Considering that I got quite a few messages about the UMAT, and requests for a UMAT guide, I might as well write this up haha. Highly recommend looking at the
UMAT 2018 Information Booklet and
this post first.
All prospective med applicants should refer to
this post, which is an overview of the undergrad/provisional med selection criteria. For prospective dent applicants, there is
this post. about undergrad dent selection criteria.
INTRODUCTION:What is the UMAT?The UMAT stands for the 'Undergraduate Medicine and Health Sciences Admissions Test' and it's written by a company called ACER, who also writes the GAMSAT for entrance into graduate medicine. It's a selection criteria for the majority of undergraduate medicine, dental surgery, oral sciences and other health science courses in Australia and New Zealand. It consists of questions that can be sorted into three categories:
Section 1: Logical Reasoning and Problem SolvingThe questions here come in different styles and form, such as comprehension, problem-solving and analysis-type. The stimulus given can vary from a short paragraph to a page-long text to a set of diagrams that you have to interpret. Questions may ask you to draw conclusions, test hypotheses, solve for something, and so on.
Section 2: Understanding PeopleThis section consists of questions based on a conversation/dialogue, scenario, passage from a novel/play, comic and more. The stimuli can also vary from being very short to as long as a page and a bit. Questions may ask you to identify what a character is feeling, interpret the most correct course of action, understand or infer the thoughts, intentions and/or behaviour of characters, what the posture of a character in a comic represents, etc.
Section 3: Non-verbal ReasoningThe questions in this construct are usually composed of one big diagram or 4 to 5 smaller diagrams, which are based on patterns or sequences of shapes. It aims to look at your abstract reasoning and ability to solve non-verbal problems. The questions usually ask you to: pick the middle, pick what's next in the sequence, pick the odd-one-out, finish the diagram - this isn't an exhaustive list, but it's what commonly appears.
How is the UMAT organised?/how many questions/how long is it?The UMAT is all multiple-choice. Previously, the UMAT was separated section-by-section, with a time limitation for each. Ever since a few years ago, these kind of questions have been randomly assorted into the
134 questions that the
3 hour UMAT exam is comprised of.
When can I do the UMAT?/Can I sit the UMAT in Year 11??I get asked the latter question too many times. No, you cannot sit the exam in Year 11 or earlier. You're able to sit it in Year 12 and onwards - pretty much the year before the medicine admission you're applying for. In other words, if you're applying for 2019 admission into Medicine, you're sitting the UMAT in 2018.
How long do my results last for?/When does it expire?It only lasts for one year. That means that even if you did relatively well in one year, but didn't get into med the next year, and you want to try again…you're gonna have to sit the UMAT once again the following year.
Where is the UMAT usually held?Based on the state you are in, you're given several options to choose from regarding the test centre where you'll be taking it. For Victoria, these options are: Bendigo, Geelong, Melbourne, Mildura, Sale and Shepparton. For New South Wales, they are: Armidale, Coffs Harbour, Dubbo, Newcastle and Sydney. For more information, refer to
this webpage, which has all the official test centres noted down by ACER.
For the past few years, for the Melbourne option, it's been held at the Caulfield Racecourse. It's a HUGE venue, with candidates taking the exam in the bottom and top floor. After a quick Google search, below is what is most similar to how the inside of the building will look like (the bottom floor).
At the front corner of each desk, rather than the weird little stand that's shown in the photo, you have to put your UMAT ticket as well as a paper with your name, ID and signature.
Which universities look at the UMAT? (How much do they count towards place offers?)Monash University - Medicine (1/3)
50/50/50 ruleUniversity of Adelaide - Medicine (20%)
University of Adelaide - Dentistry (20%)
Flinders University/Charles Darwin University - Medicine (10%)
University of Tasmania - Medicine (100% after 95+ ATAR requirement met)
Overall 150 required. Section 2, usually, must be 60+Curtin University - Medicine (20%)
50/50/50 ruleUniversity of Western Australia - Medicine (20%)
University of Western Australia - Dentistry (20%)
University of Queensland - Medicine (100% after 99+ ATAR requirement met)
University of Queensland - Dentistry (100% after 99+ ATAR requirement met)
University of New South Wales - Medicine (1/3)
University of Newcastle/University of New England - Medicine (only as a hurdle - 100% interview)
50/50/50 rule. For 2017, Section 1 must be 58+Western Sydney University - Medicine (only as a hurdle - 100% interview)
Charles Sturt University - Dentistry (unknown)
New Zealand:The University of Auckland - Medicine
University of Otago - Medicine
University of Otago - Dentistry
*Note: For New Zealand, you have to do at least a one year degree of Health Sciences/Bachelor of Sciences/etc. to be able to apply for med. You can't apply for med straight out of high school, although I'm not particularly knowledgeable about NZ med admission.
