UCAT-Super-Satchel - the guide to success PDF

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This is guide with multiple questions for the ucat...

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   UCAT Secrets Super Satchel    Brought to you by our Educational Partners     

UCAT Secrets Super Satchel

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Read This First

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What is the UCAT?

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What is the test format for UCAT?

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How does scoring work for UCAT?

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What is involved in each section of UCAT?

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Situational Judgement Test

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Appropriateness

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The Criteria For Each Option

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The Principles of Situational Judgement:

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Answers:

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Importance

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Verbal Reasoning-Reading Comprehension

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Verbal Reasoning - True, False and Can't Tell

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Verbal Reasoning - Aim/Summary

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VR - Author’s opinion

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VR - Hypothetical questions

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VR - Inferences

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VR - Math/Numbers

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VR - Multiple Source

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VR - Opinion vs Facts

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VR - Qualifiers

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VR - Word definitions

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Decision Making -

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Drawing conclusions/syllogisms

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DM - Evaluating Arguments

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DM - Interpreting Information

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DM - Logical puzzles

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DM - Probability

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Quantitative Reasoning

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Quantitative Reasoning

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Familiarity with Numbers

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1. Familiarise yourself with common QR topics

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2. Learn to identify multi-step calculations

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Simulate the test environment

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Work on your estimation skills

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Read the question first – and carefully

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When doing calculations:

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Section 4: Abstract Reasoning

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Method 1 – SCANS Technique

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Method 2 – SPONCS Method

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Method 3 – NSPCC Method

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Which Method Is Better?

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What to look out for within Each Category?

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Shape

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Colour

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Position/Angle/Arrangement/Orientation/Conformation

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Number

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Size

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What to Keep An Eye Out For? Conditional Patterns

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Conditional patterns are not that common so only really look for them if you cant find any relationships straightaway. 136 Distractors If a rule applies to a majority of the boxes in a set but there is maybe one box that doesnt fit the rule, you’ve probably fallen for a distractor. What to Keep An Eye Out For? Conditional Patterns

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Conditional patterns are not that common so only really look for them if you cant find any relationships straightaway. 143 Distractors If a rule applies to a majority of the boxes in a set but there is maybe one box that doesnt fit the rule, you’ve probably fallen for a distractor.

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3. Flagging

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4. Make Better Use Of The 1 minute Instructions

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5. Know The Most Common Form of Distractors

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6. There’s Always a Pattern

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High Performance Secrets

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An Introduction

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Principle 1: The Power of Belief

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Principle 2: Raise Your Standards

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Principle 3: Control Your Environment

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Principle 4: Extreme Ownership

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Principle 5: Modelling

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Principle 6: Going Deeper

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Extracts From Interviews With 99.95 Students

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Read This First Dear Student, I want to thank you and congratulate you for taking the initiative to make it today. Before you go through this comprehensive UCAT guide, please take a few minutes to read this brief introduction. The truth is you’re here for a reason. You’re ambitious, driven and you want to get a headstart on your UCAT preparation. Not only, am I humbled and honoured that you’ve chosen my workshop and allowed me to serve you, but you’ve reminded me of myself 8 years ago. You see, when I was in year 12, I had the same ambitions. I was a driven, motivated and extremely passionate student who wanted to excel in his ATAR & UMAT (now UCAT). Unfortunately however, I wasn’t a good student during high school I was that student who had no idea how to study for things, left their preparation to the last minute, and achieved pretty poor marks. In fact, I remember being so ashamed with my results after one particularly bad report, I hid it from my parents, burying it deep under my bed. I still remember the confusion on my parents faces when I informed them that my school wasn't giving out results for that semester. Safe to say, this trick didn't work for very long. Whilst this obviously isn't what you expect to hear from a tutor, I had to tell you this for one reason. It shows you that I was never a naturally gifted student, in fact, I was the complete opposite. I remember purchasing thousands of practice questions from the old UMAT companies and making a strict schedule for how I planned to power through my preparation. I even created a map of how I wanted my scores to improve throughout the year. But as Year 12 progressed, I started to really struggle in balancing my school subjects alongside the UMAT (now UCAT).

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I was getting some pretty terrible marks, and very quickly, the frustration and stress I was feeling at school, began to carry over into my UMAT (now UCAT) preparation. I remember sitting down to attempt some practice questions and getting the same questions wrong, again and again and again. I was stressed, anxious and angry at these stupid resources I'd been given, big packs of practice questions that didn't give me a single clue about how to answer any of their questions. Not only was this annoying, but it made me question whether it was even possible to do well on the UMAT (now UCAT). Was I just too dumb to do well? Fast forward to when results were released, not only was I a nervous wreck, but I was too scared to even open the email. I knew I'd failed long before I sat the exam. But my result was even worse than expected. I had completely failed. I remember the shame on my face when I told my parents of my result. I was sitting at dinner trying to avoid eye contact with them, and desperately trying to take my mind away from the guilt I was feeling. I'd just failed an exam that my parents had spent thousands of dollars and hundreds of hours helping me prepare for. And this didn't even match the embarrassment I felt at school as three of my best friends, Nathan, Victor and Louis proudly showed off their 90th percentile+ scores. Whilst I was enveloped by this pain, my brain began ticking. Could you even 'study' for an exam like the UCAT? The concept of doing thousands of practice questions certainly hadn't worked for me. It just didn't make sense until I realised one thing. The UMAT (now UCAT) is not a content exam. It's not something you can master just by doing thousands of practice questions, or worse, by just relying on your natural IQ.

