to get it out there that you don't need to waste money on medentry imo :p
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Haha, I know matt! Just having a bit of fun :)
And I agree, you defs don't need to sign up to a medentry program or anything to get 90+.
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I didn't do too well on the UMAT, but I can speak from experience that your preparation should get underway as soon as your Unit 3/4 exam is over( if you have any).
If you decide to leave preparation until the holidays before the exam, then your vce subjects may be compromised, as was the case with me.
In terms of approaching umat preparation:
I found a prep course to be quite useful. If you do choose one, then begin with the drills, or whatever other 'warm-up' activities they offer.
After you are comfortable with the layout of the exam, begin to do a few practice exams. You needn't do all three sections in one go, especially if you have a busy schedule. Expect to perform relatively poorly when you begin. With practice, your scores will increase naturally.
Identify which section is your weakest. Try to focus most of your efforts on this section. Ask yourself what it is about the section which gives you problems. Is it due to poor time management? Inability to comprehend the question? Reading too slowly?
When the issue has been identified, invest some time in trying to overcome it. For instance, if you find yourself working too slowly through the paper, then get into the habit of spending a maximum of 1.5 minutes on any given question. If you can't work it out in the allocated period of time, guess and move on. Force yourself to work under these conditions and soon, progress will be made.
One last tip: Anything can happen with the UMAT. Section 2 was consistently my best section in practice exams and drills, but turned out to be my worst on the day of the exam ( I ended up only scoring in the mid-50's). Section 3, on the other hand, went from worst to best. Expect anything and everything. After each section, regardless of how you thought you did, forget about it. Focus on the next section. Often, the people who score the highest get a score in the 50's for one section, and end up getting 75+ in another section.
Best of luck to you and the rest of the cohort for next year :)
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a fair amount of luck and hardwork is necessary.
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start reading the dictionary to improve section 2.. ::)
that was what pulled me down.. cause i couldnt understand half the words..
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start reading the dictionary to improve section 2.. ::)
that was what pulled me down.. cause i couldn't understand half the words..
I think for most people, there was a fair amount of guessing in S2. :)
My biggest problem was the fact that there were paragraphs on a mother talking to her son (for example, 'not' a REAL UMAT 2011 question ;)) with her daughter-in-law in the background (says nothing!) mentioned for a total of ~15 words throughout the whole para (para was maybe ~400 words), and then they ask only two questions, both on the daughter-in-law... wtf
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start reading the dictionary to improve section 2.. ::)
that was what pulled me down.. cause i couldn't understand half the words..
I think for most people, there was a fair amount of guessing in S2. :)
My biggest problem was the fact that there were paragraphs on a mother talking to her son (for example, 'not' a REAL UMAT 2011 question ;)) with her daughter-in-law in the background (says nothing!) mentioned for a total of ~15 words throughout the whole para (para was maybe ~400 words), and then they ask only two questions, both on the daughter-in-law... wtf
i remember this ;)
a certain weird couple ;)
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My biggest problem was the fact that there were paragraphs on a mother talking to her son (for example, 'not' a REAL UMAT 2011 question ;)) with her daughter-in-law in the background (says nothing!) mentioned for a total of ~15 words throughout the whole para (para was maybe ~400 words), and then they ask only two questions, both on the daughter-in-law... wtf
I obviously didn't see it, but a character doesn't have to speak to understand their motivations and feelings etc.
e, 4000, i need a break
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Tbh I'm not worried about [s2]. It's mainly [s1]. Does spamming [s1] improve 'critical reading' and stuff?...or is it mainly 'natural ability'...
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Don't get worried about anything right now, it's seriously not worth worrying about it your stage.
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Tbh I'm not worried about [s2]. It's mainly [s1]. Does spamming [s1] improve 'critical reading' and stuff?...or is it mainly 'natural ability'...
It's a bit of both, yes it's trainable, but only to a certain extent, you'll see that once you reach a certain stage, you start to asymptote towards a particular level...that's what I found anyway, so it's about maximising your potential, and also, speed training is also important, just finishing S1 will give you a HUGE advantage over others