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Federal Court finds Dallas Gibson of Medical-Entrance guilty!
MedEntry has comprehensively won the Federal Court case against Dallas Gibson for breach of copyright and breach of the Trade Practices Act (Claim number VID1289-2004). The court found that Dallas Gibson flagrantly violated the Commonwealth Copyright Act. Dallas Gibson's cross-claims against MedEntry were dismissed by the Judge as spurious.
MedEntry was awarded a significant sum in court costs (please click here). In addition, damages are yet to be pursued. This will result in Gibson becoming bankrupt for the fourth time.
The Judge was scathing of Dallas Gibson. Her Honour labelled him 'dishonest', criticised his qualifications as 'slight', described his conduct as 'reprehensible' and concluded that he 'fabricated' evidence (including letters) and was 'prepared to mislead and tell untruths in order to secure business.' He fabricated evidence for the Court under Oath: Can you believe anything he claims?
Gibson is in contempt of the Court by criticising the Judge and by not complying with the Court's orders.
Please click here for a summary and relevant extracts from the Judgment. A full text of the Judgement can be found on the Federal Court website: http://www.austlii.edu.au/cgi-bin/sinodisp/au/cases/cth/FCA/2008/995.html?query=medentry
Please click here for a summary and relevant extracts from the Court Orders. A full text of the Court Orders can be found on the Federal Court website:
http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/cases/cth/FCA/2008/1375.html
Note to students & parents: Dallas Gibson's hysterical rants, blatant lies and disregard for the law give an indication of his personality. For the past twenty years, he has shamelessly ripped off customers and businesses and avoided paying hundreds of thousands of dollars he owed them. He continues to brazenly and illegally operate numerous businesses and websites such as Icarus College, Premed, Medical-Entrance, eglobalmed, HPATprep, Superkeeneye, We-Liked-UMAT and Doctors2Be inspite of being a serial bankrupt. Beware of this online predator!
He does NOT have sponsorships or permission to use the logos of the companies he displays on his websites (phone to find out for yourself). His 'Testimonials' are fictitious, unauthorised and/or 'spiced up'. His qualification is from a degree mill. Most of the questions on his websites are lifted from LSAT/other books. Virtually none of the numerous workshops he advertises actually run and he provides no refunds. The numerous addresses he provides for his 'Offices' are nothing but 'virtual' non-existent offices! We could go on... What kind of person would criticise a Federal Court Judge? Only a three time (financially & morally) bankrupt! He has brought disrepute to UMAT Prep through his fraudulent actions. He is mentally unstable: Steer well clear!
Dallas Gibson of Medical-Entrance BANKRUPT
Dallas Gibson of Medical-Entrance/Eglobamed/Icarus/Premed is currently bankrupt. He has now been bankrupt on three separate occasions (1988, 2000 and now).
You can view the Federal Court ruling of his bankruptcy by clicking here . Alternatively, you can go to the Federal Court website (under Bankruptcy -> Court Events and Orders):
https://www.comcourts.gov.au/public/esearch/file_details/Federal/P/MLG1354/2007
For evidence of his 1988 bankruptcy, please click here.
For evidence of his 2000 bankruptcy, please click here.
In addition to being sued by MedEntry, Dallas Gibson is currently being sued by Middletons (his ex-lawyers - Claim U02414246) and by Doherty & Colleagues Solicitors (acting for Maxim P/L) in the Melbourne Federal Magistrates court. Grievances against this man and his practices run deep and are widespread - he has been sued by three separate entities in the last 2 years. He owes substantial amounts of money to numerous organisations, such as Middletons Lawyers, Maxim Electrical Services, PBB Forensics, Clik Pad and Deloittes.
His websites are full of false, misleading and deceptive information. Would you put your trust or your child's education in someone who has been bankrupt not once, not twice but three times and is currently bankrupt?
MedEntry UMAT Prep wins Foundation for Australian Youth Grant!
We are extremely delighted to announce that we have been offered a generous grant by the Foundation for Australian Youth to pursue the MedEntry UMAT Prep initiative.
