BMat tips

Hi!
I have been doing the specimen papers from the internet and have the BMat book which ive read all of and practised all the questions.
Ive also printed off a scaling page from the BMat website which lets you work out how many "marks" out of 9 youve got in sections one and two.
From the questions in the book, Im getting about 5.4-5.8 or something like that, but only 4.2-4.8 on the specimen questions. Im just wondering if anyone has any tips or advice about it. Also, do any vet students know what the RVC look at when looking at BMat results? Do they have a mark you have to pass?

Thank you!!
XxX

Reply 1

x-x-Princess Siobhan-x-x

where did you get the scaling page? can you copy it onto here please?

Reply 2

Poppy Dog

Section 1 score conversion

Total Mark BMAT Score
0 1.0
1 1.0
2 1.0
3 1.0
4 1.4
5 1.8
6 2.2
7 2.6
8 2.9
9 3.2
10 3.5
11 3.7
12 4.0
13 4.2
14 4.5
15 4.7
16 4.9
17 5.1
18 5.4
19 5.6
20 5.8
21 6.0
22 6.3
23 6.5
24 6.7
25 7.0
26 7.3
27 7.5
28 7.8
29 8.2
30 8.5
31 9.0
32 9.0
33 9.0
34 9.0
35 9.0

Section 2 score conversion

Total Mark BMAT Score
0 1.0
1 1.0
2 1.3
3 2.0
4 2.5
5 3.0
6 3.4
7 3.8
8 4.1
9 4.4
10 4.7
11 5.0
12 5.3
13 5.6
14 5.9
15 6.2
16 6.5
17 6.8
18 7.1
19 7.5
20 7.8
21 8.2
22 8.6
23 9.0
24 9.0
25 9.0
26 9.0
27 9.0

I am worried about section 3, because when Ive looked at some of the past papers its taken me a while to work out what it meant, but as long as I understand the question I think I'll be ok.
Im taking my BMat at the kings college, canterbury, as my college doesnt do it unless you pay for the invigilator and a room etc.
I might sound thick by saying this, but on some of the questions it looks impossible to do without a calculator. I lose most of my marks on the maths questions because it looks awful.

Reply 3

Poppy Dog

Transatlanticdrawl_

My dog is called Poppy :P

Aww, what breed is she? Mines a rescue dog so we're not 100% sure but we think she's a CKCS cross border terrier.

Reply 4

emilyyy

Poppy Dog

I am worried about section 3, because when Ive looked at some of the past papers its taken me a while to work out what it meant, but as long as I understand the question I think I'll be ok.
Im taking my BMat at the kings college, canterbury, as my college doesnt do it unless you pay for the invigilator and a room etc.
I might sound thick by saying this, but on some of the questions it looks impossible to do without a calculator. I lose most of my marks on the maths questions because it looks awful.

Ok my best (and only!) tips:

1) Approach every question in the same frame of mind; cool, calm and relaxed. If you're stressing you're not going to get anywhere.
2) If you find there is a question you are struggling with, skip it. Do the ones you know you can get marks on first - and that way if you realise you're running out of time, you can just make educated guesses on the ones you found impossible, instead of being left with no time to complete the questions you know how to do because you spent too long struggling on the difficult ones.
3) Keep an eye on the time. It rushes past without you realising.

As far as I know there is no mark you need to attain in order to meet RVC's expectations. As far as I've been led to assume they simply use the BMAT to differentiate between candidates that are of the same calibre in other ways (i.e. grades/work exp).
The only other thing BMAT is used for is to decide who should be awarded a scholarship. Person who ends up with a place, after interview etc, and has the highest BMAT score gets £3000.

Reply 5

Poppy Dog

Oh right. Up until i got 4.2 this morning on a practise test i was fairly chilled. To be honest Im extremely relaxed about this compared to what Im normally like about exams. I did the short BMat questions when I was at Vet-medlink and got 3.0 or 2.3 or something ridiculous but that was 2 years ago now. I think Ill just take it as it comes, Ive just got to make sure the worry in the back of my head doesnt suddenly come through and make me panic!
XxX

Reply 6

ch0c0h01ic

Poppy Dog

Ive also printed off a scaling page from the BMat website which lets you work out how many "marks" out of 9 youve got in sections one and two.
From the questions in the book, Im getting about 5.4-5.8 or something like that, but only 4.2-4.8 on the specimen questions. Im just wondering if anyone has any tips or advice about it. Also, do any vet students know what the RVC look at when looking at BMat results? Do they have a mark you have to pass?

