Post-UCAT Discussion 2020

[DrDrLMG!]

Congratulations on such amazing scores. Would you mind sharing your mock exam results on here? Cheers

Not here... in the mock exam results thread if anywhere. Thank you.

 

[1c29x]

Congratulations on such amazing scores. Would you mind sharing your mock exam results on here? Cheers

Hi, I wouldn't mind at all I'll post them on the Mocks vs Actual UCAT thread.

 

[Paddington]

Hi guys

I'm new so please be nice!

Bit of a stupid question- what was the test center like? I'm concerned it will be too cold, as I am extremely intolerant to this weather. I will be wearing my warmest clothes but I am worried since we can't wear coats according to the UCAT ANZ website. Would you be able to ask to increase the heater if it is too cold?

Keep in mind this is someone who wears 3 layers to bed yet STILL gets cold!

Good luck to everyone!

 

[1c29x]

Hi guys

I'm new so please be nice!

Bit of a stupid question- what was the test center like? I'm concerned it will be too cold, as I am extremely intolerant to this weather. I will be wearing my warmest clothes but I am worried since we can't wear coats according to the UCAT ANZ website. Would you be able to ask to increase the heater if it is too cold?

Keep in mind this is someone who wears 3 layers to bed yet STILL gets cold!

Good luck to everyone!

Hey, which test centre are you sitting it at? I can only speak for ITIC Sydney. Not a silly question - I was worried about this as well haha.
I also get cold really easily hence I wore like 4 layers of underclothes. However I ended up taking most of the layers off in the centre because it was much warmer than expected. Don't worry if you're sitting at ITIC - it is really warm! For someone like me who tend to overheat in exams (idk why), make sure you don't wear too much during the exam. If you layer up on the day, you can always just take off the layers once you get there and place them in the locker.

 

[Hdjx]

Ohhh your not allowed to mention Prep companys, sorry mods, got confused because people where mentioning it openly in Reddit, and I didn't even read the huge writing on top that told us not to

 

[nonanon]

Date completed: 7/07/2020
Venue: The Gordon, Geelong
Results:

	2020 Results	2019 Results
VR	600	540
DM	870	610
QR	700	760
AR	860	720
Total	3030	2630
SJ	688	711

General thoughts on your results: Current state of disbelief... Don't give up guys!!! Improvement is always possible!!!

The score's not as high as some of the others on here.... but I honestly never really expected a score this high. I'll probably drop my mock results into this thread soon (as soon as I clear up the table). edit(done its here): Predicting UCAT Scores from Mock Exam Results .I know that seeing other peoples' mock scores from last year really motivated me throughout my preparation this year.

VR: Honestly surprised with a 600. I was a complete wreck during this subtest (as I was last year as well), so I really won't be complaining about the score.
DM: what!?!? I know in my mocks it was generally my best performing subtest, but it was also that way last year and it didn't really correlate to a better score. Completely surprised with this score, and immensely happy.
QR: pretty disappointed with this score. Last year, it was my best performing subtest, and after reading the comments in this thread I thought that it would be the same way this year, but I honestly don't know what happened. Don't get me wrong... it was definitely easier than the official mocks... but I'm not sure what happened in the actual exam... I seemed to not be able to process things the right way.
AR: absolutely shook.... would say I got pretty lucky. Most of the patterns seemed to 'click' pretty easily. Didn't actually get to come back for all the ones that I had flagged though, so REALLY shocked by this score. Coming out of it, I though I would get 750-ish.
SJ: Yeah.... bit of a drop from last year. Still decent though.... not like anyone cares

General comments on the exam/exam experience:
Got to the centre on a really early bus, was there at 11:30 when the exam was scheduled for 13:00 (wasn't taking any chances!) Was pretty disappointed to find that they only opened the registration counter at 12:30 (was kinda hoping to be able to get in early.... but oh well). When I was asked to put my stuff in the locker, I asked if they would provide earplugs (got an email saying they wouldn't, so brought back-up in case), but she told me that they did.