After a competitive selection process, the Foundation has deemed that our initiative, which aims to help Australian Youth, is worthy of funding to enable us to offer our courses and materials to you. The aim is to enhance youth participation and create opportunities for the development of young people.
Specifically MedEntry UMAT Prep aims to help Australian youth keen to pursue a career in the health sciences.
MedEntry invited to speak at AGM
Dr Ed Boyapati of MedEntry was the Keynote speaker at the Annual General Meeting of the Melbourne Division of General Practice held on Friday 21 October. Dr Boyapati spoke on the topic "Medical Student Selection: Issues and Current Trends" which was an 'extremely entertaining and challenging presentation' (NorthWest Courier, Dec edition, page 6). The previous year's Keynote speaker was Dr Norman Swann, media personality and host of ABC Radio National's 'The Health Report', who spoke on the topic 'Doctors in Media'.
MedEntry presents at Career Expos
MedEntry is invited to speak at the VCE Expo in Melbourne every year. At the Careers Forum MedEntry addressed students on the topic 'Working in medicine'. MedEntry also presented a very popular seminar on 'Medical Entry'. (Source: The Age VCE & Careers Expo, 19 April 2010, p26; 20 April 2009, p22-23; 7 April 2008, p30-31; 14 April 2007, p10-11; 14 April 2006, p12-13).
MedEntry also presented a very popular seminar on 'Medical Entry' at the inaugural HSC Expo in Sydney (Source: Sydney Morning Herald, 11 May 2009, p18).
Med Students Pass Test
From Australian Doctor magazine, 28/5/04 p. 20
Medical professionals across Australia are doing their bit to help disadvantaged year 12 students prepare for the Undergraduate Medical and Health Sciences Admission Test (UMAT).
Under the name of the group MedEntry, they will offer a two day intensive workshop to high school students from disadvantaged areas who are generally under-represented in medical school. The group’s website is www.medentry.edu.au.
No Comparison
(Published in Australian Doctor 29 Feb 2008)
Your chief political correspondent, Paul Smith criticises the current medical school entry system on the grounds that it is invalid and inequitable.
However, an ‘admission lottery’ would make a mockery of the whole process because it is anti-meritorious. Who would want to see a doctor who was admitted to medical school based on luck? GAMSAT (the graduate entry test) is a test of irrelevant knowledge, so it is fair to question the validity of the test. In fact, the dean of the University of Sydney's medical school admits that GAMSAT is not a good tool for selecting potential doctors. However, UMAT (the year 12 entry test) is a test of generic skills and therefore a good predictor of success in any professional endeavour.
Psychometric tests such as UMAT are new in Australia, but in the US numerous such tests have been in use for decades. Coaching organisations are therefore well established. I was recently told by officials at the Educational Testing Service at Princeton (the equivalent of ACER) that they have no objection to the coaching because what is important is that students learn the skills that are tested, whether it is at school, university or at a coaching college.
Dr Ed Boyapati
MedEntry UMAT Prep
http://www.medentry.edu.au
Medical Training
(The Education Age, 21/11/2005, page 10)
Throughout the ages and in most countries medicine has been a profession with special privileges, hence demand to study medicine is high. In fact the demand to supply ratio is higher for medicine than for any other course in Australia, which is one reason for the use of criteria other than ENTER scores for entry (The medical Maze, Education Age, 7/11/2005).
Since medical knowledge is growing at an exponential rate, it is essential that future doctors have critical thinking, abstract reasoning, problem solving and interpersonal skills. Far from making the system sick, the selection process ensures that doctors are able, affable and adaptable.
It is to be expected that ACER would claim that the UMAT is a test that is not susceptible to coaching in an attempt to enhance its reliability and validity. However, in my 25 years of university teaching and research, I have yet to find a test that cannot be coached for. Coaching helps lift an individual’s performance in all competitions: sporting or intellectual.
