The Undergraduate Medicine and Health Sciences Admission Test (UMAT ) was a test previously administered by the Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER) in Australia and New Zealand to assist in the selection of domestic students for health science courses, including most medical (Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery) and dental degree programs, as well as other health science practical studies such as physiotherapy and optometry. The UMAT was used for domestic applicant selection into undergraduate courses only. Applicants for graduate medical education must take the Graduate Medical School Admissions Test, and foreign applicants must take the International Student Admissions Test. Each year, the UMAT was held on a single day in two sessions, morning and afternoon, typically in late July or early August at test centers in major cities in Australia and New Zealand, as well as a few other global cities.
The nature of the UMAT is different from typical high school examinations or university examinations. UMAT did not reliably predict academic performance in university medical programs. In addition, academic performance did not accurately predict whether the student would become a good doctor.
In 2019, the United Kingdom's University Clinical Aptitude Test (UCAT) replaced the UMAT.
History
Before the introduction of the UMAT as a component of university entrance requirements, the sole criterion for entry into medical or health science degrees in Australian universities was final year high school (Year 12) results. In New Zealand, entry was following completion of the first year of a related degree, with applicants selected based on their GPA for that year. A consortium of universities found this criterion too restrictive, as it did not reflect all the qualities required to successfully study and practice medicine. Consequently, the UMAT was introduced to assess the qualities deemed by ACER and the UMAT Consortium universities to be important to the study and practice of medicine and the health sciences. These qualities include: critical thinking and problem solving, ability to understand people, and abstract non-verbal reasoning. The first use of the UMAT was in 1991 for applicants to The University of Newcastle for selection into their medical program.
Format
As of 2013, the UMAT consists of three multiple choice sections over a total of three hours:
- Section 1: Logical reasoning and problem solving (48 questions)
- Section 2: Understanding people (44 questions)
- Section 3: Non-verbal reasoning (42 questions)
It is important to note that as of 2013 each of these sections, whether in part or in full, can be completed in any order over the duration of the three hours.
A candidate's UMAT score consists of three numbers, one raw score for each section of the test (this is not a percentage and the algorithms for their calculation have not been revealed by ACER), as well as a percentile ranking for each section.
As of 2012, all UMAT scores are valid for one year, structure and necessity.
ACER do not release their marking and scaling procedures. As well as this there are a number of different test booklets, with many of the questions uniquely appearing in one. From other tests administered by ACER (e.g. the Programme for International Student Assessment, PISA), it is known that ACER likes a simple version of item response theory presumed to correct for varying item difficulties. The accuracy of this scaling is, however, disputed.
See also
- International Student Admissions Test (also created by ACER)
- GAMSAT (also created by ACER)
- List of admissions tests