Otago HSFY chat - archive

[Deleted member 4350]

I really admire people who persist through sh*t times. I must say, I've gone through my fair share of failures and expect more to come my way. But man, I respect you Sasol for seeing the good that can come out of this bad situation. Some would give up completely, but it is that little spark of hope that can set the whole forest on fire.

"Success seems to be largely a matter of hanging on after others have let go." - William Feather

 

[SASOL]

Cheers kooch kooch! I just only see myself doing med that I can't give up, and I know I have the brains to do it....but some shitty little thing called UMAT got in the way haha. Yay looks like I have 2 more attempts to slay it, and I will! Light Grenades, those scores don't look too bad, but it will really depend on your GPA as well. If you don't mind me asking, what is your GPA? I would say you still have a good chance at med

 

[skyglow1]

Hey everyone!
I just checked my UMAT and it actually nearly made me cry! (lol...)

1: 61
2: 54
3: 48
Overall: 51 Percentile: 71%

I'm just wondering what kind of effect the 45/45/10 weighting will have on my score... Obviously it will be helpful because section 3 was my worst by quite a bit, but do you guys think it will make much difference?

Overall you got 54 if you just average the 3 scores. If you use Otago weighting you go up to 57. I think that's a nice improvement, and 57 is definitely not bad.

 

[SASOL]

How exactly did you work out that his score will go up to 57? Do you multiply each section by the relevent percentage(45/10) and then add those?

 

[skyglow1]

How exactly did you work out that his score will go up to 57? Do you multiply each section by the relevent percentage(45/10) and then add those?

Yup.

 

[graciepops]

otago HSFY questions!

hey guys
so my umat results were:

S1) 57 (80th percentile)
S2) 48 (53rd percentile)
S3) 52 (48th percentile)

overall: 52
61st percentile

so i am a new zealander currently on a gap year and am intending to study at otago next year. i took the umat this year with barely any preperation (took one practice test). so it was like a practice round to give me an indication of where i stood, and clearly i need to study some more for next year...

i am wondering what type of scores you need to get through the first year at otago. obviously you must need near perfect grades for your papers.

and also, i want to do as much preparation as i can, so i was wondering if anybody has any advice for some courses that i can take in NZ?

thank you so much!!

 

[Public Liability]

Aww thrash..thrash,thrash,thrash lol

What happened to skyglow exactly happened to me

Well done everyone! Remember Otago doesn't look at percentiles. You guys got a way better section 2 score then me, and that will help you alot with Otago's system (y)

Overall, I don't feel so bad. I know I did my best, and that's what really matters to me.

edit: And it I hate it soooo much how section 3 is only weighted as 10...

 

[greenglacier]

I havent heard of many bad scores at Selwyn, but a mate of mine at Carrington said hes heard of quite a few people who really did bad in UMAT like me, like they are doing good in their papers and stuff, but probably have no chance at med now......and I thought Carrington was hard out. Just goes to show UMAT trips up the best of us!

I personally haven't heard too many bad scores at Carrington, but then again, it's not like people say when they do badly...

What I have noticed a bit of is that some people have been getting dissapointed by scores that in reality are not that bad. I think people forget that UMAT is designed to complement HSFY paper marks, not replicate them. I was chatting to someone who says that the med school is carrying out some research into the effectiveness of UMAT - part of this will be seeing if there is a correlation between UMAT marks and HSFY marks. A correlation that is too strong in their mind is a bad thing - it would show that UMAT is adding little value to the selection process.

In many cases, I wouldn't get too put off by a UMAT mark that seems rather low just because you normally do really well at tests (and maybe did a lot of work for UMAT). I have heard (and not just as a rumour) of students getting into medicine with a 50th percentile UMAT.

 

[pete7]

I havent heard of many bad scores at Selwyn,

Im from Selwyn and although I know that 75 isnt a complete faliure (however my distribution is pretty unfavourable) my plan B will be physiology and pharmacology post grad (perhaps anatomy also). So we can do it together SASOL.

Also Ive been chatting with some friends and aparently you can get scholarships to Australian med schools as a postgrad. A major bonus being you enter as 3rd year (2nd year of med school) so only be 1 year behind your peers.
To do this though you have to take on GAMSAT and have some sort of interview

 

[Public Liability]

Hey greenglacier, are you Lee by any chance?

 

[Public Liability]

Hey, I don't think we can mention any umat courses on this website..

Im at Otago, and sad to say 61 percentile won't get you very far; that is if you wanted something like medicine. To be on the safe side, you need at least 90 percentile here, (or as so I've heard) but something in the 80's is fine too if you score really high in your papers.

If you wanted to get technical, umat is weighted as 45/45/10 for sections 1,2, and 3 respectively (for medicine only).

So say if you get a very low score in section 3, and hence a low overall percentile, as long as your scores for sections 1 and 2 are better then your friend's who got an overall higher percentile than you, you could just be in a better position than him.

