Blogs
28th September 2020
UCAT for Medical-Entrance
Some people raise questions about the current medical selection process, but offer no solutions. As in most countries, the demand for medical places in Australia will always far exceed the number available. Therefore, any selection system used will have winners and losers, and will be controversial. Just because some doctors feel current entry procedures used may not have admitted them to med ...
Read more
28th September 2020
Medical Entrance and UCAT
Medicine is seen as an attractive career in most countries for several reasons such as a satisfying job which involves you with the lives of those around you, making a positive difference to people’s lives, job security etc. Doctors help people in their time of need and use their knowledge to overcome their grievances so that they can get on with their life, whether they be a janitor ...
Read more
28th September 2020
Why study Medicine?
There are only two things people seem ask you about in your final year of schooling: those big exams at the end of the year and what you want to do when they’re over. It’s a stressful and busy year with plenty of studying to be done. The constant questioning can be annoying, but it’s really important that you take the time to really look at what it is you are going to do next year. For anyone ...
Read more
28th September 2020
The UCAT Situational Judgement Test is just another measure of Emotional Intelligence
Advocates of the Situational Judgement Test (one of the subtests of UCAT) claim that it is a very different test to other medical entry aptitude tests. However, the Situational Judgement Test is, in essence, assessing the emotional intelligence of candidates in the context of study and practice of medicine and other health care professions. The Situational Judgement Test is merely a format ...
Read more
27th September 2020
Sample MMI medical interview question: an ethical dilemma.
Does patient confidentiality always prevail? Scenario: You have been working at Pinehills Prison and Corrections Centre as the in-house physician for approximately six months. Being a physician in a prison has required you to slowly build a sense of trust with the inmates (many of whom suffer from serious psychological illness) over a long period of time. The process has been arduous an ...
Read more
27th September 2020
English and UCAT
Some students love it. Others hate it: Reading books, writing essays and analysing articles where the content matter is highly subjective and there is no definitive ‘right’ or ‘wrong’ answer. English is the polar opposite of many subjects favoured by maths and science minded students because essay questions require a highly critical and subjective thinking style in orde ...
Read more
27th September 2020
Should I do a UCAT preparation course?
You wouldn’t run a race without a coach. You wouldn’t sit your final exams without a teacher. So why would you sit the UCAT without having done some preparation first? Isn’t the UCAT an aptitude test, so what’s the point in preparing? The UCAT may be an ‘aptitude’ test, but there can be no doubt that having seen UCAT style questions before, a ...
Read more
22nd September 2020
Bonded Medical Program Changes
Changes have been made to the Bonded Medical Program, which will affect students applying to study medicine in Australia from 2020. The key change involves graduates needing to work in rural or remote areas for three years, rather than the previous one year. The purpose of Bonded Medical Programs is to meet the demand for doctors in areas which have workforce shortages, particularly rural an ...
Read more
11th September 2020
Why are Medical Interviews so Important?
Medical interviews are perhaps the most underestimated part of the medical entry admissions process. Many students do not prepare for them, either because they do not recognise the importance of medical interviews, or do not understand how difficult they are. At many universities, medical interviews are worth as much, if not more than your high school / university performance and your UCAT! ...
Read more
19th August 2020
Which Subjects Should I Choose in Years 12 and 13?
Your academic score is just as important as your UCAT score when it comes to applying for medical schools in New Zealand and especially Australia. Because of this, a lot of discussion around choosing subjects for senior high school/college remains. It often centres around which subjects will scale the best and which ones are required for applying to medicine. Of course these things are importa ...
Read more