UMAT 2015 Discussion Thread (9 Viewers)

[iMMORTAL153]

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

I really hope so but after S3 I don't feel confident anymore, but who knows, only time will tell.

1st attempt:
Lab tests: "What dafuq am I looking at? All the muscles and blood vessels look the same to me."
Final exam: "I don't remember anything." I ended up with the 3rd lowest mark (30%) in the final exam. I found out after asking the course convenor. I failed the course overall.
Maybe we should shift this discussion to a more relevant thread?

2nd attempt:
Lab tests became much easier as I started to understand the relationship between the name and location/structure/function of the muscles, veins, arteries, nerves, etc.
But when it came to final exam (which I generally under-perform in), I fu<ked up. Got 49.5%, just like in my year 12 English trials, but passed the course overall.

I guess how difficult anatomy would depend on how the university structures the course. If multiple choice was used for all assessments, then everyone would get a HD grade.

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You might also want to know about histology, which was much harder, mainly because "all these cells look the same to me"....hahahahhahaahhaha.
Also, it didn't help that the tissue slides reminded me of Uncle Toby rollups..... yum.....
For mid-sem and final exams, I had to hand-draw tissues, with all the correct cell types, blood/lymphatic vessels and nerves.
I needed something similar to photographic memory to easily get HD for this course. But my memory was shlt.
I received a fail mark, but a "conceded pass" for this course.

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gagaaga I just noticed I derailed this thread. Sorry, I'll go back on track now.

Maybe we should shift this discussion to a different thread?

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.

Please, I beg you, don't give them any ideas D:

 

[enoilgam]

Please, I beg you, don't give them any ideas D:

A CV would be better in my view - looking at a candidates ECs/work history offers more than an interview and grades.

 

[Schmeag]

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.

That's true, although adding the CV and an essay/cover letter would make it essentially like applying for a job.

 

[iMMORTAL153]

A CV would be better in my view - looking at a candidates ECs/work history offers more than an interview and grades.

I agree with you, ATM I feel like UMAT is the determining factor regarding interviews for many people. People with top grades but also a wide range of extracurricular and work experience miss out because of a bad UMAT, yet people decent grades and good UMAT and little to no extracurricular get in. Granted not having those aspects would hurt them in the interviews but the problem for a lot of people is getting the interviews in the first place.

 

[enoilgam]

I agree with you, ATM I feel like UMAT is the determining factor regarding interviews for many people. People with top grades but also a wide range of extracurricular and work experience miss out because of a bad UMAT, yet people decent grades and good UMAT and little to no extracurricular get in. Granted not having those aspects would hurt them in the interviews but the problem for a lot of people is getting the interviews in the first place.

I wouldnt do away with the UMAT though, I still think it's a good tool when placed beside an ATAR, CV and interview.

 

[iMMORTAL153]

I wouldnt do away with the UMAT though, I still think it's a good tool when placed beside an ATAR, CV and interview.

They should probably do a 1/3 split, with Grades, UMAT, Written Application (like a CV), to get an interview and then a 1/3 Grades, UMAT, interview score to determine final spots. That way people who don't do as well in the UMAT may still get an interview and if they excel that, their interview score may compensate for their UMAT/Grades. This kinda sounds like the post grad portfolio schools.

 

[hayabusaboston]

Section three is IQ part right? fuck, wish I could have done UMAT this yr lol would have been fun to see how I went in S3

 

[enigma_1]

Section three is IQ part right? fuck, wish I could have done UMAT this yr lol would have been fun to see how I went in S3

Do it for the lols

I swear a score of 50 would probably be like 15/42 lol

 

[ManUpstairs]

I swear a score of 50 would probably be like 15/42 lol

Hmm, so are you saying the number of questions that you need to get right for an individual construct score of 50 varies greatly from year to year based on the difficulty/average candidate performance of the test?

That's good then

 

[iMMORTAL153]

Hmm, so are you saying the number of questions that you need to get right for an individual construct score of 50 varies greatly from year to year based on the difficulty/average candidate performance of the test?

That's good then

Yea, it does, pretty sure they try and fit everyone to their percentile curve.
I think I should be able to get 15..... Maybe...

