Discussion: UMAT being replaced by UCAT

[DrDrLMG!]

But you don't get that transparency with UMAT either.

I literally said “that’s where the lack of transparency has been with UMAT”.

 

[unknownuser123]

I literally said “that’s where the lack of transparency has been with UMAT”.

Ah apologies, misread !

 

[PimpOfRivia]

I am really curious about the incentive for such change. I mean, the UMAT has been used for over 20 years, what's the reason for this sudden change? I would really want to know.

 

[pha0015]

Would this change the way interviews are conducted, since the situational judgement test sounds like something that's asked in interviews (not sure about this)?

 

[PimpOfRivia]

Would this change the way interviews are conducted, since the situational judgement test sounds like something that's asked in interviews (not sure about this)?

Yeah, pretty synonymous to scenario based questions in medical interviews...

 

[lottodo]

I was preparing for UMAT for a year now. I bought the Medentry package a few weeks ago. All of sudden they have changed it. That's is okay. It is out of our control. Anyway, I am going to be one of the first AUSNZ UCAT cohort, so I am worried. I know money spent on Medentry was a waste because I know it is not going to be helpful, even they change it in coming weeks. My question is as a person who sat for both exams ,are you able to tell us whether you were more relaxed or stressful during UKCAT (more questions less time). Also, was your UMAT preparation skills helped you to do better in UKCAT? Any hints to increase speed reading?? Thanks a lot.

Hi

I took the UKCAT exam last year for entry into UK Medical Schools for Sep 2018. I attended the interview after UKCAT and got admitted to a medical school as well. The exam is administered in Sydney ( I am from NSW) at a Pearson Vue centre. Yes, it was a CBT and I got the results as I walked out of the Exam hall i.e I could get a print out of all my section scores. SJT was scored differently from a scale of 1 to 4 (1 being the best and 4 worst as some med schools in the UK will not consider your application if the SJT score is 4). The UKCAT consortium has many med schools from which you can apply to a maximum of only 4 Medical schools in the UCAS application portal. So, the selection of a med school is very important considering the UKCAT score. We have quite many options in Australia, due to the disparity in the selection process based on State/Location / Y12 grading and hence we can apply through all state governing bodies for University entry through UAC/SATAC/VTAC/QTAC/TISC/UTAS etc. As for the UKCAT exam, it strictly adheres to checking your identity in the form of either passport/Licence or other means like School ID, so you can not make any other person sit for you, unlike the Bond system where you or someone else for you can take the psychometric test at home. I found the UKCAT test equally challenging like UMAT although outwardly it looked simpler, due to the shorter durations to complete many questions. The best point was that I could sense I have a chance after receiving the scores within 5 minutes of completing the test...but it also helps to put one out of misery if not done well. there is no waiting. I am a Gap year applicant and improved on my UMAT score (marginally) this time with a chance of getting an interview with JMP/Adelaide/Curtin/Monash and UNSW borderline as my ATAR is not high but 99.20. I noted the UMAT result on the day of boarding the flight but will need to attend the interviews by taking time off :-()

When I attended the UNSW interview last year, I was invited to take the SJT at a CBT room there quoting that the interview selection could be changing in the future and SJT could be part of the selection process. I did not know at that time it would be replacing UMAT altogether. There were many students that day attending the interview, only I and another person opted to take the SJT which was purely voluntary. The ..truth is out now with UMAT changing to UCAT with the introduction of SJT. if I don't get in I will continue with the UK Med school, although expensive but quality education with GMC accreditation and FY1&2 later on. My score is not flashy just 183 (S1 60-S2 60, S3-63). Not sure if I stand a chance in any of the universities mentioned.

 

[unknownuser123]

I was preparing for UMAT for a year now. I bought the Medentry package a few weeks ago. All of sudden they have changed it. That's is okay. It is out of our control. Anyway, I am going to be one of the first AUSNZ UCAT cohort, so I am worried. I know money spent on Medentry was a waste because I know it is not going to be helpful, even they change it in coming weeks. My question is as a person who sat for both exams ,are you able to tell us whether you were more relaxed or stressful during UKCAT (more questions less time). Also, was your UMAT preparation skills helped you to do better in UKCAT? Any hints to increase speed reading?? Thanks a lot.

Im not an expert as of yet, but from my research and understanding, the UCAT will be identically examined as the UKCAT. Although no knowledge is useless knowledge, I would take your losses and now seek UKCAT resources. (even if you've studied for UMAT up to now, it will in any case help you, not disadvantage you, for UCAT, as some of the sections have very transferable skills). The good news is, UKCAT has an abundance of resources for almost a fifth of what you would pay for UMAT resources, and there are an abundance of free official UKCAT resources as well on the website.