At the end of the day it is just another means of differentiating between different candidates and selecting who's most suitable for vet sci. You have the PS, your grades, work exp, extra currics, etc and on top of that some unis also chose the Bmat. The admissions tutors look at the whole package. If you have excellent grades, a good PS, lots of work exp, good references, chances are they're less likely to pay any attention to your below par Bmat mark, for example. If you are a borderline candidate (ie; poor PS, crap grades, little or no work exp, etc) then they are going to pay more attention to your Bmat grades to try to gauge your potential and whether you deserve an interview/offer/whatever.

At the end of the day all you can do is prepare the most you can and do your best.

A 4-4.5 is, as far as I know, average, so ideally to be a successful candidate you should be aiming higher.

Poppy Dog

I am worried about section 3, because when Ive looked at some of the past papers its taken me a while to work out what it meant, but as long as I understand the question I think I'll be ok.

It is meant to be hard. Focus on what it means, formulate an opinion, justify your viewpoint, and structure your answer. Practice what you have learnt in critical thinking and/or Theory of Knowledge. You get marked on how you structure you answer, how you justify it, etc. You have to be methodical but also importantly, HAVE AN OPINION (just like most controversial issues in veterinary/medical sciences).

Poppy Dog

I might sound thick by saying this, but on some of the questions it looks impossible to do without a calculator. I lose most of my marks on the maths questions because it looks awful.

You have the preparation book, READ IT, it offers all little pieces of wisdom on how to get the best marks (ie; skipping hard questions and focusing on the ones you can do then going back at the end, attempt ALL questions as it is not negatively marked, etc). How do I know this? I read the book when I was applying.

If your maths marks are bad, brush up on your mental arithmetic, practice long division, multiplication, rearranging formulae, etc. It may be worth investing in a couple of hours with your maths teacher and/or a tutor.

Reply 7

tiny_tiger

Seriously guys, dont panic. Cambridge I think put quite a lot on BMAT depending on the college but I got something awful like 5.8 for section 1, 3.0 for section 2 and 6.0 for section 3. By all accounts those were hideous scores but RVC obviously didnt mind cos I was asked to interview before results were even out and got an offer! And an AAB off at that instead of the standard AAA they seem to be asking a lot. I think as far as RVC goes, they do it to see who really stands out and definitely deserves an offer/bursary etc but also so that if they have two similar candidates at interview they have an extra way to tell them apart. My bad BMAT certainly didnt hinder me so dont worry too much, just do your best and dazzle them at interview :p:

Reply 8

Emikoo

Right then. RVC are not really really serious about the BMAT. I think it helps sway their decision for example if your grades aren't "perfect" or if your work experience isn't quite enough. But mainly it is for who deserves one of their bursaries. I didn't do to well on the BMAT last year and still got an offer from the RVC. The reason I didn't get in was a bloody B grade in chemistry.

I've pretty much said the same as everyone else, but hope this helps.
Try not to stress too much about it. Its a very hard test to prepare for and I really do think its just testing your general brain power. From what I've been told its basically impossible to revise on and improve what you would have originally got.

Reply 9

laurasaurus

On the BMAT site theres an explanation of results, and it says the test is designed so that academically able students will score around 5, and the best applicants will score about 6. And that its rare to get a mark above 7!
Slightly less worried now, although ill probly get all jittery in the morning :p:

Heres the link if anyone wanted to have a look
http://www.admissionstests.cambridgeassessment.org.uk/adt/digitalAssets/103320_2007_Explanation_of_BMAT_Results.pdf
good luck :smile:

Arghhhh!

eeeeeeeeeek just about to leave! good luck everone!

Reply 12

Phoebe_Vet

Well I've just finished mine and I think I suck lol

Didn't manage to finish any of the papers apart from the writing task...grr!

Reply 13

LittleSko

Phoebe_Vet

Well I've just finished mine and I think I suck lol

Didn't manage to finish any of the papers apart from the writing task...grr!

ditto

good luck anyway :o:

Reply 14

Wangers

Phoebe_Vet

Well I've just finished mine and I think I suck lol

Didn't manage to finish any of the papers apart from the writing task...grr!

Do what you can, then leave 2 minutes at the end for frenzied colouring in/damage control/wild guesses.

Reply 15

Sir_John_Sebright

I did it this morning too, section 1 I actually thought was a lot nicer than the section 1 from 2007, Section 2 was a little bit dodgy and I guessed quite a few physics questions at the end. Section 3 had an ok option, so that wasn't horrific either.

Reply 16

Annaconda

i found section 1 really hard. section 2 was surpirisingly ok, and the essay was ok i think

Reply 17

Phoebe_Vet

I just wanted to die half way through lol the brain just didn't want to work!

Reply 18

emilyyy

Right guys, just to let you know I've been reminded by a mod that the BMAT is a international exam and as a result we're not allowed to discuss questions/answers until midday tomorrow (6/11/08).

I know I've breached that myself, but if you could all edit your posts to ensure nothing is leaked, that would be great :smile: