UMAT Discussion Thread 2016

[blacksanta62]

Not my game boy 😩😭...lol
30 mins a day is probably not going to be achieve able (for myself, and I'm sure others) but I could squeeze in a question here and there on weekdays  I would take your advice pretty seriously Splash.

I'll try medentry but, like you said probably understand the techniques.

P.s. Little brother saw your avatar and was like, "Lucario is my favourite"

[Splash-Tackle-Flail]

Not my game boy 😩😭...lol
30 mins a day is probably not going to be achieve able (for myself, and I'm sure others) but I could squeeze in a question here and there on weekdays  I would take your advice pretty seriously Splash.

I'll try medentry but, like you said probably understand the techniques.

P.s. Little brother saw your avatar and was like, "Lucario is my favourite"

Yeah, I wouldn't compromise too much time spent on VCE on UMAT, and that's completely understandable. Out of all tests, i would say UMAT has the weakest correlation between preparation and performance. 

Well I guess Medentry has that history of producing high %iles from what i've heard, so it's a fairly safe (albeit pricey) choice. Just be wary that last year the Section 3 questions were very different to before, and those who learnt all the Medentry mapping techniques found they didn't end up really using them.

P.s reply: That's brilliant. It's so great that the pokemon love and hype rages on through the generations

[Swagadaktal]

Yeah, I wouldn't compromise too much time spent on VCE on UMAT, and that's completely understandable. Out of all tests, i would say UMAT has the weakest correlation between preparation and performance. 

Well I guess Medentry has that history of producing high %iles from what i've heard, so it's a fairly safe (albeit pricey) choice. Just be wary that last year the Section 3 questions were very different to before, and those who learnt all the Medentry mapping techniques found they didn't end up really using them.

P.s reply: That's brilliant. It's so great that the pokemon love and hype rages on through the generations

With the UMAT - what do you think made you special from everyone else?
Why did you get that phat 96?
Btw on an unrelated note, in which year of med do you learn how to treat bengali fevor? Is it curable/treatable? Can you at least manage the symptoms before hand?

[Splash-Tackle-Flail]

With the UMAT - what do you think made you special from everyone else?
Why did you get that phat 96?
Btw on an unrelated note, in which year of med do you learn how to treat bengali fevor? Is it curable/treatable? Can you at least manage the symptoms before hand?

I don't think there's one special secret required for that "phat" percentile tbh.. and people get a really high percentile via different means, for example while my section scores were all basically the same (63-65-64), someone else's may be (80-50-55), still getting the similar percentile..as mundane as it sounds I guess we got more answers right (?)

Of course there's other things to keep in mind, such as:

• time management, cause guessing will not have the odds in your favour
• mindset- 3 hour high stake test- you got to be able to withstand that kind of pressure- I think "his palms a sweaty, knees week, arms are heavy, vomit on his sweater already" would affect a few people, and you need to compose yourself if you want to tackle each question and think clearly
• understanding- what to do for each question- there are techniques and you need to really know what they are (i'd even try watching a few youtube tutorials). Understanding extends to looking at what ACER may be assessing (e.g a section 2 where the answers are "annoyed" "mad" "incensed" "wrathful" may all be different extents of the concept of anger, and ACER is testing how well you can separate the definitions)
• luck- I guess the difference between the marks required for each percentile are so close together (look at a graph of score to percentile for each section), 4 "marks" (however they mark it) could equate to >10%ile change... I know, it does suck

I'm not sure if the fever is curable, but the "bengali fevor (is this meant to be fever or fervour lol)"? No sir, the bengali fervor rages on haha #engwish jokes

[mtse]

Well I guess Medentry has that history of producing high %iles from what i've heard, so it's a fairly safe (albeit pricey) choice. Just be wary that last year the Section 3 questions were very different to before, and those who learnt all the Medentry mapping techniques found they didn't end up really using them.

Medentry is quite expensive and yes last year the section 3 techniques were quite outdated. I had emailed them about this and apparently they have already been working on this to make it more relevant and helpful for the 2016 UMATers.