Dr Ed Boyapati
MedEntry UMAT Prep
http://www.medentry.edu.au
To coach, or not...
From Australian Doctor magazine, 15/4/05 p. 31
Dr Kerri Parnell asks whether coaching for tests such as UMAT helps (‘Medical School Pick of the Crop may be Missing the Point’, Gut Feelings, 25 March).
If UMAT coaching is not useful, the logical conclusion is that coaching for selective/private school entry/scholarships tests is also not useful. Yet parents spend enormous amounts having their children coached for such tests.
Further, while the final high school exams admittedly test both knowledge and ability, the fact that people spend money on tutoring and send their children to ‘better’ schools is evidence that coaching helps improve performance.
Coaching certainly improves a person’s ability to some degree – or at least a person’s ability to do better in tests that purport to assess that ability – just as much as coaching helps even elite athletes and sporting stars perform better on that crucial day in competitions that aim to test their inherent ability.
In our information rich society, going to university purely to acquire knowledge is a waste of time and money, particularly since most people are expected to have several careers in their lifetime.
Universities, therefore, claim to develop a person’s ‘generic skills’ (a politically correct term for ‘ability’) and charge at least $50 000 for that privilege. If this is not the case, the very foundations on which the universities exist, crumble. Are the claims of universities correct or are we being conned? Answer this question and you have the answer to the question of whether coaching for UMAT/private/selective school entry helps. Finally, whether we have created a new form of inequity between the ‘coached’ and the ‘uncoached’ is analogous to asking whether there is inequity between the ‘educated’ and the ‘uneducated’. Both the coached (in sporting or intellectual ability) and the educated have been ‘value added’.
Authored by Dr Ed Boyapati
MedEntry UMAT Prep
http://www.medentry.edu.au
Changing Times
Published in Australian Doctor (16 June, 2006, page 21).
Perhaps Dr Andrew Griffiths is not aware of the numerous changes in medical student selection that have taken place during the last ten years (Selection fails, 19 May). His criticisms about the inadequacies in the medical student selection are therefore not valid today.
These days, one does not need to get very high ENTER/UAI score to get into medical school, since almost all medical schools have now instituted three criteria for selection, only one of which is the ENTER score. The second is the results of an aptitude test called the UMAT (Undergraduate Medical and health sciences Admission Test). The third is the personal interview, which assesses the qualities Dr Griffiths considers important, such as the ability to develop rapport with patients, commitment, motivation and enthusiasm. The current selection system is therefore designed so that future doctors will be able, affable, available, affordable and adaptable.
In the current system, a student with an ENTER score as low as 90 has a good chance of being offered a place in medicine. In fact, due to the quotas imposed by the Federal Government, it is far easier for a student from a rural area to get into medical school than a student from a metropolitan area with similar performance in the three selection criteria.
Dr Ed Boyapati
MedEntry UMAT Prep
http://www.medentry.edu.au
Not all entry tests equal
Published in Medical Observer (16 Feb 2007, p17)
The debate about whether school leaver entry or graduate entry is better for medicine will continue for a long time because there are winners and losers in either scenario (Inside Story, 24/11/2006; Letters, 8/12). The graduate entry pathway has the following disadvantages:
1. Many highly able students who would otherwise have become excellent doctors will be lost to other professions, because they may be reluctant to obtain another degree after graduation.
2. Graduate medical programs reduce the productive working life of a doctor.
3. The longer duration of study is likely to result in increased cost of services to patients on graduation and higher costs to tax payers to subsidise their study.
4. A significant proportion of school leavers are mature enough to make career choices. Our evidence is that over 99% of Year 12 students prefer to go straight into Medicine rather than do an irrelevant degree. Forcing them to do a degree in which they have no interest in, and see it only as a means to an end, will result in frustration and lead to increased unethical conduct during assignments/exams, such as copying and plagiarism.
