ATAR Notes: Forum
Archived Discussion => UMAT => Exam Discussion => Victoria => 2011 => Topic started by: Ravit on October 07, 2011, 04:52:17 pm
-
To the guys who invested their time and money on the medentry program, did you think it was worthwhile in terms of the
results and preparation? Just wanted some views because im unsure whether or not to buy it? Any opinions?
-
before the storm of people come on here claiming they didn't need it..
i did it, didn't do as well I as wanted to/should have BUT i tthink that any help that can be provided for the umat is worthwhile
-
before the storm of people come on here claiming they didn't need it..
i did it, didn't do as well I as wanted to/should have BUT i tthink that any help that can be provided for the umat is worthwhile
jdog but the difficulty of the questions on the medentry drills are they similiar to what you get on the UMAT exam (i never seen a UMAT exam... yet)
-
before the storm of people come on here claiming they didn't need it..
i did it, didn't do as well I as wanted to/should have BUT i tthink that any help that can be provided for the umat is worthwhile
jdog but the difficulty of the questions on the medentry drills are they similiar to what you get on the UMAT exam (i never seen a UMAT exam... yet)
s3 is definitely harder for medentry - which is good
-
before the storm of people come on here claiming they didn't need it..
i did it, didn't do as well I as wanted to/should have BUT i tthink that any help that can be provided for the umat is worthwhile
jdog but the difficulty of the questions on the medentry drills are they similiar to what you get on the UMAT exam (i never seen a UMAT exam... yet)
s3 is definitely harder for medentry - which is good
so did you finish all the drills and papers before the UMAT?
-
I didn't do it, and didn't do as well as I'd hoped either.
That saying, I got a few practice questions for S3 and ended up gaining an extra 20% in the second practice exam + doing it in less time after I had done on the first. Had I not done those S3 drills, I'm guessing my score probably would have been in the low-mid 80s instead of 92.
I'm also thinking that doing S1 practice would have helped too, which might have pushed me above the cutoff :( ...although there's no way of telling...
Point is, I agree with JDog in that any UMAT prep is helpful. I personally wouldn't fork out for the full medentry course, but scab whatever practice stuff you can find and/or do those old mensa problems.
-
thanks Jane... but getting 92 means you done very well :D
-
Medentry:
S1 - can't really speak for it, didn't do much S1 practice (came through in my performance I guess)
S2 - completely different to UMAT, much easier and less ambiguous than the real thing
S3 - good, bit harder than real UMAT if anything
-
I think you need to evaluate yourself - if there's no chance in hell of you getting over 85%ile minimum for UMAT, then think seriously about whether you can get in, and whether you WANT to get into Med. If you are serious enough about it to try anyway, and go interstate if you're score is below Monash's benchmark, then it's probably worth it to invest in MedEntry. (of course, doesn't apply to those taking UMAT for other courses) For those who think they'd be hovering in the low 90%iles, then yeah, taking medentry or some other course could make all the difference between an interview and no interview. On the other hand, if you're 100% sure you'll get over, say, 98%ile, then it may not be worth your time, although be warned - don't overestimate your capabilities.
I know it's hard to gauge what kind of score you'll get without taking a practice UMAT, but if you can get hold of free material, then try and find out how good you are before investing in a course.
-
sounds good :D thanks all
-
I think you need to evaluate yourself - if there's no chance in hell of you getting over 85%ile minimum for UMAT, then think seriously about whether you can get in, and whether you WANT to get into Med. If you are serious enough about it to try anyway, and go interstate if you're score is below Monash's benchmark, then it's probably worth it to invest in MedEntry. (of course, doesn't apply to those taking UMAT for other courses) For those who think they'd be hovering in the low 90%iles, then yeah, taking medentry or some other course could make all the difference between an interview and no interview. On the other hand, if you're 100% sure you'll get over, say, 98%ile, then it may not be worth your time, although be warned - don't overestimate your capabilities.