They took us (a group of 6 UCAT ANZ candidates) to the computer booth, where they had set up 1 laminated note pad, 2 markers and a pack of disposable foam ear-plugs (which weren't as good as the ones I had used in practice tbh) in a socially distanced arrangement. She went around and logged us in, and I sat down, put my ear-plugs in, wrote down my timing plan for VR, looked up to the computer... only to find that the exam hadn't loaded yet. I looked around the room, and saw that everyone else had already started, so I put my had up, and then began a 30-45 minute wait. The over-seer (I'm not sure what we call them...) first tried to log me in to every other computer in that room, with no success. Then, she had to get someone else in to over-see, while she went to call the head Pearson people. So yeah, I waited a bit (wasn't freaking out or anything... so happy it didn't happen to me last year or anything, I was so much more relaxed this year... was treating the UCAT as a 'side-quest'). She eventually was able to get a code to log me in, and I didn't loose any time or anything. By the time I started, the other candidates were well into DM.

Overall, I would say that the UCAT was pretty similar in difficulty compared to last year, and mostly similar to the official mocks.
VR - similar to last year and the official mocks
DM - easier than last year.... idk last year I though that there was a lot more writing, and confusing information. It was a lot more straight-forward this year
QR - Similar in difficulty to last year (maybe a slight bit more harder), but significantly easier than the official mocks.
AR - Similar to last year, easier than the official mocks.
SJ - weird.... it's always weird

I ended up getting the email notification for results at 5:12 this morning. Thank you to ucatboy and the others that helped me out with that.
Closing comments:
Huge thanks to the mods who spend a lot of time to keep the forum in such excellent shape, and answer all the questions us hopefuls have. Also huge thanks to the people who sat the exam this year and last year, and provided so much information, and to the regular members who offer invaluable advice and motivation (shoutout to Smelly Boy and his amazing guide). Honestly, this forum was a huge reason for my improvement. I stumbled across it last year when I was looking to see if my UCAT+predicted ATAR combo held any promise (spoiler: it didn't). Since then, I've been able to learn so much that I never would have been able to do alone. Also, it's very important to surround yourself (whether it be physically or virtually) with like-minded, high-aiming individuals when preparing for an exam such as this. That was something I missed last year.

I just want to say to the people who did the exam this year, and feel disappointed by their results.... don't let it get you down too much. I was in your exact situation last year, and I have to say, that crippling sadness and heartbreak you feel is completely understandable. But it's not the end-all be-all. You have so many opportunities to over come a disappointing UCAT result (Crow gives some excellent advice here: Advice for those displeased with their UCAT result ). For people still in Year 12, you always have time to flip the game with a smashing ATAR, and even beyond that, we live in a country where there are so many entry points into medicine. If anyone wants to talk about their results, or about the disappointment, I'm always open for a talk. Feel free to drop me a PM, I really do understand how it feels.

My current hopes for the future:
1. The UCAT score to percentile stuff doesn't change too dramatically. I've seen some really amazing scores on here, so I really hope that 3120 really doesn't become the new 90th percentile benchmark (I know A1 was joking....but still...)
2. WSU takes a sudden endearment for high-scoring DM students, and abandons their love for VR students (a girl can dream...right?)
3. JMP keeps their UCAT cutoff for interviews about the same
4. I don't screw up the application process
5. UNSW abandons their high atar thing (my 98.55 will still be a stretch but oh well...)
6. If I'm lucky enough to get an interview.... I hope I don't screw it up (like I did at JCU last year)

 

[DrDrLMG!]

4. I don't screw up the application process

Congrats on finishing and for doing a great job.

It's so interesting that you've highlighted the above as a current hope because we really did have an influx of people realising they'd made application errors too late in the game to do anything about it last year, so this is something really important to be aware of! Good on you for identifying this and best of luck!

 

[2xq]

Date completed: 7/07/2020
Venue: The Gordon, Geelong
Results:

	2020 Results	2019 Results
VR	600	540
DM	870	610
QR	700	760
AR	860	720
Total	3030	2630
SJ	688	711

General thoughts on your results: Current state of disbelief... Don't give up guys!!! Improvement is always possible!!!

The score's not as high as some of the others on here.... but I honestly never really expected a score this high. I'll probably drop my mock results into this thread soon (as soon as I clear up the table): Predicting UCAT Scores from Mock Exam Results . I know that seeing other peoples' mock scores from last year really motivated me throughout my preparation this year.

VR: Honestly surprised with a 600. I was a complete wreck during this subtest (as I was last year as well), so I really won't be complaining about the score.
DM: what!?!? I know in my mocks it was generally my best performing subtest, but it was also that way last year and it didn't really correlate to a better score. Completely surprised with this score, and immensely happy.
QR: pretty disappointed with this score. Last year, it was my best performing subtest, and after reading the comments in this thread I thought that it would be the same way this year, but I honestly don't know what happened. Don't get me wrong... it was definitely easier than the official mocks... but I'm not sure what happened in the actual exam... I seemed to not be able to process things the right way.
AR: absolutely shook.... would say I got pretty lucky. Most of the patterns seemed to 'click' pretty easily. Didn't actually get to come back for all the ones that I had flagged though, so REALLY shocked by this score. Coming out of it, I though I would get 750-ish.
SJ: Yeah.... bit of a drop from last year. Still decent though.... not like anyone cares

General comments on the exam/exam experience:
Got to the centre on a really early bus, was there at 11:30 when the exam was scheduled for 13:00 (wasn't taking any chances!) Was pretty disappointed to find that they only opened the registration counter at 12:30 (was kinda hoping to be able to get in early.... but oh well). When I was asked to put my stuff in the locker, I asked if they would provide earplugs (got an email saying they wouldn't, so brought back-up in case), but she told me that they did.

They took us (a group of 6 UCAT ANZ candidates) to the computer booth, where they had set up 1 laminated note pad, 2 markers and a pack of disposable foam ear-plugs (which weren't as good as the ones I had used in practice tbh) in a socially distanced arrangement. She went around and logged us in, and I sat down, put my ear-plugs in, wrote down my timing plan for VR, looked up to the computer... only to find that the exam hadn't loaded yet. I looked around the room, and saw that everyone else had already started, so I put my had up, and then began a 30-45 minute wait. The over-seer (I'm not sure what we call them...) first tried to log me in to every other computer in that room, with no success. Then, she had to get someone else in to over-see, while she went to call the head Pearson people. So yeah, I waited a bit (wasn't freaking out or anything... so happy it didn't happen to me last year or anything, I was so much more relaxed this year... was treating the UCAT as a 'side-quest'). She eventually was able to get a code to log me in, and I didn't loose any time or anything. By the time I started, the other candidates were well into DM.

Overall, I would say that the UCAT was pretty similar in difficulty compared to last year, and mostly similar to the official mocks.
VR - similar to last year and the official mocks
DM - A LOT easier than last year.... idk last year I though that there was a lot more writing, and confusing information. It was a lot more straight-forward this year
QR - Similar in difficulty to last year (maybe a slight bit more harder), but significantly easier than the official mocks.
AR - Similar to last year, easier than the official mocks.
SJ - weird.... it's always weird

I ended up getting the email notification for results at 5:12 this morning. Thank you to ucatboy and the others that helped me out with that.
Closing comments:
Huge thanks to the mods who spend a lot of time to keep the forum in such excellent shape, and answer all the questions us hopefuls have. Also huge thanks to the people who sat the exam this year and last year, and provided so much information, and to the regular members who offer invaluable advice and motivation (shoutout to Smelly Boy and his amazing guide). Honestly, this forum was a huge reason for my improvement. I stumbled across it last year when I was looking to see if my UCAT+predicted ATAR combo held any promise (spoiler: it didn't). Since then, I've been able to learn so much that I never would have been able to do alone. Also, it's very important to surround yourself (whether it be physically or virtually) with like-minded, high-aiming individuals when preparing for an exam such as this. That was something I missed last year.

I just want to say to the people who did the exam this year, and feel disappointed by their results.... don't let it get you down too much. I was in your exact situation last year, and I have to say, that crippling sadness and heartbreak you feel is completely understandable. But it's not the end-all be-all. You have so many opportunities to over come a disappointing UCAT result (Crow gives some excellent advice here: Advice for those displeased with their UCAT result ). For people still in Year 12, you always have time to flip the game with a smashing ATAR, and even beyond that, we live in a country where there are so many entry points into medicine. If anyone wants to talk about their results, or about the disappointment, I'm always open for a talk. Feel free to drop me a PM, I really do understand how it feels.

