Why doing well in English is  essential  for gaining entry into medicine and succeeding in your medical course and career. Some students love it. Others hate it: Reading books, writing essays and analysing articles where the content matter is highly subjective and there is no definitive ‘right’ or ‘wrong’ answer. English is the polar opposite of many subjects favoured by maths and science minded students because essay questions require a highly critical and subjective thinking style in order to write high scoring responses. However, like it or not, all students looking to study undergraduate medicine or other popular health science courses, ...

Is studying medicine at Melbourne more prestigious than Monash? Is studying medicine at Usyd more prestigious than UNSW? And in the end, does it really matter? University rankings and prestige: how much do they matter for studying medicine? Prestige, prestige, prestige. It’s a battle cry often heard echoing from the halls of the oldest universities and repeated with an unwavering insistence of certain parents that: ‘my son will only obtain his the degree from The University of…’ (Well, we don’t need to name names here..) When selecting the university with the right medicine course for you, we would suggest that there...

How are UMAT results calculated? Unfortunately ACER does not release the marking scheme that is used determine UMAT scores. There is some speculation as to the following: answering a question correctly that is not answered correctly by the majority of UMAT candidates will be weighted more heavily. And conversely, answering a question incorrectly that most UMAT candidates do answer correctly, will be weighted more heavily against a candidate’s UMAT score. However, because ACER does not release the marking scheme or question weightings for the UMAT it is impossible to be absolutely certain of this. What is certain though, is the more...

Does patient confidentiality always prevail? Scenario:  You have been working at Pinehills Prison and Corrections Centre as the in-house physician for approximately six months. Being a physician in a prison has required you to slowly build a sense of trust with the inmates (many of whom suffer from serious psychological illness) over a long period of time. The process has been arduous and often emotionally draining, but you finally feel like you are building a positive rapport with the some of the inmates and have seen a steady improvement in both their physical and mental health as a result of your ongoing appointments....

You wouldn’t run a race without a coach. You wouldn’t sit your final exams without a teacher. So why would you sit the UMAT without having done some preparation first? Isn’t the UMAT an aptitude test, so what’s the point in preparing? The  UMAT  may be an ‘aptitude’ test, but there can be no doubt that having seen UMAT style questions before, and understanding how to answer them, will increase your chances of succeeding in the UMAT. While practice may not always make perfect, practice does increase your ability to perform in the UMAT exam because you can hone those  thinking skills...

Which universities use the UMAT as part of their selection criteria for medicine courses? According to the official ACER website, the following universities require satisfactory completion of the  UMAT  as part of their selection criteria for students who are seeking to gain entry into  undergraduate medicine and health science courses.  There are also some universities which use the UMAT as part of their graduate entry programmes. For all of the following universities, performance on the UMAT will not be the only requirement to gain entry, but for most of these universities it will be the first criterion that students need to...

By this stage, you will have well and truly completed your UMAT preparation. The day before the UMAT test is all about getting yourself in the right state of mind for the UMAT exam so that you can remain as stress-free as possible and perform at your best when it counts.   What should I do the day before the UMAT exam? -Make sure you know the location of your UMAT test centre and how to get there. Remember for some locations parking may be limited and inner-city traffic can be very heavy especially during peak hour.  If you’re planning on...

Pressure, pressure: coping with nerves and stress on the actual UMAT test day. Having done UMAT practice exam, after practice exam, after practice exam, most UMAT candidates will be raring to go come July 30th. Whilst UMAT preparation  is key to your UMAT success, it is not the only factor that will affect your UMAT performance on the actual UMAT test day. Being able to cope with the nerves and anxiety that inevitably appear on the day of the UMAT exam will be the key strength that will help you out-perform your fellow UMAT candidates. Perhaps the only thing separating two equally...

We all know that sick feeling in the bottom of our stomachs just prior to walking into a big exam; we’re jittery, shaking and generally thinking that we’d rather be anywhere else but here. Nerves can be debilitating in the most terrible way for even the brightest of students. Thus, it is crucially important that your learn to overcome these nerves before the actual day of the UMAT test so that you can perform at your peak and ultimately succeed in the UMAT.   How do I know if I’m nervous about the UMAT exam? Nervousness is generally marked by or...

Coping with UMAT stress and UMAT nerves prior to the UMAT exam: We all know that sick feeling in the bottom of our stomachs just prior to walking into a big exam; we’re jittery, shaking and generally thinking that we’d rather be anywhere else but here. Nerves can be debilitating in the most terrible way for even the brightest of students. Thus, it is crucially important that your learn to overcome these UMAT nerves before the actual day of the UMAT test so that you can perform at your peak and ultimately succeed in the UMAT.   How do I know...