5. Graduate Medical programs make medical education backtrack 50 years. Back then, students in medical schools spent the first three years learning basic medical sciences with no patient contact, and only afterwards spent time in hospitals seeing the relevance of what they previously learnt. This is effectively what a Graduate Medical program involves. The current worldwide trend of Problem Based Learning in undergraduate medical entry avoids this problem, with students learning biomedicial sciences 'just-in-time', which makes the learning process relevant, interesting and memorable.
6. If a student completes a biomed/science degree with the intention of pursuing medicine and is later unsuccessful in obtaining a place in medicine, what career options are available? Students are lured into a science degree by universities keen to bloster their flagging enrollments in science faculties, with disregard for the career aspirations of students.
While school leaver entry is better for everyone, a small proportion of medical places (say 10%) may be set aside for graduate entry. Graduate medical places can be an option for those who are uncertain about their career choice, unprepared for tertiary study or were unable to obtain a place after year 12.
However, there is a problem with the entry test for graduates. If practicing doctors in Australia were to sit the tests without preparation, at least 70% would pass the UMAT (test for school leavers), whereas only about 1% would pass the GAMSAT (test for graduates). This is not because GAMSAT is harder than UMAT: it is because while UMAT tests generic skills, GAMSAT tests knowledge, much of which is irrelevant to the practice of medicine.
Dr Ed Boyapati
MedEntry UMAT Prep
http://www.medentry.edu.au
Graduate entry flawed (Sunday Age, 25 Feb, 2007)
Melbourne university's claim that the graduate model for entry to law/medicine will reduce the pressure on Year 12 students is flawed. All it will do is to keep the pressure and unceratinty for a further three to four years, since the grade point average will be one of the criteria for entry.
A graduate entry program is also certain to increase the cost of education and hence the fees charged to patients, as has happened in the US, where it is not uncommon to find doctors with debts of up to half a million dollars by the time they graduate.
Universities receive about about $25,000 per student each year (about $8000 from the student and the rest from the government). Moving professional courses to graduate schools is a cynical move to keep students at university longer, thus increasing the university's income.
Surely when knowledge is so freely available these days, one would expect the time taken to train as a professional would reduce, not increase?
Dr Ed Boyapati
MedEntry UMAT Prep
http://www.medentry.edu.au
Aping the US Model (The Age, May 7, 2007)
The Dean of Melbourne University, Professor Michael Crommelin makes the fundamental error of equating correlation with causation when he claims that students of graduate professional programs are more likely to have attended government schools. Highly able, mature and motivated students will enter a professional course after year 12, irrespective of the school attended or their socio-economic status.
To make their US style education attractive, the University is using dubious strategies such as creaming off the best students through scholarships under the guise of equity; awarding Doctor of Medicne/Juris Doctor for a first degree in medicne/law when it should, at best, be a Masters degree. This will also worsen the rampant credentialism.
Dr Ed Boyapati
MedEntry UMAT Prep
http://www.medentry.edu.au
Valuable UMAT Prep
Published in Medical Observer, 22 June 2007.
Tuition for UMAT develops students’ skills in logical reasoning, critical thinking, problem solving, abstract reasoning and interpersonal skills. How can anyone claim that teaching such valuable life skills undermines UMAT? (MedObs, 8 June 2007, p13)
If UMAT coaching is considered unfair, then it must follow that the following must also be considered exploitative:
- Private schools charging parents up to $20,000 per year and profiting from their anxiety to get high year 12 scores for their children
- Universities profiting from students anxiety to obtain degrees (by charging $40,000 per year for a full fee place in medicine)
- Coaching organizations profiting from students anxiety to get into selective schools or obtain private school scholarships
- Organizations profiting from people’s anxiety to get a job (by offering training in CV preparation, interview training etc).
UMAT coaching is no different to coaching for GAMSAT (entry test for graduate medicine). Equity and access issues are inevitable, whatever criteria is used. In fact, since GAMSAT and year 12 exams are knowledge-based tests, being coached for them is less useful than coaching for UMAT, which tests generic skills that students can take with them for life.