My current hopes for the future:
1. The UCAT score to percentile stuff doesn't change too dramatically. I've seen some really amazing scores on here, so I really hope that 3120 really doesn't become the new 90th percentile benchmark (I know A1 was joking....but still...)
2. WSU takes a sudden endearment for high-scoring DM students, and abandons their love for VR students (a girl can dream...right?)
3. JMP keeps their UCAT cutoff for interviews about the same
4. I don't screw up the application process
5. UNSW abandons their high atar thing (my 98.55 will still be a stretch but oh well...)
6. If I'm lucky enough to get an interview.... I hope I don't screw it up (like I did at JCU last year)

ayyyyyyy congratsss on a very fine score!!!

 

[nonanon]

Congrats on finishing and for doing a great job.

It's so interesting that you've highlighted the above as a current hope because we really did have an influx of people realising they'd made application errors too late in the game to do anything about it last year, so this is something really important to be aware of! Good on you for identifying this and best of luck!

Haha I remember struggling a lot with applications last year (especially for JMP and the other one that needed a separate application). Last year it didn't really matter anyway, but can't afford to make a mistake this year! I suppose that I won't be applying to as many places this year... but still...

 

[whys]

I really hope that 3120 really doesn't become the new 90th percentile benchmark (I know A1 was joking....but still...)

Congrats! And don't worry, I'm 99% sure that this will not become the new 90th percentile. It's just that people on here on average do much better than the average of all test-takers, so it wouldn't work to generalise the scores on here to the entire population.

Bit of a stupid question- what was the test center like? I'm concerned it will be too cold, as I am extremely intolerant to this weather. I will be wearing my warmest clothes but I am worried since we can't wear coats according to the UCAT ANZ website. Would you be able to ask to increase the heater if it is too cold?

I can only speak for my testing centre, not others. But, I will say that it is safest to dress in layers (this is what I did). So that if it's warm, you can take off your outer layer(s), or if it's cold you'll be warm and toasty under all those layers! Just make sure what you're wearing is comfortable, etc.

 

[MurderKing]

Congrats! And don't worry, I'm 99% sure that this will not become the new 90th percentile. It's just that people on here on average do much better than the average of all test-takers, so it wouldn't work to generalise the scores on here to the entire population.

I'm glad you pointed this out whys. Like I said, many of our members are from the Mensa society on here (based on mere conjecture) so this cohort tends to capture the top end of the spectrum, not the mean. I for one am content with my average scores .

The nerd in me really wants to do a psychometric analysis of the UCAT to look at its reliability....

 

[AJ]

The nerd in me really wants to do a psychometric analysis of the UCAT to look at its reliability....

Not quite sure what you mean by this? In reference to their standardising techniques? I wouldn't question that, i'm sure they have it locked down. But in reference to the test being an indicator of performance in Med school/ being a doctor I don't think that they are proportional in most cases. I would say it is more of a culling tool. Nothing can replace character. But, I do not think we should get into this here, it has been widely discussed on other forums etc.

 

[owg1]

Congrats on finishing and for doing a great job.

It's so interesting that you've highlighted the above as a current hope because we really did have an influx of people realising they'd made application errors too late in the game to do anything about it last year, so this is something really important to be aware of! Good on you for identifying this and best of luck!

Hey can I be linked to a forum thread where the application process is detailed for each course because I definitely do not want to miss out because of an application error.

 

[DrDrLMG!]

Hey can I be linked to a forum thread where the application process is detailed for each course because I definitely do not want to miss out because of an application error.

This is definitely not MSO's responsibility and we don't hold ourselves up as the keepers of how applications should be completed each year. I strongly encourage everyone to very carefully read the instructions provided by individual universities on their official web-pages. If you have questions about any step in the process you should always contact the university directly to clarify.

 

[Tsundoku]

Great result for QR! What was your strategy for QR? Did you have to extract a lot of info from the premises?

I found the question stem a lot shorter than some of the practice. But yea it is definitely beneficial to read the question first before taking in the information so that you know what to look out for (as with DM). When they use tables, the question will try to make you slip up and calculate the answer for the wrong year or something so be mindful of that. Otherwise, just skip questions that that require a lot of understanding of the table/rules. I write down the question numbers on my laminated paper if I know I can solve it with a bit more time e.g. calculating areas after scaling etc. and I devote most of my time to the easy questions i.e. 'based on just the accuracy and probability of functioning, is machine A better than machine B?'. When you skip the harder questions, you will have time to go back to them, this way you won't be flustered when answering the easier questions because number and stress just don't mix.

