J

James385

Hey everyone

I graduated from Melbourne High School in 2020 and am currently in my 3rd year studying a Bachelor of Science at Monash University. I achieved a score of 3050 on the UCAT (93rd Percentile in 2022) and received offers to study Dentistry at the University of Queensland (Deferred offer) and Dentistry at Griffith University. I am offering online UCAT tutoring through Zoom this year. Having gone through UCAT 3 times already, I understand how challenging the exam is and will guide you in the right direction through my experiences having learned what strategies worked, but more importantly, letting you know what to avoid as well.

Stats

• 3rd Year Science Student at Monash University
• Score of 3050 on the UCAT in 2022 (93rd Percentile in 2022)
• 670 in Verbal Reasoning
• 750 in Decision Making
• 880 in Quantitative Reasoning
• 750 in Abstract Reasoning
• Also sat the UCAT in 2020 and 2021 with scores of 2750 and 2790 - Insight into what strategies caused my score to jump more than 250+ and also what things to avoid

Program Outline

• 15 Week Program going through all 5 sections as well as general exam tips and tricks
• 1 Hour class each week commencing in March with weekly booklets covering exam content, questions, and tips for each section and the exam
• Weekly practice booklets to consolidate what we've learned in class which I will correct and tailor my lessons depending on your progress (Separate from questions I recommend from Medify)
• Constant student performance tracking and progress checks
• 24/7 Support outside of class through Email, Discord, Calls or Facebook
• A Medify subscription is needed as most of the questions I set for you will come from here
• Available for One-on-One tutoring, Groups of 2, and Groups of 3-4 tutoring

Rates

• $50 an Hour for One-on-One
• $45 an Hour for Groups of 2
• $40 an Hour for Groups of 3 - 4 (Maximum 4 per group)

I also just want to preface by saying that my lessons and tutoring will guide you in the right direction however the majority of your progress will come from doing the homework set and completing practice questions (Which I can help hold you accountable for )

I have limited spots so if you are interested, feel free to email me at [bjin0009@student.monash.edu] or message me on Atarnotes. I look forward to supporting you on your Medicine/Dentistry Journey!!

Hey everyone!

When i did this exam this year, I unfortunately couldn't find any worked solutions for the mcqs for free(not even in the vcaa exam report smh), with many being annoyingly locked behind paywalls. hence, for future students I have made this vid so you all have a guide for the mcqs if you're unsure of how to do any of them

Video of short ans walkthrough will be dropping soon!

Also sorry I sound so dead in the vid Anyways, hope y'all find this useful! And make sure to read the description because I made a few errors in the video and I clarify stuff there.

As always, feel free to tell/ask me if you find more errors or need clarification on anything!

The link to the video is below:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cw8PVGArAAU

Wanting some help with your practice pieces? Look no further!

Hello, I'm Wingdings - you may have seen me around the forums throughout last year! I recently graduated in 2021 with an ATAR of 99.75. With exam prep season in full swing, I know that many English Language students are searching for personalised guidance in their writing. This school holidays, I'll be offering discounted marking services for all your SAQ, AC, and essay needs!

About me:
- Achieved a raw 48 in VCE English Language
- Qualified VCE tutor with 300+ hours experience
- A+ exam scores of:
○ Section A: 15/15
○ Section B: 26/30
○ Section C: 27/30

Overview:
- Detailed + in-depth feedback comments
- Personalised advice on how to improve your writing
- Suggestions for contemporary examples and linguist quotes
- Open to answering general English Language questions

Pricing:
- Single exam section (any single section A, B, C): $10
- FULL practice exam (or any three of any section A, B, C): $20
- UNLIMITED marking + FREE access to 20+ SAMPLE PIECES: $70

If this sounds good to you, simply fill in the form here to sign up and I'll be in touch ASAP!

Thanks so much! Best of luck to everyone with exam prep.
Wingdings

At this stage of the year, it is usually time where people grind through practice exams and work out their weaknesses. One of the most difficult aspects, I found, was working out the separator questions. Separator questions – sound scary, don’t they? If you haven’t heard of the term before (which makes sense since I invented it ;D) just go read the VCAA Examiner’s Report and look for the questions that only 1-5% of Methods students across the entire state get correct. It’s no wonder why we named them separators – they’re designed, precisely, to separate the 45+ study scores and perhaps the lower 40s.