What is the 50/50/50 rule?It means that the minimum score required for individual sections must be 50 or above. For instance, since Monash has this rule, even if you have 100th percentile, you won't get an interview offer if one of your sections are below 50.
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UMAT PREPARATION:How did you prepare for the UMAT?I got MedEntry in around January and started with a few drills. Around April-May was when I actually became serious and did four practice exams in strict timed conditions and about 30% of the drills. For all the questions I got wrong, I had a separate OneNote page where I took a screenshot of that question and annotated how I got wrong and what the actual way of solving it was (or one way of solving it).
I also got all the UMAT packages ACER offered (3 practice exams and two sets of extra practice questions) and watched all their preparation videos (where ACER picked selected questions from each practice exam and gives a worked solution), which I found the most helpful!! Highly recommend getting this if you can, because it really shows the kind of thinking ACER puts into how to solve different kinds of questions in each of the sections, hence guides you as to how you should try to solve them (or at least one other possible way to solve them)
I also watched a few Youtube videos, by searching up 'UMAT preparation', and I did some questions from a package I bought from a friend. On top of this, I went to a few free workshops in the city and I went to the two-day workshop MedEntry offered with their package.
For Section 1, I finished two booklets of reading comprehension-style questions and for section 2, I wrote up an entire glossary of definitions for emotional words/vocabulary as well as extra notes. I colour-coded the terms according to the type and level of emotion each word represented (which made sense to me).
How did you go in the practice exams?Lol, I did terribly!! The highest overall percentile I got was in my first exam, which was in the 60s. I consistently got very low scores in Section 1 and did decently in Section 3. Section 2 varied between really bad, decent and quite good.
What's the best way to prepare for the UMAT?This varies person to person, since everyone has different capabilities, strengths and weaknesses. Firstly, look for all the free stuff you can find on the internet. There are quite a few tips and guides by people who did really well on the UMAT, worked solutions for sample UMAT questions on Youtube and other websites, etc. Then, if you really want to, you can consider buying something from a preparation company.
I recommend studying for the UMAT on a regular basis and treating it seriously. Maybe make a flexible schedule? Don't put it off to the last minute, because that kind of prep is unlikely to be of much help.
Should I buy from a preparation company?It depends on many factors. Some include: how confident you feel about doing the exam, the cost of the preparation company you want to buy from, whether you personally feel it'll be worth it. Getting a package from a preparation company doesn't guarantee you a high score, and there have been many cases of people not buying one and receiving a high score.
I'm interested in buying these resources. What preparation companies are out there?Here are the ones I know. Don't ask me which one is the best, because this definitely varies with each person. Also, I'm not here to endorse any company, I'm just here to give my own advice.
- MedEntry
- Section Zero
- NIE
- icanMed
- Matrix
- Hellouni
- GradReady
- PrepGenie
- Umatic
- KAPLAN
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REGRETS:1.
Not treating the UMAT as a subject from the start. If I had, I would've taken it seriously at a much earlier stage and I would've been able to further hone my skills and further improve on areas of weaknesses, which may have led to a better result. Who knows? Or it might not have, considering that there have been many cases of people working super hard then not getting the results they deserved.
2.
Not doing all the practice exams. I would've felt more prepared if I did maybe two or three more practice exams in strict timed conditions, like how I did my 4 Medentry exams. The exams also got harder and harder, and people said that the last few exams were most similar to the real UMAT exam.
3.
Not regularly practicing and not having a schedule. I became more regular in the last two months before the actual exam, but before then I pretty much neglected the UMAT in favour of school work. Sometimes I forgot certain skills which I learnt a while ago but I didn't practice as much, particularly for Section 3. Even though I'm not much of a schedule person, if I had at least some sort of an agenda every week regarding UMAT practice then I feel like that would've been of huge benefit to me.
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EXAM ADVICE:What was your overall approach to the exam?There are two main ways to do the exam: chronological and section-by-section. I used my practice exams to test each way, and I found the best one was section-by-section for me. So that's how I approached the exam…except not exactly in the way I would've imagined.
What did you do the day before the exam?Mainly relaxing and flipping through my Section 2 vocabulary list. I wanted to keep a clear mind and avoid any sources of stress that may impede my performance.
What did you do on the day of the exam?Woke up quite early in the morning, due to being in the morning session, and had a good breakfast. After about an hour's drive, my family and I arrived at the venue. The carpark was packed and there were people walking to the building all around me. When I came to the building itself, there were long lines of people at each door and lines of people going up the stairs to the top floor. I had no idea where to go, so I went up to a nearby supervisor who looked at my UMAT ticket and directed me to a line.
