Pre-UCAT Discussion 2019

[Dhanda]

Yep, in the first intake cohort (who would be first year in 2017), the marks required were lower than recent times. I think there was a 96er who got in too in the second intake (first year in 2018). For the third year intake (which was first year in 2019), a lot of similar marks to those who got interviews in previous years didn't receive interviews at all. So I think it's likely that a lower ATAR would have got in the first two years but that's slowly becoming less likely based on the data on here. Wishing you the best

Ahhh, so the reduced ATAR was only for the first few years. Thanks for letting me know.

 

[Blackjoe]

JMP just updated their selection process to include UCAT. It looks like they will use an aggregate of all sections except the SJT. There is no minimum cutoff but considering what is required to enter other medical schools I would guess that you would need to score in the 90th percentile to be competitive. This could change if they weight each section differently.

Funnily enough the university in the uk that most closely matches the jmp in how they use ucat is Newcastle university. Previous experience suggest that you only just start being competitive once you pass the 85 percentile.

 

[Goldilocks]

Funnily enough the university in the uk that most closely matches the jmp in how they use ucat is Newcastle university. Previous experience suggest that you only just start being competitive once you pass the 85 percentile.

This might be a silly question, but how do we calculate a percentile? Do we get given one at some point? I'm assuming it can't be with the initial results.

 

[Crow]

This might be a silly question, but how do we calculate a percentile? Do we get given one at some point? I'm assuming it can't be with the initial results.

I assume Pearson Vue will provide all test sitters with the percentile curves for each section once all sittings of the tests are complete.

 

[bigyikes]

Thats pretty interesting that JMP is ignoring the SJT section entirely, almost as if they ignore the S2 UMAT score. Perhaps because they want to keep this assessment of a person's SJT skills to the interview? Also interesting that theres no longer a minimum threshold for each section, unlike previous years. I wonder if Western Sydney might also score it in the same way by ignoring SJT. There hasn't been any information on WSU's scoring has there?

 

[A1]

This might be a silly question, but how do we calculate a percentile?

Using UKCAT 2015/2017 as a rough guide: 80th%ile= 2750, 90th%ile= 2860
> https://www.ucat.ac.uk/media/1198/2017-ukcat-test-statistics-oct-2017.pdf

Interestingly, looking back at Ian Naga's post above St George's University of London has only required 2600 = 60th%ile. It must be the least significant part of their selection process.

 

[lottodo]

JMP just updated their selection process to include UCAT. It looks like they will use an aggregate of all sections except the SJT. There is no minimum cutoff but considering what is required to enter other medical schools I would guess that you would need to score in the 90th percentile to be competitive. This could change if they weight each section differently.

I tried to see this information on JMP website, but I couldn't. Can you please link the relevant page. Thanks

 

[A1]

I will add to this post as more info is published on how UCAT score will be considered.

This has been updated with UQ info and reposted here (10/05/2019)
> What We Know So Far about UCAT

 

[lottodo]

Thank you A1. The information about UCAT is really helpful.

 

[EmmaKer]

The point of the UCAT/formerly UMAT was to provide a form of testing that was influenced less by socioeconomic status than ATAR- a test that couldn't be "studied for" per se. (Obviously this didn't stop the prep companies).
Some people find that study and prep help, whereas I have friends who scored 99th percentiles without studying (one of them wasn't even considering med and took it just for fun!). I haven't heard of people starting in year 10 and don't see the point in doing so tbh- most people begin 3-4 months out from the test. After a certain amount of study, the benefits stop increasing as much anyway. And one possible reason they switched from UMAT to UCAT is that UCAT is harder to prepare for, making it less worth your time to prep.
Enjoy high school before it begins getting too stressful imo

I think it depends on the induvidual. I was preparing for UMAT since Year 10, and I did ok, but missed out. Now I am studying for UCAT and I think it is a much easier test to prepare for (the test is not easy) but preparing for it is I think. But I also feel that UMAT prep gave me a solid foundation for section 1, 2 and 3 of the UCAT.

 

[Foreverhopeful]

I think it depends on the induvidual. I was preparing for UMAT since Year 10, and I did ok, but missed out. Now I am studying for UCAT and I think it is a much easier test to prepare for (the test is not easy) but preparing for it is I think. But I also feel that UMAT prep gave me a solid foundation for section 1, 2 and 3 of the UCAT.

I’ve started studying for the UCAT and am wondering how you are going regarding verbal reasoning as it is the most time constraining part for me (and others).

I’ve seen some recommend skimming the whole passage and others reading the question and looking through. When I do these methods I either run out of time or don’t notice a contradicting word which costs me points

 

[conrs]

I’ve started studying for the UCAT and am wondering how you are going regarding verbal reasoning as it is the most time constraining part for me (and others).