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This was setting you up for failure! I realised that I had to develop skills. And so after coming to this realisation, I decided to resit the UMAT (UCAT) the following year, but with a completely different approach. This time I wasn’t going to spend hundreds of hours doing questions and practice exams, but instead… I was going to find the skills, principles and techniques that would allow me to consistently answer any question correctly. I set out on my mission and began tediously analysing the structure of thousands of questions, deconstructing the methodology and techniques behind how they were created. I read hundreds of pages of literature on how aptitude exams were created, and why they included each type of question. And I deconstructed every type of question, finding a skill, principle or technique that would allow me to solve them instantly. That year I re-sat the UMAT (now UCAT) and scored in the 100th percentile. This got me thinking. If these skills, techniques and principles could transform me from failing the UMAT (now UCAT), to scoring in the 100th percentile, couldn't they help other students too? And so I began teaching other students the very same skills, principles and techniques that allowed me to hack the UMAT (now UCAT), (whilst doing LESS questions). And the results speak for themselves. Not only have I sat the UMAT (now UCAT) a further seven times, scoring in the 100th percentile on every occasion (a national record), but I've now tutored 150+ students into medical schools around the country. So, I write this for you because I remember the misery, heartache and embarrassment I went through. And I don’t want you to experience the same thing. Not only will learning the right skills, principles and techniques save you hundreds of hours of time spent painfully attempting questions that you have no idea how to answer… But it'll even boost your ATAR, giving you far more time to focus on your Year 12 subjects. 6

Oh, and you won't have to sit through an awkward dinner with your parents like I did after failing the UCAT. So, I want you to take this one message away. 1. The UCAT is not a content exam. Just doing questions, is NO guarantee of success. You MUST learn the underlying skills, principles and techniques first. This is the mantra behind everything I do when I prepare students like you for the UCAT. Whilst I do provide access to content (thousands of practice questions etc.), it's the access to my skills, principles and techniques that'll give you the edge you'll need to get into Medicine. I am so excited to cover the principles that I truly believe will not only give you the edge in the UCAT but also the certainty and guidance that will help your preparation moving forward.

Shanaka Jayakody

An Introduction To The UCAT

What is the UCAT? 7

UCAT stands for University Clinical Aptitude Test and is the exam that has replaced UMAT (Undergraduate Medicine and Health Sciences Admissions Test). The UCAT is a required assessment in order to be eligible to enter medicine and dentistry in Universities around Australia and New Zealand. UCAT is an aptitude test made to identify candidates with desirable mental-skills for a career in medicine and dentistry. These skills are broken into five distinct sections of the exam: 1. Verbal Reasoning 2. Decision Making 3. Quantitative Reasoning 4. Abstract Reasoning 5. Situational Judgement The UCAT is logical reasoning test based off the UKCAT, which is used in the United Kingdom to test their medicine candidates. It is unlike any other exam a Year 12 students would have experienced before as it is vastly different from knowledge-based assessments like Biology or Chemistry. There are more similarities with other logical reasoning exams like the UMAT and MCAT so some skills are transferable but it is essential to learn exactly how UCAT will test their candidates and identify the exact skills required to do well in the UCAT.

What is the test format for UCAT?

The UCAT is a two-hour computer based multiple-choice test. It consists of five separately timed subtests. Once the test has started, time will not pause until either every subtest is finished or the allotted time runs out. Each subtest represents the five different sections and have different amount of questions and time allocated for each section. Students must complete one section first before going onto the next section and the order for the sections remains the same for every student. The order of sections is the same as listed below. There are 233 questions in total and UCAT has mentioned that it is not expected for candidates to finish the test. The allocated time and questions is: Section 1: Verbal Reasoning – 44 questions – 21 minutes Section 2: Decision Making – 29 questions – 31 minutes Section 3: Quantitative Reasoning – 36 questions – 24 minutes Section 4: Abstract Reasoning – 55 questions – 13 minutes Section 5 – Situational Judgement – 69 questions – 26 minutes There is a one minute “break” before the start of each section which will display instructions. 25% Extra time may be given for candidates with special education needs, disabilities or temporary injuries and must lodge forms to UCAT to be approved before the exam. An onscreen calculator is provided on the same screen as the test. For scrap paper, a booklet and pen is provided.

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How does scoring work for UCAT?