Entering through the door, I was met with the sight of numerous desks arranged neatly in rows and columns. To my side was a desk and two people behind it. They checked my UMAT ticket and ID before directing me to a desk in the line in front of me. My desk was situated at around the middle of the huge room. At the very front of each line of desks was a supervisor and at the middle front of the room was a lady (a representative of ACER?) who, through a microphone, read out the instructions.
What did you do during the exam?When reading time started, I firstly looked through the booklet and scanned the kinds of questions on there. I also checked for any errors that
may occur, like any questions missing or a misprint. When looking at the format, I kinda had an idea of the arrangement of each section throughout the exam (e.g. 'Okay the first part has a bit of Section 1 comprehension then there's a Section 2 scenario and the middle bit has quite a bit of Section 3…'). Don't take too much time with this, just try to familiarise yourself with the layout. After this, I went to the front of the exam and read through the first few Section 2 texts and memorised a few of the answers (this may not work for everyone, but I felt comfortable doing it).
Once writing time started, I flipped through the book to mark each Section 2 scenario. I did most of section 2 first, but then got tired of it so I started doing a combination of Section 1 and Section 3 (since I disliked Section 3 the least…perhaps I even liked it). I skipped a few questions in these two sections and went back to finishing off Section 2. Three quarters into the exam and I went over and did the skipped questions. I carefully read through and analysed my answers, finding and correcting the mistakes I found. With about 20 minutes to ago, suddenly I was busting for the toilet and I had to ask a supervisor to direct me to the bathroom. Halfway to the bathrooms, I got lost and I had to ask another supervisor to take me there. In total, I wasted around 6-8 minutes before I returned to my desk to finish off the Section 3 question I was working on.
I was able to finish the entire exam with about 2-3 minutes to spare, which I used to look through my Section 3 answers (which took the least time for me to do). I spent the last 30 seconds making sure I didn't miss a bubble (throughout the entire exam I made sure not to fill in the incorrect bubble or a bubble for the wrong question).
What did you do after the exam/What were your thoughts on the exam?I thought I did h o r r I b l y. No joke, when I came home, I was quite depressed about my performance and I had lost all hope. I regretted not doing more for this exam and not realising its importance from much earlier on. But then, I let go of it, with the resolution that I can't do anything about it now and that whatever has happened, has happened. I put a lot more focus on my VCE studies with the hope that my ATAR will make up for my inevitably disappointing UMAT score (which wasn't
as disappointing as I thought it would be. Seriously though, I was expecting much much lower.).
Section 1 Advice- Reading fast is an advantage, but you have to make sure that you understand the premises of the text and fully comprehend it. Otherwise you're better off reading a bit slower.
- Personally, I recommend reading the questions first before reading the text, since you'll be more aware of what you're looking for (and a lot of the text given, particularly for comprehension-style questions, are unnecessary and reading them would waste your time)
- Don't be afraid to annotate the booklet!! ACER will shred it in the end, so you might as well make the most of it. Underline key premises, important instructions, etc. which you find is useful for answering the given questions.
- Be careful of absolute statements in the options given. Common wordings to be cautious of include: always, never and will. In most cases, these are incorrect, but it may be correct in other contexts. Most of the time, the correct answers are open to possibility and include wordings like: sometimes, often, may, might, tend to, generally and if.
- Check if an option is 'out of the scope' of the given text. For example, a text may be talking about endangered animals in Australia in the past ten years but an incorrect option will be talking about all endangered animals or Australian endangered animals thirty years ago.
Section 2 Advice:- Always read any background given before going on to read the actual scenario. This may give away crucial information about the characters, their backstory, etc. that will help you correctly answer the questions.
- Again, be careful with reading fast, as you want to have a full understanding of the characters involved and their thoughts, feelings, intentions, behaviours, etc.
- During your practice, keep an emotion word/general vocabulary list and use it well! Keep particular note of the words that appear in the ACER practice exams.
- Generally it's known that Section 2 can't be improved greatly upon, and that it's dependent on intrinsic ability, but I think you can make the most of your own ability through practice and reflection
- When it comes to analysing comics, look for the main message, the body language of the characters, their facial expressions, the caption below (if there is one), deliberate shading, deliberate positioning and focus and for any wordplay/satire/etc. especially through the visuals.
- Be wary of options that have strong wordings or convey strong emotions which may seem out of place in a given scenario or character. For instance, if a character seems rather laid back but reluctant about doing something, it's unlikely they will shout/yell/cry about their situation. Deriving this sense of character usually means looking at their dialogue, how they say the dialogue (do they shout? do they murmur?), their facial expression if it's a comic (raised eyebrows? tight frown?) and their interaction with the other characters.
