Confused and stressed about UMAT

[iskbelieve]

Hello, so I didn't know where to post this exactly since I'm kind of new to this.

So in 2018 I'm planning on taking the UMAT. I know A LOT of people recommend taking UMAT prep courses whilst others don't. To stay on the safe and majority side I think I do want to take one.

My questions is, I really don't want to spend money on the medentry course because it's pricey. I'm not in a situation where I can just hand over $400 for a course. An alternative course I found is hellouni which is at a much better price. However, since the UMAT is a pretty big hurdle in getting into undergrad medicine I dont want to risk my chances just because i refuse to pay $400 which is pretty insignificant in the grand scheme of things. Will I be at a disadvantage if i dont take this course? Which course will be better off for me (not just financially)? And does anyone have an honest review of what medentry offers? I'm SOOOO stressed y'all 

Mod edit: Removed mention of other forums.

[sophomania]

Hello!

I understand how stressful the UMAT may be but don’t stress too much.
Firstly, you will not be at a disadvantage if you don’t take the medentry course. In the end, UMAT tests your own ability and the most that preparation can do is slightly boost your marks. However doing a UMAT preparation course like medentry won’t be the magic formula to getting a 90+ percentile.

I know many people who have done medentry who have very well, but also not well. I also know others who have performed very well with minimal preparation.

Personally, I did do medentry. I found it useful, but I wouldn’t say it significantly boosted my marks. It just exposed me to a lot of questions and their guides gave plenty of tips and advice. The practice exams they provided helped with exam technique. To be honest though, my ability in the UMAT was already rather good before I started preparation so I can’t say for sure whether medentry really helped. It made me feel a lot more secure and prepared though.

[kalopsia]

Hi,
First, don't stress too much. You will not be at a disadvantage because UMAT depends on your own ability. It doesn't matter which course you take. I personally did use MedEntry because it gave me a lot of resources, but it is pretty pricy. So, I tried to make the most of it. What I liked most was how they had quite a few practice exams, which taught me how to endure a 3 hour exam. I know some people complained about the lectures (I didn't go to one), and how they're a waste of time. But, not everyone who did Medentry did well on the UMAT, and not everyone who did well did a UMAT prep course. If you do choose a prep course, if you think one like Medentry is too expensive, then I don't see a problem with choosing a more affordable option.

[lazaward]

I have the same dilemma I think I’m just going to go with hellouni for the extra practice questions. Spending $400 on medentry and then another $250 to actually sign up for the UMAT is way too pricey. And then I’m pretty sure you also have to pay for the Acer practice papers. I found heaps of free online papers as well from a range of different companies which I’ll use to practice in timed conditions practice is all that matters and as long as you do heaps of questions I don’t see how the company you get it from matters.

[iskbelieve]

I have the same dilemma I think I’m just going to go with hellouni for the extra practice questions. Spending $400 on medentry and then another $250 to actually sign up for the UMAT is way too pricey. And then I’m pretty sure you also have to pay for the Acer practice papers. I found heaps of free online papers as well from a range of different companies which I’ll use to practice in timed conditions practice is all that matters and as long as you do heaps of questions I don’t see how the company you get it from matters.

Thank god I'm not alone!!

It's just that everyone I know (and don't know) does the medentry course. What makes this one so popular? Is it because it's actually effective or do people just do it because everyone else does it?

 I think I might go with the hellouni one tbh.
Anyway good luck!

[iskbelieve]

Hello!

I understand how stressful the UMAT may be but don’t stress too much.
Firstly, you will not be at a disadvantage if you don’t take the medentry course. In the end, UMAT tests your own ability and the most that preparation can do is slightly boost your marks. However doing a UMAT preparation course like medentry won’t be the magic formula to getting a 90+ percentile.

I know many people who have done medentry who have very well, but also not well. I also know others who have performed very well with minimal preparation.

