Preparartion for UMAT : Setting Goals

Setting a Goal: Success in the UMAT

Setting the goal to be successful in the UMAT will make clear for the student what he wishes to achieve, and will then aid him in taking the steps towards the achievement of this goal. The student is aware what he must concentrate on in order to achieve the goal. Getting into the desired health science field will be the student’s long term vision and careful planning will give him short term motivation. Setting clear and defined thresholds, such as succeeding in mid-year assessments, in UMAT and in the end of year assessments, the student will be able to see progress each time one of these is completed, and will not be discouraged by the overall goal. This will in turn increase the student’s self-confidence and enjoyment of the whole process. In summary, this is seen as breaking up a large goal into a number of smaller tasks.

The student can view getting into the health science course as a lifetime goal. It will gain him an education, it is the first step towards his career, it will give him pleasure once achieved, and it will ultimately help him serve his community and his family. Once the student has clearly defined his goal, ie. To gain above 95 in each section of the UMAT, he should give himself the overall timeframe in which can work towards this, ie if the UMAT is held in 6 months, he has 6 months to prepare for it. He should then break up the goal into smaller tasks and give each of them a deadline by which they should be completed, e.g. 50 hours of Superkeeneye study should be completed 2 weeks before the day of the UMAT. The tasks should then be broken down still on a weekly or a daily basis, e.g. an hour of Superkeeneye revision should be maintained daily.

The student should keep reviewing their time table and updating it to reflect changing priorities and experiences.

In summary, the key to successful goal- making is:
Choosing a positive goal that you will enjoy
Set a clear and a distinct goal and create a timetable for it – i.e. the goal should be measurable
Set priorities for your goals, so that you do not feel overburdened if you have more than one goal at a time
Break the goal up into little tasks – this is so that you do not feel overburdened by your overall goal
Set goals that you know you have the ability to achieve, not goals which you know you should achieve but do not have control over
Set realistic goals which should account for the circumstances and possible difficulties around you which may prevent you from completing your goal
Set goals which are achievable but are at the same time challenging

After the UMAT candidate has achieved well in his UMAT, or in a particular school assessment, he should take the time to enjoy the outcome. He should reflect on the entire process and how the initial goal setting, planning and execution of the goal have all been successful and he should commend himself on his discipline and persistence. This whole experience would have been a learning one, and the UMAT candidate can see where his strengths and weaknesses were during the completion of this goal.

Goal setting is important to decide what is important in your life, motivating yourself to carry out the goal and reach the desired result, and to develop your self-confidence in the mean time.

Continued in further articles :

UMAT test preparation & time management
UMAT test preparation & stress management
UMAT test preparation & setting goals
Section I : Logical Reasoning and Problem Solving
Section II : Interaction Skills

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