UMAT 2015 Discussion Thread (9 Viewers)

[teridax]

this is comforting, thank you



For pick the middle, so many of them were like 4 figures in each corner of a square and it's not even like all of the same figures existed in each square, there was like 4 figures in option A, then like 3 of them were different in option B etc. I feel like the questions were doable but they just would have taken soo long so people tended to skip because it would cost them valuable time in s1 and 2. It was just impossible to map out the pick the middle questions.

Then there were like find the missing segment questions which were so painful to read. They had like a middle shape and then arrows pointing outwards (like five arrows, one in each direction), kinda like pointing out to each corner of a pentagon and each arrow was pointing to a shape with random shapes inside it. Man that was depressing. Did anyone happen to understand how to do these questions? pls enlighten me. I will fkn worship MIF.

Absolutely! (soz, I can't help trolling lol)

 

[NujabesMan]

love the sig bro



tbh probably like 20 in total. Then again, if you take into account that some of your guesses will be right then that's free marks right there.

^ as long as you coloured shit in. Some dude in front of me literally only coloured like half his answers.

I was literally searching for S3 Questions I could do this year, as opposed to last year which was automatic.

Not sure if I'll even get 50 percentile for S3.

 

[enigma_1]

Absolutely! (soz, I can't help trolling lol)

eww pls

I was literally searching for S3 Questions I could do this year, as opposed to last year which was automatic.

Not sure if I'll even get 50 percentile for S3.

i feel your pain. I reckon this year for s3, getting even like 50% will really bump your score for that section as opposed to last year, taking into consideration how other people found it too

 

[enigma_1]

any UWS represents? Or should I say WSU...

 

[duckysd]

I would actually prefer USW med to UNSW.
I think that the UMAT this year was what it should always be. People learning section 3 'techniques' for matrix, pick the middle (mapping), 3-2 rule etc... couldn't really utilise them. Section 1 questions using tabulated information and logical mind games were also a minimum (I don't remember doing any).

The question which I thought was quite interesting was the animal response question. Of course, there were many guesses made... it's the UMAT.

 

[iMMORTAL153]

any UWS represents? Or should I say WSU...

Yea, me, advance med sci, came here for the Advance Science Stream to increase my chances, too bad they scrapped that. Probs should've gone UNSW since they have a straight into third year stream thingy, but that's also dependant on UMAT so eh. UWS/WSU has it's perks, higher GPA (easy HD's ) for post grad? Wbu?

If this comment was intended for me... no, I am not a medical student. I am a science honours student.
I re-sat the UMAT as I failed to make it into med for 5 years in a row.
(I'll give up on med if I make it into USyd dentistry, which is my best chance at the moment.)

About the person trying to transfer from Monash MBBS to elsewhere:
If he or she is still in 1st year and is expecting to fail and repeat 1st year of med school, then he or she may as well transfer to a non-bonded place at another university (if possible).
But if he or she is 2nd-year or above, then I agree it's crazy to transfer.

Nah, my bad was intended for the dude who wanted to transfer.

I was literally searching for S3 Questions I could do this year, as opposed to last year which was automatic.

Not sure if I'll even get 50 percentile for S3.

I really hope I get a score for 50 in S3, thay way I can still apply to Newcastle (assuming 50 in the other sections).

 

[NujabesMan]

Was the lollipop S2 question, "she smiled to hide her pain", and was the S2 Question about 2 childhood friends talking about mistreating their mum "friendship grounded by long acquaintance"

 

[torylearn]

Was the lollipop S2 question, "she smiled to hide her pain", and was the S2 Question about 2 childhood friends talking about mistreating their mum "friendship grounded by long acquaintance"

yep

 

[enigma_1]

Yea, me, advance med sci, came here for the Advance Science Stream to increase my chances, too bad they scrapped that. Probs should've gone UNSW since they have a straight into third year stream thingy, but that's also dependant on UMAT so eh. UWS/WSU has it's perks, higher GPA (easy HD's ) for post grad? Wbu?


Nah, my bad was intended for the dude who wanted to transfer.


I really hope I get a score for 50 in S3, that way I can still apply to Newcastle (assuming 50 in the other sections).

Yeah I was told about that adv stream for 6 top places in umat. I swear uws are trolling us and using it to reel in students, I didn't even know that they scraped it!
The UNSW scheme seems a bit harder though, since it takes the top students of the Med Sci cohort :/

Pretty gutted I couldn't even get a 7 gpa last sem lol, so planning to nail it this sem with easy subs.

Pretty sure JMP is 60 - 50 - 50 sadly for s1,2,3 respectively. S1 is 60 for non rural applicants or something. Well not really but they rank you according to s1 and the lowest just happens to land at a score of 60

 

[enigma_1]

Was the lollipop S2 question, "she smiled to hide her pain", and was the S2 Question about 2 childhood friends talking about mistreating their mum "friendship grounded by long acquaintance"

how is it hide her pain though, the severe nurse already knew the chic was in pain so I was thinking that it's not really because of her hiding it but more out of social obligation?

what is the second passage you referred to btw?

 

[iMMORTAL153]

how is it hide her pain though, the severe nurse already knew the chic was in pain so I was thinking that it's not really because of her hiding it but more out of social obligation?

what is the second passage you referred to btw?

I don't think it was social obligation because if you're in pain you're not obliged to smile? IDK passage didn't mention anything about that so i thought probably out of the scope. I think I put to lighten the situation because the Nurse was yelling at the intern and everything was kinda semi-serious ish. I could be wrong, I always have trouble with S2. Pretty sure I didn't get that second passage.

