Medentry feedback score

[Equilibriaas]

Hi guys,

I went to the medentry lecture and for the trial exam, they gave me an expected percentile of 65-75

Is that even remotely good?

[pi]

Not if you get that percentile in the real UMAT. Honestly, that's probably not going to get you anywhere near an interview (if that's the score you get in the real UMAT).

[zvezda]

Not if you get that percentile in the real UMAT. Honestly, that's probably not going to get you anywhere near an interview (if that's the score you get in the real UMAT).

I wouldn't say that. I had 75 in the real UMAT and still got an interview. That being said, you would need a very high ATAR to compensate.

[Equilibriaas]

I wouldn't say that. I had 75 in the real UMAT and still got an interview. That being said, you would need a very high ATAR to compensate.

Thanks. You gave me some hope...but i honestly dont think i can achieve an atar high like yours...I HATE ENGLISHH( IT RUINS EVERYTHING)

[datfatcat]

I wouldn't say that. I had 75 in the real UMAT and still got an interview. That being said, you would need a very high ATAR to compensate.

I think that's just last year. Previous years the lowest UMAT with extremely high ATAR is around low 80s. Nothing below 80.

[drake]

generally, if you are going to get high 99s (e.g. 99.70+) as an ATAR, you could get an interview with a 75+ percentile UMAT (but you most probably will get a bonded offer). now, if you are likely to get around 95+ ATAR, you need high 90s or 100 percentile for your UMAT. however, if you are RURAL, you have a much better chance

[pi]

lol at the down-votes to my post. You can deny it all you want, but a <75%ile in the real UMAT is not going to get you many interviews around Australia, and even less places. Last year was probably the /only/ year Monash has given offers to people with UMATs that low, it's an anomaly and not representative of the other medical faculties in Australia. It's not me being a mean person or me enjoying crushing peoples' hopes, it's actually the truth.

Optimism is fantastic and it's definitely more productive than pessimism, but I think it's important to maintain a grasp on the reality of any situation you're in, a notion which is important for your own academic aspirations and also probably particularly important when it comes to working in hospitals.

If you're going to ask whether a 65-75%ile is a good UMAT score, I'm not going to say "yes". It's not "good" and it's not a safe score, and anyone who says otherwise needs some very strong justification with their opinion. However, that doesn't mean you won't get into medicine, it's widely accepted that Medentry is harder than the real test and your percentile is a comparison to the future top performers in the UMAT. I'd have loved to say "yes, it's a fantastic score!" and I would have if I thought that would have done you any good, but honestly, I think it's important to come back to reality. In the past 5+ years (not sure about last year) the median percentile has been around the 95 mark for metro applicants, keep that mind, that's the standard.

You sound a lot like the user "Hotcurry" (or w/e the name was, I mean not many users have "homeschooled" down on their profile), and if so, it seems you've done a lot of reading about the UMAT already. I think you knew the answer before you posted here.

[nerdmmb]

lol at the down-votes to my post.

Pi, not trying to be rude at all- yes I also down voted and if my eyes are not mistaken, I always see you giving the same demotivating response to everyone.

Yes, you obviously know wayy more than I do and clearly have much more experience but just because you've gone through the process successfully, I don't see why you don't bother to give other people some hope.
These students try really hard. And I have to be honest, it was a very old post that I had come across from AN which really got to me. And yeah my opinion might mean nothing ( but I'll share it anyway ) - the last time I checked, AN's meant to be a "supportive community".

I don't care if someone even scores 5% on their Medentry trial exam, as long as their determination is beyond 90, they can smash any obstacle/ exam in their path. And this is what motivates me - to hopefully set an example and pick myself up from my failures.

Just thought I'd share this, "Don't go where the path may lead, instead, go where there is no path and leave a trail"

I hope no one is offended and sorry if my posts have been annoying lately.

[pi]

Pi, not trying to be rude at all- yes I also down voted and if my eyes are not mistaken, I always see you giving the same demotivating response to everyone.

