UMAT Discussion Thread 2016

[blacksanta62]

That's a nice arrival time, I would sleep in a bit But once it's over I can relax... phewwwww
Does the test start at 8 or do you think they want to have a majority of people seated inside and start by 8:30 or something??

[sweetcheeks]

My ticket says arrival time 8:15. When would the actually start time be?

[A1P]

My ticket says arrival time 8:15. When would the actually start time be?

Morning session's start time is usually 9am.
Wouldn't be 8:30 since they need more than 15 minutes to ID check several hundred students

[ehatton2016]

So, I am about to sit the UMAT (friday in 2 weeks) and have trials the following monday, should I wing UMAT or study.

AND, how do all the factors for entry weigh up, for example, if you get like a 97 ATAR or something above 95 but smash the UMAT, will you still get an interview?

Thanks guys!!

[The Usual Student]

So, I am about to sit the UMAT (friday in 2 weeks) and have trials the following monday, should I wing UMAT or study.

AND, how do all the factors for entry weigh up, for example, if you get like a 97 ATAR or something above 95 but smash the UMAT, will you still get an interview?

Thanks guys!!

I wouldn't wing it,
just do a bit of prep, like your scores will increase dramatically after a few prac exams.
In terms of getting into med its ( 30/30/30 for atar umat and interview )
in terms of getting an interview --> if you get a good atar for med ( like 99+) and and ok umat you will get an interview, the same is true for the reverse. These are predictions based on what I have heard.

[mtse]

So, I am about to sit the UMAT (friday in 2 weeks) and have trials the following monday, should I wing UMAT or study.

AND, how do all the factors for entry weigh up, for example, if you get like a 97 ATAR or something above 95 but smash the UMAT, will you still get an interview?

Thanks guys!!

This really depends on what uni you would like to get into: ( i only have info on the uni's I applied to)
Monash
- 30/30/30 - i.e. they weigh the ATAR, UMAT and interview equally
- this is why usually an outstanding ATAR or UMAT can get you and interview when your UMAT/ATAR respectively isn't that great
- however it must also be noted that they have the 50-50-50 rule for the UMAT - i.e. you need at least 50 percentile in each section of the UMAT to be even considered for the interview - people who wing the UMAT generally cannot achieve this (i have no solid stats but anecdotally this is true)

Adelaide (for first round interviews)
- for interstate students, they weigh the UMAT very heavily prior to getting an interview - for me last year, they actually invited me to an interview before my ATAR was even released
- after interview, they then use just the ATAR and interview scores to determine whether you get into the course

UNSW
- like Monash, they weigh the umat, atar and interview equally - so theoretically either an outstanding UMAT or ATAR (while the other is somewhat decent) should get you an interview
- for me last year, I was given a ">50% chance" (like they actually email interstate students the percentage possibility of them getting into the course) with a 99+ ATAR and 95+ UMAT. (I ultimately did not attend the interview)
- just fyi (vaguely remembering from their website) UNSW undergrad med is so competitive that the median ATAR gets pushed up to 99.60 despite the cut-off being around 96.00

Aside from that:
I suggest to not "wing" the UMAT, but do not neglect study for your Trials either. Perhaps separating your VCE/HSC studying with some UMAT practice would be the best way to go about it due to the limited time left.
Most people here would probably agree that the best practice you can do now is to do timed exams, because it not only allows you to understand the style of questions from each section, but to also get a feel for the pressure/stress/exhaustion that you experience when you have to concentrate for 3 hours straight.

Any questions feel free to PM me and Good Luck!!

[A1P]

for example, if you get like a 97 ATAR or something above 95 but smash the UMAT, will you still get an interview?

Getting an interview is a balancing between your ATAR and UMAT, low in one requires the other extremely high. Using UNSW's previous years as a guide 99.95 needs just 70%ile UMAT while 99.0 needs 90%ile, 97.0 : 99%ile , 96.0 : 100%ile.

Also note although made into the interview round none of those 96-97.0 with 99-100%ile got a UNSW place this year, the lowest successful ATAR was 97.3 . Maybe less tough at the other unis but not by much.

With 95-97 ATAR you have better chances at UWS, JMP where it is a hurdle, you are not disadvantaged against those with higher ATARs.

