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Pre-UCAT Discussion 2019

FunTimes

Member
For me it's kind of terrifying. For the past week I've been feeling pretty confident about being able to get 90th percentile but today really hurt. Now that I have no idea what's gone wrong, what I can do to fix it etc etc.

I went through something similar on the day before the test. I did some of those official UCAT practice questions from their question banks under timed conditions, and I did poorly. It was a massive hit to my confidence, especially that close to the exam. My advice: it means nothing. Don't be spooked. I've done my exam. In hindsight, I see that those marks were NOT indicative of my performance in the actual exam. Forget about it, stay confident - you've put in the hard work and your brain will perform when it knows it needs to.
 

FunTimes

Member
Any tips for those preparing?

I've chosen to type up my response to this query in this section because I think this thread is a vErY aPproPriAtE place for what I have to say. This is my checklist for the exam (modeled after my own preparation):
1. Have a read of this guide: https://www.ucat.edu.au/media/1298/ucat-official-guide-2019.pdf. Knowing the rationale behind each subtest and how the scoring works is important in quantifying the exam and how to approach it.
2. Establish familiarity with the question types by exploring the free official UCAT Mocks and Question Bank. Another good free resource is this question bank: https://www.themedicportal.com/e-learning/ukcat/.
3. (OPTIONAL) Investigate paid resources. I would recommend Medify. It has 10,000 questions, 8 mock exams, a whole bunch of subtest mocks, and a guide. Unlike some of its Australian cousins, it IS priced reasonably. It is $70 for 2 weeks of access.

I also would recommend the KAPLAN question bank. It is IMO the best resource for VR (it has long passages to get you into the rhythm), however, it has only ~2000 questions, lots of errors in DM and QR, a devastatingly poor calculator and an archaic interface.

In hindsight, I would NOT recommend MedEntry. Yes, there is more practice, but there are just so many better resources with a lot less errors in their questions, at a much better price. You can also imagine how unimpressed I was when many of the questions in their drills and mocks had been ripped straight from a popular book in the UK called ISC Medical 1250 UKCAT Questions.

In general, I urge you to stay away from tutoring companies. They do not have some sort of special insight into the UCAT, especially Australian companies which scrambled to change the M in UMAT to a C in their advertisements. Many of them also repackage a Medify subscription into a much more expensive 'course' with nifty features that you don't need, and charge you extra for it. If they offer their own questions, there is no guarantee of quality. The price they charge for these 'services' is absurd. In the long-term, you're better off taking your friends out for dinner with that money.
4. For VR, read outside of the UCAT to improve your verbal processing skills. I read a lot of news, I enjoy reading non-fiction and I dabble in some MJA summaries if they're on topics I can understand. I genuinely believe this history of reading opinion pieces, factual information and logical arguments helped me in my performance.
5. I have saved the most important aspect of preparation to last. Your performance in the UCAT is entirely dependent on your performance in those two hours of your test day. You need your brain to work on the day.

Feed it: What to eat before an exam. I followed this guide down to the letter.

Rest it: Circadian rhythm, 4 Things to Do When Your Brain Is Tired, Your Sleep Cycle Revealed. If you're like me and you struggle to sleep before an exam, even when you feel confident and you desperately want your brain to shut down so it can rest, but it just won't, I recommend reading a boring book (I read Don Quixote - it's a classic but my goodness is it repetitive). This will help you doze off without causing much mental fatigue.

Water it: Drink water.

Soothe it: Do whatever makes you calm. Maybe try to visit your exam centre before your exam just so you get an idea of routes, parking etc. Also pack your bag / grab your ID and print off your email the night before and keep it handy, maybe add a snack in there in case you get hungry. Doing these things will help you feel prepared and alleviate stress.

Bop it. Twist it. Pull it!

Good luck everyone. :) I hope this has offered some help.
 

Dnama

Member
Hi All, Does anyone recommend skipping the 5 part questions in DM? If so when would you recommend coming back to them?
 

CatzDreaming

Medical Student 🐐
Hi All, Does anyone recommend skipping the 5 part questions in DM? If so when would you recommend coming back to them?

