Best umat preparation course (1 Viewer)

[Immortalp00n]

Do the UMAT prep courses actually help a lot? I've received mixed responses to this question lol..
Anyone recommend doing a prep course? Which is the best? Medentry?
thanks.

 

[Ricktatorship]

Just finished my Medentry course today haha. It IS expensive, the majority of the value is their online resources that you get access to. The actual course takes you through how to answer questions from the three sections etc- strategies, steps etc etc etc. I would recommend Medentry, but if thats not possible just get a decent amount of preparation material like past papers and drills. I've seen people here on BoS selling them.

 

[Dr_Fresh]

each course has its own strengths. medentry is probably the best overall.

 

[Immortalp00n]

are the explanations/drills that good?
or does their value lie within their online resources?

 

[Dr_Fresh]

if you're going with medentry, the only things that you are buying are the questions, exams and 1 day workshop. you can easily get your hands on their notes, guides and interview stuff for really cheap since people have copied them down.

 

[Ricktatorship]

Hey, I couldn't send this in private as you have some setting preventing it or something, but here is what I was going to send you:

Hey mate

Well the first day they take you through the steps needed to answer different types of questions in each section, as well as explain the umat and its relevance to medicine.
Second day we did the trial paper, and learnt about palfways into med (not so useful as most people had an idea of how they were getting in anyway), as well as interview help. So what they look for/don't want as well as a mock interview.

Worth the money? The real value is in their online resources. There is so much practice material to do, considering most people have at max 2 papers that ACER put out. Medentry's papers and drills have worked sols too. I think it is worth the money, but try get a group together as its like $450 instead of 800. Apparently you get on average +30% ranks by doing these courses instead of not doing them.

So yeah, gl, feel free to ask me anything else or whatever.
Oh and sorry for the late reply haha, I was logged off my bos acc for a while.

 

[subhadeep6270]

I want to add something to this thread after all, it's all about money.

Yes! most of the people would say that Medentry is good. But I want to stay neutral in this matter. Actually there are a lot more prep courses available in the Internet.

It is purely dependent on the choice of the student/candidate. There are some point you should remember.

1. If you need classes and practice materials = then go for Medentry/Medstart/NIE/ etc. << these companies cater to students with very high prices
2. If you only need classes and few notes = Then go for personal tutors << These tutor can offer you the cheapest classes
3. If you know everything and just need practice materials then go for PrepGenie << They can offer you very very cheap priced courses with huge question bank.

So, again, It's upto you and your requirement.

 

[Havox]

In the interest of balance I would add that a lot of people don't need to do these courses, a lot of that material or similar you can find online or prepare using other methods. For what they are, these courses are massively overpriced. The face to face teaching is fairly worthless and contrary to what ACER will tell you it's very possible to practice for the exam.

 

[Medman]

Also a recent study showed that you only seemed to improve on S3 by doing courses. There was no significant difference in marks by students who completed courses in S1 and S2. This was why S3 was changed dramatically last year which threw a lot of students.

 

[bangladesh]

Also a recent study showed that you only seemed to improve on S3 by doing courses. There was no significant difference in marks by students who completed courses in S1 and S2. This was why S3 was changed dramatically last year which threw a lot of students.

link/name of study?

 

[Oer]

link/name of study?

Did a quick poke around and I think this is the one he's referring to:

http://search.proquest.com/openview/7f0756636717f6fa2ad91e7fd23230ed/1

"Coached candidates had slightly higher UMAT scores on one of the three sections of the test (non-verbal reasoning), but this difference was not significant after controlling for Universities Admission Index, sex and age."


There are some others as well on that and similar topics, can search English results for "UMAT" on Google Scholar

Honestly I think it's personal. What might help someone might not help another. I know people who got 100th percentile without coaching, and people that got 8th with coaching. I know people who said it helped them and people who said it didn't. Everyone's different, you've got to know yourself.

 

[bangladesh]

Did a quick poke around and I think this is the one he's referring to:

http://search.proquest.com/openview/7f0756636717f6fa2ad91e7fd23230ed/1

"Coached candidates had slightly higher UMAT scores on one of the three sections of the test (non-verbal reasoning), but this difference was not significant after controlling for Universities Admission Index, sex and age."


There are some others as well on that and similar topics, can search English results for "UMAT" on Google Scholar

Honestly I think it's personal. What might help someone might not help another. I know people who got 100th percentile without coaching, and people that got 8th with coaching. I know people who said it helped them and people who said it didn't. Everyone's different, you've got to know yourself.

ye was just wondering what specific study he was referring to because he has quite specific points so I thought it was a new study that has come out

 

[A1P]

Did a quick poke around and I think this is the one he's referring to:
http://search.proquest.com/openview/7f0756636717f6fa2ad91e7fd23230ed/1

This report compared *coached* students vs uncoached, yet we often refer to it in threads asking about online prep courses.
Are we sure the researchers meant coached as having done a prep course, where does it say so?

Ironically for Medman who is strong on interview coaching, the report's clearest conclusion was coaching was ineffective in improving interview scores.

 

[bangladesh]

This report compared *coached* students vs uncoached, yet we often refer to it in threads asking about online prep courses.
Are we sure the researchers meant coached as having done a prep course, where does it say so?

Ironically for Medman who is strong on interview coaching, the report's clearest conclusion was coaching was ineffective in improving interview scores.

again studies like this is not quite reliable because it relies on the honesty of applicants and that's not the case most of the time. I remember in a prep course a few years ago they said tick no for prep in case they consider that when they score you.

 

[Medman]

I'm just quoting the study above whether it is truly indicative I am not sure. I think UMAT tutoring does help to a degree but that degree varies between students. Personally, I found Medentry probably did help in my preparation for certain questions and for time management.

From my experience of helping over 100 students obtain entry into medical schools I disagree with that report. You also have to realise many students attend group interview tutoring sessions which I believe is highly ineffective due to the lack of personalised feedback. My statistics don't lie but feel free to have you own opinion on this.