 

[enigma_1]

....I suggest you shouldn't..... save those for your final year, unless if you are definitely sure that you'll make it into med next year.
GEMSAS (who calculates GPA/ uni results for post-grad med) gives triple weighting to subjects undertaken in final year, regardless of difficulty. Some post-grad med schools don't consider this double or triple weighting, but you should still consider the schools that do.

lol yeah I was hoping I would, but now I'm losing hope so I think I'm fucked either way if I don't get in next year :/ Or I'll just transfer to something else.

 

[enigma_1]

I don't think it was social obligation because if you're in pain you're not obliged to smile? IDK passage didn't mention anything about that so i thought probably out of the scope. I think I put to lighten the situation because the Nurse was yelling at the intern and everything was kinda semi-serious ish. I could be wrong, I always have trouble with S2. Pretty sure I didn't get that second passage.

oh ok fair enough, that does make sense. There were a few to toss up between, and yeah can't be too certain with s2 :/

 

[enigma_1]

......I was fu<ked for semester 2 of 1st year medical science, with a fail grade (GPA of 0) for anatomy.
That hurt my chances of entry into post-grad medicine (very much).
Had I been born 5 years earlier, my GPA and GAMSAT score (75th %tile) would've been good enough to land me an interview for USyd medicine. Not anymore.

So be it.

I'm fu<ked, but I'm making the best of whatever chance I have left.
I'll be grateful if I make it into med. If not, then it's PhD or Masters for me.

Is anatomy hard?

aww man, sounds like a long hard journey. Really hope you get Med, you deserve it.

 

[iMMORTAL153]

......I was fu<ked for semester 2 of 1st year medical science, with a fail grade (GPA of 0) for anatomy.
That hurt my chances of entry into post-grad medicine (very much).
Had I been born 5 years earlier, my GPA and GAMSAT score (75th %tile) would've been good enough to land me an interview for USyd medicine.

So be it.

I'm fu<ked, but I'm making the best of whatever chance I have left.
I'll be grateful if I make it into med. If not, then it's PhD or Masters for me.

If it was 4 years ago I would've received an interview for med with my last years UMAT score D: Why does Med have to become more and more popular every year.... Don't give up hope, you seem like a dedicated person, your chance may arrive sooner than you think.

 

[enigma_1]

If it was 4 years ago I would've received an interview for med with my last years UMAT score D: Why does Med have to become more and more popular every year.... Don't give up hope, you seem like a dedicated person, your chance may arrive sooner than you think.

yeah everyone don't lose hope.

Ikr it's just getting harder and harder to make it in. ACER isn't helping with it's randomly drastic changes in the test layout. What did you get for last year's umat?

 

[iMMORTAL153]

yeah everyone don't lose hope.

Ikr it's just getting harder and harder to make it in. ACER isn't helping with it's randomly drastic changes in the test layout. What did you get for last year's umat?

2013 - 40th%ill (rekt)
2014 - 75th%ill (good improvement but not enough).
Let's hope the trend continues for 2015.
Yea, ACER really loving the cartoons though, I had 2/3, can't remember. Last year I only got 1.

 

[lpodtouch]

I felt section 1 was pretty challenging in comparison to the others

 

[enigma_1]

2013 - 40th%ill (rekt)
2014 - 75th%ill (good improvement but not enough).
Let's hope the trend continues for 2015.
Yea, ACER really loving the cartoons though, I had 2/3, can't remember. Last year I only got 1.

solid improvement. Your results will probably exponentially increase, so you're in a good position compared to the rest of us.

 

[enoilgam]

Reading all these comments, I was just wondering out of interest if the UMAT actually predicts good performance in medical school--maybe not. MedEntry responded vigorously to that one, saying that the study doesn't look at the more important thing, that is, a correlation between the UMAT and "good" doctors. In reality, MedEntry offers a skewed response: while there is no evidence to suggest that the UMAT is pointless, there is no evidence that suggests that it is even beneficial when it comes to producing good doctors. Surprisingly, no one has thought to actually evaluate the process despite decades of testing and coaching.

From a layman's search (Google), ACER have based the UMAT on literature in psychometric testing as opposed to actually looking at the actual benefit of the test to the medical community. Also although this is old (2007), line 24 says that they do try to limit success from coaching/tutoring, which sounds like what has happened this time around.

My views on the UMAT are quite mixed and have changed over the years. Im not a big fan of psychometric tests in any context, but that's mainly because I feel the results are misinterpreted. With any selection process, whether it be for medicine or another role, a psychometric test should be used as a support tool when determining a candidates overall aptitude. It should be considered largely in conjunction with a range of other selection tools. It should not be too heavily relied upon, simply because it only shows one attribute of a candidate. It cannot be relied upon in any context to determine whether a candidate will succeed in a certain role or profession. That being said, there is NO definitive method or series of methods that can determine this for sure. Interviews, assessments and grades will never be able to determine whether someone will succeed or fail in a role, especially something like medicine.

All this being considered, there needs to be some method of distinguishing between candidates. I think that in the context of how it is used, the UMAT is a decent tool for separating candidates. I think it takes a considerable amount of logical aptitude to do well in the UMAT, especially considering you are ranked against some of the best and brightest in the state. So as a measure of logical ability (which is one important component of being a successful physician), I think the UMAT does offer a useful means of distinguishing candidates. However, I think too much emphasis is placed on the UMAT as a whole, especially considering that ATAR/UMAT are used to determine who proceeds to interview. This alienates a range of applicants who may have many other key attributes. Adding an essay component or considering a candidate's CV in conjunction to UMAT/ATAR would provide a more holistic view of candidates prior to interview, which is what the process lacks at the moment.