I know it's hard to gauge what kind of score you'll get without taking a practice UMAT, but if you can get hold of free material, then try and find out how good you are before investing in a course.
not too sure about that funkyducky.... I am no way sure how someone would know what UMAT score they will get... it is indeed very difficult to gauge whether you are going to be at all any good at the UMAT let alone exactly what decapercentile range you will get in...
In response to the thread Ravti - my answer is simply YES
I did not think it helped me too much - but hey at the very least it gives you invaluable confidence in sitting the real UMAT
their practice exams are GOLD - I strongly recommend doing all 10 of them
S1 drills = utter trash, most of them are so much harder than the real UMAT that the real UMAT's questions are way too different anyway and you are wasting your time trying to learn medentry's unorthodox logic patterns - that being said, do a few to get an idea, and you will defiitely need waaaayyyy more than 20 minutes to do them
S2 drills = once again not very good, Medentry's S2 is pretty bad in the sense that it in fact is simply a reading comprehension test. In the UMAT, the questions are actually written by a panel of judges, whilst in mednetry they are written by former students.... so you can understand the difference in quality - the questions in the real UMAT are much different
S3 drills = GOLD!!!!! if you are weak with S3, then hell yeah go pay your $700 and laze away at the computer cos having access to 100's of S3 questions is the best and most sure-fired gauranteed method of improving in this section
overall I recommend it, but you will be dissapointed about a few things here and there - in addition to that, not everything in medentry is reminiscent of the real UMAT so be prepared - being "harder" than the real UMAT is not actually a good thing - cos their S1 questions are quite simply ridiculous and simply unreflective of the UMAT (but the questions in the exams are fine though, jus the drills suck)
-
S1 drills = utter trash, most of them are so much harder than the real UMAT that the real UMAT's questions are way too different anyway and you are wasting your time trying to learn medentry's unorthodox logic patterns - that being said, do a few to get an idea, and you will defiitely need waaaayyyy more than 20 minutes to do them
S2 drills = once again not very good, Medentry's S2 is pretty bad in the sense that it in fact is simply a reading comprehension test. In the UMAT, the questions are actually written by a panel of judges, whilst in mednetry they are written by former students.... so you can understand the difference in quality - the questions in the real UMAT are much different
S3 drills = GOLD!!!!! if you are weak with S3, then hell yeah go pay your $700 and laze away at the computer cos having access to 100's of S3 questions is the best and most sure-fired gauranteed method of improving in this section
I personally thought that the section 1 drills were alright, but yeah they're harder than what you encounter on the UMAT and usually you'll end up needing around 30 mins to do them, no way you can do them in 20 minutes
But Section 3 is gold, it's the easiest and most trainable section, if you do a lot you'll do well on the real UMAT
-
I think you need to evaluate yourself - if there's no chance in hell of you getting over 85%ile minimum for UMAT, then think seriously about whether you can get in, and whether you WANT to get into Med. If you are serious enough about it to try anyway, and go interstate if you're score is below Monash's benchmark, then it's probably worth it to invest in MedEntry. (of course, doesn't apply to those taking UMAT for other courses) For those who think they'd be hovering in the low 90%iles, then yeah, taking medentry or some other course could make all the difference between an interview and no interview. On the other hand, if you're 100% sure you'll get over, say, 98%ile, then it may not be worth your time, although be warned - don't overestimate your capabilities.
I know it's hard to gauge what kind of score you'll get without taking a practice UMAT, but if you can get hold of free material, then try and find out how good you are before investing in a course.
not too sure about that funkyducky.... I am no way sure how someone would know what UMAT score they will get... it is indeed very difficult to gauge whether you are going to be at all any good at the UMAT let alone exactly what decapercentile range you will get in...
