If ATARNotes were to offer a cheap UMAT prep option, would you buy it and what

[enwiabe]

should we include?

I think the state of the current UMAT prep market is nothing short of an abject disgrace.

I want to offer UMAT prep for a $50 flat fee or thereabouts.

Tell me what you'd like to see (practice questions/interview tips etc.) be as specific as you want.

Let's take the price gouging out of the UMAT!

[pi]

One year too late Great initiative though!

[enwiabe]

One year too late Great initiative though!

One year too late?

[pi]

One year too late Great initiative though!

One year too late?

For me

[enwiabe]

One year too late Great initiative though!

One year too late?

For me

Never too late. Well, you've been through the rigmarole of UMAT prep, what should we include?

[pi]

Never too late. Well, you've been through the rigmarole of UMAT prep, what should we include?

I think a better emphasis on Section 2 and a clear list of techniques for Section 3 are big things to include.

Section 2 is done badly (and unrealistically) by companies such as MedEntry, they go way over the top on their focus on "empathy", when I found that most people I know who did relatively well in Section 2 (ie. 65+), just said they like to keep it as simple and logical as possible. MedEntry misses this point completely.

As for section 3, even on this forum we have people asking for "pick the middle techniques" or other techniques (many of whom do prep courses), it would be awesome for future students to have lists of clear techniques

[shinny]

Section 1 requires:
1. Explanation of basic exam technique e.g. speed reading, skipping difficult questions (I skipped about 1/5 of the questions and got 95%ile) etcetc
2. Explanation of specific exam technique e.g. drawing tables, diagrams, heuristics and problem solving etc
3. Sample questions (duh)
4. Quality solutions. This is probably the most deficient area at the moment. MedEntry often tells you the solution, but not the reasoning behind it. Unlike VCE where this is fairly obvious, knowing WHY you were meant to draw a table to solve a particular question and HOW you were meant to know to do so is incredibly hard. Every question in UMAT is quite different so this is what's important. Knowing to draw a table for that particular question barely benefits you at all.

Section 2 needs:
1. I have no idea. Not sure regarding what's actually beneficial when it comes to this section. Sample questions are possible, but my experience is that they honestly don't help much.

Section 3 needs:
1. Similar to what I said re: section 1.

Basically, UMAT prep involves teaching how to think. This isn't offered very well by many other prep providers. While it's something that some students will teach themselves through the available materials, some students aren't capable of this and will take a VCE-style approach where they simply memorise questions, which obviously doesn't work. Quality solutions which explain thought processes and such are your best bet to open the market up for a better program.

[chimpy400]

I would most likely attend depending on the dates/location/times.

[paulsterio]

In addition to what Shinny said, I think we need methods for solving problems, sort of like a detailing of thought processes that we go through in order to reach a state where we can see the end of the tunnel. This is in regards to Section 1.

Section 2 is extremely hard, in my opinion, but I think we need to develop ways for people to begin to understand other people. I think other companies are deficient in that none of them teach Section 2 properly. It's very much a reading and understanding exercise. I think if we learnt to read in a more subtle way, we'd do much better on Section 2. It's also much more based on seeing the whole picture than Section 1.

Section 3 is the most trainable, but I say outline the key methods for solving each type of question (next in the sequence, pick the middle, complete the diagram) and the tried and true methods of working towards a solution. Most of my section 3 was done in a methodological way rather than by "intuition".


That said, I am willing to help out with the creation of Section 1 and Section 3 material as well as being involved in teaching and lecturing if that's a possibility in the future.

Btw, Enwiabe, why don't you release a UMAT book rather than one of those online course things. I've always thought that a book makes things so much easier to learn, but I guess having an online system with percentile calculations...etc. is good too.

[enwiabe]

I would most likely attend depending on the dates/location/times.

I don't want to do physical lectures. Any lectures would be videos included in the $50 flat fee. That's where most providers price gouge because they charge for the seminars as well.

Shinny, I'll definitely take on board what you've said about sections 1 and 3 and the worked solutions (which we're hopefully going to make a hallmark of our practice material)

Paulsterio, I may very well take you up on your offer. But please ensure that doing so won't detract from your med studies. As I'm sure you're finding out, it's an extremely demanding course and you don't want to stretch yourself too thin

As a final note, I want to release it as an online course because we can do so many great things. Ideally I want a bank of 5,000 questions that students can do in any order. They can randomise 100 into a full practice exam at the click of a button, do them one at a time, load up 10 or so into a drill.

Then our database can tell them how well they did relative to everyone else. I also want forum threads for each question where people can discuss each question and why they picked what they picked if they got it right/wrong.

I think doing it online opens the door to doing a lot of really nice, swanky things utilising the power of the AN website.

[jmosh002]

I would buy if the umat prep was online

[paulsterio]

Paulsterio, I may very well take you up on your offer. But please ensure that doing so won't detract from your med studies. As I'm sure you're finding out, it's an extremely demanding course and you don't want to stretch yourself too thin

Well, yeah, medicine is a hard course, but I always have a bit of spare time and even if I don't end up contributing to the course material, 5000 questions is a lot to write, and I'm always happy to make/write questions.

[Unknown_one]

Most definately would buy. =D

[chimpy400]

I would most likely attend depending on the dates/location/times.

I don't want to do physical lectures. Any lectures would be videos included in the $50 flat fee. That's where most providers price gouge because they charge for the seminars as well.

Well then I would definately purchase !

[Mr. Study]

Sounds very enticing but since I have to do the UMAT this year, I may not be able to use it. :O