UMAT Preparation Guide 2017 Bala Anand

Table of Contents

Section by Section Overview

Section 1 2
Section 2 3
Section 3 4

Frequently Asked Questions

Q1: How can I read faster? 5

Q2: How should I review practice papers? 7

Q3: Should I do practice papers under exam conditions? 9

Q4: How can I improve at time management? 9

Q5: What are some good exam habits? 11

Q6: What are some key UMAT techniques? 11

Q7: How can I stop making assumptions? 12

Q8: Do I need to know any science to do well? 13

Q9: Do I need to know any science to do well? 14

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S1 - LOGICAL REASONING & PROBLEM SOLVING

This section is commonly thought of as the hardest by students,

however, with strategic practice in each question type, improvements
can be made. The FOUR general question types in Section 2 and brief
descriptions are provided below.

1. Logical reasoning test students ability to recognise

assumptions and draw conclusions from informative and
argumentative passages.

2. Data interpretation test students ability to interpret the

meaning and recognise the limitations of data from graphs.

3. Scientific methodology test students ability to assess the

validity of scientific and clinical experiments and draw
conclusions from the results.

4. Problem solving test students ability to understand the rules

of a game, puzzle or system and predict possible outcomes.

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S2 - UNDERSTANDING PEOPLE

This section requires students to identify, understand, or infer the:

Feelings (emotions)
Thoughts (perspectives)
Behaviours (manner)
Intentions (concerns)

of individuals in specific situations in a given stimuli. Questions are

designed to test students ability to recognise and put together the
specific contextual components of such stimuli; it does not aim to
appeal to any particular personality traits. It is important to read with an
open mind and generally think the best of all characters.

The stimuli often contain health-related situations. Therefore, becoming

well versed with the challenges of patients, their families and carers,
such as carer fatigue, will improve your performance. Furthermore,
students should be able to recognise the presence or absence of
empathetic and professional communication by a health professional
through analysing the verbal and nonverbal communication skills
displayed.

The THREE structural forms of stimuli commonly seen include:

Reflective monologues
Personal conversations
Doctor-patient interactions
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S3 - NON-VERBAL REASONING

This section is commonly the easiest for students to improve, through

question-based practice. Often there are multiple patterns occurring in
a single question. Try to figure out each pattern ONE AT A TIME.
Sometimes you may only have to figure out some of the patterns to
choose the correct answer. Students should try to familiarise
themselves with any patterns they come across in case you encounter
them again.

The SIX general question types commonly seen include:

1. Pick the middle

2. Next in the sequence
3. Missing part
4. Matrix
5. Number games
6. Analogies

Generally, this section is the best to tactically skip questions when

pressured for time. Why? Because it is the majority of students
strongest section, some universities give less overall weighting to it and
questions do not occur in sets where previous questions may help with
future ones.

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Question 1: How can I read faster?

Being a fast reader is an asset but answering questions fast is a more

valuable one. This requires attaining a high level understanding of the
structure and concepts of a stimuli within the first reading.

Structure refers to the demarcation of the stimuli into a number of

points, and the location or whereabouts of each point. Concepts refers
to the meaning we derive from these points by summarising them. A
breakdown of a stimuli, from an ACER Practice Paper, using this
method is shown below.

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An understanding of the concepts is whats required to answer most
questions. An understanding of the structure allows you to efficiently
return and read any detail that a question might require.

This methodology of reading contrasts with how you may read when
preparing for school exams. For school, we read to memorise. In the
UMAT exam we want to read to simplify and only return for detail.
Avoid getting caught up on scientific, medical and statistical
terminology or numbers that arent vital to your understanding.

Students who try to read faster may lock themselves into an invariable
speed that stops them from properly understanding the concepts. Think
of it like a racing track. Be willing to vary your speed according to the
natural bumps and turns you encounter in the stimuli. Studies have
shown no indication that speed plays a significant part in students
performance.

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Question 2: How should I review practice papers?

Reviewing a paper is just as important as doing the paper. A proper

review should take no less than 30 minutes. Reviewing can be broken
down into two main steps:

Reviewing specific questions

Reviewing overall exam performance

We encourage students to review all the questions they struggled with,

not just the ones they got wrong. The general steps to reviewing
specific questions are as follows:

1. Clarify why you chose the answer you did

2. Understand the reasoning behind the correct answer
3. Figure out how you can improve for future questions

Avoid improperly reviewing incorrect answers by superficially labelling

them as silly mistakes. Reviewing your overall exam performance
means analysing your section by section performance. This involves
identifying your accuracy and time taken with different question types
and then making small changes to your preparation and exam
approach. We also recommend that students record common
mistakes, and methods for improvement, in a well maintained exercise
book.

