What to do on the day of the UMAT exam

So you've done all your preparation and it's exam day, how do you feel? The UMAT® Exam is unlike normal exams in that your mood and general feelings on the day can have a dramatic impact on the outcome of your exam. Particularly in section 2 where you need to empathise with characters within the passages to correctly answer the question, if you are in a negative mindset, you might misinterpret how the protagonist is actually feeling.

You need to make sure that once you have put in the hard yards to get yourself prepared for the content of the UCAT Exam that you are equally prepared to sit a 3 hour exam. Starting from the day before, you need to start preparing mentally and physically. Here are some tips to get yourself  exam day ready!

Get a good night sleep
Particularly if you are in the morning session, an early night is essential. Try not to spend too much time on social media or watching tv before bed because this keeps the mind stimulated, making it more difficult to sleep.

Have a good breakfast
Whether it's your regular coffee and cereal or toast, make sure you eat! You're going to be in there for 3 hours no break so you don't want to feel fatigued by the end from hunger. You need to be solely focused on UMAT® Exam, not your next meal.

Know where the venue is and what the parking options are
Some venues have parking spaces that you either have to pay for or that fill up very quickly. Make sure you know where you are going to park so you don't spend half an hour trying to find a good spot. If you leave early you might have a better chance of getting free parking if you allow extra time to walk. If not, consider paid parking which is closer to the venue. You're going to be at the venue for around about 4-5 hours once you factor in time for registration and getting everyone in and out of the venue so keep this in mind.

Check if you have the afternoon or morning session, what you need to take and arrive at least 30 mins before start time
Have everything ready to go in the morning. You will need 2 pencils (always take a backup), eraser, ID and water. Pack this all in a clear snaplock bag the night before so you're not scrambling the day of the exam. Allow time for travel if you live in a major city and factor this in when you set your alarm the night before. Check Google maps and they can give you a pretty good idea on how long it will take you at the time of day you want to travel.

Pick out a comfy outfit that won't irritate you
You don't want to be thinking about your clothing while you're mid-exam

Get into the right headspace.
This might be listening to music to some or meditation to others. This is extremely important for the UMAT. You need to be calm to work through this exam and interpret the questions without letting your emotions cloud your judgement. In saying this however, you don’t want to be too calm and take too long getting through questions. You have around 1 minute and 20 seconds per question so you can't be spending 5 minutes on hard questions. If you feel yourself starting to stress on the day, that's okay. Just take 2 minutes and get back in the zone. Find a question that you know the answer to and get your confidence back. Your headspace will have a bigger role in the exam than you may think so be prepared.

Leave all study notes at home!
You are not going to do yourselves any favours trying to cram on the day because it is just not that type of exam. You are better off spending that time working on your mental game. Use the time immediately before the exam to distract yourself. One good technique is to meditate. Find a quiet corner somewhere and pop your headphones in to calm yourself and get in the right headspace for the exam. Remember you've done the hard yards now so the exam is the easy part!