Is enrolling in a UMAT preparation course enough?

Throughout our blog entries we have covered what a preparation course can do for you and your UCAT preparation. But the one question we haven't really discussed is whether just enrolling in a UMAT® Exam preparation course is actually enough. It is likely that you have heard of people enrolling in multiple UMAT® Exam prep courses simply to get more material and different perspectives. First off, I would like to say that any UMAT® Exam preparation course that is not offering more material than you could hope to cover is probably not doing its job and I would seriously question the seriousness and the quality of the material of such course. That being said, even if you are enrolled in the best course, there are things you can do in addition that can boost your performance even further.

 

Section 1

Section one is perhaps the most difficult to work on via external methods because the right type of stimulus material is hard to come by. Generally you will find that it is the section that relies most heavily on UMAT® Exam preparation courses, as there aren't really many other ways to develop the skills tested. However, one thing you can do is get your hands on some research journals. Besides getting you accustomed to the format of scientific-experiment types of questions, these are a great source of general information and are often filled with confusing passages and obscure graphs, both of which are abundant in the UMAT® Exam. Therefore making a habit of reading these journals will greatly aid in your ability to synthesis obscure data in the UMAT® Exam. It also goes without saying that practicing problem solving in you regular HSC subjects like maths and science will also help in Section 1.

 

Section 2

Read. Read. And Read.

The best way to improve section two is to read as widely and as voraciously as possible. For the most part section 2 boils down to three things, emotional understanding, reading comprehension and vocabulary. It is no secret that the more you read the better will become. For the sake of section two, it is best to read fictional work or biographies and attempt to understand the plights of the characters. Emotional understanding is perhaps a bit more difficult to work on and generally the best way to do it is to people watch, get into the habit of meeting new people and really try to take an interest in them. Of course, avoid being creepy but try to put yourself in everyone else’s shoes and view the world through their eyes as much as possible.

 

Section 3

The mantra for section three has always been practice. Since there is only a finite number of patterns that can come up in the exam, the more you practice the more likely you will be able to cover all the ones that ACER might throw at you. One of the best way I found to really become good at this is to try to teach other students or make my own questions.  Throughout your tortuous practice, try to create your own section three questions. Maybe consider forming a group of friends that you write these questions with, ensuring that the questions are as convoluted and complicated as you can dream. This will make you more actively aware of patterns  and provide you with a deeper understanding of these question that you could hope to achieve by simply solving them. In turn, this will translate into much improved speed and confidence in exam condition.

 

These were just a few select tips that you can use outside of your UMAT® Exam preparation course to increase your marks. There are of course, many other individual tips and tricks that you will pick up as you study.

 

Happy Studying!