With UMAT 2013 just around the corner, and UMAT preparation of most students well and truly under way, we thought we would address the issue of nerves and anxiety that can happen on UMAT test day. Below is a simple check list of UMAT test tactics that you can utilise to overcome this UMAT pressure and tips on how to tackle the actual UMAT exam itself.   Firstly, don’t doubt yourself! Just because you don’t feel like you’ll be at the top, doesn’t mean you’ll be at the bottom either. Assuming you have sufficiently prepared for the UMAT, you are at no disadvantage...

Worded mathematical problems on the UMAT exam: translating worded problems into mathematical symbols. comprehenisve UMAT advice from the  team at MedEntry UMAT preparation . Possibly the most confusing questions on the UMAT exam, worded mathematical problems can actually be solved relatively easily if you understand how the question is written and what the words of the question really mean in mathematical terms. Prior to solving worded mathematical problems on the UMAT exam, it is essential that you are comfortable with translating words into mathematical symbols. Below is a partial list of words and their mathematical equivalents. You should know these by...

A brief comparison of studying medicine at UNSW or Usyd for 2014 onwards.   Whilst the release of final ATAR results may still be a while away, it is important for high achieving students to consider now whether they would choose to study medicine at UNSW or Usyd. Below is a simple and concise outline of what each of the UNSW medicine and Usyd medicine pathways, respectively, entail.   What has changed? Usyd will change from awarding MBBS to MD or Doctor of Medicine. The change to MD has not yet been finalised – it requires approval from the University of...

Medicine entry via GAMSAT or UMAT? what’s the difference? It’s a question anyone wanting to gain entry into medicine will inevitably ask: ‘Am I better off sitting the UMAT and doing an undergraduate medicine degree, or should I sit the GAMSAT to gain entry into a graduate medicine course?’ To make things easier, below is a comparative summary of some of the key elements of both the GAMSAT (graduate entry pathway) and the UMAT (undergraduate entry pathway) so you can make up your own mind. See our earlier blog entries for a simple comparison of  studying medicine at Monash or Melbourne...

How to approach statistics problems on the UMAT exam: Frequently a feature of UMAT multi choice, understanding the language of statistics and how to answer those questions involving statistics on the UMAT exam is essential for UMAT success. Below, we have explained, as succinctly as possible, what you need to know in order to answer this style of UMAT question. Statistics is the study of the patterns and relationships of numbers and data. There are four main concepts that may appear on the UMAT exam. Median   When a set of numbers is arranged in order of size, the  median is...

Counting problems in UMAT: an essential summary. Your UMAT questions explained by the  team at MedEntry  as part of our new section  UMAT test tactics and preparation. They may seem simple on paper, but counting problems contained within the UMAT exam can often cause much confusion among students. If you can understand the basic principles of counting problems and recognize when to apply them, you will be able to master many of the typical counting problem question types presented in the UMAT exam.   When counting elements that are in overlapping sets, the total number will equal the number in one group plus the number in the...

To Melbourne or Monash for medicine? That  is the question. It's a question often asked by aspiring med students: ' should I study medicine at Melbourne or Monash?' To help you make up your own mind, we've compiled a clear, concise and simple breakdown of each of the available medicine pathways at Melbourne and Monash. For a comparison of UMAT against the GAMSAT please see the following article: ' UMAT or GAMSAT? which is harder? which is easier? '.   In summary, Medicine via UMAT  at Monash is far better for the students and their parents, but GMASAT route  at Melbourne is...

Probability questions in the UMAT: you’re probably reading this sentence right now…   Your UMAT questions explained by the  team at MedEntry  as part of our new section  UMAT test tactics and preparation.   We know what probability means, but what is its formal definition? Let’s use our everyday logic to define it. If there is no chance that an event will occur, then its probability of occurring should be 0. On the other extreme, if an event is certain to occur, then its probability of occurring should be 100%, or 1. Hence, we can deduce that  probability will be a number...

What you need to know about percentage % questions before starting your UMAT preparation:     Problems involving percent are common on the UMAT. The word  percent  means “divided by one hundred.” When you see the word “percent,” or the symbol %, remember it means 1/100. For example,   25 Percent   25 x 1/100 = 1/4   To convert a decimal into a percent, move the decimal point two places to the right. For example,   0.25 = 25% 0.023 = 2.3% 1.3 = 130%   Conversely, to convert a percent into a decimal, move the decimal point two places...

A starting guide on how to tackle the multi-choice of UMAT from the team at MedEntry UMAT preparation:   The ’2 out of 4′ rule in multi-choice:   In any multi-choice test, it is significantly harder to create a good but incorrect answer than it is to create the correct answer. For this reason usually only two attractive answer-choices are offered. One correct; the other either intentionally misleading or only partially correct. The other three answer-choices are usually ‘fluff’. This makes educated guessing on tests immensely effective. If you can dismiss the two fluff choices, your probability of answering the question successfully...