For the UCAT, the first four sections are scaled and scored evenly. Each section has its raw marks converted to scaled scores that share a common range from 300 to 900. The total score is the addition of the individual scores for the first 4 sections - Verbal Reasoning, Decision Making, Quantitative Reasoning and Abstract Reasoning. This gives a total scale score that can range from 1200 to 3600. Section 5 – Situational Judgement is a bit different because it’s not deemed as a “cognitive” test but a test to measure “non-cognitive attributes”. Scoring for this section is taken from your raw score and directly placed into one of four bands with band 1 being the highest and band 4 being the lowest.

What is involved in each section of UCAT?

Section 1: Verbal Reasoning Verbal Reasoning assesses the ability to read and think carefully about information presented in passages and to determine whether specific conclusions can be drawn from information presented. No prior knowledge is required to answer the questions. 21 minutes is given to answer 44 questions. There are 11 passage with 4 questions each. The passage will read like a newspaper or research article. Questions will have 4 answer options. You are required to choose the most suitable answer and you can only select 1 answer OR There will be a statement and you have to choose whether the statement is TRUE, FALSE or CAN’T TELL based on the information from the passage. Section 2 Decision Making Decision Making assesses the ability to apply logic to reach a decision or conclusion, evaluate arguments and analyse statistical information. No prior knowledge is required except basic arithmetic (addition, subtraction, multiplication and division of small numbers). An onscreen calculator is provided and may be used. 31 minutes is given to answer 29 questions. All questions are standalone and do not relate to one another. Each question has an individual premise which may be a set of rules, venn diagram or something visual which you need to interpret. This is liken to learning a set of rules to a “game” and being able to answer a question based on the given rules. Questions will have 4 answer options with only one correct answer and are worth 1 mark each. OR There are 5 statements and you have to place YES or NO beside each statement and are worth 2 marks for fully correct responses and 1 mark for partially correct responses. Section 3: Quantitative Reasoning Quantitative reasoning assesses the ability to use numerical skills to solve worded problems. The mathematics required is at the “A” level in Year 9 in Australian schools, particularly in the topics of rates and ratios. 24 minutes is given to answer 36 questions. A set of rules for a situation or a

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visual graph may be used to represent the information. Students need to read the graph and all relevant information correctly and calculate using basic arithmetic (addition, subtraction, multiplication, division) the desired solution. An onscreen calculator is provided. Most questions will have four questions connected to the same data. Some questions will be standalone and only have one question. There will be 5 answer options for each questions and you are required to select the best option. Section 4: Abstract Reasoning Abstract reasoning assesses your ability to identity patterns amongst abstract shapes where irrelevant and distracting information may lead to incorrect conclusions. You must test, critically evaluate and adapt your process as you are finding the pattern. 13 minutes is given to answer 55 questions. There are 4 different question types in this section. • Type 1 will present you with two sets of shapes labelled “Set A” and “Set B”. There are 6 shapes in each set. You will be given a test shape and asked to decide which set the test shape belongs to. You will usually be given 5 test shapes for every given sets so 5 questions will use the same data. • Type 2 will present you with a series of shapes and you will be asked to select the next shape in the series. • Type 3 will present 3 images. It will compare the first two images then it will ask you to compare the 3rd image with the answer options in the same way it compared the first two images. • Type 4 is similar to type 1 except you will be given 4 answer options and must select the answer option that belong to a certain set. Section 5: Situational Judgement Situation Judgement assesses the capacity to understand real world situations and identify critical factors and appropriate behaviours in dealing with them. This is a non-cognitive assessment and deals more with interpersonal skills. No prior medical or procedural knowledge in hospitals is required however since it assesses interpersonal skills, it is required to understand what is appropriate under general settings. 26 minutes is given to answer 69 questions. A scenario will be given and there will be between 2 to 5 questions associated with that scenario. Questions will ask you to rate the importance or appropriateness of possible actions. OR Questions will require you to rate each of the 4 answer options. OR Questions will ask you to select the most/least appropriate from 3 answer options.

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Situational Judgement Test The test measures your capacity to understand real world situations and to identify critical factors and the appropriate behaviour in dealing with them. It assesses the key traits of integrity, perspective taking and team involvement. SJTs are used widely in medical selection, including selection of Foundation Doctors, GPs and other medical specialties. Questions ask for the appropriateness of a response in a scenario or the importance of a factor in making a decision. These two will be explained below. Why is it used? • Measures ability to assess real-life scenarios and choose correct response to a situation. • Used widely in medical selection, including in selection of doctors. • Helps to assess knowledge of ethics and the thinking process in making decisions The UCAT answers are not as clear-cut as found in the other sections where the answers are either A, B, C or D. Here, different people may judge an item to be more appropriate or more important than other people. This means that they are subjective and can be interpreted in different ways. Because of this reason, the marking is based on 4 bands: Band 1 - Candidates in Band 1 performed well above average, showing similar judgment in most cases to a panel of experts. Band 2- Candidates in Band 2 performed above average, showing appropriate judgment for most cases, with many matching model answers. Band 3- Candidates in Band 3 performed lower than average, showing appropriate judgement for some questions, but significant differences from ideal responses for others. Band 4- Performance of candidates was low, with judgement differing great...