Post-UCAT Discussion 2020

[dotwingz]

Still, this person must've graduated HS at 11. At 11 I was learning how to touch type!

Damn the UK got Terry Tao sitting the UKCAT, wonder if he will get 900 in QR

Terence Tao - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

At the age of fourteen he began full-time university studies at Flinders University and was awarded a B.Sc. with Honours in December 1992 at the age of 15

 

[Sokka]

Damn the UK got Terry Tao sitting the UKCAT, wonder if he will get 900 in QR

Terence Tao - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Bro how do these people exist?! Surely there are rules and regulations in place to prevent someone from moving up too fast?
(I'm all for this btw. I believe school should be based on ability rather than age as this isn't a fair way to categorise someone academically)

 

[rshaya]

Hi, I am new to this site and forum. My post-UCAT details are:

Date: 01/07/2020
Venue: Brisbane, Clifton Tower

Can we list our individual marks?

Exam setting was well presented. Not sure about ease of parking, as I was dropped off.
Staff were friendly. They reassured everyone that everything had been cleaned beforehand.
A cup of water was allowed in. The water dispenser was on the floor above, where you first enter.
Exam started right on time.

I found verbal reasoning ok, but scored lower than last year.
I found decision making the easiest, and scored slightly better than last year.
I found quantitative reasoning difficult but with a better strategic plan my mark was significantly better than last year.
I found abstract reasoning hard (I ace this in practice tests). My mark was slightly less than last year.
I found situational judgment more difficult than last year but scored fractionally better.

hello! can you please message me!

 

[Sokka]

Just an update, Vic lockdown’s extended so I’m assuming percentiles will be further delayed...

 

[Cal]

Just an update, Vic lockdown’s extended so I’m assuming percentiles will be further delayed...

The percentiles will still be released like usual, they will just alter them for the 1-200 students which sit late, which obviously shouldn't change it at all (by at all I mean very very minimally, as it is probably 1.3% of the sitters)

Just to add onto this, I did some math to determine the minimum and maximum impacts the results can have to the mean
there was approxmately 14000 sitters, and the added number was 150 (circa the test stat file), so the final numebr should be 14000+150 = 14150
the total score without new sitters: approximately 35378000
With the new sitters scoring:
3600: 35928000
1200: 35558000

Max mean: 2539.08
min mean: 2512.93

 

[TKAO]

The percentiles will still be released like usual, they will just alter them for the 1-200 students which sit late, which obviously shouldn't change it at all (by at all I mean very very minimally, as it is probably 1.3% of the sitters)

Just to add onto this, I did some math to determine the minimum and maximum impacts the results can have to the mean
there was approxmately 14000 sitters, and the added number was 150 (circa the test stat file), so the final numebr should be 14000+150 = 14150
the total score without new sitters: approximately 35378000
With the new sitters scoring:
3600: 35928000
1200: 35558000

Max mean: 2539.08
min mean: 2512.93

I'm far too lazy to do this but would you be able to predict it's potential changes on the 90th percentile since that's probably more relevant to people who are applying for competitive seats?

 

[dotwingz]

I mean last year the 90th percentile only grew with time... from 2830 to 2850, so it would suggest that the 90th will go up from 2920 this year

Realistically there will be minor changes between interim and final stats, and the coin can fall either way

 

[TKAO]

I just stumbled across this thread: UKCAT 2018 interim and final stats discussion.

Turns out that with the UKCAT interim statistics have usually been higher than the final ones. Now maybe this is just wishful thinking on my part... but any thoughts on whether this could happen with the UCAT this year?

I'd think that this is a bit hopeful. If we were so similar to the UK do you think we'd end up with a 2920 90th percentile?! You have to remember that their entire system of admissions is very different from ours. UCAT is not nearly as significant for some unis and personal statements count for a lot, meaning that you often see in the studentroom that there are people who get in with 2600+ which is quite low for here.

 

[ucatboy]

I just stumbled across this thread: UKCAT 2018 interim and final stats discussion.

Turns out that with the UKCAT interim statistics have usually been higher than the final ones. Now maybe this is just wishful thinking on my part... but any thoughts on whether this could happen with the UCAT this year?

Australian interim ain't the same as UK interim. UK interim reports are released halfway through the testing period, with the majority of candidates yet to sit. We don't have interim reports here, at least we didn't until COVID happened. Our "interim" shouldn't even be called that, as it describes the data of 14,000/14,150 test takers, or close to 99% of them.

 

[ucatboy]

Just ran some quick calculations about how the 90th percentile cutoff could hypothetically change once the final 150 test-takers are accounted for, and the results are very unsurprising:

• If every remaining test-taker scores below 2920 i.e. not a single person scores above the current 90th percentile, essentially "padding" everyone above them, then the 90th percentile cutoff drops to 2910.
• If every remaining test-taker scores above 2920, essentially pushing everyone down the ranks, then the 90th percentile cutoff rises to 2930.

Colour me surprised..

 

[HappyDay]

Section	2019	2020
VR	730	650
DM	720	770
QR	850	900
AR	750	900
Total	3050	3220
SJT	582	650

UCAT was definitely easier second time round. VR was slightly disappointing. Hoping to reapply to UAdel

Hi, Congratulations to your excellent UCAT score!! You said you will REAPPLY to UAdel. Just curious that did you receive interview invitation and/or acceptance offer (Medicine and/or Dentistry) from UAdel last year with your also excellent 3050 UCAT score??

