Umat

[Camsky]

Hey can anyone give me any tips on the UMAT Test e.g when should i start studying, how do i study etc
thanks in advance

 

[itsnotmine]

Hey can anyone give me any tips on the UMAT Test e.g when should i start studying, how do i study etc
thanks in advance

i really wouldn't recommend a prep course because umat aptitude is one of those things which you have or you haven't. at most you can prepare for sec 3 but even then there's not that much evidence of prep courses actually improving umat scores. i would just focus on the HSC.

that being said, if all your friends are doing a prep course and you're feeling uneasy about not doing one, go ahead and enrol in one to ease your mind but imo take anything a prep course gives you with a grain of salt (including your practice percentiles). the ACER material is more than good enough.

 

[Camsky]

i really wouldn't recommend a prep course because umat aptitude is one of those things which you have or you haven't. at most you can prepare for sec 3 but even then there's not that much evidence of prep courses actually improving umat scores. i would just focus on the HSC.

that being said, if all your friends are doing a prep course and you're feeling uneasy about not doing one, go ahead and enrol in one to ease your mind but imo take anything a prep course gives you with a grain of salt (including your practice percentiles). the ACER material is more than good enough.

hey, thanks for the advice, but as for practise questions - do these exist and what is ACER material and how can i get hold of them

thanks

 

[nottellingu]

I suggest you buy the practice material that ACER offer. Have a go at them under exam conditions placing yourself under time pressure.

If you do well then I wouldn't bother with the prep course because if you have the right mind for the job the prep course mugh just complicate everything and leave you confused.

If you don't do well then I think you should do a perp course. If you don't naturally have the skills UMAT tests then you need to put in a lot of effort to do well because it isn't easy to improve.

 

[Camsky]

I suggest you buy the practice material that ACER offer. Have a go at them under exam conditions placing yourself under time pressure.

If you do well then I wouldn't bother with the prep course because if you have the right mind for the job the prep course mugh just complicate everything and leave you confused.

If you don't do well then I think you should do a perp course. If you don't naturally have the skills UMAT tests then you need to put in a lot of effort to do well because it isn't easy to improve.

Ok, so where can i buy the ACER practice material from

 

[itsnotmine]

Ok, so where can i buy the ACER practice material from

official ACER website. you're lucky this year as they have brand new practice material.

 

[Dr_Fresh]

u buy it from the ACER website. just go to umatweb.acer.edu.au and u just look for the preparation material.

 

[Camsky]

official ACER website. you're lucky this year as they have brand new practice material.

ok cool found it
so u know for those three books people have been selling (blue, green, red) for section 1, 2, 3 and test are they good for the UMAT test because most of those selling it are not from syndey....so are they the same thing or different
also say u fail or do really badly will this affect ur when applying for uni even if u dun do medicine

 

[itsnotmine]

ok cool found it
so u know for those three books people have been selling (blue, green, red) for section 1, 2, 3 and test are they good for the UMAT test because most of those selling it are not from syndey....so are they the same thing or different
also say u fail or do really badly will this affect ur when applying for uni even if u dun do medicine

i'm not sure how the old books compare to the new e-books... imo just get the e-books

no, failing won't affect you applying for other courses... you just won't be able to do med/dent/physio/optom/etc. unless you get an interview or pass the umat threshold.

 

[Dr_Fresh]

s3 is definitely beatable if u do prep. for s2 it also works a bit as well since the same type of questions come up again and again.
imo, s1 is the hardest to improve since u need to be able to read and comprehend very fast.
i remember the year i did the test, about 90% of people didnt even manage to get within 6 questions of the end for s1.

if u dont wanna dish out 500 bucks on a prep course, u can just do some sudoku, or read some mensa books etc and u should be fine for s3. for s2 ppl have recommended the book "Emotional Intelligence" by Daniel Goleman. for s1 u could probably just try improving ur speed and comprehension by reading articles and trying to recall every little bit of detail u can. there are also problem solving questions similar to those u encounter in maths competitions except without the difficult numbers. u can def find these online.
so if u had the discipline u could definitely train urself for the umat without the need for 500 dollar courses.

 

[lizajane91]

also an important tip to remember is don't spend too much time on one question. If you cant figure it out within a minute or so, make a reasonable guess by cancelling out the obviously incorrect answers and move on, because as freshofftheboat said the time constraints are a challenge.

 

[Camsky]

thanks for the useful tips
so when should i start studying so that it doesnt interfer with my HSC
and do you think if i just do the UMAT books would that be enough to do well

 

[bubbrubb]

if you want to prepare yourself do a prep course.

The improvements you will make on section 3 will be more than enough to justify the 400 or so dollar bill that i think Medentry charges... the adjustment to the problem solving questions in section 1 and exposure to section 2 are just bonuses.

Ok I'm going to go off on a bit of a tangent because some people need to get rid of the idea that preparation courses are some evil or that there is no point in taking it because its "all natural":

People say you can't study for it and yes everyone has their own capacity to improve but that being said, why not take advantage of the chance to improve? Yes I know there are plenty of people out there who are brilliant enough (many of which i know of) that simply took the test and achieved 95-100 percentile without any preparation. I am also aware that there are those that even with the most preparation one can get they will not improve by any great margin and conversely those who did poorly in year 12 and repeated UMAT a year later after a preparation course and did stunningly. In any case, noone was ever DISADVANTAGED by doing a prep course (except those who didn't take one) - instead everyone improves alot in section 3 which is just puzzles. So why risk it? Why not give yourself the best possible fighting chance?