And in regards to techniques - could not agree with Splash more.
But if you wanted some extra (probably repetitive) advice, here you go:

Spoiler

I personally got a 98th percentile this year much to my surprise. During the exam, I felt like crap and I didn’t even get to finish guessing questions (I’m pretty sure I left like ten-fifteen qs blank). I thought I failed cause all my friends said it was easy and like finished all the qs etc, but it turned out alright at the end

So for me it turns out that I took a quality over quantity way of approaching the UMAT. Some people prefer the vice versa but you can figure that out when using the ACER practice exams (which they give you when you sign up for the UMAT) and Medentry practice exams (if you buy them).
(note: I personally used Medentry as my preparation material but there are many other companies that also provide amazing stuff: Medstart, NIE, Section Zero on AN)

Section 1
- you just have to have logic
- do practice qs, get used to reading weird graphs and experimental designs etc
- try to increase your reading speed
- be ultra careful when reading the answers, words like "must" and "always" change a lot
- make note of the idea "correlation does not equal causation"
- I liked to circle (no highlighters in the exam) important words while i read so it was easy to look back at when doing questions

Section 2
- I studied a vocab list (can email it out if anyone wants it)
- In general, go with your gut
- the “correct” answer to these qs are often determined by the answer that most people chose, you really have to understand people to do these
- use empathy not sympathy to answer these questions, ask yourself “how would I feel if I were in that position”
- act it out - I often quietly whispered out the lines if it were a dialogue to try to understand the emotions

Section 3
- theres some tricks you can learn to help you answer the question quicker . If you have Medentry, there are guides on those tricks
- I actually made a little book of errors. So every time I made a mistake on Medentry practice exams or ACER ones, I copied the q into a book and wrote my own worked solution for it. The few days before the UMAT and on the day of the UMAT, I revised this book and it also calmed my nerves.

Most importantly, the UMAT is a really long exam and you need to train yourself up to concentrate for 3 straight hours cause it can be realllllllyyy draining. The practice exams on Medentry help with this.

by the way, if you have Facebook I suggest watching out for the website “PrepGenie” they sometimes have free online lectures about the UMAT where they run through questions etc and they were really helpful

This may sound like a lot to do during Year 12, but I swear its possible.

Hope these help and good luck with everything.
If you want any other advice just ask

[TwinNerd]

thanks for your advice:)

[datfatcat]

I wouldn't spend too much time for UMAT preparation. I spent 15-16 days on doing questions during the semester break (http://medstudentsonline.com.au/forum/xfa-blog-entry/studying-for-umat-effectively-by-dr-fat-cat.425/#comment-1562).

With regards to "tips", try learning how to "speed reading". Some people and companies would say UMAT isn't a speed reading exam, which is true (there are certain "skills" involved as well, like logic reasoning for example), but being able to read quicker would definitely help.

Mtse mentioned the vocab list. You may find it useful, but in my year, even if I knew the meanings of the words, I still had trouble picking the "right" answer.

[Swagadaktal]

I wouldn't spend too much time for UMAT preparation. I spent 15-16 days on doing questions during the semester break (http://medstudentsonline.com.au/forum/xfa-blog-entry/studying-for-umat-effectively-by-dr-fat-cat.425/#comment-1562).

With regards to "tips", try learning how to "speed reading". Some people and companies would say UMAT isn't a speed reading exam, which is true (there are certain "skills" involved as well, like logic reasoning for example), but being able to read quicker would definitely help.

Mtse mentioned the vocab list. You may find it useful, but in my year, even if I knew the meanings of the words, I still had trouble picking the "right" answer.

Yo fatcat the link is blocked to people without an account. Do you mind copy-pasting the text? Or taking a pic? Ilys <3

[datfatcat]

Sorry, didn't know you can't access it without an account.

Hi,

This is my first blog here, so bear with me if I repeat myself or make any typo mistake within this blog.

There are many UMAT courses out there and many people ask me which one is the best (or I should say the most "accurate"). In my perspective, it is very hard to give a definite answer (given that no one has done all the courses that are available out there and judge.) I know that some courses out there are misleading and out of date, while some look very similar to the actual UMAT. However, with that being said, I must point out that even if a person join the best UMAT course that is available and do all the questions, he/she may still fail the actual exam. I think it all comes down to how well you use the resources given in these prep-courses and how well your performance is on the day of the exam. The purpose of this article is to address how you may use the prep-courses in a more effective way and I hope that my methods would also work for you.