That's because so many people are asking about "low scores" or their "worst case scenario" (even if they do not mention that it is). If someone asked "so if I was to get an ATAR of about 99.5 and a UMAT of 95%ile, do you think this is good?" then obviously I'm going to say "yeah I think you've got a great shot". The fact is, that people are not posting that. People are asking about "low" UMAT scores and ATARs that are usually not about 99. A question I asked back in 2011:

So, is it possible with ~99 ATAR and 94-88 percentile UMAT, assuming the person is a good interviewee?

Now I'm sure not all my questions I asked were so "optimistic", and a quick look at my study score queries regarding vce physics would confirm that. People sometimes ask questions only because they want some encouragement. I did it, we've all done it at some stage. And someone on AN will always provide that.

However, I don't post with the intention of cheering someone up and giving them an online pat on the back. I post to give people my honest opinion on where things stand for them, if I feel I can do that accurately. It's only "demotivating" if you choose to accept where you stand and don't seek to improve, and I struggle to think of why someone would accept that they're in a not-so-great place and not do anything about it. If anything, it should be motivation to get a move on, take it as a challenge: "that fuckwit pi said my scores weren't great and I had only a slim chance, I'll study the fuck out of the next week to show that douchebag I can get into medicine, proving his ass wrong would make my fucking year". Obviously I'd prefer if the motivation wasn't to prove me or anyone else wrong, but whatever gets you across the line!

If I tell someone who is sitting on a C+ in English that they're doing well, is that motivating? Will they be keen to improve and study more? Think about it. Being "supportive" doesn't mean "being kind" all of the time.

Just thought I'd share this, "Don't go where the path may lead, instead, go where there is no path and leave a trail"

Not entirely sure how that was relevant, but paths exist for a reason. There's probably a good reason why people drive on the West Gate Bridge instead of trying to drive their car over the ocean.

[zvezda]

I think that's just last year. Previous years the lowest UMAT with extremely high ATAR is around low 80s. Nothing below 80.

As far as im aware though, the UMAT-ATAR weighting has changed to 50-50 since last year so it would be for the most part irrelevant to talk about previous years.

And pi, we can definitely see the importance of being realistic; you dont want to be giving somebody false hope and setting them up for an even bigger anti climax down the track. Maybe my comment came across as terribly optimistic, but I was only trying to give equilibriaas some hope; its also bad to be so demotivated that you give up on yourself and cloud your mind with negative thoughts that prevent you from thinking straight.

The fact is though that from the people that I have spoken to, there are a certainly a few people at the very least that got similar scores to me, albeit with bonded places.

[datfatcat]

As far as im aware though, the UMAT-ATAR weighting has changed to 50-50 since last year so it would be for the most part irrelevant to talk about previous years.

And pi, we can definitely see the importance of being realistic; you dont want to be giving somebody false hope and setting them up for an even bigger anti climax down the track. Maybe my comment came across as terribly optimistic, but I was only trying to give equilibriaas some hope; its also bad to be so demotivated that you give up on yourself and cloud your mind with negative thoughts that prevent you from thinking straight.

The fact is though that from the people that I have spoken to, there are a certainly a few people at the very least that got similar scores to me, albeit with bonded places.

I won't be so confident to say we can ignore previous years' result purely because Monash changes some rules. Monash changes requirements almost every year and their required UMAT for high ATAR has remained above 80s for many years until last year. The only possible reason that I can think of is that they used the 50:50:50 UMAT hurdle for the first time last year and couldn't get many good students above 80s, so they had to get some with UMAT around 75s. This year I don't think Monash would make any changes to the entry requirement but I would expect the UMAT would be higher than last year.