The Australian Medical Students Association’s own survey showed that 70% of medical students felt UMAT coaching helped. Our surveys consistently show that over 99% of students felt our UMAT tuition was useful.
MedEntry runs workshops in rural centres and offers substantial discounts for students who are financially or socially disadvantaged.
Dr Ed Boyapati
MedEntry UMAT Prep
http://www.medentry.edu.au
Backing UMAT
(Published in Australian Doctor, 3 August 2007)
Some people raise questions about the current medical selection process, but offer no solutions. As in most countries, the demand for medical places in Australia will always far exceed the number available. Therefore, any selection system used will have winners and losers, and will be controversial.
Just because some GPs feel current entry procedures used may not have admitted them to medical school, it does not necessarily follow that the selection system is flawed. There are several reasons for this, one of them being that the advantages of medicine as a career compared to other professions has increased over the years. It is thus becoming more competitive to ‘get in’. Further, other professionals make similar claims, for example, getting into a law school at a good university is harder now.
Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER) is to be commended for developing UMAT, which is an objective test of generic skills to complement the knowledge examined in year 12/university. This, combined with interview performance, is the best system that educational research currently offers and similar processes are used around the world for the selection of medical students.
While testing knowledge may appeal to some, it is an intrinsically flawed means of selection since it is simply a test of effort, and knowledge is freely available these days. It is far better to test students’ generic skills, i.e. the ability to use the knowledge, as the UMAT does.
Dr Ed Boyapati
MedEntry UMAT Prep
http://www.medentry.edu.au
Selection Error
Selection Error (published in Australian Doctor 18 Jan 2008 and Medical Observer 25 Jan 2008)
Cogent arguments can be made both for and against interviews being part of selection process for entry to medical schools. However, Queensland medical school’s decision to scrap interviews because they do not predict success in the medical course is flawed.
The right question to be asked is whether interviews predict whether students make good doctors, not whether it predicts students’ success at medical school. The decision is analogous to selecting academics on the basis of their research potential and finding that they are not good teachers and hence scrapping the selection system.
Queensland medical school should go back all the way to selecting students after completing Year 12, rather than after completing a degree. A properly designed selection system geared for school leaver entry would be a better predictor of both their success in the medical program and during their career as a doctor.
Universities which have taken the graduate medical program route are finding that they are losing highly able and motivated students to the universities which offer undergraduate medical programs, thus losing high quality students and all the resulting benefits such as prestige.
Dr Ed Boyapati
MedEntry UMAT Prep
http://www.medentry.edu.au
University’s entry lottery is a mockery
University’s entry lottery is a mockery (Published in Medical Observer, 8 Feb 2008)
The Dean of Sydney Medical School, Professor Bruce Robinson, admits that the Graduate Australian Medical School Admission Test (GAMSAT) is not a good tool for selecting potential doctors and an ‘admission lottery’ is one option being considered. However, an ‘admission lottery’ would make a mockery of the whole process because it is illogical and anti-meritorious: why bother studying? Who would want to see a graduate of Sydney medical school who got in because of luck?
The real problem is that about 10 years ago under the misguided strategy of the then Dean Stephen Leeder, the University chose to change the entry system from school leaver entry to graduate entry. While the GAMSAT is test of (often irrelevant) knowledge, the test used for school leaver entry (UMAT) is a test of generic skills and hence a far better test.
A properly designed school leaver entry system such as that used by UNSW or Monash is far superior. They use a multi pronged approach with UMAT, Year 12 scores and interview performance being considered for the final ranking.
Dr Ed Boyapati
MedEntry UMAT Prep
http://www.medentry.edu.au
Strange Courses (Herald Sun, June 6, 2008)
It is inappropriate for ACER/some universities to claim that UMAT and interview coaching is undesirable, for several reasons. For example:
- Student Services of all universities engage in coaching of their students in CV and interview preparation for employment.
- UMAT coaching is education in a broad sense which is same as what universities do, so how can that be deemed unworthy?
- Undertaking UMAT coaching is an indirect indicator of motivation, just as obtaining a degree is an indicator of a person's motivation to persist.
