UMAT Prep courses

[UprightMan]

My aspirations for Medicine leads me to do a bit of extra snooping around for the UMAT.  Who out there has already done the UMAT?  What was it like?  Did you do a prep course?  If you did/did not, how do you think it impacted on your result?

It seems unfair to me that people who have money readily available are allowed to go and fork out couple of hundred for such prep courses that might give them the edge over students who might be just as intelligent but not as well off financially.

[shinny]

Who out there has already done the UMAT?

Me

What was it like?

Experiences will vary greatly between people, but for me, it was actually quite relaxing after section 1 was over.

Did you do a prep course?

MedEntry

If you did/did not, how do you think it impacted on your result?

It caused a minor improvement in section 1, almost no effect on section 2 and a HUGE improvement in section 3. However, this improvement in section 3 happens to basically everyone who goes and practises it.

It seems unfair to me that people who have money readily available are allowed to go and fork out couple of hundred for such prep courses that might give them the edge over students who might be just as intelligent but not as well off financially.

I'd say that this applies throughout life and it's just something that as a society, you can't really do anything about. Resources are limited, so whatever's available goes off to the highest bidder. HOWEVER, I wouldn't say it really gives them a significant edge anyway.

UMAT is a test of your natural abilities and generally, practising for it doesn't really help much at all. The only section where a significant difference is made commonly is section 3 which is the shape patterns, but I'd say this is more of a case of the person adapting to the type of question, and improving until they reach their innate threshold. This is because you will see most people practise and have a huge improvement over the first week or so, but then just suddenly hit a cap which they can't pass.

But still, just the experience gained from doing the set of UMAT papers that prep courses offer will probably improve your performance on the day just from the familiarity with the question style and the experience of sitting a 3 hour test. The UMAT can be VERY stressful (since it's not like VCE where if you've done your work, you should know all the answers...there will always be questions which you just cannot do in the timeframe given) and coping with this stress is one of the keys. I personally didn't finish section 1 (left like 8 out), but this was all part of the plan. I just continued at my normal pace and aimed for accuracy, rather than freaking out and going to answer them all in a rushed manner. This also brings up the idea of exam technique which is something you'll be using throughout VCE, and you'll probably develop a few techniques yourself which will help you in the UMAT and many VCE exams. I'm actually pretty sure good exam technique relative to other people was one of my advantages over others.

Overall, I'd still say that the slight edge you get from doing UMAT practise is still worth the cost (if you can afford it) because well, it's not really the type of thing worth gambling on and you'll probably be willing to do anything if you really want to get into Med.

[Toothpaste]

My aspirations for Medicine leads me to do a bit of extra snooping around for the UMAT.  Who out there has already done the UMAT?  What was it like?  Did you do a prep course?  If you did/did not, how do you think it impacted on your result?

I've done it. Felt slightly stressful. Yes, Medentry.
I think it helped with section three. I don't really know. It could be a placebo effect thing.

[ninwa]

My aspirations for Medicine leads me to do a bit of extra snooping around for the UMAT.  Who out there has already done the UMAT?  What was it like?  Did you do a prep course?  If you did/did not, how do you think it impacted on your result?

It seems unfair to me that people who have money readily available are allowed to go and fork out couple of hundred for such prep courses that might give them the edge over students who might be just as intelligent but not as well off financially.

I've done it.

Horrible experience.

Did a prep course - Medentry - which helped a little bit (there were qs from Medentry practice papers on the actual thing) but relative to the cost (~$700), definitely not worth it. In fact, I think it made me over-confident as I'd been consistently getting mid-high 90s on practice tests, which resulted in me missing literally half the questions in section 1.

There's really only so much preparation you can do for the UMAT and I think it's only useful for the people who are already in the upper strata of UMAT students - i.e. if they would have got a relatively high mark anyway, doing a prep course might just make their mark that much higher.

If you're just naturally crap at UMAT-style exams (like me), no amount of prep courses will really change that much. I personally already know 3 people who got into medicine who didn't do prep courses (NB: I didn't get into medicine)

So yes it is unfair, but not as much as you think, IMO

[shinny]

...I think it's only useful for the people who are already in the upper strata of UMAT students - i.e. if they would have got a relatively high mark anyway, doing a prep course might just make their mark that much higher.

I'll just quote this point to stress it. If you're already not that great at UMAT innately, there isn't that much point going to a course as you're not going to improve that much (consider that many others are doing these courses too; you'll need to have an advantage from the start if you plan on beating them). However, if you are within these upper levels to begin with, I'd advise to take the courses as the UMAT isn't something you'll want to be gambling on and from what I've seen, points in the UMAT matter A LOT more than ENTER points do (ENTER seemed quite negligible in last year's entry to Monash actually...)

[mullums1]

...I think it's only useful for the people who are already in the upper strata of UMAT students - i.e. if they would have got a relatively high mark anyway, doing a prep course might just make their mark that much higher.

I'll just quote this point to stress it. If you're already not that great at UMAT innately, there isn't that much point going to a course as you're not going to improve that much (consider that many others are doing these courses too; you'll need to have an advantage from the start if you plan on beating them). However, if you are within these upper levels to begin with, I'd advise to take the courses as the UMAT isn't something you'll want to be gambling on and from what I've seen, points in the UMAT matter A LOT more than ENTER points do (ENTER seemed quite negligible in last year's entry to Monash actually...)

The thing is though, most current year 12s who are going to be doing the UMAT for the first time dont really know whether they are innately good or not. So its hard for them to deduce whether UMAT prep will be beneficial to them. But i do agree just about anyone can improve slightly by doing preparation. However, i think spending $700 is a pretty big gamble to take to see whether it will really be enough to get a med interview. Plus on top of that, you will be neglecting your school work that could affect your ENTER (and is one variable that you can control) and could harm your chances of getting into any other normal course that requires enter only like eng or something. I, personally, would probably pick one of the cheaper alternatives like icarus- sure, its not as well renowned, but the questions on it seem reasonable for you to atleast get the hang of-without having to spend a great deal of time and money.

[ninwa]

You can reasonably work out roughly where you are at by purchasing those booklets of UMAT questions from ACER and doing those.

My UMAT prep didn't affect my school work much at all (though that may be because I wouldn't have done school work even if I didn't have UMAT prep to do lol)

[mullums1]

I thought i was good at the UMAT until i found out my results (half decent). I think i underperformed in my mid years because i came home most night and did umat prep-mainly because i felt guilty about letting the $700 go to waste. I dunno, it varies from person to person...

[shinny]

I thought i was good at the UMAT until i found out my results (half decent). I think i underperformed in my mid years because i came home most night and did umat prep-mainly because i felt guilty about letting the $700 go to waste. I dunno, it varies from person to person...

Post-midyear UMAT cram (particularly in the holidays after semester 1 since you won't have much school work to do) is what I did and what I'd advise since you don't necessarily need a great deal of time invested in UMAT IMO to get good results (well, some people put in zero so yeh). The main thing you'll need is that quick section 3 'jump', and following that, perhaps training your speed reading for section 1. Apart from that, the rest is quite innate and I'm sceptical as to whether it's possible to improve. As with studying anything, I'm pretty sure there's very heavy diminishing returns on UMAT study, but I guess if you really want to get in, then you'd do whatever you can to get that slight edge over the rest of the nation.