How do I fit UMAT Preparation into my studies?

How do I fit UMAT® Exam Preparation into my studies?

For most prospective doctors, pursuing the medical profession can feel like a long-term calling rather than a simple career choice. While in Year 12 many students do not yet have a specific idea about what they want to do in the future, hopeful doctors tend to know what they want to do and to have known for a long time... Perhaps it is for the best, as successful admission into undergraduate medicine requires early commitment as well as careful planning. Many determined students will compete for admission and in order to stand a chance, you will need to have both impressive ATAR and excellent UMAT® Exam scores. Maintaining a competitive ATAR in your regular school subjects can be hard enough; add to that extracurricular activities, family and social commitments and you may find yourself stretched a bit thin when it comes to finding time to prepare for the UMAT® Exam. It is, however essential that the UMAT ® Exam be prepared very seriously. So how can you find the time to prepare for the UCAT?

 

Start preparing early

It’s never too early to prepare for the UMAT® Exam. Indeed, although it is an aptitude test that requires no prior knowledge, the questions are quite different from your usual exam questions and specifically formulated to confuse and destabilise you. Luckily, there are many recurring patterns in the types of questions asked, so maximum exposure to UMAT® Exam material will allow you to improve your scores dramatically. Many people recommend preparing about 4 to 6 months prior to the exam, however, starting your preparation earlier- up to a year or more before the exam- can be advantageous. Indeed, spreading out UMAT® Exam prep over 8 to 12 months will allow you to become extremely comfortable with UMAT® Exam-type questions without adding an enormous workload to an already intense Year 12. Moreover, you want to be perfectly drilled and consistent in your ability to answer questions and this requires well-honed skills that are best developed through long-term practice, as opposed to intense cramming shortly before the exam. You also need to make provision for the unexpected: sod’s law being what it is, it is pretty much guaranteed that a few months before the exam, you will find yourself saddled up with a couple unusually challenging and time-consuming classes, which could be disastrous if you’ve left UMAT® Exam prep to the last minute.

 

Establish a routine

With the UMAT® Exam several months away and no immediate deadline or compulsory assignment, it is easy to procrastinate studying for the UMAT® Exam or prioritise your seemingly more pressing school subjects. In order to make sure that UMAT® Exam prep is not neglected, assign specific slots to it in your weekly schedule and stick to it- establishing a good routine will make self-discipline much easier.

 

Pick the school subjects that are useful to you

While no prior knowledge is required for the test and there is therefore no obvious advantage to having a background in science or biology when taking the UMAT® Exam, many questions in Section 1 are based on technical information or the description of scientific experiments. Studying biology or other science subjects may not provide you with relevant information, but it will make you more familiar with the type of technical content you have to analyse during the test. To improve your speed and confidence in processing scientific information, it is recommended that you practice reading widely from various sources like newspapers, blogs or science magazines. If you are taking a science subject, chances are that you can do some of that reading as part of your coursework, thus lessening the time you need to dedicate specifically to UMAT® Exam prep!

Similarly, in section 2, you must to demonstrate understanding of the implicit emotional state of characters in various types of extracts. It requires good reading skills, extensive vocabulary and basic understanding of human behaviour. It is therefore advised that you practice reading from a wide range of sources to improve your reading skills and expand your vocabulary. Again, if you are taking English literature, psychology or any class with a significant reading list, your coursework will likely contribute greatly to your UMAT® Exam prep.

 

Practice your mental arithmetic at every chance.

While the UMAT® Exam is not an arithmetic test, very basic maths are often required in Section 1- either for unit conversion or data analysis- and you will not be allowed a calculator. Improving your speed and confidence at making mental sums, whether you are at school or in the supermarket, will help improve your scores on that section without requiring dedicated UMAT ® Exam study time.

 

Make it fun!

UMAT® Exam practice doesn’t have to be a chore, it can be a fun activity that fits into your relaxing time or even your social life. It may sound kind of geeky but a lot of section 1 puzzles and section 3 non-verbal reasoning questions can be quite entertaining and easily replace a game of Sudoku or candy crush when sitting in a bus or stuck on a plane. You can also organise events with your friends or family where UMAT® Exam puzzles replace movies or board games, thus maximising your UMAT® Exam exposure in a painless-way.