If you’re one of those students who wants to get the very best study score possible, being able to complete the separator questions is absolutely crucial. To highlight their importance – in my paper (2020 VCAA), there were around 10 marks in Exam 1 and 20 marks in Exam 2 which less than 10% of the state scored full marks on. That’s quite literally a quarter of the entire exam!

As someone who was able to achieve a Raw 50 from being able to solve all these questions, I thought to share the step by step approach I used to tackle these tricky questions, so you can ace them too and get the best mark you can.

1. DON'T panic

The first and most important tip is to not panic. These questions are actually often easier than they outwardly seem. As soon as you start sweating and lose focus, it’s over. One of the things you should keep in mind is that although separators are crucial for achieving the very top scores, they’re ultimately a small percentage of the exam. There are many marks on the paper that you can do with much less time and effort, and if you can make sure to bank those marks, then separators are an opportunity to put yourself ahead, not a challenge to put you down. And remember, if you find a question difficult, chances are, 95% of the state are thinking the exact same thing. Don’t panic, and don’t let those few marks destroy your confidence and stop you from getting the rest.

2. Learn to skip

As I talked about in the previous step, there are many easier and quicker marks up for grabs in the exam. There is no point solving all the most challenging questions only to end up running out of time for the giveaway marks. If you find yourself spending more than a minute on a question with no progress, it is probably in your best interest to skip it for now and come back to it later. Once you’ve run through the entire paper, you can then work on the separators with complete peace of mind! And even if you run out of time at the end, it is a much better decision to invest your time into getting the simple questions right.

3. Get inspiration from previous parts

Assuming that you have finished everything else, you can now attempt the separator questions with a much calmer state of mind. The first thing to keep in mind is that the VCAA examiners aren’t complete sadists, believe it or not (DISCLAIMER: most of the times)

As the separators are usually the last part of an Extended Response question, or the last part of a Short Answer question stem, it is highly unlikely that the examiners will just throw random and totally irrelevant questions at you.

The questions are usually designed for you to work towards the end progressively, almost like a video game; in order to defeat the final boss, you have to use whatever you find at your disposal in the levels beforehand! This means that the key to solving a separator might just be to use values, expressions, graphs etc from the previous sub questions. In other cases, the method to solve the question is simply an extension of the method you already used.

4. Just try everything, and don't give up!

Whilst most separator questions are built from the results of the previous sub questions, there are ultimately still some “curveballs” which are completely random. If you find yourself still stuck on the question after using all the traditional approaches familiar to you, it might just be time to forsake convention and carve your own path!

Assuming you have plenty of time and have checked over all the other questions, just start trying anything and everything you can. As most of these challenging questions usually involve a parameter (e.g. k, c, α), just try subbing in educated guesses, and see what happens! If that doesn’t work, try sketching a graph and play around with the values using the slider function, and observe any changes to the graph’s key features (stationary points, asymptotes, intercepts, etc)

You can also try a “brute force” approach. Which is where you find as many relevant equations involving the variables as you can, and then shove it all into the CAS simultaneous equation solver, and pray for the best! This is usually more applicable to SACs, but you’ll be surprised how often this approach works.

5. Find patterns and develop your own method

What is theory without applications? Ultimately, the best way to improve your ability is to do these separator questions through lots and lots of practice.

First, believe it or not, separator questions have patterns. To save you from the pain of discovering it yourself, I've sorted them with James (a raw 49er) into 6 distinct categories, with plenty of examples for each question type, all in this 20 page booklet. It consists of more than 60 marks of the most challenging questions you will ever come across, with video dissection and solutions for each type.

However, another way to get better at these is to make your own separator questions bank. Whenever you come across a challenging question, just screenshot it and compile it in a Word doc somewhere. You can print it out and attempt it again the days before the exam as revision. You can even put it in your bound reference to take into Exam 2! That way, when encountering a separator, you can simply refer to your solutions when encountering a similar question.

Now that the Term 3 holidays are starting, something that plagues students year after year is the Bound Reference. There are usually mixed opinions about the effectiveness of the bound reference. Some people view it as a literal bible – others think it’s a total waste of time. So which one is it? How to make the best Bound Reference? In this guide I’m going to clear this up for you and give some advice on how to make the BEST bound reference one you can.