In response to the thread Ravti - my answer is simply YES
I did not think it helped me too much - but hey at the very least it gives you invaluable confidence in sitting the real UMAT
their practice exams are GOLD - I strongly recommend doing all 10 of them
S1 drills = utter trash, most of them are so much harder than the real UMAT that the real UMAT's questions are way too different anyway and you are wasting your time trying to learn medentry's unorthodox logic patterns - that being said, do a few to get an idea, and you will defiitely need waaaayyyy more than 20 minutes to do them
S2 drills = once again not very good, Medentry's S2 is pretty bad in the sense that it in fact is simply a reading comprehension test. In the UMAT, the questions are actually written by a panel of judges, whilst in mednetry they are written by former students.... so you can understand the difference in quality - the questions in the real UMAT are much different
S3 drills = GOLD!!!!! if you are weak with S3, then hell yeah go pay your $700 and laze away at the computer cos having access to 100's of S3 questions is the best and most sure-fired gauranteed method of improving in this section
overall I recommend it, but you will be dissapointed about a few things here and there - in addition to that, not everything in medentry is reminiscent of the real UMAT so be prepared - being "harder" than the real UMAT is not actually a good thing - cos their S1 questions are quite simply ridiculous and simply unreflective of the UMAT (but the questions in the exams are fine though, jus the drills suck)
S1 drills = utter trash, most of them are so much harder than the real UMAT that the real UMAT's questions are way too different anyway and you are wasting your time trying to learn medentry's unorthodox logic patterns - that being said, do a few to get an idea, and you will defiitely need waaaayyyy more than 20 minutes to do them
S2 drills = once again not very good, Medentry's S2 is pretty bad in the sense that it in fact is simply a reading comprehension test. In the UMAT, the questions are actually written by a panel of judges, whilst in mednetry they are written by former students.... so you can understand the difference in quality - the questions in the real UMAT are much different
S3 drills = GOLD!!!!! if you are weak with S3, then hell yeah go pay your $700 and laze away at the computer cos having access to 100's of S3 questions is the best and most sure-fired gauranteed method of improving in this section
I personally thought that the section 1 drills were alright, but yeah they're harder than what you encounter on the UMAT and usually you'll end up needing around 30 mins to do them, no way you can do them in 20 minutes
But Section 3 is gold, it's the easiest and most trainable section, if you do a lot you'll do well on the real UMAT
yes very true the section 1 drillls are considerably hard, whilst i was doing the questions i wasnt doing very well and i thought
getting a good score in the UMAT would be very very difficult, but yeah thanks for the comparisions you guys made with the UMAT and medentry questions... really helped reassure myself.
Btw what is the minimum to maximum number of UMATs you guys think should be done to acheive a high score?
-
woah - minimum to maximum number of UMATs? What do you mean?
I really only think people need to sit the UMAT once - but if they do not get a good enough score, should consider trying again, but that does not always mean their scores should improve
-
sorry that was my bad wording... i meant practice exams :P?
-
oh right - yeah do all 10 of them
they tend to get "harder" as they go along as only really the msot dedicated and smarter kids tend to do the last few meaning your percentile might be lower than for the first few - don't get depressed by this!, but nonetheless, definitely do all 10 that they give you. Infact I might even recommend doing them all and asking medentry to clear your exam record so you can do them all over again.
-
great man thanks ... hopefully all goes well i get into a good medicine course by the end of next year:D thanks again :D
-
oh right - yeah do all 10 of them
12 I believe?
-
Definitely recommend MedEntry if only for the huge amount of Section 3 resources they have on the LMS, and the tricks they teach you at the lecture.
Section 1: Personally didn't need to learn anything for this, got 100% on the first practice Section 1 I did so never bothered again.
Section 2: Really struggled with this at first, MedEntry's Section 2's were quite different to the real thing but I still improved from my practice UMAT mark after doing the MedEntry exams.
Section 3: Initially I had absolutely no idea how to do some of the patterns. The lecture taught me some great techniques and I was able to refine these using the material on the LMS. Eventually you get to the point where nothing is really surprising anymore, there is only so many ways a component can move around a circle....
