5 UMAT FAQs

Should I sit UMAT® Exam if I’m going to take a gap year?

Your UMAT® Exam results only last ONE year. This means that if you sit the UCAT this year, you can only use it in your medicine applications for the following year’s entry.  So you would have to sit it again if you were going to take a gap year. That being said, If you have the money and want to get some good exposure to the test, this can be extremely valuable and may take away some of the pressure of the next year when you sit it for real.

 

What is the quickest way to study for the UMAT® Exam?

If you are serious about the UMAT® Exam, you shouldn’t be thinking about the ‘quickest way’ but the ‘BEST way’. This is not the best way, however if you have left it to the last minute, you can use the preparation material given to you by ACER and work through these a couple of weeks out from the exam – these will give you a decent idea of what to expect in the exam. The main issue with this is that ACER provides only limited material, which is not enough to get you enough practice to really improve in the UMAT® Exam exam. In addition, they have been recycling these preparation papers for over 3 years now (as far as I know), so the questions in the UMAT® Exam may have evolved significantly and the preparation exams have not. For general brain conditioning, you can also make a vocabulary list (section 2) and start doing the daily puzzles in the back of your local newspaper. However, the best way to prepare for the UMAT® Exam is undoubtedly to purchase a good quality UMAT® Exam preparation course, mostly because no matter how hard-working and smart you are, this is the only way that you can get your hands on a large amount genuine UMAT® Exam exam practice questions.

 

What if I did really well overall, but scored below 50 in one section?

This varies between universities but unfortunately, for the majority of them this means that you do not meet the eligibility criteria to apply. You should check each university website carefully before going into the exam so you can set goals for yourself. At UNSW you just need an overall score of 150, regardless of what you scored in each section.

 

How is the UMAT® Exam relevant to medicine?

The UMAT® Exam is an aptitude test – meaning it assesses your ability to think both logically, abstractly and emotionally when stimulated by text or images. In medicine, you are constantly presented with challenges and problems that you have to logically work through to reach the best outcome for the patient. The UMAT® Exam is a simplified version of real life problem solving. It is also relevant to the emotional aspect of medicine. You will constantly be dealing with sick patients as a doctor, and this means you will often be dealing with very upset, angry and grieving people. It is important that you have the emotional intelligence to recognize someone in distress and react appropriately.

 

If I get a really good ATAR (99+), am I guaranteed entry into medicine even if I got a pretty average UMAT® Exam?

When entering medicine, the selection process involves ATAR, UMAT® Exam and interview. Each university has ATAR cut-offs, which they believe is an acceptable level of intelligence to gain entry. With an ATAR of 99, you are guaranteed to have reached this cut-off. Although this might score you an interview, unless you are applying for Melbourne University (See link below), this does not guarantee entry by any means. In fact, you could argue that for most universities, UMAT® Exam is more important that ATAR in terms of selection criteria. For the majority, once you have reached the ATAR cut-off, they will not look at your ATAR again. Once you have been offered an interview, the final selection criteria will generally be based on interview and UMAT® Exam score combined, regardless of how high or low your ATAR was. A good UMAT® Exam score to work towards is 85+; anything lower and you’re sitting on the line, depending on how highly you score in the interview. In summary, will you be guaranteed entry with a 99+ ATAR and poor UMAT® Exam score (<80)? Absolutely Not.

 

There are special graduate programs on offer for high achieving students at Sydney University and Melbourne University. Find more information below:

Sydney university: http://sydney.edu.au/medicine/study/md/double-degrees.php

Melbourne University: https://coursesearch.unimelb.edu.au/pathways/3-medicine