UMAT Study Tips

[A1]

I find myself simply looking at questions and saying to myself ‘oh that was it? Why didn’t I think of that’ for many of the questions I get wrong.

IMO that^ itself is the benefit of reviewing. It shows those questions were not beyond your capability but the thought process did not occur readily to you at the time. While you are unlikely to see the same questions in the real test the underlying logic theme can be similar.

Remember getting an extra 3-5 correct answers can improve your overall by 10 percentiles. That's how critical it is to NOT miss any questions you should be capable to solve.

 

[Lear]

Can someone please give us some tips on these two question types

- Transformation questions inside either an X or a grid where objects or shapes between pictures cause a change. I have trouble deducing exactly what change is being imposed by the inbetween shapes. Often these change the diagram in multiple ways or there are a few of these imposing a change. How does one effectively determine exactly what is causing each transformation.

- Double mapping questions where there are identical objects moving around a shape and we cannot determine which one is which. I have tried to apply the ‘Even-odd’ rule but I find it only goes as far as to help me figure out that one is, say, in 3 Odd positions and 2 even. I have attached an example that I believe is available online for free.

Thanks

 

[Smelly Boy]

- Double mapping questions where there are identical objects moving around a shape and we cannot determine which one is which. I have tried to apply the ‘Even-odd’ rule but I find it only goes as far as to help me figure out that one is, say, in 3 Odd positions and 2 even. I have attached an example that I believe is available online for free.

All I do is map them like a normal question and do trial and error, starting from simple patterns and then trying more difficult patterns like +1, +1... or +1, +2... to +1, -2, +3, -4 (for example)

The thing you find with these is that it’s usually the simplest patterns that are the right answer and your trial and error task isn’t a long one to find the answer. At the beginning I thought doing this wouldn’t be an effective way to solve the questions and never tried it but once I did I found these questions weren’t THAT much of a challenge anymore (though you do come across SOME ridiculous ones)

 

[Austin]

Can someone please give us some tips on these two question types

- Transformation questions inside either an X or a grid where objects or shapes between pictures cause a change. I have trouble deducing exactly what change is being imposed by the inbetween shapes. Often these change the diagram in multiple ways or there are a few of these imposing a change. How does one effectively determine exactly what is causing each transformation.

- Double mapping questions where there are identical objects moving around a shape and we cannot determine which one is which. I have tried to apply the ‘Even-odd’ rule but I find it only goes as far as to help me figure out that one is, say, in 3 Odd positions and 2 even. I have attached an example that I believe is available online for free.

Thanks

These ones take a while for me but I map both and split it up into 1 and 2. I label the left more pieces with a small 1 and the right pieces with a 2 and I can easier see the pattern by mapping both, but it can still be convoluted. So when working it out, I can clearly see E1 and E2 move once to the left and right right respectively to A1 and A2, I can see that from A1 to B1, it won't match because A2 to B2 does not make a pattern. I then think of other patterns that occur like +1, +2 on the left hand side. I can see that from A1 to D1, this correlates with another pattern happening on the right hand side from A2 to D2, and therefore the pattern's established on both sides before it gets really convoluted and the pieces overlap each other. The next move is where you can easier see the overlapping now, as D1 goes to C2 and D2 overlaps and goes to C1. See my crappy drawing for reference ahha.

 

[Glory Merchant]

Overall UMAT Score: 204
Section One: 71
Section Two: 67
Section Three: 66
Overall Percentile Rank: 99
Estimated ATAR/GPA: 99.45 (2016) 81 WAM 6.1~ GPA
Preferred University: Any
Course Type: Medicine
Application type: Non-standard
State: NSW
Rural: No
Indigenous Applicant: No
GWS: Yes
Other Bonuses: No

Been on edge since Monday, but so relieved now. From what I understand the unis that I can apply for are JMP, WSU and UNSW? What are the chances of getting a UNSW interview, my atar back in 2016 was alright but my GPA is pretty underwhelming. Thanks in advance for any responses!

Hi there,

I am Shree and currently living in Adelaide. First of all, congratulations on the score you got from your UMAT. In fact, very pleased to see hear it. I've a couple of questions.

1) I'm using the NIE source to train myself ahead of the exam. What do you think about it? In fact, did you go under any specific coaching and training before doing the exam, if so what is it?

2) If possible, can you please tell me how the ACER calculated your UMAT score?

Also, if you could give us some advice on your plan of attack for the UMAT exam, it would be very helpful.

If you could reply ASAP, it would be very helpful, and once again congratulations on your score and good luck with your medicine career ahead.

Thanks for your time
Shree Ravikumar

 

[Stefan357]

Hi, i got an 83 percentile UMAT for 2018 with my S2 at 49 just below the cutoff. I wanted to know which novels/ books are best to read for improvement in Section 2 understanding people, and for reading faster. Any recomendations appreciated.
Thanks.