The Bound Reference – Why it’s more important than you think

When you’re sitting around students who have brought an entire library in, trust me when I say it’s best to have one regardless of how confident you are of your maths knowledge. It’s indeed quite terrifying otherwise – just think of it as a safety net, essentially. Personally, I only used it 1 time in the exam, but that is a saved minute, and in the exam every second counts; basically, bound reference is important, you never know when you will need it.

Making a Bound Reference is great revision for consolidating your knowledge, and it’s something you should be steadily adding to throughout the year. The reality is, there’s no single “perfect” way of creating one, but after speaking to fellow high achievers and using my own experiences, here is some advice.

Before we start, what actually is a bound reference?

It’s exactly what it sounds like! There really are just two requirements. First, as the name suggests, it has to be bound. Meaning that, as if examiners walk by your table, they should be able to shake your reference as hard as possible and it cannot fall apart. Second, it needs to be a reference. Whatever material you think will help you ace the exam and is something that you want to be able to refer to, put it in. This can include notes, summary sheets, example exam questions, and even textbooks if you’re really desperate. Yes, you can technically just bring in textbooks duct-taped together. But I don’t necessarily endorse this.

Essential Components of a Bound Reference

1. Title page
Make it unique and something you actually want to work on! During a study break, or when you want to relax productively, you can design one, hopefully it’s something you can hold up proudly

2. Table of contents
The most important part of the bound reference is to make sure you can find the information you’re looking for as quickly as possible. And the best way to do that is to have a table of contents. Side benefit is that it makes your reference look very very professional

3. Notes & examples
Here is where you put in the notes for the most important information in the course. Typed, handwritten, scanned, it doesn’t matter, as long as it’s readable, and means something to you

4. Mistake bank
Nearing exam time, hopefully you will have a bank of errors you’ve made throughout the year. Reflecting on your past mistakes is the best way to learn! Summarise all preventable mistakes, and lay it open next to you as you do the exam (great confidence boost too since you’ll see all the difficulties you have overcome in your journey)

5. Seperator questions (45+)
If you’re aiming for a raw 45+, this might be useful. Seperator questions refer to questions that below 10% of students score on the examiners’ report. There’s a good chance that the same type of questions will appear, and understanding them and saving the solutions in your bound reference might make that extra difference on exam day.

6. Blank Pages
This part is completely optional, but one of the weird things about the exam is that they don’t actually provide working out paper. So, if you’re someone like me who’s dependent on a stack of blank paper to be able to do maths, make sure you have plenty of room at the end of your reference!

Top 3 tips for making a Bound Reference

1. Start early!
This isn’t something that you want to leave till the last moment. Although the process of making it is certainly great revision, it is not the most effective thing you can be doing come exam time. You also want to do lots practice exams and SACs with it. So, if you haven’t started yet, make sure to start now!

2. Size doesn’t matter
That’s right, you heard it here first. Don’t get intimidated by the sort of students who duct tape together the entirety of their locker and lug it to the exam room. It’s all about how well you know where everything is, which brings us to the third point…

3. Make it YOURS
Looking at the other people’s references for ideas is great, but make sure you take your own into the exam room. There’s nothing worse than needing to look up something you’ve forgotten in the middle of an exam, but having to read through 30 pages of foreign notes to find it. Make sure you know your reference inside out!

If you want to check out what my bound reference looks like for inspiration or as a reference, you can find it (along with other resources), you can find it here

Hey everyone

My name is ThunderDragon and I am currently in my 2nd year in a Bachelor of Science at Monash University with the hopes of entering either Nonstandard Entry Medicine (Undergraduate Medicine at either UNSW, JMP, WSU, or JCU) or Postgraduate entry Medicine. I have done the UCAT 3 times achieving a score of 2750 in 2020 (77th Percentile in 2020), 2790 in 2021 (79th Percentile in 2021), and 3050 this year (93rd Percentile in 2022). Through completing the UCAT exam several times and achieving both ends of the spectrum of scores that weren't competitive enough for Medicine to a score that potentially puts me in a good position to receive an interview as long as the other criteria are met (namely academic results), I have good perspectives on what to do and more importantly, what NOT to do and I hope this guide will help you achieve the UCAT score that you desire.