It sucks to be you having studied UMAT for a year now, but in all honesty, i wouldn't be surprised if there is a strong correlation between those who would have done well in UMAT and those who do well in UCAT. You're time hasnt completely gone to waste, thats for sure.

 

[Numerouno]

I was preparing for UMAT for a year now. I bought the Medentry package a few weeks ago. All of sudden they have changed it. That's is okay. It is out of our control. Anyway, I am going to be one of the first AUSNZ UCAT cohort, so I am worried. I know money spent on Medentry was a waste because I know it is not going to be helpful, even they change it in coming weeks. My question is as a person who sat for both exams, are you able to tell us whether you were more relaxed or stressful during UKCAT (more questions less time). Also, was your UMAT preparation skills helped you to do better in UKCAT? Any hints to increase speed reading?? Thanks a lot.

Hi, your preparation should not go as waste at all. It will help you to improve your speed at answering questions as required for the UKCAT (not sure if UCAT will mirror the UKCAT with timing). And, surely it will help with answering the "abstract reasoning" questions. I was more relaxed going into the UKCAT paper knowing that there will not be a bigger cohort sitting the exams with me. In my case, I was the only person who took UKCAT that day with three other people taking other certificate exams for IT qualifications. Shorter duration also means you can still have the stamina (mental stress and fatigue) to complete that paper fully. Additionally, there is a plethora of help on the Net for UKCAT practice and there is also a book published by UKCAT which contains all the sections with practice questions and a few full-length exams. I have not gone through the UCAT format in detail. I can only speak from the point of view of UKCAT. It would be nice to know if anyone apart from me on this forum had taken both UKCAT and UMAT! Overall, I rate UKCAT a marginally better experience than UMAT w.r.t difficulty in questions. I found SJT harder and had to race through 69 questions in 26 minutes :-( although Abstract reasoning had 55 questions in 13 minutes. All the best in your preparation for 2019 exams.

 

[lottodo]

Thank you Numerouno. I know there will be some elements of UMAT in UCAT, like abstract reasoning and verbal reasoning. Quantitative reasoning and Decision making will be good if you are good in Mathematics. Situational Judgement is a totally unknown area for all of Grade 12 students. Timing will be a big challenge.

So, in the exam day, they give you a computer? we dont have to bring our lap top. Correct.

Thanks again

 

[lottodo]

Thank you hhitch,

Yes, I noticed that there is plenty of resources and the official UKCAT website should be a good place to start.

Hopefully by December our official UCAT will give us more information.

Thanks again

 

[Numerouno]

Thank you Numerouno. I know there will be some elements of UMAT in UCAT, like abstract reasoning and verbal reasoning. Quantitative reasoning and Decision making will be good if you are good in Mathematics. Situational Judgement is a totally unknown area for all of Grade 12 students. Timing will be a big challenge.

So, in the exam day, they give you a computer? we dont have to bring our lap top. Correct.

Thanks again

Hi
The UKCAT is fully computer based provided at the centre... it could be either at PEARSON VUE or Prometric or something else. We will come to know of it very soon. You are not allowed to take any personal material inside the exam hall and you will be provided with separate secure login ID to commence the test. There will be security checks made with Thumb impression as used in many immigration check points overseas apart from your other IDs like licence/ passport/ school or Uni student cards. There is no way an infiltration can occur like one person taking the exam many times unless you play “FACE OFF” movie changing your profile totally. Prometric used both thumb impression for my brother who took USMLE but UCAT could introduce that check as well in the testing venue after the debacle of what happened last year with PEARSON VUE for FRACP theory exams (not with security but with connectivity). We will need to wait for more materials about UCAT to get published online. Cheers.

 

[lottodo]

Thanks again. We are going to have a brand new experience with UCAT and hopefully they will update the official web page soon. I am sure they planned it for many years, so they know what they are doing. Hopefully they will publish a few mock exams for us.
Cheers

Also why did Medentry change their name in a matter of a few hours from UMAT to UCAT isn’t that considered misleading advertising and a false claim? We should instead of purchasing Medentry purchase the UCAT equivalent?

Yes. I noticed that Medentry changed their webpage to reflect UCAT. It is soooo bad. but what can we do... Hopefully they will change the content in coming months or they need to pay back their students. Not sure about accuracy though because the official we page did not publish anything else other than the structure. Until the official web page publish a mock exam or something there is no point buying anything.Hopefully they will publish a mock exam by December and we all can start from there.

