UMAT - Wednesday 25 July 2007

[future-doctor]

Anyone else also sitting the umat this year?? And what are you doing to prepare?? Does anyone have sample questions?

Any help will be appreciated. thanks

[stephvan]

The preparation courses seem quite overpriced...agree??

[future-doctor]

The preparation courses seem quite overpriced...agree??

yeah.. it'll be awful if you took them and failed the test! Are you sitting the umat too??

[sicilia]

Hey guys,
Yeah i am sitting the umat too. Those courses are definitely expensive. Are u guys all doing this for the first time? I have done it once b4, it is pretty nerve-wrecking! esp the crowd that turn up for the test!!! Where are u guys doing the test?

[stephvan]

yeah.. it'll be awful if you took them and failed the test! Are you sitting the umat too??

Yeah I'm sitting the umat, too. I'm doing it in Perth, how about you guys? What are you doing to prepare? Have you done any courses?
I'm just going to go through some booklets that my friends have cos a lot of people from my school are doing it. Sicilia, what was it like when you did it? Any tips?
Thanks

[sicilia]

Well, I left school last yr so i am 17 and i am guessing you to be somewhere around there too. But i Am now doing biomed sce at notre dame and yes, i am doing the umat at perth too. It was so stressful i am not trying to scare u but the crowd was what scared me the most. You get sooo much ppl waiting at that Physical recreation centre at UWA and you start to think how the hell are u going to make it among such a huge amount of ppl. But, the main thing is to know that at least you have an idea of what the umat is gonna be like and what it consists of. Lots of them wouldnt have a clue, like me last yr. Walked in there, panicking and shivering in cold( the gym gets sooo cold), having abs no idea what to expect. I got 20,45,80 and a TER of 96.4, and I didnt apply for bonded. I didnt get in. This yr, while at uni, i did buy a course, from NIE. And thats all I have been doing so far. So,Stephvan, are u thinking about going interstate. Have u got ur admission ticket? I think mines in the morning. Great! its gonna be even colder. I know its tough esp when u are at sch, worrying about ur tees and the umat. I would never want to repeat that yr ever! Remember being stressed all the time, esp for a person like me, a worry wart, I was literally pushed to the edges last year. On the day of umat, just DONT panick. Try not to atleast and wear layers.

[stephvan]

But, the main thing is to know that at least you have an idea of what the umat is gonna be like and what it consists of.

Thanks for all your info. But the thing is that I don't really know much about what it'll be like. A girl at my school was going to give me some papers she had, but she never did and now it's too late to order a practise booklet. Can you give me an idea? I do know a basic overview, like 3 sections etc and have looked at the UMAT info booklet lots...but anything else??
Thanks times a million

[sicilia]

Ok, this is how it all happens. U go there and take ur seat. Section 1 goes for 65 minutes. Once this ends, they will tell u to close the booklet and come back to the front page. Then when u are about to commence section 2, which goes for 45 minutes, they will tell u to open the book again. Say if u finished a booklet early, u are not allowed to go back and look at another section. U will be penalised if u do so. Most ppl wouldnt have any time leftover to even go back and check. But it depends, on the difficulty of the questions and ur speed reading. But, its ment to be hard. Prepare urself to face some long comprehensions for section 1 and 2 and the weirdest patterns and sequences to be in the last section. DOnt leave anything blank, if u dont have anytime left, put somethin in. Some of my seniors who left sch b4 me, told me that u have more chances to increase ur score, if u put down something, rather than leaving it blank, which makes sense. To improve section1, some ppl say practice ur speedreading. But i really dont think this will help, if u read fast, u r going to end up missing the info conveyed in the argument. How will u ans the qn then? Others say, just practice reading the most boring articles/newspapers. I reckon this will help u, i mean u are most likely not going to get passages about things that u will like and find it easy to read about. Umat is a test which judges ur ability to perform the best under stress. So yes, the passages will be boring and big and just really ugly. Again, I am not trying to stress u, i am thinking that u probably r stressing at this moment, i was like that last yr. Thats why i am having this huge party with my uni frens once umat finishes. Arrange somethin for the after-umat,some thing u can look forward to. Any way, back to where we were, for section 2, try to understand feelings. Talk to frens and family. Say, ur dad got a parking fine, imagine how u would feel if u got one. U know things like that. Some say u cant do well in that section as it is to do with maturity. Older ppl tend to well in that section. Yes, it is true that ppl as old as 28 do take this test. Friend of mine from uni is 23 and doing the umat this yr. they will understand feelings better cus they are older. But u never know! Section 3, some can do it , some cannot. If that friend of urs does not seem to be helping you at this moment with the umat papers, i suggest u look for different ways like the internet. U can find out all the practice that u need in the net. I went through the same thing too, friend of mine promised me his notes and practice papers for umat, didnt give them to me at all! U cant trust anyone these days! Apparently, even some of the prep courses are frauds. They copy off from each other and say its their own work. I know lots of ppl who paid all the money and got nothing valueble in return. But this is not really ur case, so yeah, thats all i can tell u at this moment. Its good to ask all these qns, keep them coming.

[stephvan]

wow thanks so much for all your info. You have really helped. Do you have any suggestions as to which sites have practise things?? Mainly for section 3, I mean...patterns, etc.
Will try your suggestions for sure!!
Thanks, steph

[future-doctor]

i'm sitting it in perth too, first time.

sicilia, is it all multi-choice??

for section 3, i was given a huge stack of sheets where you have to go hunting for a given shape amongst a heap of lines (it's actually quite hard). is that what sec 3 of umat is mainly composed of, or is it pattern finding??

i haven't really done much preparation.. been stressing over school stuff and tee (mocks are in term 3 holidays, so this will be the last holiday until the end of the year... if you actually call it a holiday)

to prepare, i've been given 2 fat files of questions (but i just don't know if i'll get through them over school assignments)