UMAT stands for the Undergraduate Medical Admissions Test. As its name suggests, it is used as an essential selection criteria for students looking to enter Medicine and the Health Sciences degrees. Without a high UMAT score, you will not be able to enter these courses.

The UMAT is a set of three aptitude exams, set in multiple-choice format, that tests three specific types of thinking:

Section 1: Logical Reasoning and Problem Solving. This section tests your ability to analyse information, evaluate relevant facts, generate and test plausible hypothesis and draw logical conclusions. There are wide variety of question forms. Problem Solving Questions ask students to solve a logic game or "puzzle", given certain conditions or clues, whilst logical reasoning asks students to draw conclusions and evaluate arguments based on stimuli material of a general scientific nature. The stimulus can include passages, data interpretation (charts and tables), and scientific experiment. This section tests your ability to reason based on specific information.

Section 2: Understanding People. This section tests your understanding of people and their emotional intelligence - or "E.Q". Typically, a passage is given, which represents a specific interpersonal situation, a dialogue between doctor and patient, or reflection of a person who is dealing with illness. The student is asked a series of questions that require him/her to identify, understand and infer the thoughts, feelings, or behaviours of the people in the situation. It tests your emotional sensitivity - a skill deemed necessary for all health professionals.

Section 3: Non-Verbal Reasoning. This section tests your abstract reasoning through a series of non-verbal diagrams. Students will be asked to visually identify sequences and patterns, and it is designed to test your ability to draw conclusions in non-verbal contexts - an indicator of on-the-spot or "fluid intelligence".

The timing of the test is 2 hours and 45 minutes, and the suggested time for each section is as follows:

If you are looking to study Undergraduate Medicine or other Health Science courses will need to sit the UMAT. These courses include -

The UMAT is held annually in July.

The main difference between UMAT and other school leaving exams is that UMAT is a skills-based exam whilst your school leaving exams (Mathematics, English, Sciences etc) are primarily knowledge based exams.

Knowledge based exams test your memory and reasoning skills. For example, in Mathematics and Science, you will need to recall formula in order to apply it correctly. In English, you may need to be familiar with texts, and memorise quotes in order to write a convincing essay. In such exams, memorisation plays an essential part in scoring top marks.

In contrast, UMAT is an aptitude exam that tests particular types of thinking (logical reasoning, empathy and abstract reasoning) rather than your memory and in theory, you are supposed to be able to sit UMAT without any previous knowledge.

Another major difference between school leaving exams and UMAT is that time management is a critical factor for success in UMAT. Most school leaving exams are designed so you can always complete the exam. However, UMAT is specifically designed so that most students will not be able to complete the exam. Doing questions quickly is a source of competitive advantage in the UMAT.

Knowing how to do UMAT questions is very different to knowing how to do them quickly.

At MedStart UMAT Preparation, we show you simple frameworks to quickly breakdown even the most complex questions, so you can ace your UMAT and get into Medicine.

According to ACER, the UMAT has been deemed necessary because there are "far more academically qualified applicants than there are places in such courses". Simply put, the demand of students looking to study Medicine and the Health Sciences is greater than the supply of places offered by the Universities.

In the past, selection was based purely on academic criteria. This led to a situation, where for better or worse, students had to score the top 1% in order to get into courses such as Medicine. In fact, in NSW, students needed an equivalent ATAR of 99.75 for admission, regardless of whether students possessed the other characteristics needed to become good health practitioners.

According to ACER, the UMAT is necessary because

Hence, the UMAT and Interview in theory, helps Universities select students on a multi-dimensional level to avoid biases that may arise if selection were based solely on academic merit.

Absolutely.

The most common misconception of UMAT is that since it is a skills-based test, it is impossible to prepare for it. Whilst preparing for a skills-based exam is different to preparing for a knowledge-based exam, having a structured, and methodical approach to learning will give you the best chance of acing the UMAT.

This is because you will be familiar with:

As with most professional athletes, practice alone can not guarantee success, but peak fitness and strong technique will give you the best possible opportunity for success on "game day". Likewise for the UMAT, although you may not know what questions they will ask you, if you study the right frameworks and understand how to time yourself, you will have the best chance of acing the UMAT.

The UMAT can only be taken by final year students, or students enrolled in Undergraduate Degrees. Therefore, it is not possible to sit the UMAT in Year 11. However, you can certainly prepare for it early!

Definitely.

Preparing for UMAT in Year 11 is an excellent idea, because it will free up your time in Year 12 to study for your school leaving exams. Moreover, since UMAT is a skills-based exam, you are not likely to forget the techniques even after a year is passed.

Entry for most health science courses in University require three main criteria for admission (ATARs, UMAT Scores and Interviews). In your final year, you will be under a lot of time pressure preparing for up to five subjects at school and the UMAT. Furthermore, the UMAT is usually just before your school Trial Exams (that usually count for 40% of your Assessment Mark), which makes this situation even worse. Many students end up facing a trade-off between preparing for the UMAT and preparing for their school-leaving exams. Failure to achieve high marks in either can cost you your place in the Medicine.

Hence, preparing for UMAT early is not only possible, it is extremely beneficial.

Yes. If you were not successful the first time you sat the UMAT, you may sit the UMAT again.

Your UMAT scores are valid for two years. In deciding whether to sit UMAT again, you should note that if you are studying at University when you sit UMAT for the second time, most Universities that you apply to will also consider your academic performance at University.