I would like to preface and say that this guide is purely my own experiences as well as other tips that I have gathered from medical students and other applicants that have achieved high UCAT scores so take the advice with a grain of salt since UCAT is a very personal thing and will depend on each individual person and circumstances. The guide will be separated into several categories as this is quite long and includes:

• Test scores and test experience
• Resources and Practice Mock Scores
• Revision Schedule
• Subsection Specific Tips
• General Tips

Test Scores and Test Experience:

The scores that I received for the 2022 UCAT sitting were:
Verbal Reasoning: 670
Decision Making: 750
Quantitative Reasoning: 880
Abstract Reasoning: 750
Situational Judgement: 583 (A low Band 2 if you're in the UK although generally Australian students do worse than UK students in this section since most unis don't care about SJT)
Total Score: 3050 (93rd Percentile)

I sat my exam at the La Trobe testing center in Melbourne CBD on the 20th of July Wednesday which was roughly in the middle of the testing period (July 1st to August 12th) at 12 pm. I arrived roughly an hour early in the city and walked around as well as making sure I got the location of the testing center correct. I checked in roughly 20 minutes early and was sent up the lift where I had to read some rules, sign my name, checked my ID, and also took a photo of myself before I had to pat myself down, turn my pockets inside out and then place everything into a locker except for my ID and the key for the locker. I was then told to sit and wait until I got called in by the testing staff. I then had to pat myself down again and the staff also checked my glasses. I was given a marker and some laminated sheets which I could do working out. I was also offered earplugs or headphones (not all testing centers will have soundproof headphones but most will have earplugs at the very least) and then led to a computer in the room. The time went by pretty fast after that and soon enough I was done with the exam. I received an email about an hour later saying my test results were ready. I wasn't able to open the results on my phone for some reason but I was able to open it on my laptop.

Resources and Practice Mock Scores:

I would highly recommend using Medify for UCAT Prep as they have a massive question bank, 24 full length mocks and even more mini-mocks for each section. Medentry is also a good alternative as they have a large range of mocks too and the difficulty is known to be a bit harder than the real exam so it might mean you are better prepared. Personally, I found Medify VR and DM to be a bit easier than the actual UCAT exam while Medify QR and AR were quite a bit harder than the actual UCAT exam. If I had to choose between Medify or Medentry, I would go with Medify however if you do have the money, then getting both wouldn't be a terrible idea either. I would also recommend UCAT official resources as well even though the interface is a bit laggy and Mocks A and B are notrious for being way harder than the actual exam especially the QR. If you needed a free resource, then I would recommend Passmedicine which has some free UCAT tests however the quality of them is definitely a lot lower than Medify or Medentry.

Outside of practice banks, I would recommend checking out the UCAT Discord server which is a community where students can help each other out with any questions and you can also do some study sessions. Given that the UCAT and applying for medical school is quite a tough journey, having a community just means its a bit less isolating. Do tread with caution though since occasionally with people constantly talking about their mock scores, it can get a bit toxic and annoying to hear about UCAT 24/7 so access with moderation.

I have listed my practice scores below since I found that having something to compare to was helpful but at the same time, UCAT is subjective so take these scores with a grain of salt (these were done out of order as well btw):

Medify Mock 1: 3140
Medify Mock 2: 3300
Medify Mock 3: 3100
Medify Mock 4: 3040
Medify Mock 5: 3040
Medify Mock 6: 2980
Medify Mock 7: 3250
Medify Mock 8: 3300
Medify Mock 9: 3070
Medify Mock 10: 3010
Medify Mock 11: 3010
Medify Mock 12: 3080
Medentry Mock 18: 2820
Official Mock A: 2820
Official Mock B: 2980
Official Mock C: 2980
Official Mock D: 3180 (Last practice exam I did - 3 days before my actual exam)

My mock average comes out to be around 3064 so I did a little bit worse in my real exam however some people do better, the same or worse in the real exam depending on various other factors like nerves etc.