 

[Numerouno]

For anyone who wish to take the UKCAT just to experience the final booking deadline is couple of days away 1 October 2018 and the last test date is 2 October 2018. If we had known the changeover earlier, you could have taken the test anytime from 2 July 2018 to 2 October 2018. Jump online if you wish to make a booking and if you can afford £115. It is just fir those who really want to test it out before plunging onto UCAT next year. Good luck.
https://www.ukcat.ac.uk/ukcat-test/ukcat-dates-and-fees/

Also why did Medentry change their name in a matter of a few hours from UMAT to UCAT isn’t that considered misleading advertising and a false claim? We should instead of purchasing Medentry purchase the UCAT equivalent?

Yes. I noticed that Medentry changed their webpage to reflect UCAT. It is soooo bad. but what can we do... Hopefully they will change the content in coming months or they need to pay back their students. Not sure about accuracy though because the official we page did not publish anything else other than the structure. Until the official web page publish a mock exam or something there is no point buying anything.Hopefully they will publish a mock exam by December and we all can start from there.

I agree 100%. You can call it anything "misleading ad" or "false claim" as their reaction was swift within hours of announcement. MedEntry changed UMAT to UCAT and said it had 20 years experience in administering the UCAT (?) if I read it correctly. Its all about commercial...and their bottom line is in jeopardy with this change as many students would resort to already published materials and test booklets from the UK.

This is from Medentry website " We have been training students for since the UCAT's inception: far longer than any other preparation program."!!! Are they referring to UMAT here?

 

[unknownuser123]

For anyone who wish to take the UKCAT just to experience the final booking deadline is couple of days away 1 October 2018 and the last test date is 2 October 2018. If we had known the changeover earlier, you could have taken the test anytime from 2 July 2018 to 2 October 2018. Jump online if you wish to make a booking and if you can afford £115. It is just fir those who really want to test it out before plunging onto UCAT next year. Good luck.
UKCAT Dates and Fees | UKCAT Consortium

you need to have registered before you can book the test, and the registration has now been closed.

UKCAT Registration & Booking | UKCAT Consortium


for online registration, that is

 

[Numerouno]

you need to have registered before you can book the test, and the registration has now been closed.

UKCAT Registration & Booking | UKCAT Consortium


for online registration, that is

Oh! That's correct, I looked into the final booking deadline. Too bad...The only option is to just test it out early in July 2019 when that reopens just before UCAT may be.

 

[Lear]

Thanks again. We are going to have a brand new experience with UCAT and hopefully they will update the official web page soon. I am sure they planned it for many years, so they know what they are doing. Hopefully they will publish a few mock exams for us.

I'm not sure if you have already seen this but just in case, UCAT practice materials can be found here - Preparation | UCAT Consortium

I agree 100%. You can call it anything "misleading ad" or "false claim" as their reaction was swift within hours of announcement. MedEntry changed UMAT to UCAT and said it had 20 years experience in administering the UCAT (?) if I read it correctly. Its all about commercial...and their bottom line is in jeopardy with this change as many students would resort to already published materials and test booklets from the UK.

This is from Medentry website " We have been training students for since the UCAT's inception: far longer than any other preparation program."!!! Are they referring to UMAT here?

Essentially what Medentry did was use the find and replace tool to quite literally replace every mention of the word 'UMAT' with 'UCAT'.
This means that where they had once written they had been training students for over 20 years for the UMAT, it will now simply say the have been training students for over 20 years for the UCAT.
Yes this is indeed false advertising and their correct course of action is to shut down the website for a few days to sort all of it out.
Regardless it would be foolish to purchase ME right now considering they have not released any sort of detailed information on how they plan to update their content. My suspicion is they will just repack their stuff and make it look as if it is tailored towards UCAT.

 

[A1]

Too bad...The only option is to just test it out early in July 2019 when that reopens just before UCAT may be.

Is it too much to hope that the unis will take the better results from your UKCAT and UCAT? They do for GAMSAT.

 

[PimpOfRivia]

Is it confirmed that we can take the test once a year? The UKCAT if I am correct can be taken both in winter and summer.

 

[Q3]

Is it confirmed that we can take the test once a year? The UKCAT if I am correct can be taken both in winter and summer.

From their official website, it seems as though it only runs for one month of the year. But yes, the UKCAT runs from July to October.

Testing begins 1 July 2019

Last testing date 31 July 2019

Results delivered to universities Early September 2019

https://www.ucatofficial.com/ucat-anz/dates-and-fees/

 

[A1]

Is it confirmed that we can take the test once a year? The UKCAT if I am correct can be taken both in winter and summer.

It is confirmed for the UKCAT. Examples of misconduct include: Testing more than once in any test cycle
> Unprofessional Behaviour | UKCAT Consortium

The UKCAT can be taken in summer-autumn, 3 consecutive months July to early Oct just that the fee for Sept onward is higher.