 

[enigma_1]

Hmm, so are you saying the number of questions that you need to get right for an individual construct score of 50 varies greatly from year to year based on the difficulty/average candidate performance of the test?

That's good then

yeah basically that's how they would determine it. It's much like hsc aligning for subjects that are of differing difficulties. Eg if Chemistry is really hard one year, then lower raw marks than usual would be required to get a band 6 so umat works the same way. I really want to know if anyone actually got the weird s3 questions. Let's just hope everyone struggled with it lol

 

[iMMORTAL153]

yeah basically that's how they would determine it. It's much like hsc aligning for subjects that are of differing difficulties. Eg if Chemistry is really hard one year, then lower raw marks than usual would be required to get a band 6 so umat works the same way. I really want to know if anyone actually got the weird s3 questions. Let's just hope everyone struggled with it lol

From the general consensus everyone seemed to perform baddly, but my sample size is pretty low so yea...

 

[enigma_1]

From the general consensus everyone seemed to perform baddly, but my sample size is pretty low so yea...

yeah I'm certain that like 95% of people were thrown off. All you could hear after the exam was "omg wtf was with that s3"

lol medentry are probably getting so many complaints

 

[iMMORTAL153]

yeah I'm certain that like 95% of people were thrown off. All you could hear after the exam was "omg wtf was with that s3"

lol medentry are probably getting so many complaints

Probably, but no way they could've predicted it. They will most likely add the new style to their current material. Low chance ACER will change it again next year. So worst case scenario if UMAT results are bad, we have a year to learn all the new stuff

 

[hayabusaboston]

IQ.... ha!

because you would be competing against a small pool of intelligent tanks, your S3 score would likely not correlate well with your IQ (which measures your cognitive intelligence relative to the general population).

True dat, but I'm not really interested in how it would correlate with my iq score so much as how well id go compared to cohort+ dem massive iq tanks from ruse etc

 

[enigma_1]

Probably, but no way they could've predicted it. They will most likely add the new style to their current material. Low chance ACER will change it again next year. So worst case scenario if UMAT results are bad, we have a year to learn all the new stuff

Yeah let's hope they don't make any ridiculous changes again next year.

Well great, section 3 changes from something that was the free marks section to the section that's absolute mindfuck.

 

[hscmathematics]

Does anyone remember the CAS number question? The one with all the 2s

What was the answer for that question? I calculated that it coulnd't be 2, but that either 0 or 5 would work fine? (but there was no option for that?)

Otherwise, this year felt a bit different to the past few. S3 was a lot harder than before, had to completely guess 5-7, possibly even more (and last year I probably only had to guess 1-2; ended up with 72). S1 was fairly straightforward, and S2 was a bit more difficult than I expected but nothing too wild.

Hope everyone goes well!

 

[leesh95]

yeah I'm certain that like 95% of people were thrown off. All you could hear after the exam was "omg wtf was with that s3"

lol medentry are probably getting so many complaints

Medentry's UMAT forum is in shambles. Nearly everyone is complaining. I compared their forums for 2013/2014 UMAT exams to this years and everyone this year seems convinced that Medentry was really different to the real thing. I'm surprised they haven't censored it yet.

 

[enigma_1]

Does anyone remember the CAS number question? The one with all the 2s

What was the answer for that question? I calculated that it coulnd't be 2, but that either 0 or 5 would work fine? (but there was no option for that?)

Otherwise, this year felt a bit different to the past few. S3 was a lot harder than before, had to completely guess 5-7, possibly even more (and last year I probably only had to guess 1-2; ended up with 72). S1 was fairly straightforward, and S2 was a bit more difficult than I expected but nothing too wild.

Hope everyone goes well!

Mate if you only had to guess 5-7 then your chances are looking good.

 

[enigma_1]

Medentry's UMAT forum is in shambles. Nearly everyone is complaining. I compared their forums for 2013/2014 UMAT exams to this years and everyone this year seems convinced that Medentry was really different to the real thing. I'm surprised they haven't censored it yet.

Omg r u srs? Pls link it lol

Looks like they're not gonna get any good reviews this year