 

[LMG!]

Hi, i got an 83 percentile UMAT for 2018 with my S2 at 49 just below the cutoff. I wanted to know which novels/ books are best to read for improvement in Section 2 understanding people, and for reading faster. Any recomendations appreciated.
Thanks.

S2 is notoriously difficult to 'study' for. I'd say it's not just a matter of reading novels/books, as that can be pretty superficial. You'd be better off picking passages from novels that are character-centric or looking at some cartoons, and trying to get a feel for people's motivations and emotional states. But even this would be hard to do systematically.

Personally, I'd be more inclined to have a really analytical think about how you approached S2 this year and what you found difficult about it (if anything), and then report back here and I'll try to give you more specific advice. For example, if the issue was that you ran out of time, my advice would be different than if you found there were words in the questions you'd never come across or if you found you were repeatedly seconding guessing yourself and wasting time, or something else entirely, if that makes sense.

 

[Stefan357]

S2 is notoriously difficult to 'study' for. I'd say it's not just a matter of reading novels/books, as that can be pretty superficial. You'd be better off picking passages from novels that are character-centric or looking at some cartoons, and trying to get a feel for people's motivations and emotional states. But even this would be hard to do systematically.

Personally, I'd be more inclined to have a really analytical think about how you approached S2 this year and what you found difficult about it (if anything), and then report back here and I'll try to give you more specific advice. For example, if the issue was that you ran out of time, my advice would be different than if you found there were words in the questions you'd never come across or if you found you were repeatedly seconding guessing yourself and wasting time, or something else entirely, if that makes sense.

Hi LMG both ran out of time (complete- guessed last 22 questions of UMAT 2018) and words i didnt fully understand but might have come across. I also tend to double and triple check every question every exam despite knowing of this peronal issue. I just believe wide reading novels will help but i have never done this (since high school started) so i have no idea which authors are 'good' apart from Harry Potter series is good. But im not interested by Harry Potter. ANY novel suggestions appreciated.

 

[LMG!]

Hi LMG both ran out of time (complete- guessed last 22 questions of UMAT 2018) and words i didnt fully understand but might have come across. I also tend to double and triple check every question every exam despite knowing of this peronal issue. I just believe wide reading novels will help but i have never done this (since high school started) so i have no idea which authors are 'good' apart from Harry Potter series is good. But im not interested by Harry Potter. ANY novel suggestions appreciated.

I have no novel suggestions because I don’t believe this would be useful. If others disagree and have some suggestions, please weigh in.

 

[rustyedges]

Hi LMG both ran out of time (complete- guessed last 22 questions of UMAT 2018) and words i didnt fully understand but might have come across. I also tend to double and triple check every question every exam despite knowing of this peronal issue.

I wouldn't bother checking any questions until you have answered every question.

 

[Trinhcent]

Hi there,

I am Shree and currently living in Adelaide. First of all, congratulations on the score you got from your UMAT. In fact, very pleased to see hear it. I've a couple of questions.

1) I'm using the NIE source to train myself ahead of the exam. What do you think about it? In fact, did you go under any specific coaching and training before doing the exam, if so what is it?

2) If possible, can you please tell me how the ACER calculated your UMAT score?

Also, if you could give us some advice on your plan of attack for the UMAT exam, it would be very helpful.

If you could reply ASAP, it would be very helpful, and once again congratulations on your score and good luck with your medicine career ahead.

Thanks for your time
Shree Ravikumar

Hey Shree, just saw this and that no one replied so I'll try answer your questions.

1) I found NIE to be a hit and miss when it came to preparation. A lot of their context lacked the appropriate difficulty, for example some of the section three questions would be either far too easy or insanely difficult. This was also a problem present with their section 1 material and I cannot advise you on their section 2 material, but if their other material is any indicator then I would not prepare with them. The best prep material you are going to get are probably the ACER exams themselves. ACER 4 the most recent exam released by ACER was quite close to the difficulty of the actual exam this year and if not, slightly easier. Despite this, the ACER exams give a good chance to practice doing questions actually produced by ACER. A trend noticed with this year's exam and in the past is that ACER questions differ from questions prepared by preparation companies, they tend to be more abstract (particularly the way s3 is present) and s2 (less distinction between answer options close in meaning but rather it requires interpretation of characters' intent and the passage as a whole). So overall, prep with ACER is something I would definitely recommend and to ensure that you have an approach to the questions rather than just doing questions mindlessly and hoping to improve.

2) no clue, acer does not release the statistical methods used to scale the exam. It is speculated they may use IRT (item response theory) where questions answered less successfully by candidates are given a higher weighting and vice versa.

as an aside: work on your timing, have an approach.

Best of luck!