 

[Crow]

Hi, Congratulations to your excellent UCAT score!! You said you will REAPPLY to UAdel. Just curious that did you receive interview invitation and/or acceptance offer (Medicine and/or Dentistry) from UAdel last year with your also excellent 3050 UCAT score??

I’d be certain they gained an interview but likely missed out on a place offer, hence the reapplication.

 

[HappyDay]

I’d be certain they gained an interview but likely missed out on a place offer, hence the reapplication.

Wow, how competitive it is to get into medicine and dentistry! UAdel places interview and UCAT score as the first two ranking levels to give their offers. I was shocked that a 3050 UCAT score (97 or 98%ile in 2019?) didn’t secure an admission offer?! now I am worried about my chances...

 

[TKAO]

Wow, how competitive it is to get into medicine and dentistry! UAdel places interview and UCAT score as the first two ranking levels to give their offers. I was shocked that a 3050 UCAT score (97 or 98%ile in 2019?) didn’t secure an admission offer?! now I am worried about my chances...

If you are bad at interviewing then it is plausible that you flop that section. UAdel puts a 40% weighting on it, and only a 20% weighting on UCAT which means that you have to do twice as well on your UCAT to make up for a flop in your interview. Contrary to what is often shown on this site, it is very very difficult to get an offer into medicine and many don't. It's just a reality of supply and demand.

 

[Sokka]

Wow, how competitive it is to get into medicine and dentistry! UAdel places interview and UCAT score as the first two ranking levels to give their offers. I was shocked that a 3050 UCAT score (97 or 98%ile in 2019?) didn’t secure an admission offer?! now I am worried about my chances...

You answered your question yourself, they use interviews AS WELL AS the ucat...
I’m pretty sure they’re equally weighted
Edit: it’s not equally weighted

 

[vivi203]

Hey everyone, I'm new to this forum but have been lurking for some time. I did pretty averagely on the UCAT this year and was wondering how likely it is to improve my score for next year and whether anyone has any tips? I can do all the questions when not under pressure but I always run out of time and find myself re-reading things to double check I'm 100% right (I'm a perfectionist). I don't really perform well in tests like this but I know I'm fully capable of getting all the questions right. Thanks

 

[garmonbozia]

Hey everyone, I'm new to this forum but have been lurking for some time. I did pretty averagely on the UCAT this year and was wondering how likely it is to improve my score for next year and whether anyone has any tips? I can do all the questions when not under pressure but I always run out of time and find myself re-reading things to double check I'm 100% right (I'm a perfectionist). I don't really perform well in tests like this but I know I'm fully capable of getting all the questions right. Thanks

Welcome to MSO. This year we've seen lots of repeat applicants significantly improving their scores from last year, so it's definitely possible to do better on your second sitting. There are plenty of tips on this forum, I'd recommend you use the UCAT subforum table of contents and have a look around: UCAT FORUM: TABLE OF CONTENTS

 

[HappyDay]

If you are bad at interviewing then it is plausible that you flop that section. UAdel puts a 40% weighting on it, and only a 20% weighting on UCAT which means that you have to do twice as well on your UCAT to make up for a flop in your interview. Contrary to what is often shown on this site, it is very very difficult to get an offer into medicine and many don't. It's just a reality of supply and demand.

You are right. It’s just that UAdel never explains clearly what the weightings are on interview and UCAT. So it was really a bit shocking to know that a UCAT 97 or 98%ile applicant did not secure a place..

You answered your question yourself, they use interviews AS WELL AS the ucat...
I’m pretty sure they’re equally weighted
Edit: it’s not equally weighted

I thought an applicant with UCAT 98 or 97%ile gave him/her some room to stumble a bit during interview and can still receive an offer because of the high UCAT score..

 

[ucatboy]

You are right. It’s just that UAdel never explains clearly what the weightings are on interview and UCAT. So it was really a bit shocking to know that a UCAT 97 or 98%ile applicant did not secure a place..

UCAT is only 20% of the total weighting and thus only minor in the grand scheme of things. I can tell you that one of my friends with 99.70 ATAR (UES-adjusted 99.95 selection rank) and 99%ile UMAT never ended up getting a late round Adelaide offer, bonded or not, leading me to suspect that Adelaide may have some sort of minimum interview hurdle in place like UNSW i.e if you do too poorly in the interview, even a perfect ATAR and UCAT won't make up for it.

 

[vivi203]

Welcome to MSO. This year we've seen lots of repeat applicants significantly improving their scores from last year, so it's definitely possible to do better on your second sitting. There are plenty of tips on this forum, I'd recommend you use the UCAT subforum table of contents and have a look around: UCAT FORUM: TABLE OF CONTENTS

Thanks so much…I know this is going to vary depending on the person but generally does anyone know what the scope for improvement is? I studied for 2-3 hours daily 2 weeks before and got in the 50s. I did a quite a few exams but didn’t spend enough time on actually improving my skills. Given this time spent studying and score does anyone think it’s possible for me to achieve in the 90s next year? How much work do people generally put in to get scores this high? Thank you.