Revision Schedule:

The amount of time you spend studying for the UCAT will depend on the individual but generally around 2 - 3 months is a good time frame. Anything more than a year is a bit excessive and can lead to burnout which can lead to lower scores on the real exam. I spent around 3 months studying for the UCAT with the first month or so mainly just doing untimed questions for each section just to get familar with the types of questions being asked as well as occasionally some mini mocks for specific sections sprinkled throughout. In my 2nd month, I did a lot more mini mocks as well as starting to do timed questions and also did around 1-2 full length mocks. In my last month of prep, I was doing mainly timed questions for my weaker areas as well as full length mocks every 2-3 days.

Subtest Specific Tips:

Verbal Reasoning:

Generally the worst performing section in most students, this section in my opinion is the least yield section to study for although you should do a bit of study anyway. All my homies hate Verbal Reasoning. My strategy was to do all the True False Can't Tell Questions first since they are generally easier and then once that was done, make a second run and do some of the easier Reading Comprehension questions and then finally do the harder Reading comprehension questions. Skipping is quite vital in this section as you don't want to be stuck on some hard what is the author's intention on this article about some 18th century crap when there are much easier questions elsewhere.

• For True False Can't Tell questions, I generally read the question first then skimmed and scanned the text for keywords to find the answer.
• For the Reading Comprehension type questions, I generally read the whole text quickly before attempting to answer the questions since those usually required a greater depth of understanding.
• Numbers, names and proper nouns are your best friends.
• When reading the texts, keep a vague idea of what each paragraph is talking about. One paragraph might be talking about the history of the city whereas the next paragraph may be talking about issues in the present day city.
• Read a couple of boring texts on the day of the exam before your UCAT to get your mind into the UCAT mode

Decision Making:

Bit of a wildcard section given there are so many different question types in this section. Be familiar with the various different types of question styles so spend a bit more time on untimed questions in this section first before moving onto timed questions. Time pressure wise, this is an alright section given you have quite a bit of time so you should be able to finish the section somewhat comfortably.

• Make sure to do the first 4-5 Syllogisms (Yes or No drag and drop questions) since they use the same skills as VR previously.
• Yes in Syllogisms is if it is explicity stated or can be infered from the data given while No is when its directly contradicted or you can't tell from the information given
• Used the arrow method for the Syllogisms although some people like using Venn Diagrams
• Use your whiteboard a lot for this section so making quick sketches or tables is very helpful
• In the strongest argument type questions, go for the one with the most factual evidence (assumptions and opinions aren't as strong) and also make sure it's relevant to the topic and audience (if it's talking about fining school kids, a strong argument needs to reference specifically about school kids).
• Get comfortable with basic probability rules. OR is addition of probabilities and AND is multiplication of probabilities.

Quantitative Reasoning:

Probably the easiest section in my opinion given the maths is very very basic and the only hard thing about this section is the time and also the ability to make dumb errors or put the wrong calculations in the calculator. This is coming from someone who scored a Raw 23 in Maths Methods and only got above a Raw 20 cause of MHS SAC scaling.

• Know your Speed/Distance/Time Formula and how to manipulate it. Use a SDT triangle if needed.
• Get comfortable with Mean/Median/Mode from info as well as tables and graphs
• Percentage Change (Increase or Decrease) is tested a LOT so get very very familar with them
• Original price and New Price is also tested quite a lot
• Basic area, volume and surface area is also quite a common theme and occasionally circles will pop up as well as know Pi Radius squared and 2Pi Radius.
• Currency conversions and conversion of units pops up a lot so know how to switch between pounds and pennies or Euros to American Dollars or Metres to Centimetres etc.
• Use and practice with a number pad and practice with the Onscreen calculator provided so you become a speed demon at it
• While the onscreen calculator proficiency is a must, basic mental maths should be used to save time too. If you need to use a calculator to multiply 7 times 8, then that's an issue.

Abstract Reasoning:

This is probably the weirdest section when you first start looking at the UCAT and it is ok if you can't get any patterns initially. With repeated practice, most people see significant improvement in this section and it ends up being people's best section, even if that means you see AR patterns in your dreams (Post Traumatic AR Disorder is real).