Ended up getting 100th percentile which I don't think I would ever have achieved without the wealth of material on MedEntry's LMS. I only got through about 4 full practice exams, if anyone completes all of them I don't see how you can't get 100th, but have fun spending 100 hours doing UMAT revision........
-
I only got through about 4 full practice exams, if anyone completes all of them I don't see how you can't get 100th, but have fun spending 100 hours doing UMAT revision........
I disagree with this, I know MANY who did this this and DIDN'T get 100th percentile. It's a gross and unfair exaggeration imo.
-
I only got through about 4 full practice exams, if anyone completes all of them I don't see how you can't get 100th, but have fun spending 100 hours doing UMAT revision........
I disagree with this, I know MANY who did this this and DIDN'T get 100th percentile. It's a gross and unfair exaggeration imo.
^agreed
UMAT is a natural ability test essentially, although it can be improved with extra drills and training, it is more reliant on your intrapersonal skills and logical reasoning to begin with.
That being said, I doubt the whole MedEntry cohort could possibly all get 100th percentile, about 15% of UMAT students do medentry :P
-
lol i would have to disagree that the test is "reliant on your intrapersonal skills." Just because someone gets low on section 2 doesn't mean they are a social retard, by the same token, someone who gets high isn't the perfect communicator.
if i looked at your score, does that mean you lack intrapersonal skills, i don't think so.
-
Well, maybe I phrased it a bit wrong
But I guess from my experience people who do well on medentry s2 generally did pretty well on the actual UMAT, so I just assumed a correlation between the two.
I still think its reliant on something that can't really be learnt
I was doing horribly in S2 MedEntry and yeah, did horribly on the actual too
-
lol i would have to disagree that the test is "reliant on your intrapersonal skills." Just because someone gets low on section 2 doesn't mean they are a social retard, by the same token, someone who gets high isn't the perfect communicator.
if i looked at your score, does that mean you lack intrapersonal skills, i don't think so.
I agree with you on this, I think that section 2 is a test of reading, vocabulary and interpretation, for example, how is knowing the difference between "happy", "jovial" and "jubilant" going to help you in day to day communication?
It's just like Section 3 is supposedly testing spatial intelligence, but I think it's testing more about how many patterns you know off by heart because you've done something similar on MedEntry
-
I don't know whether you used intrapersonal deliberately or accidentally, but I think the test is a decent measure of intrapersonal ability because you have to be able to recognize the situation using yourself as the example
-
[s2] sound the easiest - 'understanding people' - yet all scores indicate it's the hardest.
I am confused. And annoyed. This is my best section yet I've heard stories of ppl 100%ling MedEnt [s2] and getting 50 on the real thing. Argh - can't rely on this section at all. Time to learn to how to logically reason....
:/
-
[s2] sound the easiest - 'understanding people' - yet all scores indicate it's the hardest.
I am confused. And annoyed. This is my best section yet I've heard stories of ppl 100%ling MedEnt [s2] and getting 50 on the real thing. Argh - can't rely on this section at all. Time to learn to how to logically reason....
:/
DONT RELY ON MED ENTRY FOR SECTION 2
the umat is WAY harder in section 2
also, don't overtrain this section, youll begin to lose your natural instinct, something i found myself questioning in the umat
-
[s2] sound the easiest - 'understanding people' - yet all scores indicate it's the hardest.
I am confused. And annoyed. This is my best section yet I've heard stories of ppl 100%ling MedEnt [s2] and getting 50 on the real thing. Argh - can't rely on this section at all. Time to learn to how to logically reason....
:/
DONT RELY ON MED ENTRY FOR SECTION 2
the umat is WAY harder in section 2
also, don't overtrain this section, youll begin to lose your natural instinct, something i found myself questioning in the umat
Not disputing that medentry section 2 was bad preparation for the umat but I found most of their practice exams just as ambiguous and unclear as the actual one. Ended up with 0-20th percentile for half the ones I did end up doing.