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Auckland OLY1 chat - archive

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Jennyette said:
can anyone gimme a realistic picture bout UMAT??

I enjoyed my holidays... far too much and I didnt end up doing any study! good for the stress.. but now the nerves are kicking in and there's only 8 days left till UMAT!!! and I haven't done a thing!!

I did it last year (i sat it without doing any study, just to see how much I could get) and i got 40, 60, 60 for the sections respectively and 75 percentile.

do you guys reckon i could bump it up to 90th percentiles if i work my ASS OFF this week? I mean.. a week is a lot of time right?
and other people told me that you mature alot between year 13 and stage one lol so most people naturally do well anyway? or is that all just talk?

how much practise does one need for umat anyway? in terms of hours/practise questions?

thanks for reading this nonsense question! haha
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75% is decent enough if you ask me. I dont think a 90% will give you any significant advantage over 75% if your grades and interview are good. As previous members mentioned, there are med students that got in with a much lower percentile. In any case, make the best of the remaining week, better late than not

underarmnat said:
Thanks gwalker, thats positive!!!!, gives me a decent second option
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No worries, just make sure you apply early, ie after you get all your grades back (if it ever comes to that, hopefully not!). They start in early January and places are at a first come first serve basis.

Good luck with everything guys
 
g.walker said:
For those who are thinking of engineering as plan B, here's what i know:

you can get straight into 2nd year engineerimg for ANY specialty if you have > B+ average (theoritically, ie aim for higher) but you will need to do summer school. They have a set number of spaces so there is some competition but for you guys its not a concern seeing how most of you will be well above the rest (non-condesendingly).

For what its worth, biomedical engineering is probably not the best of options because its new at auckland uni, it has limited job security most of which is focused in EU/US and some in AUS, and even then the job opportunities are not "biomedical engineering" as much as they are 3D animation and other stuff

I looked into the topic alot last year, and I was offered a place into 2nd year after biomed (8.0 overall GPA), surprisingly its not a popular option amongst med hopefuls...
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Hey G.Walker, in regards to this where do people usually go out after the OLY1? I had a look at chemical engineering and it didn't look that fancy career wise (no. of job prospects e.t.c). Any good options you'd suggest?
 
vamsiaus said:
Hey G.Walker, in regards to this where do people usually go out after the OLY1? I had a look at chemical engineering and it didn't look that fancy career wise (no. of job prospects e.t.c). Any good options you'd suggest?
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From the people that I asked last year, a lot of them had business or science as a backup, with a few who planned to fall back on engineering. I'd personally advise you to focus on the semester and do everything that you can to increase your competitiveness, because in the end you'll have to sell yourself to a couple of strangers in 30 minutes, which is honestly grossly unfair seeing how their decision can dictate the direction of your future career (and life).

All the while being realistic, you'll have to explore your alternative options yourself, although I suggest you keep this till later in the year. I planned on doing chemical engineering if things didnt go through because I like chemistry and it's a decent career (from what I found at least). And whatever you end up choosing, there's always postgraduate entry into medicine.

For what it's worth, most of the biomeds on MSO last year got accepted, hopefully it stays that way (yy)
 
g.walker said:
From the people that I asked last year, a lot of them had business or science as a backup, with a few who planned to fall back on engineering. I'd personally advise you to focus on the semester and do everything that you can to increase your competitiveness, because in the end you'll have to sell yourself to a couple of strangers in 30 minutes, which is honestly grossly unfair seeing how their decision can dictate the direction of your future career (and life).

All the while being realistic, you'll have to explore your alternative options yourself, although I suggest you keep this till later in the year. I planned on doing chemical engineering if things didnt go through because I like chemistry and it's a decent career (from what I found at least). And whatever you end up choosing, there's always postgraduate entry into medicine.

For what it's worth, most of the biomeds on MSO last year got accepted, hopefully it stays that way (yy)
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Hey yea, just started to look around for backup plans incase I don't get in. Thanks for the advice.
 
hey guys just wondering if you have a 9 GPA and decent interview how low do you think you can afford to go on the UMAT?
 
Hey, the mcq test for the first lab of 142, what are they going to be testing us on? Are these lab questions actually hard ones that require prior knowledge?
 
vamsiaus said:
Hey, the mcq test for the first lab of 142, what are they going to be testing us on? Are these lab questions actually hard ones that require prior knowledge?
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MCQ tests for 142 labs don't require prior knowledge. Just pay attention to what the lab tutor is saying.
 
How's everyone holding up so far?

I can't believe UMAT is in a week! :blink: well.. less than a week really

anyone else feeling really 'cbf' about UMAT at the moment? lol
 
govpop said:
hey guys just wondering if you have a 9 GPA and decent interview how low do you think you can afford to go on the UMAT?
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Probably very low, a 9.0 GPA and decent interview pretty much has you walking straight into med and considering Auckland places little weighting on UMAT you wouldn't really have much of a problem if you majorly screwed up in it.
 
Don't stress too much about UMAT. Just get it over and done with, it's pretty negligible in my opinion. MEDSCI142 and the interview is your main focus for this semester :)

In saying that, good luck for next Wednesday.
 
midnightrambler said:
Probably very low, a 9.0 GPA and decent interview pretty much has you walking straight into med and considering Auckland places little weighting on UMAT you wouldn't really have much of a problem if you majorly screwed up in it.
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hey thanks man, you've got me breathing a bit easier now.
 
CatcherRye said:
good luck for umat guys
especially with the guesses when if you don't finish S1
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speaking of which, i advise everyone to go on a random shading frenzy when they announce the 5 minute warning for each section unless you're certain that you can finish in time. I remeber the girl sitting next to me only answered 24/44 of the questions for section 1, and so i was all like :eek:, but then she was all like "I didnt have time"


:mellow::mellow::mellow:

seriously dont spend more than a minute on each question
 
honestly do it because you want to do it not because its something to put on your interview sheet... I know that sounds very cliche.. People stress far too much about what they think the interviewer's want you to have on your extra curricular activities. What they really want to see is that you understand people, and that you have some idea of what a career in medicine is actually like. Which to be honest experience in a GP clinic or a hospital setting really does help to obtain. So if you think you have the time go for it, because its a really awesome experience, and the kids at starship are awesome!
 
UMAT is largely irrelevant if you have good marks in everything else. I totally bombed in UMAT, just wasn't my forte, had an 8.75 GPA and a good interview and got in no sweat. Seriously don't stress too much about it, just try to do your best. Most people on the interview board and selection board are leaning towards the opinion that UMAT is not a very good judge of who will make good doctors, so just try your best and expect it to be hard. Also try to scrub up on mental arithmetic, that should help you for section 1, and make sure you go through at a steady pace! good luck
 
you can get in fine with 8.25 if you have a good interview. I'm not going to lie, you would certainly be more comfortable with a higher GPA but 8.25 will be fine as long as you present yourself well, just be yourself and show your enthusiasm. With regards to the engineering call, maybe i'm being a bit cynical here but is your heart really in it, if you are willing to give up after a year if you don't make it? Med is awesome, but it is an awful lot of work, not necessarily hard work but just a lot of it, you really have to love what you're studying! All the best
 
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