- Universities are big businesses these days and teach any course where there is demand. It has resulted in many Mickey mouse courses (see below*), yet they claim coaching for higher order thinking skills involved with UMAT training is unacceptable.
In Britain, the educational authorities have begun testing for cognitive enhancing drugs which are increasingly being used by students before exams and tests. ACER and universities should be concerned about such problems rather than generic skills training for the UMAT.
Dr Ed Boyapati
MedEntry UMAT Prep
http://www.medentry.edu.au
*Universities teach strange Courses such as Mail Order Brides; Tightwaddery; The Phallus; Sex, Rugs, Salt & Coal; Finding Dates Worth Keeping; Art of Walking; Daytime Serials; Maple Syrup; Campus Culture and Drinking:
http://www.collegedegree.com/library/college-life/top-25-strangest
The business nature of universities is also evident from the 'Visas for Degrees' rort where overseas students buy their visas by paying for their degrees (universities effectively rubber stamp the degrees).
Effective Training (Victorian Doctor, July 2008, p29)
Lachlan Batty raises some concerns about UMAT training. We acknowledge that there are some unscrupulous training providers out there. However, as the leading UMAT training organisation, we respond as follows:
1. Quality and integrity: We are a nationally Registered Training Organisation and all our programs are accredited by the Victorian Registration and Qualifications Authority (VRQA).
2. Cost: Our most popular year-long course costs only $495. Compare this with $2000 which universities charge for one subject (a 13 week course) and you will find that our courses are value for money.
3. Equity: Apart from offering numerous Equity and other Scholarships and distance prep packages, we offer over 50% discounts for financially disadvantaged students and run courses in rural areas (eg Mildura).
4. Regulation: Our programs are regulated by VRQA. Universities are big businesses which fiercely compete with each other and operate in a commercial environment. The laissez-faire nature of universities is evident from the fact that they are the only organisations which research into and publish the obvious!
5. Effectiveness: Australian Medical Students Association's own study showed that over 70% of their members found the UMAT training to be beneficial. Over 99.3% of students feel that our holistic approach to UMAT skills training has been extremely useful.
Ultimately the effectiveness of any service is judged by the results. Most undergraduate medical students have been through our program and over 97% of our students come through 'word-of-mouth' referrals.
MedEntry UMAT Prep
http://www.medentry.edu.au
Med School Research Flawed (published in The Australian 2/9/2008 and in The Australian Doctor 19/9/2008, p31)
Several criticisms can be made of the study which reported that Medical school coaching does not help (01/09). The fundamental one is incorrect sampling methodology. This is best explained with an analogy. Let us say a comparison was made of the health status of those who see a doctor often with those who see a doctor rarely. The results of the study might indicate that the difference in the health status of the two groups is negligible or even that the health status of those who see doctors often is slightly worse. But, it is incorrect to then conclude that there is no benefit in seeing a doctor. This is because the people who see doctors often and those who don't are completely different populations and have different characteristics. For example, those who see doctors often may do so for several reasons (for example they may be sicker to start with).
Further, in the above example, it is inappropriate to generalise the effectiveness of seeing doctors. Most doctors are excellent whilst some may even make the illness worse! Similarly with UMAT and interview coaching there are some reputable organisations as well as some which are just plain dodgy. Lumping all of them together does not provide a true picture.
Dr Ed Boyapati
MedEntry UMAT Prep
http://www.medentry.edu.au
UMAT Coaching may have other benefits (Published in Medical Observer, 19/9/2008, p23)
The study which showed that UMAT coaching does not help (MedObs 5/9/8) has several flaws. Firstly there is a conflict of interest in UWS staff doing this research: they have a vested interest in showing that coaching does not help. Otherwise their job (testing/interviewing) becomes harder. Further, if interview coaching does not help, why do careers centres at all universities actively coach students in interview techniques? Are the universities wasting tax payers' money by offering dubious services? Universities also offer training to students on psychometric tests in preparation for recruitment screening at assessment centres.