Say I just joined a course and they gave me 15 full practice exam papers, some tips and some small exercise to do. How would I approach? Well, first I would read the tips that they have given and try to put those tips in my head. Then, I would do the small exercise and try to use those skills. There are tips that would work for me and there are tips that I dislike and think that would take me ages to complete ( one example would be venn diagram vs table). After some attempts, it would come to me that I prefer tables better. At this point, I would create a logbook and drop down the skills that work best for me. I would also copy the tricky questions that I got wrong in those exercise for future reference. After doing a certain amount of exercise (usually take two to three weeks). I will take a small break from studying UMAT and go back to my high school study. (And in this moment, all I do for UMAT would be revising my logbook over and over again until I am sure that my own tips would be well in my head). Depends on how many full practice exam papers you have (in this case 15*), I will do the papers 15*+1 days before the actual UMAT exam. For the first 15 days, I would do one full paper each (around 3 hrs long - DO NOT TAKE BREAKS IN BETWEEN, YOU MUST DO THE PAPERS UNDER EXAM CONDITIONS!) It may be very tiring at first but with more days of practice, you should get used to it. On your 16th day (the day before the actual exam), revise your logbook one more time. Do not do more papers as you should be relaxed for your actual exam tomorrow. Listen to music or play sport to get your mind off the exam (just don't get very tired or get injured). Sleep early and have a good breakfast (hopefully you will be good to go).

Some of you may wonder, why should I do my X amount of practice papers X+1 days before my actual umat exam? Personally, I think this way would allow you to really keep practicing your skills and make sure those skills are in your head before the actually umat. It also allows you to get used to the idea of keeping your brain used intensively for three hours without any break. Separate your practice papers over several months may not be ideal because you may forget how to use some skills or feeling tired on the actual umat exam because you have not trained enough of your brain in the past few weeks.

I hope my first article makes any sense and feel free to give me any comment or ask questions. Best of luck with your UMAT exam (and interviews)

[pi]

Yo fatcat the link is blocked to people without an account. Do you mind copy-pasting the text? Or taking a pic? Ilys <3

Worth making an account on MSO, heaps of tips there.

...and merged topics, best to keep all discussion in one place

[n.a]

Okay guys, so basically I haven't started ANY prep for UMAT. Where and how do I start? Also, please understand that it isn't terribly preferable for me to spend heaps on prep material,  which I also hear is quite pointless seeing as the UMAT is more of an 'on the day' thing. So where do I start?

Also, is it possible for me to do the UMAT after the ATAR comes out? If so, what's everyone's opinions on that?

[pi]

Prep is discussed in great detail already in this board, but hopefully some of the UMAT gurus who sat it more recently chip in for you.

Also, is it possible for me to do the UMAT after the ATAR comes out? If so, what's everyone's opinions on that?

You can... but it'll be in the following year. If you've started uni by then you won't be able to apply for courses such as Monash which are strictly for school-leavers (looking at the undergrad stream). I wouldn't sit it in another year, sit it in year 12.

[datfatcat]

Okay guys, so basically I haven't started ANY prep for UMAT. Where and how do I start? Also, please understand that it isn't terribly preferable for me to spend heaps on prep material,  which I also hear is quite pointless seeing as the UMAT is more of an 'on the day' thing. So where do I start?

Also, is it possible for me to do the UMAT after the ATAR comes out? If so, what's everyone's opinions on that?

You take UMAT in year 12. I know some people did UMAT in year 12 and didn't get in, so they tried UMAT again in the following year (they deferred their course) to try get into medicine and they got in. If you take UMAT after year 12, you may not succeed. I don't think you can take UMAT again because I think ATAR is only valid for 2 years (year 12 and the year after). Even if you can take umat again, it will be two years after high school.

Just have a look at this board and MSO.  A lot of us have discussed how to "study" for UMAT. You should not take too much time preparing for your UMAT and affect your SACs/ATAR.

[grindr]

Idk if this is the right place to ask, but what is a decent score to get on random medentry drills?

[Syhu83]

Hello!
Just wondering if anyone still has any room for one person in their group- if so, could you please pm me or email [email protected]
Thanks!