What Should I Do About the UMAT? Does it UMAT-Ter?

If you’re thinking about applying for medicine in Australia after you graduate high school, something you are going to have to contend with is the UMAT® Exam. The UMAT® Exam is the Undergraduate Medicine and Health Sciences Admission Test and is an exam external to your ATAR exams. It is part of a three-part consideration in your application to medical school with the other two being your ATAR and an interview. The UMAT® Exam is additionally important as it is the score you achieve in this that determines if you will be offered an interview at a given university. The test itself consist of three multiple choice question sections that test three different domains. These are “verbal logic and reasoning,” “empathy” and “non-verbal logic and reasoning". The test is usually held around the same time each year and in 2017 it will be held on July 26 (registration closes on June 2). You will find more information about the UMAT® Exam in our other blog posts as well as on the official website https://umat.acer.edu.au/.

The first decision you will have to make is if you want to sit the test this year. There are a few things to keep in mind when making this decision. The first is if you will prepare for the exam or try to do it without preparation. I strongly suggest if you are committed to performing well that you do some form of preparation as there is evidence that clearly shows practice and study consistently produce better results. With this in mind however, you are presented with the prospect of not only having to study for your final year school exams but also additionally practicing material for an exam that has essentially no cross-over material with your school studies. This may be of concern if you already struggle to cope with your workload, have overloaded on subjects or struggle with time management. In this case a valid option may be to take the year after graduation off and to instead use the first part of that year to focus on the UMAT® Exam in order to perform as well as possible in the interest of getting into medicine the following year. If you do choose to take on the test in addition to your studies, there are some good reasons and resources to prepare you for the UMAT® Exam

The most important thing to keep in mind is that despite the official by-line of ACER, practice and preparation has been shown to improve performance in the UMAT® Exam. This is most strikingly seen in section three where concerted practice can produce a significant improvement. In my experience, the most effective way to prepare and practice for the test is to attend one of the courses run by third-party groups. The reason for this is that they will often have tutors who are intimately familiar with the test and usually performed very highly in one or more sections. By providing you with tutors for each section you will learn the tips, tricks and insights to maximise your score in each area. Additionally, rather than the single practice paper that ACER provides, these courses will provide banks of questions either on paper or online as well as the capacity to perform practice exams under exam conditions and to provide a representation of how well you would have scored on the real thing.

You want to be making the decision about sitting the test and your method of preparation as early as possible to give you the greatest opportunity to prepare. Once you have decided to commit to sitting the test and to preparing, it’s time to make a plan to make the best use of the resources and the time you have. Because you will be balancing it with other studies, it is essential that you make a schedule and stick to it. Of course there is room for adjustment as your commitments change or if you feel you are doing too much or too little. The secret however is regular, consistent practice and practicing under test conditions.

After your regular practice and preparation, all that’s left is to sit the test! So be sure to consider what your best options are and once you have committed to stick to it with conviction. Whatever your choices I wish you the very best of luck.