Personally, I did do medentry. I found it useful, but I wouldn’t say it significantly boosted my marks. It just exposed me to a lot of questions and their guides gave plenty of tips and advice. The practice exams they provided helped with exam technique. To be honest though, my ability in the UMAT was already rather good before I started preparation so I can’t say for sure whether medentry really helped. It made me feel a lot more secure and prepared though.

Thank you for your comment! Just wondering, are the practise exams done in the workshop or are they just online and you do them whenever? If so, wouldn't that make the percentiles skewed since some can take more time than others (like can you spend a couple of days working on one exam?)

[Annie657]

Hi! I did the medentry platinum course this year, and I ended up getting 91st percentile, which is not that amazing, but got me interviews into 5 different unis.

Have you researched the discount packages? Through the ‘school bursary’ I literally got the platinum packaged reduced to $295; which is so much better than the 800 it is at full price. The process was really easy and I literally was offered the bursary 30 minuted after I submitted my application. So definitely look into that!

The reason why people use medentry is probably because they are reputable, it is run by doctors, and it literally has thousands of questions available. They also update their questions each year so they follow the exam trends, other companies don’t do this and use old questions (ie mapping s3 questions which are hardly used anymore).

That being said though, if you are unsuccessful in getting the bursary then just go for then distance package, for me being able to practice every day online was a lot better than the 2 day workshop. And even without medentry I’m sure you would be fine if you just did extensive practice with the ACER resources!

Good luck with the umat this year!

[Annie657]

Thank you for your comment! Just wondering, are the practise exams done in the workshop or are they just online and you do them whenever? If so, wouldn't that make the percentiles skewed since some can take more time than others (like can you spend a couple of days working on one exam?)

There is one practice exam done in the workshop, and 10 online. Yes some people do do that, however, you can compare your performance against past exams still, and in the end on medentry it isn’t the percentiles that matters but the score out of 134 which you can work to improve on.

[iskbelieve]

Hi! I did the medentry platinum course this year, and I ended up getting 91st percentile, which is not that amazing, but got me interviews into 5 different unis.

Have you researched the discount packages? Through the ‘school bursary’ I literally got the platinum packaged reduced to $295; which is so much better than the 800 it is at full price. The process was really easy and I literally was offered the bursary 30 minuted after I submitted my application. So definitely look into that!

The reason why people use medentry is probably because they are reputable, it is run by doctors, and it literally has thousands of questions available. They also update their questions each year so they follow the exam trends, other companies don’t do this and use old questions (ie mapping s3 questions which are hardly used anymore).

That being said though, if you are unsuccessful in getting the bursary then just go for then distance package, for me being able to practice every day online was a lot better than the 2 day workshop. And even without medentry I’m sure you would be fine if you just did extensive practice with the ACER resources!

Good luck with the umat this year!

91%ile is definitely amazing! Congratulations on the great work!

Thank you for the advice I've never hears of this reduction in price and will definitely look into it! Again thanks heaps you don't realise how much help you've been

[MG226]

Hi, i did the medentry platinum course too and know about 10 others that also did it. I scored a percentile in the mid 90s but the others that I know all got below 80 (don’t know exact scores and they all did most if not all of the exams). I do think medentry is great for the practice with the drills and especially the exams but if you don’t have the skills it can’t really get you there. Don’t take that as me being negative lol, what I’m trying to say is that for a lot of people they either have it or don’t. What practice will do is help with the timing and getting used to the question style. If you can’t get it, which a lot of people won’t be able to because it is really expensive, the Acer exams and practice question packages are off memory $100-150 for all of them (3 exams and 2*70 question things) and there are free exams online. I remember seeing some when I was looking into prep and found a few free full exams, can’t say how good they are though, medentry had one that you could download and print so I’d get that and have a look online for free UMAT questions. Main thing is that preparation won’t guarantee a good score, and it is very much possible to do nothing to prepare and still score really well. I had a monash interview last week and one of the guys there was saying that he only decided he wanted to do med a week before registrations closed, he didn’t even do a full practice exam and scored well enough for a interview.

[luan22]

UMAT really tense. But I advise you not to be too tense for your health. There are many professionals, you can study their course. Good luck