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Question 3: Should I do practice papers under exam
conditions?

The UMAT exam requires ways of thinking that are unique to it. When
you first start practicing, you are trying to learn from and adapt to the
question styles. You want to concentrate on forming the appropriate
way of thinking rather than trying to think fast. Therefore it is best to
attempt practice papers without any time constraints.

After becoming accustomed to the questions, and your way of

approaching them, you should concentrate on placing time constraints
to help you practice time management. However, students should
always research the meaning of any new words during practice papers.
You dont learn anything from guessing.

Question 4: How can I improve at time management?

The most important skill in managing time well is to have a good

awareness of time. As you practice, time how long it takes you to do a
small set of questions.After finishing the questions, compare how long
you think it took you to how long it actually took you. You want to take
on average 90 seconds per question, and no more than 120 seconds
for any question.

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Here are a few tips for better time management:

1. You should guess and, if possible, return to any hard questions

that you know, from past experience, you will struggle with. This
should be reserved for only a small number of questions.

2. It is relatively better to skip the Section 3 questions you really

struggle with, as this section is often weighed less by some
universities and the questions do not occur in sets.

3. When you are stuck between two remaining answer options

stop jumping quickly back and forth while checking them.
Concentrate on one answer option at a time.

4. When answering a question you need to consider how much

time you are spending on the question and how much more
educated and accurate your answer is going to become. If you
are guessing a question dont waste time trying to make a
perfect guess.

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Question 5: What are some good exam habits?

Good exam habits help us to consistently maintain our best

performance. However, habits come from repetitive intentional actions.

Here are a few habits to form:

1. Find and master your own style regarding how you physically
interact with the paper. Examples include underlining key words
in the stimuli or the question, underlining the question stem and
crossing out answer options etc.

2. Check how many questions you have completed every 30

minutes to evaluate how well you are managing time and
change your speed accordingly.

3. Always maintain a good sitting posture. If you find your back

sloping or head leaning, readjust yourself. A small sip of water
might be useful in reestablishing focus.

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Question 6: What are some key UMAT techniques?

Exam techniques are how we make our exam strategies specific to the
UMAT exam. In this booklet we go through two of the main techniques.

Elimination method

In the UMAT exam, it is generally be easier to identify the falsities

(commonly called disqualifying factors) in three answer options than it
is to confidently determine that the correct answer option has none.

Modality analysis

The UMAT is heavily focussed on avoiding assumptions. When answer

options contain high modal words it is often a ploy to trick students.
Such answer options require a greater burden of proof and often
require a stretch to be made. A general tip is to be wary of answer
options with a high modality, and avoid them when making a guess.

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Question 7: How can I stop making assumptions?

A key skill required in the UMAT exam is staying within the scope
defined by the information provided. To do this we must understand the
difference between an answer option that is logically sound and one
that is undeniably true. Say, for example, a study revealed that 10% of
Australian doctors have depression. It is logical to consider that 10% of
all doctors worldwide have depression or that being a doctor causes
depression, however these are not necessarily true. An undeniably true
answer would be that at least 1 in 10 Australian doctors have a mental
health problem.

By avoiding logical inferences, we stay within the scope.

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Question 8: Do I need to know any science to do well?

Students should NOT use any scientific content when attempting

questions, other than the information provided in the stimulus. This is a
mistake, commonly made by science students, that can lead to
choosing the wrong answers. However, an understanding of the
scientific method is important for the UMAT exam. In particular, this
refers to understanding how the methodology of an experiment can
affect its validity and reliability. This concept is addressed throughout
high school science but should be revised by all students in a manner
more appropriate for the UMAT exam.

Question 9: Do I need a large vocabulary to do well?

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A large vocabulary is not essential in the UMAT exam. It is much like
being a fast reader in that it is not a defining characteristic of good
performance. However, when analysing answer options, it is important
to identify the implications of their exact phrasing. This can require an
understanding of the implications of specific words, namely emotions,
rather than simple googled definitions. For example, it is common to
consider the differing strength of words, like angry and annoyed, so
that we may attribute them to a situation appropriately.

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