Consolidated NMAT FAQs

According to medschoolfordumb-o.blogspot.com, lamented the taking of NMAT process, there are two NMAT Examinations every year. One is April (1st and 2nd week includes only Metro Manila and Cebu City) and another one in December, which covers other testing sites. The application for the April NMAT starts February or March. The application cost P500 (includes test booklets). Submission of the complete Application form is P1400. Regarding the Pre-Med requirements on subjects, you don’t need to take that PRIOR to NMAT. However, when applying to Med Schools, they require that you have taken up the subjects (before Graduation or Enrollment to Med School). Submission of application forms is usually a month before the schedule of exams (deadline usually extended until about 3 weeks before the scheduled NMAT). Exams are usually on the first Sunday of December. Then, apply in a Med School (usually UST-FMS aspirants must apply as early as October because of its alphabetical way of application, UP-M PGH is on December, the rest allows application on January). Best to take the December NMAT on your Junior Year (at least you have time for the April NMAT before your last year in College in case you're not satisfied with your first NMAT). Some Med Schools have their deadlines for the application forms on December, so taking the December NMAT on your Senior Year would be too late. There are no specific subjects to be taken as long as they are related subjects. As for the NMAT and Med School requirements being the same. Yeah, well it’s a bit complicated to put it into words. They differ in the sense that there is a different requirement in taking NMAT and entering Med School. Topics are generalized. The sample booklets being given when you apply for the exam give you an idea what topics are covered. Multiple-choice items. If you apply for the NMAT, it will come with a sample exam. The real exam is extremely similar and a replica to it, so use it as a guide on what to expect. The stimulated exam that comes with the Application form will give you a clue. The best way to study for it is to simply read and reread the sample test booklets over and over again. Time is the only enemy, take your practices set to and stimulate the actual test time. Brush up with the ones that you have a hard time on. Don’t fail to answer that free reviewer given by CEM. It is the one which really reflects the actual exam. Just find the technique that best helps you find the quick answer. You can retake NMAT maximum of three (3) times and is valid for 1-2 years. You can decide which NMAT score you want to declare/include in your Med School application requirements, yes, you can choose your higher NMAT score. The NMAT is a total of 5 ½ hours long. The first part, in the morning, lasts for 3 hours. It is straight three hours. It’s pretty tricky to budget your time. During the exam DO NOT FORGET TO BRING A WATCH. You need to pace yourself because it is easy to dwell too much on one subtest. There were examinees that did not bring a watch and were shocked when they had to finish an entire subtest in 5 mins. The second part, the afternoon session lasts for 2 ½ hours. As for others saying that the December NMAT Exam is not valid, and to those saying that one could get a higher percentile ranks in the April NMAT because the bright people of UP INTARMED’s were taking it on December. Some take it even before they graduate, others may take it way after graduation to allow review time, or perhaps to improve their previous NMAT score. Your NMAT score will not only depend on your raw scores (number of questions answered correctly), but also on the raw scores of others. April and December has the same level of difficulty. NMAT was basically just stock knowledge with a few Science, Social Sciences, Algebra and English questions thrown in. If you are planning to take the NMAT prior to taking the required subjects, one should take the review classes, though, since Science background is practically nil. However, one doesn’t need review classes anymore if already have the science backgrounds. They’re basically chicken feed questions. There are NMAT Review Centers, one of which is held in the UP Diliman College of Sciences Auditorium at the start of Second Semester of the Academic School Year (that is very inexpensive). There are also private Review Centers, but don’t spend too much on this, they’re basically the same as the one in UP. There were also false Review Centers. Anyway, the Topcap, BRAINS and PICS Review Centers are good, or the MSA Review Book, the questions there are too challenging and the answers were well explained by the authors. You should take notes if you decide to self review. If you’re intelligent enough, there’s no need