So maybe at least 60 in sections 1 and 2 and dectent-ish in section 3...

 

[Lunate]

Hey guys just found this website. Like everyone else I'm wanting to get into med. Unlike everyone else I know, I got a very very bad UMAT. 30th percentile, so low that it would be funnyif it didn't matter. It has shattered me, especially since I have a GPA of 94. I'm finding it really hard to cope though, because people around me have been going on about you would have to be pretty stupid to get less than 60th percentile. I'm just wondering if anyone else is in the same situation.
Thanks for listening:cry:

 

[Deleted member 4350]

Having seen all of these results and my peers encouring me to check my results, I did.

Was quite shocked to see a 50th percentile given that I actually practiced for the exam. My S2 score was horrendous to say the least, and S1 was below average. S3 was 97th percentile (which just goes to show you how bad S1 and S2 would've been to have given a 50th overall percentile)...

Postgrad med ftw. Humph.

I feel for you Lunate...I really do

 

[SASOL]

Having seen all of these results and my peers encouring me to check my results, I did.

Was quite shocked to see a 50th percentile given that I actually practiced for the exam. My S2 score was horrendous to say the least, and S1 was below average. S3 was 97th percentile (which just goes to show you how bad S1 and S2 would've been to have given a 50th overall percentile)...

Postgrad med ftw. Humph.

I feel for you Lunate...I really do

Oh koochkooch, I'm so sorry mate!! I know how much it hurts, it feels like ****. I know I did heaps of study aswell, and I actually can't understand how I did so bad. Especially since in most practice exams I got most right. I'm going to appeal for a remark....you never know, they could have screwed up. I'm probably stupid to try tho, but what the hell. It gets better mate, but it really makes it hard when you hear people doing good. But hey we can get in post grad and slay UMAT in 2 more attempts.

 

[Deleted member 4350]

Oh koochkooch, I'm so sorry mate!! I know how much it hurts, it feels like ****. I know I did heaps of study aswell, and I actually can't understand how I did so bad. Especially since in most practice exams I got most right. I'm going to appeal for a remark....you never know, they could have screwed up. I'm probably stupid to try tho, but what the hell. It gets better mate, but it really makes it hard when you hear people doing good. But hey we can get in post grad and slay UMAT in 2 more attempts.

Yeah for sure. There's no way we're stopping now. It's just really irritating to recieve a result that is not indicative of the effort that was put in. Bah...

Nonetheless, it's time to pull our socks up and move forth. Persistence is key.

 

[SASOL]

Yeah for sure. There's no way we're stopping now. It's just really irritating to recieve a result that is not indicative of the effort that was put in. Bah...

Nonetheless, it's time to pull our socks up and move forth. Persistence is key.

Yea exactly(y)

 

[skyglow1]

Oh man Lunate and koochkooch I feel sooooo bad >< UMAT is such a piece of ****, especially section 2.

Greengraclier, the ones who got in with 50th percentile are almost definitely rural/maori. I can't see how 50th percentile could get you in through normal entry.

 

[skyglow1]

Yeah no UMAT courses discussion on here 90+ percentile to be safe, 80+ percentile to have a decent shot, especially if your marks are higher in section 1 and 2. You don't need near pefect grades, but A+'s would be nice and give you more leeway in your UMAT.

 

[one_soul]

Having seen all of these results and my peers encouring me to check my results, I did.

Was quite shocked to see a 50th percentile given that I actually practiced for the exam. My S2 score was horrendous to say the least, and S1 was below average. S3 was 97th percentile (which just goes to show you how bad S1 and S2 would've been to have given a 50th overall percentile)...

Postgrad med ftw. Humph.

I feel for you Lunate...I really do

Hey, Grad entry will be GOOD. You would have much more experience than all the noobs coming in from HSFY and you'll do much better than most others. And you don't even have to do great in the UMAT, just 25th% and If Daniel can do that then anyone can moo

 

[lambchops]

Don't know any of you HSFY's personally, but I really do feel for those of you who are disappointed with your results.

It really isn't fair how sometimes the results aren't reflective of the amount of effort you put in. I remember doing a lot of preparation one year and ended up with an appalling result. The next year I re-sat it without doing the preparation course and did heaps better...UMAT isn't really a good gauge of how hard you're willing to work towards your dream of becoming a doctor.

For my Biomed first year I did close to no study so I didn't even end up getting an interview offer at Auckland. But it did help me put things into perspective and think long and hard about the 2 years to follow and whether graduate entry whould be a viable option - it is.

Props for working hard since year one! There's a lot of options once you get your first degree, both Auckland and Otago, and then all the Aussie graduate entry options. From experience a lot of people will give up after not getting in the first go, but if you want it bad enough it'll be yours. And it'll feel so damn good the second time round (I hope).

Don't let anyone discourage you and keep up the positive attitude.

All the best