If ACER/Universities truly believe coaching is of little benefit, why do they actively discourage students from undergoing training? After all, what we do is offer education, like universities. It sounds like a conspiracy to prevent students from taking up coaching.
The authors admit that those who undergo coaching have significantly higher UAI /ENTER (Year 12 results). It can therefore be concluded that UMAT coaching increases students' motivation and hence improves their school results. In fact, most students of our program say that attending the workshop has significantly increased their motivation to study.
Dr Ed Boyapati
MedEntry UMAT Prep
http://www.medentry.edu.au
In Australian Doctor (5/9/2008, p3), Dr Ed Boyapati of MedEntry is quoted as saying "Our surveys consistently show that about 99.3% of the students find our program useful. Our approach is holistic. We believe in developing the skills of the students in a fundamental, sustainable way, developing their thinking skills, making them a better person, a more likeable person and do not offer gimmicks".
In Medical Observer (5/9/2008, page 3) article: "Dr Ed Boyapati of MedEntry warned medical School hopefuls to do their homework before handing over money for courses because there are many poor quality courses".
In Medical Observer (5/12/2008, page 16) article: Dr Ed Boyapati, of MedEntry is a vocal voice from the other side, frequently espousing the benefits of coaching in letters to the editor in various medical and mainstream publications. Dr Boyapati says statistical analyses have consistently shown that coaching does help, and that 99.3% of his students 'felt that coaching helped.' 'AMSA's (Australian Medical Students' Association) own survey found that 70% of students felt coaching helped,' he adds. Dr Boyapati believes there is a quality difference between what the various companies out there offer and warns that students should do their homework to find a reputable one. 'Customers should always go by word of mouth, and research the credibility of the organisation,' he says.
From the Consult Magazine, 4/9/2008:
Dr Ed Boyapati from UMAT training group MedEntry said his company was providing a vital service that did not undermine the UMAT. "I can't understand why there is such scrutiny over UMAT training, which is basically education. Universities do all that we are criticised for, and get away with it," he said. "The Australian Council for Educational Research is also a business which has been contracted by the universities to administer the UMAT test. As an independent body … it would not be appropriate for them to also run training courses." Dr Boyapati said the content of MedEntry training courses was verified by information made available by ACER and the contributions of experienced specialists. "We use various sources such as ACER's practice questions and our knowledge of similar aptitude tests used around the world," he said. "Our staff and question writers have expertise and experience in this field and attend appropriate international conferences."
MedEntry said it provided training packages for students of varying financial status and did not charge exorbitant amounts for its courses. "Apart from offering numerous scholarships, we offer discounts for financially disadvantaged students and run courses in rural areas such as Mildura," said Dr Boyapati. "Our most popular year-long course costs only $495. Compare this with $2000 which universities charge for a 13-week course and you will find that our courses are value for money."
Students mature enough to make choices (Sunday Age 4 Oct)
Compared to their peers a generation ago, today's young people are maturing earlier, physically and mentally. Yet Melbourne University claims that 18 year olds cannot make up their minds about career choices (5/10) and is attempting to keep them at university for longer, thereby increasing their income from fees.
Due to current government policy, universities are unable to charge full fee for undergrad students, but can do so for postgrad students. By moving its high demand courses such as Medicine to graduate level, the university is taking advantage of this anomaly and increasing their income further.
Highly able students mature earlier intellectually, so are able to make career choices after high school and will be lured to rivals like Monash. The feedback I get is that nearly all students want to get into medicine straight after Y12, rather than being forced to do Biomed or such an irrelevant degree first.
Melbourne Uni will be the loser in the long term due to loss of such bright students, although it may benefit them financially in the short term.
Dr Ed Boyapati
MedEntry UMAT Prep
http://www.medentry.edu.au
Net loss for plagiarist who copied his rivals (Andrew Trounson, 7/1/09, The Australian)
A provider of preparatory courses for students aiming to pass the UMAT medical and dental tertiary entry tests has been ordered to pay court costs after being found guilty of plagiarising a competitor's practice tests and answers.