for a review center, all you have to do is to review by yourself, because the questions in NMAT does not have anything to do or in relations with Medicine yet, purely basics from CHEMISTRY, PHYSICS, MATH, SOCIAL SCIENCES and VERBALS. If you opted not to review, stock up on basic Psyche theories/principles/concepts. So should you enroll for a review class? If you don’t have review materials, it might be prudent to do so. If you can Xerox such stuff, many believe reviewing at home will do as well. Just be disciplined enough to review everyday if possible. When you review your past notes, don’t memorize, understand and enjoy reading. Little by little build the confidence inside you, and then PRAY. There are Students who didn’t take any Review Classes for the NMAT. Instead, they just review on their own. You should remember that the NMAT is composed of two parts with four subtests. The first is the APT which includes Verbal which consists of word analogies and reading comprehension items, Inductive Reasoning which consists of number, letter and figural series and figure grouping items, Quatitative Analysis which consists of fundamental operations, problem solving and data interpretation, Perceptual Acquity which consists of hidden figures, mirror images, and identical information. The second is SA (Scholastic Aptitude) composed of Biology, Physics, Chemistry and Social Sciences. APT basically tests your innate abilities and is practically “unreviewable”. The most that you can do is try and be familiar with the style of the exams and get “feel” of it. In contrast, you should review for the second part. Although you might do well without reviewing, because the second part is degree predictable. Like in Physics, be sure to memorize the basic formulas in Kinematics, Thermodynamics and the like, A tip on Physics part: It is easy to forget formulas but do not panic when you see a question requiring a formula that you don’t remember. Solution: Use DIMENSIONAL ANALYSIS. Many used it successfully for several questions. For example, if you need a final answer in Calories/Gram, and you have given values in that, it is likely you should divide the former with the latter. Of course, this is a simplistic example but just fiddle around with the values in such a way it makes sense and you get the desired unit in your final answer. In Chemistry, review your Stoichiometry, Electron Configurations, etc. For example, the Chemistry part had this question, Which of the figures best depict BENZENE? You should had to know what Benzene looks like, if you’re a Chem major, you are immune of what Benzene looks like. In Biology it focuses more in Tundra, Taiga, Web Chains, Domains, Biochem Tests and Substitution reactions). In a very little touch of Math, you should compute fast and must know where to apply Math concepts. If you’re from a Social Science course, you’ll probably ace the Social Science part. If not, brush up not Social Sciences (Basic Anthropology, Sociology, Theories, and Development stages). At least, science majors consider them basic anyway, fact is, if you’re not a science major and you don’t have background in sciences, you need a lot of work, even on the basics. All NMAT takers try their best to get good grades. Review courses are ‘confidence builders’, but are not necessary. What’s good about these review courses are the ‘test-taking’ strategies, like answering letter C if you don’t even have an educated guess. There are no steady bench marks for the test. Since the score is in percentile rank, whoever is the highest (regardless of whether that person actually passed the exam, which is indeterminable because there is no passing rate, that person will automatically be the highest percentile score). However, there were Med Students who get a less percentile in NMAT who did very well in Med Schools. Many believe that almost all Medical Schools would rather take note of your Transcript of Records than your NMAT score. Getting a decent NMAT score is an advantage (anything above 70 would be pretty decent), but an impressive TOR would be greater advantage. So for Junior students that were on their Pre-Meds now, better show ‘em what you’ve got. If you come to think about it, less enrollees naturally implies few NMAT takers, and with fewer and fewer NMAT takers, the percentile scores would eventually have to go down (coz there's just so few of you, or us). There is no cut-off score on the NMAT, after receiving the results, enroll in a Premier Medical Institution in the Philippines. If you have queries just inquire to Center for Educational Measurement, Inc. 24th Floor, Cityland Pasong Tamo Tower, 2210 Chino Roces Avenue, Makati City. Tel. No. 894-5536, 813-3694-95 (in front of Don Bosco Makati) or visit www.cem-inc.org.ph