Just because one year was unique doesn't mean it is going to be the same this year and the next. One example would be University of Adelaide's umat cut-off score of medicine in 2013 entry (my year). Their cut-off was exceptionally high (95 or 96) and Monash in that year was only 94 (this was the year Adelaide's cut off was higher than Monash. Other years it is the other way around). Their cut-off was high in that year because they accepted too many students in the previous year/ some of them deferred to 2013... Of course this scenario is very different than Monash. What I want to point out, however, is that you shouldn't let any changes (Umat-ATAR weighting, UMAT 50 50 50 hurdle, Adelaide-accepting-too-many-student mistake etc) to make you believe previous years' results are "irrelevant". If I were you, I would actually think that last year was "irrelevant" until in five year time when I look back and see 2015, 2016 entry all have the similar UMAT cut-off for high ATAR students.

Sorry, I hope I don't offend you or anyone reading my opinion. Of course I do want all of you to succeed (i hate seeing people with shattered dreams) but some time you have to let the reality sinks in. I think pi answered really well in the previous post. I don't think anyone (including pi) is here to demotivate people and let them give up on themselves. That would be awful. But at the same time, if someone (at that stage) is clearly not up for UMAT, there is no point telling them that they are on the way to get a 100%tile for their actual UMAT. Instead, I think letting they know how unlikely they would get into medicine with that score is a better way to go because if they truly want to get into medicine, they would be upset about my comment but at the same time realise they need to "study" more/ do more practice papers/ change their way of doing questions etc and hopefully they can improve the score significantly before the actual UMAT.

For me, if I did something wrong in my clinical examination, I expect my tutor to tell me what I did wrong or even scream at me for doing something silly, so that I can remember it for the rest of my career/life.

[Sense]

Pi, not trying to be rude at all- yes I also down voted and if my eyes are not mistaken, I always see you giving the same demotivating response to everyone.

Yes, you obviously know wayy more than I do and clearly have much more experience but just because you've gone through the process successfully, I don't see why you don't bother to give other people some hope.
These students try really hard. And I have to be honest, it was a very old post that I had come across from AN which really got to me. And yeah my opinion might mean nothing ( but I'll share it anyway ) - the last time I checked, AN's meant to be a "supportive community".

I don't care if someone even scores 5% on their Medentry trial exam, as long as their determination is beyond 90, they can smash any obstacle/ exam in their path. And this is what motivates me - to hopefully set an example and pick myself up from my failures.

Just thought I'd share this, "Don't go where the path may lead, instead, go where there is no path and leave a trail"

I hope no one is offended and sorry if my posts have been annoying lately.

I can see where you are coming from, but do you really think he should tell someone they have a chance at something when they don't? I would rather know the the truth and find another way around it to reach the goal if it doesn't work out. He never said he isn't good enough or he isn't trying hard enough either, he just gave him the facts.

[nerdmmb]

@Sense

Are you kidding me?

Not everyone starts off with perfect scores in their practice exams.
And seriously, no offence, but who are you to decide whether or not someone has a chance at something or not?

I failed my practice exams last year. The year before that, my percentile was so shit that they didn't even give me a score. Now I not only passed but managed to finish more questions than I could have.

Seriously. Some people go to that exam without any prior preparation yet they pull off a perfect score.
Yes, 65-75 may not be a great score in the UMAT but if you had read the OP's enquiry, they were asking whether or not it was a reasonable percentile for Medentry. And just so you know, Medentry states that the percentiles increase in the actual UMAT because it is much easier than the Medentry exam.

And not only this, if you tell people to posses this idiotic mindset that they if they are not doing well at something so their chances of succeeding are slim then what are you going to get? Failures after failures after failures.

But I'm not going to argue, maybe Pi and yourself are Einsteins who never scored below 100 so I don't blame anyone.
And I understand what Pi's trying to do- encourage people indirectly but sometimes it's necessary to concile them instead of spitting out critism.

Cheers, this is my opinion and I hope it has not offended anyone.

[datfatcat]

@Sense

Are you kidding me?

Not everyone starts off with perfect scores in their practice exams.
And seriously, no offence, but who are you to decide whether or not someone has a chance at something or not?

