Blogs

Does UCAT coaching work?

3rd October 2020

Does UCAT coaching work?

Psychometric tests such as UCAT have been in use in Australia for the last 25 years, but in the US numerous such tests have been in use for well over a century. Coaching organisations are therefore well established there. The officials at the Educational Testing Service (ETS) at Princeton say that they have no objection to the coaching because what is important is that students learn the ski ...

 

Read more
Time management in UCAT

3rd October 2020

Time management in UCAT

Timing is perhaps the most stress-inducing factor of the UCAT exam. If the UCAT were at take-home test, you would all score well. Managing time is the key. Most of your MedEntry UCAT practice will include timed sections, allowing you to become more familiar and comfortable with the pacing of the exam. The UCAT is not a test of intelligence. Although it is used as a predictor for success in ...

 

Read more
UCAT Prep: Establish your personal scoring goals

3rd October 2020

UCAT Prep: Establish your personal scoring goals

Your main goal should be to maximise your potential on the actual UCAT test. Very few students get every question right. You have to be realistic. Strive to work within your own abilities. Students often ask: How does my practice test performance translate to how I will perform on the actual UCAT test? Questions are “graded” for difficulty throughout the MedEntry UCAT prep ...

 

Read more
UCAT Tips: Learn to make intelligent guesses when necessary

3rd October 2020

UCAT Tips: Learn to make intelligent guesses when necessary

Another tip in scoring well in the UCAT test is to try to eliminate as many responses as you can. Here’s why it is important to eliminate at least some choices when you’re guessing. If you get to a question and you’re not sure of the answer, of course you’ll have to guess. Whether you’re guessing among all four choices or you’ve eliminated a couple of obvi ...

 

Read more
UCAT: Speed Reading

3rd October 2020

UCAT: Speed Reading

The following reading efficiency techniques can boost your reading rate. But even if your rate is fine, these techniques will help you boost comprehension and concentration. (i) Mechanical Approach You’ve probably seen speed-readers moving their hands down a page as they rapidly read the material, the theory being that their eyes follow their hands. The problem with this approach ...

 

Read more
Why do universities need UCAT scores? Isn’t my ATAR enough?

3rd October 2020

Why do universities need UCAT scores? Isn’t my ATAR enough?

Good university admissions officers will use your UCAT scores to help them assess your readiness to do tough medical school work. Although the UCAT does not assess broad subject knowledge, it provides a universal benchmark that your high school transcript can’t. It assesses skills that are essential to succeed in a competitive Australian medical school: problem solving, data interpreta ...

 

Read more
Doesn’t the UCAT do a poor job of predicting medical school grades?

3rd October 2020

Doesn’t the UCAT do a poor job of predicting medical school grades?

UCAT-bashers have long liked to claim that the UCAT isn’t valuable to universities because it doesn’t predict university grades very well. They miss two important points: first, smart university admissions officers don’t want it to predict grades, and second, it correlates very well with something more important than grades—real success in academic fields like medicin ...

 

Read more
Doesn’t the UCAT just measure “test-taking skills”?

3rd October 2020

Doesn’t the UCAT just measure “test-taking skills”?

Unfortunately, some UCAT prep courses try to convince students that taking the UCAT has noth­ing to do with real academic skills. They prefer you to believe that it’s all about their test-taking “secrets.” This is great marketing for them, but little help for you. Although there are a few basic test-taking skills that you should know about—process of elimina­t ...

 

Read more
Speed Reading in UCAT

3rd October 2020

Speed Reading in UCAT

UCAT is not just a test of speed reading: it is more than that. It tests your higher order thinking skills as illustrated by Bloom’s taxonomy. However, improving your reading speed will certainly be of help in UCAT. Speed reading is a collection of reading methods which attempt to increase rates of reading without greatly compromising comprehension or ability to recall and analyse. ...

 

Read more
Why is so much weight placed on just one test, the UCAT?

3rd October 2020

Why is so much weight placed on just one test, the UCAT?

It may seem unfair that a two hour test is so impor­tant. Remember, though, that the UCAT is not a one-shot, all-or-nothing affair. Your standardised test scores account for about a third of your medical school entry, depending on which university you apply. The other essential components include your ATAR score and medical entrance interviews. Further, if you score poorly in the UCAT (due ...

 

Read more
Subscribe to our Newsletter

Keep up to date with the latest information