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AMEPP® - UMAT

Undergraduate Medicine & Health Sciences Admission Test

The Test
Relevance of the Test
Content of the Test
Structure of the Test
Importance of the Test
Registering for the Test
Date and Time of the Test
Sitting the Test
UMAT Results
UMAT ACER Information Booklet
Contacting ACER
Preparing for UMAT

The Test UMAT

The Undergraduate Medicine and Health Science Admission Test (UMAT) is designed to assess a range of non-academic personal qualities, which are considered important for the study, and practice of medicine, dentistry and other health professions. The tests are developed each year to rigorous professional and technical standards by the Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER -. an independent national research and development organisation) on behalf of a group of universities (the UMAT Consortium) formed for the purpose of collaborating on selection testing of applicants for bachelors degrees in medicine and health sciences. ACER is responsible for the administration of UMAT on behalf of the UMAT Consortium.

Relevance of the Test

Many Australian universities have adopted a multi-dimensional selection strategy in which both academic and non-academic qualities of an applicant are taken into consideration when selecting a student for health professional courses. UMAT forms part of this process and aims to assess qualities that are not necessarily reflected by an applicant’s academic score.The battery of three tests (collectively form UMAT) are developed and used specifically to assist with the selection of students into medicine and health science degree programs at undergraduate level. Click here to view a list of participating degree programs.

Content of the Test

The three grouped test sections in UMAT are designed to test general attributes and skills gained through prior experience and learning; specifically the acquisition of skills in critical thinking and problem solving, interaction with others, and abstract non-verbal reasoning. These non-academic personal skills are considered important to the study and later practice of professions in the health sciences. UMAT is not a personality or IQ test. It is an aptitude test. UMAT is not curriculum based and does not assume academic knowledge or special understanding of any subject at secondary level. It does not require knowledge or skills in science and mathematics, or in any other area of the curriculum.

Note: All the necessary information regarding the content of UMAT in 2008 will be available on the ACER website or in the UMAT2008 ACER Information Booklet.

The full UMAT2008 Information Booklet (PDF:2.3MB) will be available at the UMAT page of ACER (requires Acrobat® Reader® Software).

A registration form is NOT included in the PDF version of the Information booklet.


Click the following icon to get Adobe® Reader® 7.0.



A registration form is NOT included in the PDF version of the Information booklet.

Structure of the Test

UMAT questions are in multiple-choice-question (MCQ) format with 4 or 5 response alternatives, from which you are asked to choose the most appropriate. All candidates will be required to mark their answers by filling in ovals on a machine-readible answer sheet.All questions are of equal value, but may vary in the level of difficulty. The three grouped test sections that collectively form UMAT are presented in the one test booklet and each test section is strictly and separately timed. All candidates will be required to follow the test supervisor's instruction at all times.

UMAT consists of three strictly timed sections designed to measure the ability in the following areas:

SECTION 1: LOGICAL REASONING AND PROBLEM SOLVING

SECTION 2: UNDERSTANDING PEOPLE (PREVIOULSY CALLED INTERACTION SKILLS)

SECTION 3: NON -VERBAL REASONING

SECTION 1

LOGICAL REASONING AND PROBLEM SOLVING

(44 Questions in 65 minutes)

Material in Section 1 of UMAT consist of a number of questions that are drawn from a wide variety of general sources and are based on a brief text or piece of information that is presented in a visual tabular or graphical form. Questions are designed to assess the ability of a candidate to understand or comprehend draw logical conclusions, reach solutions by identifying relevant facts, evaluate information, pinpoint additional or missing information, and generate and test plausible hypotheses.

:Conclusions should be drawn only from the information provided.

SECTION 2

UNDERSTANDING PEOPLE (PREVIOULSY CALLED INTERACTION SKILLS)

(36 Questions in 45 minutes)

Section 2 of UMAT is designed to assess the ability to understand and think about people. Test questions are based on short dialogues, conversation(s), passages or scenarios involving healthcare professionals, patients or general interaction between people. There are two types of questions in this section. One type will ask candidates to identify the best or most appropriate response for a given situation, while the other type will ask you to identify the option which best describes or explain's a person's behaviour, thoughts or feelings.

SECTION 3

NON -VERBAL REASONING

(30 Questions in 40 minutes)

Questions in Section 3 of UMAT are of several different kinds.

