The decision to sit the uniTEST isn’t quite as easy as teachers make it out to be. The exam is placed perfectly, in October, right in the middle of when all the final assignments are due and tests are being sat. For me it was a really hard decision to make! Do I give up a day to go to Flinders and sit the test, or do miss it and focus on my schoolwork? Fortunately, I found out that there was a sitting taking place on school grounds, reducing the time out of class to an afternoon – phew! So I decided, okay, I’ll do it, but I’ll only do my best and not add it to the MOUNTAIN of other things to worry about.
Sitting the uniTEST was quite an experience (good practice for exams). It was held in our year 12 common room, where some of our teachers stood at the front with stern faces. “We are the invigilators for this exam! If we find any phones, any notes, any ….” You get the picture. The funny thing was that the person speaking was Mrs. Miller, the nicest teacher we had EVER had, and here she was scaring the pants off everyone talking about expulsion.
The test itself wasn’t too bad. Nothing specific about school subjects, just general questions based on a passage or asking you to identify the next shape in a pattern. For anyone who has sat the UMAT (Undergraduate Medical Admissions Test), uniTEST is very similar (it’s also written by ACER) but it’s nowhere near as pressured for time. Everyone actually finished really fast. I was the only one remaining with about 30 minutes to go and my piece of advice – use all the time! You can never check your answers enough.
The uniTEST ended up working well for me, I scored a decent result and it definitely took some pressure off my shoulders when it came to exams.
So, why take the uniTEST?
- It’s a great way to increase your chances of being accepted into your desired course
- There is no disadvantage to sitting the test. A bad result will be pushed to the side
- It’s FREE
- Only takes 2 hours (1 hour and 20 minutes less than the final Lord of the Rings)
- No preparation needed
- Did I mention it’s free?
uniTEST registrations close on Monday, 29 September. If you’re interested, contact Flinders University about registering by emailing unitest@flinders.edu.au.