I’ve seen some recommend skimming the whole passage and others reading the question and looking through. When I do these methods I either run out of time or don’t notice a contradicting word which costs me points

I feel like it depends on a few factors- how fast you are at reading, and how good you are at comprehending (i.e. picking up details from skiming) are particularly relevent. For me, I like to read the question first and scan over, and see if there's any words that stick out as being part of the question and then focus on that area of the passage, only reading wider if I need to. Some questions do rely on your comprehension on the passage as a whole and I find you can usually tell after a quick scan (particularly inference/assumption questions), but I think the key (at least for me) is looking at the question and gaguing how much 'work' I need to do for it- do I need to read the whole thing (for this part) or not?

I think if you're not confident on skimming, just read the whole thing. What works for one person may not work for you (and vice versa), so don't get hung up on what others are doing. Reading the whole passage is generally a 'safer' approach if you have the time. I think there are some random online websites (not UCAT related) which help simultaneously improve reading comprehension and speed (if running out of time is a big problem), so you could try to do extra 'training' outside of actual UCAT practice if you need a boost. It might be helpful to do a test using a skimming approach, and then one doing a full reading approach, and seeing which one you scored better in?

tl;dr Give a few different methods a try, and focus on only what works for you.

Hope this is helpful!! (I haven't really given advice on this before but definitely felt I need to give back to this forum which has already helped me so much)

 

[conrs]

I will add to this post as more info is published on how UCAT score will be considered. For now:

JMP


UNSW


Flinders


Adelaide
The 2020 Guide is out but no specific mention on UCAT score. Likely to be simply the overall score as was for UMAT.
> https://health.adelaide.edu.au/sites/default/files/docs/2020-mbbs-admissions-guide-domestic_0.pdf

UQ


Monash
Typically very slow with everything, website still shows you need UMAT
> Admissions requirements - Domestic

Unsure if this was always on the JMP website but i've only recently noticed (I might just be blind)- they have stated that 'there is no threshold requirement attached to the subtests' for each section of the UCAT thought I should add in case

 

[Eliden]

Wow interesting. Thanks for the information A1. I'm thrilled that JMP is not using the SJ score as that is my weakest section.

 

[gnexstar]

Are we able to apply to UK universities using UCAT ANZ results?

 

[apk22]

Hey guys, I was recently told by someone that the UMAT questions actually had different weightings in their value (as in one question could be worth twice as much as a different question). Has anyone else heard anything similar to this and would the ucat be similar?? I know that no one really knows how either of these tests are marked aside from ACER and Pearson but I thought this was a pretty interesting thing to think about. Any thoughts?

 

[DrDrLMG!]

Hey guys, I was recently told by someone that the UMAT questions actually had different weightings in their value (as in one question could be worth twice as much as a different question). Has anyone else heard anything similar to this and would the ucat be similar?? I know that no one really knows how either of these tests are marked aside from ACER and Pearson but I thought this was a pretty interesting thing to think about. Any thoughts?

Yes, this was common knowledge here at MSO and we discussed it frequently. If you're brave enough to trawl through the UMAT threads, there is heaps of chat about it over all the years that I've been here.

ETA: To clarify, I say "common knowledge" because a very quick glance at the scores tells you it has to be true to some extent. Each section is worth 100 points, but each section has a different amount of questions in it. We discussed it in far more depth than this, but to give you some context for my comment...

ETA2: I have no idea about UCAT.

 

[A1]

Hey guys, I was recently told by someone that the UMAT questions actually had different weightings in their value (as in one question could be worth twice as much as a different question). Has anyone else heard anything similar to this and would the ucat be similar??

The four UCAT sections have different numbers of questions but each get scaled to the same 300-900, so sectionwise they have different weightings. That's the easy part.

Within a section I suspect they have different weightings as well. Using section 1 Verbal Reasoning (44 questions) to illustrate, I have found on Google photos of actual score sheets showing scores of 620, 630, 640, 650.

Supposing they have same weighting, each Q would be worth (600/44)= 13.6 marks. Someone with zero Q correct is 300, one Q correct is 313.6 rounded to 310, then 327.2 rounded to 330, then 340, 350, 370, 380, 400 .... 590, 600, 610, 630, 640, 650, 670, 680, 690 ....

What this shows is there can't be four consecutive numbers separated by 10. For 620, 630, 640, 650 to possibly occur they must have different weightings. Hope this makes sense.

 

[apk22]

Yes, this was common knowledge here at MSO and we discussed it frequently. If you're brave enough to trawl through the UMAT threads, there is heaps of chat about it over all the years that I've been here.

ETA: To clarify, I say "common knowledge" because a very quick glance at the scores tells you it has to be true to some extent. Each section is worth 100 points, but each section has a different amount of questions in it. We discussed it in far more depth than this, but to give you some context for my comment...

ETA2: I have no idea about UCAT.

Yes ahaha I actually went into a umat thread straight after posting this and realised, felt like a bit of a fool

 

[Duckpond123]

Hi everyone!

First time lurker and poster here!

I have sat the GAMSAT a few times but will be sitting the UCAT in Aus in July!

I have no idea where to go in terms of prep! I have seen lots of people recommend 1250Q, Medify and Kaplan. Does anyone with UKCAT experience have any recommendation as to which to go with? I'm just struggling for a sense of direction.

Thanks!