 

[MurderKing]

Not quite sure what you mean by this? In reference to their standardising techniques? I wouldn't question that, i'm sure they have it locked down. But in reference to the test being an indicator of performance in Med school/ being a doctor I don't think that they are proportional in most cases. I would say it is more of a culling tool. Nothing can replace character. But, I do not think we should get into this here, it has been widely discussed on other forums etc.

Well not just their standardising, but the usefulness, reliability of the measure itself. Pearson Vue have done an analysis themselves, and the DM subtest is not very reliable haha! Interestingly from looking at some of the published papers it only seems to determine your academic performance in med school, not necessarily anything beyond the completion of the degree. Anyway some interesting findings, if you're female and White there is a tendency to score better on the exam haha. Based on the UK though, so can't extrapolate to Aus and NZ. Ok, I'll stop now.

 

[ucatboy]

Well not just their standardising, but the usefulness, reliability of the measure itself. Pearson Vue have done an analysis themselves, and the DM subtest is not very reliable haha! Interestingly from looking at some of the published papers it only seems to determine your academic performance in med school, not necessarily anything beyond the completion of the degree. Anyway some interesting findings, if you're female and White there is a tendency to score better on the exam haha. Based on the UK though, so can't extrapolate to Aus and NZ. Ok, I'll stop now.

Pretty sure that males, on average, score higher in the first four sections than females, regardless of race. Females do have the edge in SJT though. I believe that this is balanced out by a greater proportion of interviewed females landing a place offer.

 

[DrDrLMG!]

Pretty sure that males, on average, score higher in the first four sections than females, regardless of race. Females do have the edge in SJT though. I believe that this is balanced out by a greater proportion of interviewed females landing a place offer.

Further discussion should be referenced where possible and go in the relevant thread, please: Scientific Publications

 

[BeginAgain]

Hello,
Long time lurker and first time poster here. I have been so nervous about sharing but here goes...
Date: 3rd July, 2020
Venue: Griffith Uni, Gold Coast

Verbal Reasoning	760​
Decision Making	740​
Quantitative Reasoning	710​
Abstract Reasoning	690​
Total Score	2900​
Situational Judgement	598​

I am beyond excited and proud of myself! None of this would have been possible without this forum. This community is invaluable and I want to thank everyone that has shared and contributed over the years.
I am a non-standard applicant and have dreams of being accepted in to the JMP next year. I'm keeping my fingers crossed until the percentiles are released and then again until the interview offers go out. This is going to be the most excruciating few months of my life, waiting, waiting...
So there it is, you don't know me but I wanted to thank you all. Now I have burst my posting cherry I will let you know if I get an interview offer later in the year

 

[blondeclarkkent]

Hey guys,

First post on MSO and first UCAT as well. Completed 8/7/20 in Newcastle.

Testing centre:
Very nice centre with large iMac's for testing, well spread out and very quiet - can't complain.

Subtests:
VR: This was a bit of a shock, I was averaging around 650-720 in mock exams. There were SO MANY inferences and large chunks of tests, and it was definitely the hardest bunch of questions for VR that I've done.
DM: Harder than I thought, the wording for some logic puzzles was odd, however, mostly good. My score is still fairly low compared to what I got in mocks.
QR: Normally my strength, which reflected in my results. I struggled with some tables (lots of data), but mostly a great section.
AR: Surprisingly easy compared to other material I've done! I was only getting low 700's at most in my mocks, so was surprised with this score. Most patterns were quite easily identified using SCANS or intuition.
SJ: Didn't study at all for lol - I knew that my first preference (JMP) doesn't consider SJ so I didn't focus on it!

Overall:
Happy with my first attempt, but not satisfied. I personally think the cutoffs will be higher than this for most uni's, but I'll still be applying to JMP with some level of hope. Thanks to admins and mods for creating such a supportive and informative community on here, it helped my mindset lot! I'm open to any feedback or questions

Verbal reasoning	570
Decision making	610
Quantitative reasoning	780
Abstract reasoning	770
TOTAL	2730
Situational Judgement	560 (didn't study for)