The first kind of question involves patterns of lines of shapes that are designed to assess your ability to extract particular information from within a large amount of irrelevant data. More specifically, you will be asked to locate a particular shape within a complex pattern background. Questions of this kind in this section may appear as two types:

In TYPE I questions, one figure will be somewhere in the complex pattern, exactly the same size and orientation as one of the figures shown in the given MCQ answer options (A, B, C, D and E). The pattern may or may not have any shading and the figure may overlap areas that are shaded. The shape will almost definitely have lines of the background pattern running through but it is the outline of the figure that is required, not any particular shading.

In TYPE II questions, one figure will be somewhere in the complex pattern, exactly the same size, but not in the same orientation as one of the figures shown in the given MCQ answer options (A, B, C, D and E). The figure may be either rotated or reflected (but not both). Rotations will only be clockwise 90°, 180°, or 270°. Reflections will only be about a horizontal or a vertical axis.

The second kind of questions in Section 3 of UMAT consists of a series of five pictures in which you are required to arrange them so that they forma a logical sequence. You will then be asked to select the middle picture of the sequence and mark them on the corresponding letter (A, B, C, D or E) on the answer sheet.

The third kind of question shows a series of pictures. You are asked to select the picture from the given MCQ answer options (A, B, C, D and E) that would logically follow as the next picture in the series. NB. An alternative form of this kind of question may include a picture in which one segment is missing. The task is to select the one alternative from the given MCQ answer options (A, B, C, D or E) that would logically complete the picture.

Importance of the Test

Students or candidates who are contemplating studying a course at a University for which the UMAT is required, should consider the test to be an integral and important part of the application, selection and admission process. In fact ACER considers the test to be a 'high-stakes test; that is, the results of the test have the potential to make a major impact on the future career of the test taker'

Results for all UMAT candidates will be provided to the universities for the purpose of selecting applicants for interview.

Note: All the necessary information regarding the importance of UMAT in 2008 will be available on the ACER website or in the UMAT2008 ACER Information Booklet.

Registering for the Test

There are two ways to register for UMAT: online at www.acer.edu.au/umat OR using the paper registration form provided in the UMAT Information Booklet.

Note: All the necessary information regarding registration for UMAT in 2008 will be available on the ACER website or in the UMAT2008 ACER Information Booklet.

Date and Time of the Test

Dates and time of the test vary slightly from year to year.

Note: All the necessary information regarding UMAT dates and times in 2008 will be available on the ACER website or in the UMAT2008 ACER Information Booklet.

Sitting the Test

When completing the Test Registration form you must nominate the one test location most convenient to you as listed in the UMAT ACER Information Booklet. ACER will then assign you to a testcentre at a time stated on your Admission ticket.

Note: All the necessary information regarding test centre procedures and regulations for UMAT in 2008 will be available on the ACER website or in the UMAT2008 ACER Information Booklet.

UMAT Results

A Statement of Results will be mailed to you in late November by ACER. The Statement of Results will contain a percentile ranking for each of the three sections of the Undergraduate Medicine and Health Science Admission Test. Individual medical schools set and establish their own minimum cut-off scores acceptable for consideration by university admissions committees. This is likely to vary from one university to another. Candidates should note that universities may also choose to use the test scores in other ways.

Note: All the necessary information regarding UMAT results and scores in 2008 will be available on the ACER website or in the UMAT2008 ACER Information Booklet.

UMAT ACER Information Booklet

The UMAT ACER Information can be download from the ACER website. The booklet provides general information about the structure and content of UMAT, how to register, registration fees, location of UMAT test centres, how to prepare for UMAT and other information. Please note: the information contained in the UMAT2007 Information Booklet is current for 2007 ONLY .

If you wish to sit UMAT2008, please contact the UMAT Office in mid-April to obtain a copy of the UMAT2008 Information Booklet and registration form.

Note: All the necessary information regarding the content of UMAT in 2008 will be available on the ACER website or in the UMAT2008 ACER Information Booklet.

Contacting ACER

Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER)
UMAT Office at ACER

Postal Address:
Private Bag 55
Camberwell
VICTORIA
AUSTRALIA 3124

Location:
19 Prospect Hill Road,
Camberwell
VICTORIA
AUSTRALIA 3124

Phone: (03) 9277 5502/5746, International Phone: +61 3 9277 5502/5746
Facsimile: (03) 9277 5757, International Facsimile: + 61 3 9277 5757

Internet: http://www.acer.edu.au/tests/university/umat/intro.html
Email: umat@acer.edu.au