WorkingHard Posted January 4, 2013 Report Share Posted January 4, 2013 Hi Survivors,I was wondering if any of you have attended any UMAT Study Courses. I wish to know if they are helpful, and is indeed worth the price i am paying (i heard most expensive can be up to $2000). If any of you have attended, would you please leave a note with a link to the course that you studied?I wish to do Medicine, with a possibility in Monash University, so i need a outstanding UMAT Score to get in. Thanks all in advance for your help!Evan Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
sciHL Posted January 4, 2013 Report Share Posted January 4, 2013 (edited) heard whispers that they are just a ruse. would be good to hear from someone who has done one Edited January 4, 2013 by sciHL Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
WorkingHard Posted January 4, 2013 Author Report Share Posted January 4, 2013 I'm thinking of applying for one, because honestly i have no idea what is on the test! Apparently theres one section where it gives a picture,and you are meant to determine what the person in the picture is feeling... Now how would you do that... Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
flinquinnster Posted January 4, 2013 Report Share Posted January 4, 2013 (edited) I am being 'gently' coerced into taking the UMAT even though I don't really want to study medicine/health sciences in any way, shape or form - so I'm definitely not taking the prep courses. My friends seem to be all doing Medentry (http://www.medentry.edu.au/) and apparently it only costs $590 in a group (but $820 if you're a loner). So if you want to do it, get into a group. I've heard that the courses are a waste of time, but the main benefit is that they force you to practise, and they give you some past paper/sample questions to practise with. However, if you can find the questions without resorting to paying for the course, that would in my opinion be a better choice. However, I haven't actually done a UMAT prep course, so I don't know that much!P.S. Oh yes, section 3 has all the shapes. Sections 1 and 2 are verbal and non-verbal reasoning, which are a breeze for most normal people. I struggle with spatial reasoning, but I've heard that 'apparently' there are only several patterns they recycle to form the shape patterns. But unfortunately, I don't know what those tricks are. I guess that's what they do at the prep courses, sell you the 11 secret herbs and spices to section 3 of the UMAT paper... Edited January 4, 2013 by flinquinnster 1 Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
susanne Posted April 27, 2013 Report Share Posted April 27, 2013 I think that it's a waste of time;my parents just got me a stack of past papers and explanations; but I've always hated tutors (but not my violin one)but honestly, if you're not meant to be, or want to be a doctor, don't do MedicineI still don't understand asian parent's hype about med Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
ib1123 Posted January 7, 2014 Report Share Posted January 7, 2014 The actual courses are somewhat helpful, but often don't lead to significant UMAT score improvement. The past papers which come with the courses, however, are extraordinarily useful if used correctly - i.e. if taken seriously, done in one sitting per paper and completed on a relatively regular basis.Moreover, they are primarily helpful for 'Non-Verbal Reasoning' (Section 3) and 'Logical Reasoning and Problem Solving' (Section 1), in that order; they tend to be less helpful for the 'Understanding People' section (Section 2). 1 Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
iblife2013 Posted January 11, 2014 Report Share Posted January 11, 2014 I did MedEntry this year and I found it did not improve my UMAT score, if anything, I did worse in the final one than I did when I commenced MedEntry. It costs a fair bit of money and I personally don't think it was worth it. The only thing it really did for me was get me to practice and think about the UMAT amidst a chaotic final year of IB. If you can find the past papers or similar questions, without the full course like I had done I think it would be so much better. On the other hand, I have friends who thought doing a course like this helped them tremendously. 1 Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
whatislife Posted September 26, 2014 Report Share Posted September 26, 2014 Hi yo, let us break this down. Realistically, how much time do you actually have to practise those questions? Is it worth $2000?Maybe you're better off buying all those online practice papers from ACER, (there's 4 to do) and altogether that's already nearly 12 hours or something of practice. In addition, you could purchase IQ tests to practise those section 3 questions. That's what I did, I bought two IQ testing books (/psychometric test books) that had sections for shapes.Personally, I know people that did those courses and got very low percentiles, but also some that did the courses and got very high percentiles. e.g. 98 (wooahhh). So I guess it depends on you. Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
cricketcrazynerd Posted September 26, 2014 Report Share Posted September 26, 2014 I got 97 percentile this year, without doing any sort of prep course. I just bought all of the material available on the ACER and made sure that I understood the thought process behind every single question there. Imho the only section you can actually prepare for is section 3, the shapes one, by looking at all the different combinations they can possibly ask you... the ACER stuff covers that. For more advice, check out medstudentsonline.com.au - it has a lot about UMAT and studying medicine in Australia in general Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
whatislife Posted September 29, 2014 Report Share Posted September 29, 2014 I got 97 percentile this year, without doing any sort of prep course. I just bought all of the material available on the ACER and made sure that I understood the thought process behind every single question there. Imho the only section you can actually prepare for is section 3, the shapes one, by looking at all the different combinations they can possibly ask you... the ACER stuff covers that. For more advice, check out medstudentsonline.com.au - it has a lot about UMAT and studying medicine in Australia in general Congrats! 97 is really good! Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
cricketcrazynerd Posted September 29, 2014 Report Share Posted September 29, 2014 I got 97 percentile this year, without doing any sort of prep course. I just bought all of the material available on the ACER and made sure that I understood the thought process behind every single question there. Imho the only section you can actually prepare for is section 3, the shapes one, by looking at all the different combinations they can possibly ask you... the ACER stuff covers that. For more advice, check out medstudentsonline.com.au - it has a lot about UMAT and studying medicine in Australia in general Congrats! 97 is really good! Thanks! Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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