I would recommend skipping them if it doesn't come to you at first. Come back to them once you've finished the rest of the DM section. Try to spend at least 30 seconds to figure out what the question is asking you and possibly drawing out a venn diagram if you can.
 
Would someone be able to help me with a question from medentry dm subtest mock 5 q2. The passage states "all contemporary art is innovative. some technological products are innovative, but technological products are not visually appealing. Beatrix's room contains either a piece of contemporary art or a technological product" the y/n question is "Beatrix's room contains a technological product or an innovative item". I chose no but the answer is meant to be yes. Based on the passage I believe that the item in the room can also possibly be a technological product AND/THAT IS ALSO an innovative item. Wouldn't this make the statement false as the item can be something that is neither only technological or only innovative? The venn diagram i drew has a small contemporary art circle with an innovative circle around it and then the technological circle is half overlapping the innovative circle but does not touch the art circle. Any help is greatly appreciated, thanks.
 

Smelly Boy

I can be ur angle πŸ˜‡ or ur devil 😈
Valued Member
Would someone be able to help me with a question from medentry dm subtest mock 5 q2. The passage states "all contemporary art is innovative. some technological products are innovative, but technological products are not visually appealing. Beatrix's room contains either a piece of contemporary art or a technological product" the y/n question is "Beatrix's room contains a technological product or an innovative item". I chose no but the answer is meant to be yes. Based on the passage I believe that the item in the room can also possibly be a technological product AND/THAT IS ALSO an innovative item. Wouldn't this make the statement false as the item can be something that is neither only technological or only innovative? The venn diagram i drew has a small contemporary art circle with an innovative circle around it and then the technological circle is half overlapping the innovative circle but does not touch the art circle. Any help is greatly appreciated, thanks.
Thought about this for a solid amount of time & tried to understand why they said it’s a YES but I ended up deleting it because you’re absolutely right. Since they said it’s EITHER technological OR innovative, they’re implying that technological products can never be innovative but the passage says β€œsome technological products are innovative”. Don’t worry about this - I think it’s expected that medentry would have some mistakes seeing it’s their first year providing ucat services.
 

Dacato10

Member
Hi, just wondering if anyone has any tips on how to approach this type of question where there are so many long options. Typically, I have to test out each choice and count up the numbers in the Venn diagram, and this is super time consuming. So, I usually skip it. Is there a more time efficient method of solving this question?
 

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MissyCee

Lurker
Does anyone else feel like they have the time allocation mixed up for the sections?
I feel like they have accidentally mixed the time for SJ and AR.
I'm always left over with nearly half the time for SJ and absolutely don't have time to properly think about 1/4 of the AR?!?!?!?!?

Anyone else with this problem or is it just me?
😰😰😰😰😰😰😰😰😰😰😰😰😰😰😰😩😩😩😩😩😩😩😩😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭πŸ₯΅πŸ₯΅πŸ₯΅πŸ₯΅πŸ₯΅πŸ₯΅πŸ₯΅
 

Smelly Boy

I can be ur angle πŸ˜‡ or ur devil 😈
Valued Member
Does anyone else feel like they have the time allocation mixed up for the sections?
I feel like they have accidentally mixed the time for SJ and AR.
I'm always left over with nearly half the time for SJ and absolutely don't have time to properly think about 1/4 of the AR?!?!?!?!?

Anyone else with this problem or is it just me?
😰😰😰😰😰😰😰😰😰😰😰😰😰😰😰😩😩😩😩😩😩😩😩😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭πŸ₯΅πŸ₯΅πŸ₯΅πŸ₯΅πŸ₯΅πŸ₯΅πŸ₯΅
Sounds like you got the timing exactly right my friend.

AR is 13 minutes for 55 questions
SJT is plenty of time & you’d expect to finish in about half the time anyway
 

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I'm finding I lose all my marks on the Conclusion Y/N questions in DM - anyone else finding the same thing? Medentry marks it as 0 marks if you get 3/5 statements correct which seems harsh: is this what the actual test is like? I always seem to get 3/5 i.e 0 marks! :eek:
 

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