The case has shed light on the sometimes cut-throat competition for students among practice test providers, in which student internet forums can become battlegrounds and where some operators allegedly aren't above anonymously promoting themselves while denigrating competitors.
The UMAT, developed by the Australian Centre for Educational Research, is widely used for school leaver entry into medical and dental courses.
There is a lively business in marketing practice tests to students, although ACER's chief executive Geoff Masters said these were of limited benefit because it was "difficult to teach directly" for the UMAT.
Two practice tests, Icarus and MedEntry, are at the heart of a bitter Federal Court copyright dispute dating back to 2004.
Justice Susan Kenny found that Dallas Gibson, through his Icarus College business, plagiarised 800 questions and answers from rival MedEntry.
The court dismissed MrGibson's counterclaims of plagiarism and defamation against MedEntry. In awarding costs last month, Justice Kenny said MrGibson's conduct had been "reprehensible" and that there was a need for deterrence.
Mr Gibson had claimed that he bought the questions on a computer disk from an RMIT sociology student, Minh Van Tran, for $1500 in cash and was unaware they were pirated from MedEntry.
He then claimed that 160 of the questions had been plagiarised by MedEntry from his tests.
But Mr Tran could not be traced and the original disk had apparently been discarded, which left the judge unconvinced by MrGibson's claims he wasn't aware the questions were pirated.
The judge wondered whether Mr Tran had existed at all and dismissed MrGibson's counterclaim against MedEntry as "unmeritorious" and "fabricated."
In her decision, Justice Kenny accused Mr Gibson of "simply making up much of his evidence as he went along in order to support his copyright infringement cross-claim."
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,24881153-12332,00.html
UNSW Interviews
Published in Australian Doctor, 23 January, 2009, p19
Your article (Med School Interview Furore, 21 November) criticises the interview questions used by the University of New South Wales (UNSW) to select medical students, without providing any alternatives.
The interview is designed to create a psychological profile of the candidate – to gain an indication of their personal qualities, their interpersonal style, how they arrived at the decision to pursue medicine as a career etc. Some job interviews also use this approach.
Each university has a different emphasis in their interview, for example, Monash has a detechnicalisation exercise, Adelaide has scenario-based questions and University of Western Sydney has a Multistation Mini Interview.
There is no right or wrong way of interviewing. They are all perfectly valid ways of assessing the suitability of a candidate for the medical profession, for example, by gaining an indication of students' motivation to pursue the career and their communication skills.
Dr Ed Boyapati
MedEntry UMAT Prep
http://www.medentry.edu.au
Teaching to the Test
Published in Medical Observer, 13 February, 2009, p21
The fundamental flaw in the UWS study has been exposed elsewhere, but it is suffice to say that the universities and ACER have a vested interest in promoting the myth that coaching does not help (Is coaching crucial? MedObs 5/12/08, p15). Whatever means is used to select students into high demand courses such as medicine, parents will be keen to ensure that their children have the best chance of getting in with coaching, whether for year 12, UMAT or the GAMSAT (test for graduate entry).
It is true that it is difficult to precisely quantify the benefits of any educational service. For example, it is impossible to validate the claims of universities that obtaining a degree significantly increases the lifetime earnings of graduates, because students will have done well in the earnings stakes due to their intellectual and emotional intelligence, regardless of whether they had obtained the degree.
Ten years ago, ACER was adamant that even familiarity with the test was unnecessary, so they did not release any information on the test. Now they are providing practice exams. Within a decade, people in Australia will come to accept that aptitude tests can be coached for, as has happened in the USA.
In fact, much of the opposition to high stakes testing in schools is based on the premise that teachers will 'Teach to the Test' (i.e. teaching for the tests is so effective that teachers will engage in this, at the exclusion of teaching other things).
Dr Ed Boyapati
MedEntry UMAT Prep
http://www.medentry.edu.au