• Create a list of patterns you can't get and look over it when you can
• Shove the hardest patterns or similar ones you always get wrong into Anki. Although it is about recognition and not memorisation, if you constantly get a similar type of pattern wrong, then memorising it may help accelerate the understanding aspect. Don't do this for all patterns you get wrong though.
• Do as many questions as you possibly can. I did around 1500+ Sets of patterns because I sucked at this section
• In the early stages, use pnemonics such as SCANS or SPERM ARSE ROSE OP ANAL CHODE (it is legit i am not a weirdo) however once you get to the exam, you shouldn't need to use these anymore since they will have been built into your brain
• In Set A/B/Neither Questions, look at the simplest box
• Personally, dont be too close to the screen and take a step back and generally I find I can see the pattern more easier
• Look at the Pattern first, ONLY LOOK AT THE QUESTION WHEN YOU GET THE PATTERN
• Since you are so time pressured, if you don't get the pattern within 30 seconds, flag, skip and move on and come back to it later if you got the time.
• Generally it is simpler patterns like odd/even or number of intersections and DONT OVERTHINK IT.

Situational Judgement:

Most Australian Unis don't really give a shit about this section so I wouldn't recommend doing any prep except the ones built into the mocks. Just use common sense and you should get above 50th percentile and you'll be fine. You will waste your time if you spend time studying for this and you should do okay if you are an ethical person (yes my score was like 50th percentile for SJT but thats cause I needed to pee real bad and just sped thru the section so I could go pee).

General Tips:

• FLAG, SKIP AND COME BACK IS YOUR BEST FRIEND OR ELSE YOU WILL RUN OUT OF TIME
• RLY FOCUS on your weaknesses.
• Generally, the most gains occur in Quantitative Reasoning and Abstract Reasoning followed by Decision Making and then Verbal Reasoning. That being said, don't neglect a section either.
• Keep track of your scores so you can see how you are going and if you are improving, stagnating or decreasing
• Practice test conditions. Examples include using a numberpad to practice your calc skills and making sure you are not distracted in mocks. Sit maybe 1-2 mocks at a PC in a library or uni since you will be doing it at PCS in the real thing.
• Know your short cuts like Alt F for Flagging etc as these can save precious time
• Practice holding your urine in for the entire 2 hours as going to the toilet during the middle of the exam will waste precious time
• Drink enough water but don't drink too much
• Before the real exam, do a bit of exercise to release those beta endorphins (PSYCH 3/4 FTW) as it can reduce stress and anxiety
• Don't do mocks everyday (at most every 2-3 days) otherwise you will burn out.
• Reflecting on your mistakes (even the dumb ones) is very important and equally if not more important therefore create a logbook of your errors
• If you find yourself getting tired or scores are dropping, take a break. This is a sign of burn out starting.
• Quality over Quantity. I did less mocks in 2022 than 2021 and did better and instead hammered out on my weaknesses (like percentage change in QR)

These are just some of my tips for the UCAT exam. I would not stress starting UCAT prep right now because it is still quite early and instead you should focus on school and if you are doing any 3/4s, focus on that. If you wanted to start a bit earlier, you could do a little bit on the school summer holidays before Year 12 and familarise yourself with the format and the types of questions. That being said, once school starts, try and do a bit every week (maybe block off Saturdays for UCAT) since Year 12 will get hectic and you might realise that you have forgotten about UCAT until theres only 2 weeks left and by then, it will be very stressful. In terms of scheduling when to do the UCAT, try and go for mid - July ish as this will roughly be your 2nd week of the term holidays giving you a lot of time to study and focus on the UCAT. Also try not to reschedule because most of the time, its just you being anxious and it can perpetuate stress making you do worse (learnt that the hard way in my 2nd sitting).

I know this was very long (good VR practice ) but I wanted to help you out on this ardous journey and make things a bit more simple. If you have any questions, feel free to comment below and I will try and answer them (I may take a while since I'm drowing in Uni) and keep your eyes peeled since I may or may not be potentially offering UCAT tutoring (will know around January).

ThunderDragon sigining out.

Personally I would love to see PM'ing of some kind as well as signatures returning. It is a huge change and something people will get used to over time. I've been a member of AN since 2012 and haven't really seen a major revamp until now so even though I'm not as active as I once was when I was part of the mod team, it's really great and exciting to see changes being made now which modernises what's on offer from a discussion board/forum point of view.

I think LaTeX is important as well, hopefully to be done