[ehatton2016]

This really depends on what uni you would like to get into: ( i only have info on the uni's I applied to)
Monash
- 30/30/30 - i.e. they weigh the ATAR, UMAT and interview equally
- this is why usually an outstanding ATAR or UMAT can get you and interview when your UMAT/ATAR respectively isn't that great
- however it must also be noted that they have the 50-50-50 rule for the UMAT - i.e. you need at least 50 percentile in each section of the UMAT to be even considered for the interview - people who wing the UMAT generally cannot achieve this (i have no solid stats but anecdotally this is true)

Adelaide (for first round interviews)
- for interstate students, they weigh the UMAT very heavily prior to getting an interview - for me last year, they actually invited me to an interview before my ATAR was even released
- after interview, they then use just the ATAR and interview scores to determine whether you get into the course

UNSW
- like Monash, they weigh the umat, atar and interview equally - so theoretically either an outstanding UMAT or ATAR (while the other is somewhat decent) should get you an interview
- for me last year, I was given a ">50% chance" (like they actually email interstate students the percentage possibility of them getting into the course) with a 99+ ATAR and 95+ UMAT. (I ultimately did not attend the interview)
- just fyi (vaguely remembering from their website) UNSW undergrad med is so competitive that the median ATAR gets pushed up to 99.60 despite the cut-off being around 96.00

Aside from that:
I suggest to not "wing" the UMAT, but do not neglect study for your Trials either. Perhaps separating your VCE/HSC studying with some UMAT practice would be the best way to go about it due to the limited time left.
Most people here would probably agree that the best practice you can do now is to do timed exams, because it not only allows you to understand the style of questions from each section, but to also get a feel for the pressure/stress/exhaustion that you experience when you have to concentrate for 3 hours straight.

Any questions feel free to PM me and Good Luck!!

Thank you soooooo much!! I have done some practice, so I guess winging it is sort of a stretch (I realised I hate those people who are like, "I didn't study, probably going to lose my rank" then get 99). That plan seems so much more manageable, considering the exam is 3 hours, which is disgusting and the questions are even more disgusting. Kind of unfair that they say it is a 96, which for most applicants is achievable but realistically it won't be good enough as it is equally weighted.

[A1P]

Kind of unfair that they say it is a 96, which for most applicants is achievable but realistically it won't be good enough as it is equally weighted.

A few 96s do get in sometimes. Last year lowest successful at UNSW was 96.3

To help you understand the process, among those invited to interviews only the top one-third overall get a place. Since it counts equally on the three parts, with a near-bottom in ATAR you would need a top score in both UMAT and interview to rank in the top third.

This also explains why sometimes one with 99 ATAR and 99%ile UMAT (both good but not quite top), an average interview is not enough to get a place.

[blacksanta62]

Hey guys, I've been doing UMAT prep but I haven't done any medentry papers at all, do you think that this is a disadvantage?
Thank you 

[Maz]

Hey guys, I've been doing UMAT prep but I haven't done any medentry papers at all, do you think that this is a disadvantage?
Thank you 

You won't be at a disadvantage yet, since there is still time (not a lot), but still time. In my opinion, I think you should at least do one. I don't know what your UMAT prep was, if you were doing exam papers I think you should be fine. However, I think one of the hard parts about UMAT is doing those kind of questions in one go, in  a 3-hour block, so I think you should probably do some papers.

[blacksanta62]

I've been doing practice papers but I did my first 3 hour exam yesterday. I didn't finish the paper but it was a great form of learning.  Just not sure if medentry is beneficial

[Maz]

I've been doing practice papers but I did my first 3 hour exam yesterday. I didn't finish the paper but it was a great form of learning.  Just not sure if medentry is beneficial

I feel like it was, though my scores jump a lot. I don't think it's a huge deal if you finish the paper or not, I got like 61% on the med entry exam at the workshop which translated to a UMAT percentile predicted between 95-100. I didn't finish or even get all the ones that I answered right. But, I think Med entry is really beneficial, and you would probably rather over-practice/study than under study
As long as you go through the exam after and look at why you got things right or wrong. Or another idea is to just watch tutorials and learn question approach methods. This will probably be more beneficial than doing a 3-hour paper and spending another 2 hours going through it. Since there isn't too long left till the exam, I would probably recommend how to do the questions

[blacksanta62]

Yep. I learnt how to do the techniques and stuff 2-3 months ago. Since then I've really gotten better and I've been using a wide variety of tests including an LSAT exam. I'll probs do 3-4 exams under timed conditions so I can really get use to it. It does take a lot of energy out of you and I got a lot more easily frustrated while doing section 1 yesterday. Looking at the clock then trying to work out which answer is correct... hard

[The Usual Student]

can i get some advice?
I am doing well on medentry umat exams --> 90% percentiles usually
but the acer ones i am not doing as well :/
AND I DON'T KNOW WHY,
like the questions are easier yet for some reason i am doing worse. I think I might be better at hard questions because it forces me to think more but easier ones make me overconfident and i make stupid mistakes.
I got 93/134 (ACER EXAM 3)  which isn't terribly bad but like I really need to break the 100 mark barrier if I wanna have a good umat score.
any advice? how do you guys stop making stupid mistakes?
also anyone know what 93/134 would translate tooo? like atleast a 70 percentile? 
people said exam 3 of acer was the harder of the few but i aint sure :/