I failed my practice exams last year. The year before that, my percentile was so shit that they didn't even give me a score. Now I not only passed but managed to finish more questions than I could have.

Seriously. Some people go to that exam without any prior preparation yet they pull off a perfect score.
Yes, 65-75 may not be a great score in the UMAT but if you had read the OP's enquiry, they were asking whether or not it was a reasonable percentile for Medentry. And just so you know, Medentry states that the percentiles increase in the actual UMAT because it is much easier than the Medentry exam.

And not only this, if you tell people to posses this idiotic mindset that they if they are not doing well at something so their chances of succeeding are slim then what are you going to get? Failures after failures after failures.

But I'm not going to argue, maybe Pi and yourself are Einsteins who never scored below 100 so I don't blame anyone.
And I understand what Pi's trying to do- encourage people indirectly but sometimes it's necessary to concile them instead of spitting out critism.

Cheers, this is my opinion and I hope it has not offended anyone.

No one starts off with perfect scores in their practice exams. Not me, not you, and most likely not pi. In fact, I don't think any of paper that I did was near perfect scores.

To your question "who are you to decide whether or not someone has a chance at something or not", I really want to point out that we were just giving out facts that we know from past years. If you read carefully at what pi said in the 2nd post of this thread:

Not if you get that percentile in the real UMAT. Honestly, that's probably not going to get you anywhere near an interview (if that's the score you get in the real UMAT).

He was just reminding OP that the score was not great if it was the actual UMAT, so OP would have an idea of where to aim at.

It is great to see you are improving your UMAT score, do you want me to pat on your shoulder and tell you you are having a great shot of getting into medicine? I can do that if you want.

And I don't really understand what's wrong with this "idiotic mindset". If they are not doing well at UMAT, of course their chances of succeeding at UMAT are going to be slim. I think it would be idiotic to tell someone who got low percentile that they are going to do so well at the actual UMAT. Encouragement is a good thing, but it shouldn't be used like that. The best thing we can do, I believe, is to tell OP that the score isn't great. In fact she won't get into medicine with that score in the actual UMAT. With that being said, many of us got similar score or even lower when we first started studying UMAT.

I want to leave you with this:

You don't need to be Einstein to get into medical schools. In fact, many of us here are not that smart.

[nerdmmb]

That certainly is not what I intended to say.

Sense asked "do you really think you should tell someone they have a chance at someone when they don't? "
Do you think that's a fair thing to say? When I referred to Pi and Sense as 'einsteins', my point was that unless they are Einsteins, they should be able to relate to the OP.
And yes, you are right. People don't need to be Einsteins to get into medicine. As a matter of fact, they need to be willing to improve. From personal experience, every successful person I've met particularly uni graduates have always reiterated the same thing, "I failed, then picked myself up and began to improve"

And thanks, I'm not asking for a pat on the back. I was using my progress an a clear example that one CAN improve.

I wonder if you'd tell your patients that their illness has progressed to a dangerous stage so they won't survive. You won't right? You'll display optimism and work with them to overcome the illness or at least try to.

And I'm not trying to be a smart ass here or anything- everyone is different. Maybe that works for Pi- to imagine the negative outcomes and use that as a source of motivation. That may also work for many others. Some people however don't appreciate being told that they won't succeed just because of their current grades,etc.

Honestly, I don't want this turn into a debate. And I apologise if I've been rude/offensive. As I mentioned, everyone shares a different opinion.

And although I'm still in high-school, I do my best to motivate those around me and prove that anything can be done. Why? Because I know people who scored 80 on the UMAT with 99+ ATARs and yes although they qualified for SEAS, they managed to smash the interview. Had they been told that with a UMAT percentile of +/-80 they wouldn't be called for an interview, do you think they would have tried just as hard to attain high study scores- no. If I were in their position and someone had told me that, I probably would have given up and thought "what's the point, so and so mentioned I won't get in anyway"