Section 3 Advice:- Section 3 is the easiest to improve upon. Make sure you understand the concepts and patterns behind each type of question before going on to go practice question upon practice question
- Annotate the booklet with as many arrows and other working as you like, to help you visualise the pattern.
- During your practice, keep a bank of the common patterns that appear. For example, 1-2-3-4 rule for 'next in the sequence' questions. Below is a list of common patterns I've found, particularly with shapes and arrows. Excuse the bad drawings haha
Common Patterns for 'Next in the Sequence' and 'Pick the Middle'-type questions
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UMAT RESULTS:What does it look like when I get my results?When you log into your ACER account, there will be a separate button directing you to your results. The page will come up with something like this:
On the bottom of the page, there will be the result graphs for the year you took the exam.
How do I interpret my results?For each section, you get a score from 0-100. This isn't a percentage of your real marks on the UMAT exam - it's a moderation of the many weird calculations ACER does which compares you to the rest of the candidates. It's completely different to the conventional tests and exams you're used to in school and VCE. Heck, I'd say its marking scheme is a lot more ambiguous than how VCAA calculates study scores and the ATAR - and that really says something!
To get your overall score, they add your individual section scores. From this overall score is your calculated percentile. Whatever percentile you get is the percentage of UMAT applicants whose scores are equal to or lower than yours...if that makes sense. So if you got 70th percentile, your score is the same as or better than 70% of all UMAT applicants for that year.
What were the result graphs for UMAT 2017?What is a competitive UMAT?For non-rural students (which I assume most of you are), you should aim for a percentile in the mid-high 80s. A 90s is great and a 95+ is awesome! For rural students, the cutoff tends to be a little lower, so you can get away with a percentile in the high 60s or 70s at the very least. In saying this, it depends on how rural you are and, sometimes, whether you've completed your schooling in a rural area and for how long you've lived in a rural area for.
Why didn't I get 100 for any of my sections 
?Most commonly people get in the 50-65 range, so it's extremely rare to get 100 in any section (although it has been done before - I know someone who got 100 in Section 1 and another person who got 100 in Section 3). You don't need 100 in any section to guarantee a high overall score either, although it does help. If you get 60 in each section, that counts to 180 overall which is about a 90th percentile.
Why didn't I get over 90th percentile 
?Getting a percentile in the 90s and above is much harder than you think. It means that you are better than 90% of UMAT candidates that year. Considering that thousands upon thousands apply for the UMAT, from both Australia and New Zealand as well as overseas too (I think. Correct me if I'm wrong), that's a
lot of people who you're going to have to beat. There are many factors, ones you can control and ones you can't, which may have undermined your performance. Maybe the UMAT isn't suited for you? (I'm definitely not a UMAT person.) Maybe you were really stressed or weren't thinking straight on the day of the exam? Maybe you didn't practice as much as you wanted to/felt was necessary for you?
What did you get/How did you go?Okay, this is why I was hesitating to write up a UMAT guide in the first place, considering I didn't get the most amazing score. To get straight to the point, as said in my signature, I got 88th percentile (Overall: 176; Section 1: 59; Section 2: 55; Section 3: 62). The above sample picture of what the UMAT results look like is a screenshot of my own results.
I did really badly on the UMAT. Does that mean I can't get into med/dent?No, not necessarily. You still have a chance based on many different factors: your ATAR can lift you up, your rural status can put you in a separate quota that isn't as competitive as the non-rural quota, your SEAS may boost your ATAR, your location may be favoured by your coveted university (e.g. Great Western Sydney for Western Sydney University).
I know quite a few people who had UMATs in the 60s and 70s (and weren't expecting anything for med at all; also had no special considerations like rural status), where their 99+ ATARs helped them get an interview offer from Monash. Vice versa has also happened, where people with ATARs in the 95+ range but a 90+ UMAT also got a Monash interview offer.
In addition, there is the interview which is an important criteria for most med/dent universities (except for UQ, UTAS and Flinders). A very good interview and good ATAR can compensate for your UMAT. There are even universities which offer a pathway into medicine without UMAT at all (JCU and Bond). Griffith University, and the University of Sunshine Coast (collabing with Griffith), only have ATAR as their criteria (however the cutoff is usually very high - around 99.75/99.80+).
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So that's it for my UMAT guide! I will update it when there's anything I, or any of you, have to add on or correct.
Remember, UMAT and the undergrad pathway isn't the be-all-end-all and there are so many other pathways through which you can get into the health courses.
Best of luck!
- Cookiedream
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