umat (1 Viewer)

[gordo]

Hey,
i'm sitting umat in july and was just inquiring about a few things from those who have sat it already.
First of all, my careers advisor said to go to one of those training programs, unless you are brilliant. I figure, its common sense to be able to give the answer they want to hear, but do you fellas recommend doing one of those courses, or how many of you didn't do one and still passed. I am not exactly stupid and i'm rather logical, so does anyone recommend a course keeping in mind they are like $200. Also, if you guys can give any tips on the umat exam, i think it is 100% computer marked, so its basicly just pencilling in the write letters etc and there are no open ended questions.
I really don;t want to get worried over an exam that determines whther u can do med or not and at the moment I am not worried, its only the careers advisor who keeps telling me to fork out $200 to do a course.
Also, for the interview (if u get one) if you go to that interview training course too, i assume the interviewer can tell you are just playing the system with answers which are so overt.
So who reccomends what in regard to umat and the interview, some feedback would be great.

cheers,

Andrew

 

[kimmeh]

i'm not going to do a prep course, though i know inasero (engineering mod) told me to go do one because he did one and got into med at Monash. I think if i dont have it, then so be it. my heart isnt set out on med soleley, plus even if i make interview stage, i dont think i can get a splendid UAI to feed the unis with. I dont think anyone should really have their heart set one doing medicine alone. remebers, there is always post grad med, if your really that keen for med and dont get in the first time. i know all of my friends are doing Dallas which is like 400 for 2 days. We dont have a careeres advisor so the only pressure for me to do prep courses is by word of mouth. you know, parents say "omg, she's doing prep, why arent you?".
If your willing to fish out 200 or 400 then do so, it might help you and good stuff if it does, but dont get all crappy if you dont make and did first aid course so that their CV looked good and didnt get anywhere. you might want to go here for extra help : http://ausmedstudent.com/forum/index.php

 

[gordo]

cheers

 

[nike33]

it wouldnt be satisfying to get into med after getting 'coached' imo...sorta like being taught/coached how to do iq tests before getting one done

 

[inasero]

it wouldnt be satisfying to get into med after getting 'coached' imo...sorta like being taught/coached how to do iq tests before getting one done

I may sound defensive here...but then whats the purpose of selective schools? we may as well get rid of them all because thats your logic- that some people have unfair advantages. In fact its not what you do but who you are that determines whether you get into medicine or not. Plenty of people from non-selective schools get excellent UAIs without coaching. Same goes for the UMAT. As is noted on the ACER website, coaching is not likely to help so its up to them to set a test that keeps them true to their word.

 

[Skywalker]

Originally posted by nike33
it wouldnt be satisfying to get into med after getting 'coached' imo...sorta like being taught/coached how to do iq tests before getting one done

Well then you can sit on your high horse while everybody else gets in. Quite honestly, a hell of a lot of people in UNSW did coaching for the UMAT. While I don't condone UMAT/interview coaching and personally did not do any courses myself, the reality of it is that people will do anything to give themselves an advantage in a competitive entry course.

 

[+:: $i[Q]u3 ::+]

Originally posted by nike33
it wouldnt be satisfying to get into med after getting 'coached' imo...sorta like being taught/coached how to do iq tests before getting one done

so far, i haven't met anyone who has explicitly stated that they regret doing prep courses, once they've got into med. The ppl who didnt get in might think it was a waste of money or time because it didn't amount to much. Also, a lotta ppl in med still think the training is not 100% (not even 50%) beneficial, but they appreciate the small advantage they got out of it.

ur in yr 12 right? and if aiming for med i am thinking u are aiming for quite a high uai. Would u feel less satisfied with ur final result (And good luck for that btw) if u had coaching or was tutored to try improve ur marks?

my two cents on that issue, without getting too aggro about it

 

[gordo]

yes i am in yr 12, and doing well in my subjects. I don't beleive in tutoring for school. But this umat thing, i have no idea what it is or about. Our careers advisor is not the brightest spark and I am jsut worried that this whole umat thing makes or breaks medicine for 2005.
I was just wondering statistics-wise, how many of you took a course for the umat exam and passed/failed etc.

 

[Saul]

i did the umat, as well as the prep course - and althoug i didn't get into med, i got fantastic results for the test. although the prep course i did was mainly crap- it helped an amazing amount for third section in the test. if you do the courses, they WILL help, if for nothing else but giving you an idea of what to expect. i know so many people who went in not having prepared at all, and just got completely shut down.

 

[+:: $i[Q]u3 ::+]

saul's results for umat were uber-impressive, if my memory serves me correctly.

 

[Saul]

it does- but hey, i must have really really pissed them off at the interview. though not as much as this guy i was talking to at uni, who got a really good umat (two above 90), 100 uai and still didn't get in. just goes to show that no matter how well you do, if they don't like you, you're not getting in.

 

[eskimo]

Your results were like 99999999... lol.. something like that. So what are u doing now?

 

[Saul]

im doing BSc (molecular biology and genetics) at usyd, and i'm not intending to try for med again - far too much work...

 

[eskimo]

far too much work? yea I reckon. but sometimes those things in life are worth it. Other times I guess its waste of effort. I think its way too hard to decide what you wanna do in yr 12. Don't you think?

 

[+:: $i[Q]u3 ::+]

true true.. but you always have the opportunity to transfer or change courses, so even if you have no idea you get a feel for what you really want as you continue studying.

 

[mr EaZy]

Hi

I'm doin UMAT

i did the sample papers, and i found section 1 and 2 pretty easy.

SEction three was al little difficult with type I and II questions.

The questions where u arrange objects was easy.

So, do u guys think i stand a chance????

 

[moz]

yeah sect 1 and 2 are easy, type 1 section 3 are easy but type II i reckon is fairly difficult but they only ever ask a few of them so thats not too bad. putting things into order in section III.. well if u get them wrong u'r a dumbass!

 

[Lexicographer]

Hey mr EaZy, your situation sounds just like mine and I got three interviews. UAI was my problem.

 

[Lexicographer]

Originally posted by moz
yeah sect 1 and 2 are easy, type 1 section 3 are easy but type II i reckon is fairly difficult but they only ever ask a few of them so thats not too bad. putting things into order in section III.. well if u get them wrong u'r a dumbass!

Just so you know, the format of each section fluctuates from year to year. There is no way to predict how many of each type of questions ACER will set.

 

[mr EaZy]

what was ur UAI? im aiming for a minimum of 97, but im confident of a 98.
will that do?? i hear most med studs have 99+

This question is sent to lexicographer and all who made it or failed to get into med at unsw