As for tips... if you get a prep course you will get more guides and tips than you will ever need.

If you do poorly in UMAT because you didn't do a prep course you will be pissed off that perhaps u could have done better if you had but most importantly... all your options for undergraduate medicine are shot down (except JCU which doesn't require UMAT) and then you are in the harsh predicament of whether you should repeat UMAT next year with a prep course and this route also presents a plethora of problems that i cbb getting into because there are alot i.e. if you decide to do a uni course and retry UMAT to transfer into med you are no longer eligible for UQ provisional medicine and places like UNSW require a high ass GPA at uni (much harder to do well in Uni than Highschool so this sucks) and what if you don't improve with a prep course? what then? you are stuck with like medical science.

SO THATS MY RANT.

if you are worried about UMAT, if you want medicine, if you are srs about study... blah blah do face 2 face or medentry or wateva. better safe than sorry.

glhf

 

[Dr_Fresh]

real question u should be asking urself: "are my parents cheapass asians?" if yes then just buy the ACER stuff and also do what i reccommended in my earlier poast. if no, then take a prep course.

 

[nottellingu]

if you want to prepare yourself do a prep course.

The improvements you will make on section 3 will be more than enough to justify the 400 or so dollar bill that i think Medentry charges... the adjustment to the problem solving questions in section 1 and exposure to section 2 are just bonuses.

Ok I'm going to go off on a bit of a tangent because some people need to get rid of the idea that preparation courses are some evil or that there is no point in taking it because its "all natural":

People say you can't study for it and yes everyone has their own capacity to improve but that being said, why not take advantage of the chance to improve? Yes I know there are plenty of people out there who are brilliant enough (many of which i know of) that simply took the test and achieved 95-100 percentile without any preparation. I am also aware that there are those that even with the most preparation one can get they will not improve by any great margin and conversely those who did poorly in year 12 and repeated UMAT a year later after a preparation course and did stunningly. In any case, noone was ever DISADVANTAGED by doing a prep course (except those who didn't take one) - instead everyone improves alot in section 3 which is just puzzles. So why risk it? Why not give yourself the best possible fighting chance?

As for tips... if you get a prep course you will get more guides and tips than you will ever need.

If you do poorly in UMAT because you didn't do a prep course you will be pissed off that perhaps u could have done better if you had but most importantly... all your options for undergraduate medicine are shot down (except JCU which doesn't require UMAT) and then you are in the harsh predicament of whether you should repeat UMAT next year with a prep course and this route also presents a plethora of problems that i cbb getting into because there are alot i.e. if you decide to do a uni course and retry UMAT to transfer into med you are no longer eligible for UQ provisional medicine and places like UNSW require a high ass GPA at uni (much harder to do well in Uni than Highschool so this sucks) and what if you don't improve with a prep course? what then? you are stuck with like medical science.

SO THATS MY RANT.

if you are worried about UMAT, if you want medicine, if you are srs about study... blah blah do face 2 face or medentry or wateva. better safe than sorry.

glhf

I agree with most of the things you have said here.

The reason I told the OP to check out ACER's material before buying a prep course is because some people wont need one. Some people are capable of doing well in UMAT without prep where as others will need every bit of it. If you have the skills that the UMAT looks for then, a prep course might over-complicate what might otherwise be a easy test. You can fall into the trap of over thinking questions and not going with your instinct which you have developed during your life.

 

[lizajane91]

the acer prac materials are alot easier than the actual exam though.. S1 in particular is easier. From experience i wouldn't bother practicing S1/S2 extensively as they aren't really something you can improve on. S2 is easy as, so maybe look at some of the questions to get a feel for them and that should do you, if you have common sense its easy to get high marks. S3 on the other hand i found quite difficult, so i just practised the puzzles for about a month before the exam. (not full on study though as it was before trials) The acer prac materials SHOULD suffice for S3.. however as other have said, if you have the money why not splurge on medentry

 

[Dosu]

the acer prac materials are alot easier than the actual exam though.. S1 in particular is easier. From experience i wouldn't bother practicing S1/S2 extensively as they aren't really something you can improve on. S2 is easy as, so maybe look at some of the questions to get a feel for them and that should do you, if you have common sense its easy to get high marks. S3 on the other hand i found quite difficult, so i just practised the puzzles for about a month before the exam. (not full on study though as it was before trials) The acer prac materials SHOULD suffice for S3.. however as other have said, if you have the money why not splurge on medentry

i found the ACER materials last year harder than the actual exam

but i heard it was a very easy exam? i found it easy at least...

 

[Camsky]

lmaooooo kk cool
one last question r there any places u recommend for prep courses
thanks

 

[nottellingu]

lmaooooo kk cool
one last question r there any places u recommend for prep courses
thanks

Any of the popular ones should do the trick.
Stay away from icarus the guy that runs that place is shifty.

 

[lizajane91]

i found the ACER materials last year harder than the actual exam

but i heard it was a very easy exam? i found it easy at least...

it wasnt that hard but it was certainly harder than the prac materials...what %tile did you get?