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Can you improve your UMAT score?

jake1892

Lurker
Yes, you can.

I'm not here to blow my own trumpet - just to give you some evidence that it can be done as I know I looked for some inspiration after i missed out the first time.

I got an atar of 96.6 in 2013 and in the 2013 UMAT i got 66, 62, 47 (86th%ile) - narrowly missing out on interviews for the JMP and presumably UWS.

I spent a few hours every week practicing s3 questions and completing practice exams, improving my technique and overall familiarity and efficiency during my year out before the UMAT.

In the 2014 UMAT I got 65, 64, 54 (92nd%ile) receiving interviews from JMP, UWS and also JCU (improved my written application - they don't consider the UMAT). Even more remarkably i have a friend who went from roughly 40odd, 40odd, 55 in the umat (50odd %ile?) up to 57, 65, 83 (ish, but was defs 97th%ile). I don't know how, but he did.

I got rejected by JCU but we both received offers from the JMP at Newcastle today - our first preferences.

If you put your mind to it you'll get there eventually - just make sure you want it more and are doing more to make it happen than the other candidates will be.

Someone once told me, if you don't get in through the door then you'll get in through the window. So stick at it. Good luck. But you don't need it - just go make it happen.

Jake
 

arg

Member
Thanks for sharing your experience jake.
Can I ask you how you approach diffrenty in the second attemp?
i.e. what does improving your technique mean exactly?
Thanks again!
 

arg

Member
wow they've actually published a scientific paper related to UMAT? looool.... really impressive...
 

frootloop

Doctor
Moderator
They've published quite a few, it's a reasonably important test... Here's like, 8 that I found in about 30 seconds (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8)

(My favourite is definitely #8. 'Students coached for an admissions test perform less well throughout a medical course')
 

dsmalik

Member
Hi,I guess you do improve but but how much is the significant component for an interview offer.I did the UMAT in 2013 and received a percentile of 38.I did the UMAT again in 2014 and received a percentile of 46. Significantly more preparation was done for my second attempt.I don't see many post here with scores like mine after consecutive attempts, would anyone be able to give me some advice for improvement? I have always felt confident in my preparation and the ACER tests I found okay as well.Kind Regards,DSM
 

Dsquall

Regular Member
First time I did UMAT (after a very expensive coaching course) got a 74th percentile.

Did it again 5 years later (after only doing the ACER practice papers) got a 97th percentile.

Not sure what changed, but it definitely wasn't the coaching.
 

mant015

Member
First time I did UMAT (after a very expensive coaching course) got a 74th percentile.

Did it again 5 years later (after only doing the ACER practice papers) got a 97th percentile.

Not sure what changed, but it definitely wasn't the coaching.

Thats awesome, what did u think is the main factor which improved yourUMAT score?
 

I like cheese

Borborygmi 24/7
Seriously, you can definitely improve your UMAT score. I tried my first attempt in Year 13 and got a 22nd percentile (ha), and then during 1st year uni got an 82nd percentile. I did the MedEntry course and I think the fact it was so expensive pushed me to work really hard so that I improved in the second attempt. :)
 

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frootloop

Doctor
Moderator
This could well be interpreted as coaching definitely improves one's UMAT score :)
(ie. helps lift them to being a cohort with the uncoached but natural academic ability isn't as good?)
That is the biggest non sequitur I've heard in a long time.
 

Nicholas

Member
That is the biggest non sequitur I've heard in a long time.
How is it a non sequitur? I came to the same conclusion.
It's reasonable that a student who got into medical school and had UMAT coaching could have had a better UMAT score than a student who got into medical school and didn't have UMAT coaching, but the latter student achieves a better GPA in each year than the former student.
But in the study, coaching had relatively little effect on UMAT performance.
So if the coaching had relatively little effect test performance, what did it have a significant effect on? Should we say it had little effect on anything? So is it something about a student that makes them inclined choose to invest in a coaching program inclined to do less well in the course?
It also looks like it should be said that one's performance in the UMAT is not an accurate indication of how well they will perform in medical school academically. But those who got coaching are the ones who tend to do less well academically in the course, again regardless of how well they did in the UMAT. But then there are students who got coaching for the UMAT, and did exceptionally well, and went on to do very well in the medical degree. Should these students have not wasted their investment in the UMAT coaching they received?
 

Confusion

Member
See you lads at Newcastle this year!

There are PLENTY of people who's umat dramatically changed just by working at it. One guy I know got in 70s initially and then 2nd sitting got like 99%tile.
 

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A1

Rookie Doc
Moderator
JCU is not the best uni for medicine right? Why do so many people want to get in?

Two different answers to this.
Best uni for Med is more up to the individual student's circumstances than on the uni itself.
JCU gives the best chances to applicants with high ATAR, low UMAT, who can prepare a good application and do interview well.
 

Wants2bDr

MBBS II
Yes, you can.

I'm not here to blow my own trumpet - just to give you some evidence that it can be done as I know I looked for some inspiration after i missed out the first time.

I got an atar of 96.6 in 2013 and in the 2013 UMAT i got 66, 62, 47 (86th%ile) - narrowly missing out on interviews for the JMP and presumably UWS.

I spent a few hours every week practicing s3 questions and completing practice exams, improving my technique and overall familiarity and efficiency during my year out before the UMAT.

In the 2014 UMAT I got 65, 64, 54 (92nd%ile) receiving interviews from JMP, UWS and also JCU (improved my written application - they don't consider the UMAT). Even more remarkably i have a friend who went from roughly 40odd, 40odd, 55 in the umat (50odd %ile?) up to 57, 65, 83 (ish, but was defs 97th%ile). I don't know how, but he did.

I got rejected by JCU but we both received offers from the JMP at Newcastle today - our first preferences.

If you put your mind to it you'll get there eventually - just make sure you want it more and are doing more to make it happen than the other candidates will be.

Someone once told me, if you don't get in through the door then you'll get in through the window. So stick at it. Good luck. But you don't need it - just go make it happen.

Jake
Thankyou so much for posting this. Does anyone else know some amazing UMAT score increase stories. It helps with the motivation, since everyone is always saying "oh you're score wont go up by that much"
 

Dsquall

Regular Member
Thats awesome, what did u think is the main factor which improved yourUMAT score?

Like most things in life, I think it's your mentality and approach to the problem rather than whatever coaching you might undertake. An apt analogy is investing thousands of dollars in fancy gym equipment under the premise that if you do invest large sums of money, your physical health may improve. While access to fancy expensive equipment may serve as a motivator, unless you put in the work, you won't get anything out of it. Same principle applies to the UMAT (and all other things in life), put in the work and you will see positive results. One caveat though, if you're putting in the work and still not seeing results, I think you should re-examine your approach to the problem i.e. don't become grounded in a single approach, sometimes what's required is throwing out everything you think is 'right' and doing it a completely different way.

For me what changed was the drive and actual desire to get into medicine, the first time round I did the UMAT because my parents wanted me to do it, the second time around I wanted to do it.
 

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