My Philippine NMAT Result And Study Strategy

It has only been a little under four months since my husband and I had started to consider going to med school together. It was then that I also started scouring the web for resources for prospective medical students who are interested in going to medical school in the Philippines and are intending to do their residency in the United States. It has been (and continues to be) very challenging to find relevant information in any one place; it has been very time-consuming (to say the least). Thanks to breastfeeding our infant, I'm forced to use my "sedentary" time to do lots of information-gathering on the Internet. Being bilingual in English and Tagolog helps a lot, especially when reading posts from the Filipino diaspora.

Always a nice view to wake up to: Ala Moana Beach Park and Magic Island

Upon waking up this morning, I found a comment on one of my blogposts! It's the very first comment that I have ever received re: the Philippine NMAT and only the second (non-SPAMmy) comment that I have received on my blog. To whomever you may be, wherever you are: Aloha and mahalo for your interest in our journey! We wish you the very best on your medical school adventures as well.

From what I gathered, the purpose of the comment was to get a better picture of my Philippine NMAT study strategy and my corresponding Philippine NMAT score. I believe the comment is from a U.S.-based prospective Philippine medical student who is in his/her late 20's.

I am going to post my reply in the form of a blogpost, for the main purpose of keeping the contents of this blog organized and allowing future readers (and myself) to find information more easily (vs. having to read through all of the comments of who-knows-which-blogpost with hopes to find a golden nugget--yeah, that's what I have been doing and I am thankful to find useful information, despite the arduous process). Please forgive me if this gives off the vibe of anal retentiveness.

I.  Philippine NMAT Study Materials

I'd offer to split this into two categories:

• Study Materials Acquired But Not Used
• MSA NMAT Biology Reviewer - We purchased this on Amazon Kindle for under $5.00 (I believe). Due to lack of time as a mom of three and my perceived low Return on Investment (ROI) on spending a considerable amount of time on this reviewer, I did not get past the first part. While the content was making sense to me (I even blogged about my learning process), I was not picking up at a fast-enough speed as the reviewer did not contain the level of detail (or explanation) that was suitable for people like me. On the contrary, other people have stated (in various online medical forums and student blogs) that they had found this reviewer to be an effective and relatively inexpensive study tool.
• GRE, GMAT, and MCAT Reviewers - We purchased these books from Barnes and Noble as a means to compensate for the lack of availability and accessibility of Philippine NMAT Reviewers in the United States. Unfortunately, we simply did not have the time to even open up these books, so I am unable to attest to their effectiveness. We couldn't even find the time to return them; hence, I hereby bequeath them to our children. Kidding aside, I plan on transporting these reference books with us to the Philippines in case I need to supplement my learning--or re-learning--of the basic Sciences. In addition, certain bloggers and online forum participants have recommended against the use of MCAT Reviewers for preparing for the Philippine NMAT and have instead suggested going to the library to review high-school-level books on Biology, Physics, and Chemistry.
• Study Materials Acquired And Actually Used
• CEM-NMAT Practice Tests for Part I and Part II - This reviewer can be downloaded after payment of the appropriate Philippine NMAT registration fees. It comes with test questions (with a corresponding test key) that are formatted in the same way that they will appear on the actual test.

II.  Test Structure

As you will see on the supplied Practice Tests, the Philippine NMAT contains two parts. Each of these parts contain their own subtests.

• Part I Subtests (to be completed before lunch, roughly between 8:00AM - 11:30AM): 
• Verbal
• Inductive Reasoning
• Quantitative
• Perceptual Acuity
• Part II Subtests (to be completed after lunch, roughly between 1:00PM - 4:00PM):
• Biology
• Physics
• Social Sciences
• Chemistry

(While it has only been less than three months ago since my husband and I sat for the Philippine NMAT, it feels like a distant memory already; so, please don't quote me on exact times and schedules.)

If I remember correctly, we had more or less of only one minute to spend on each question. So, strive to improve on your speed and accuracy in problem-solving.

We weren't allowed to bring any calculators, but they did supply us with a limited amount of scratch paper. So, use them wisely, as it may be a while until a proctor or assistant would come your way to offer more scratch paper at their discretion. 

We brought our own pencils (lots of them) and erasers.

They supplied the drinking water and disposable cups. 

Some people came better prepared and brought in some Starbucks.

III.  My Study Time

We only had one month from the time that we decided to go to med school in the Philippines to the time that we had to sit for the Philippine NMAT. This blog shows my multiple attempts at studying during that period. All I ever did get to accomplish during that short time (that was strictly related to studying) was to create a personalized reviewer out of the supplied Practice Tests and focus only on reviewing the subtests that were my natural areas of strength. I never got to review all of the subtests due to the complexities and responsibilities of being wife and mom of three. 

In addition, I also decided to use a chunk of that time to:

1. Assess the feasibility of attending medical school in the Philippines
2. Determine which Philippine medical schools cater to foreigners and allow flexibility for taking U.S. Clinical Electives (USCE)
3. Determine which Philippine medical schools would allow their students to take a Leave of Absence to sit for the USMLE Step 1 prior to graduation (others have no choice but to take all of their USMLEs after graduation)
4. Determine which Philippine medical schools would allow their students to delay graduation in order to remediate deficient clinical clerkship hours that are required by certain states in the United States as part of obtaining a license to practice in that state
5. Assess the likelihood of U.S. International Medical Graduates a.k.a. USIMGs (U.S. citizens who graduated from Philippine medical schools) to match for residency--and to determine which specialties, hospitals, and geographical areas have historically provided opportunities for USIMG residency training
6. Determine which states in the United States have historically accepted USIMGs to practice in their state upon completion of residency
7. Determine the licensing requirements of states in the United States that do accept USIMGs

During that time, I was also able to discover scholarships, fellowships, and grants offered to U.S. citizens to study in the Philippines. Inflation aside, the amount would be enough to cover all four years of medical school (to include the donation fee imposed on foreigners studying medicine in the Philippines). One such example is the Boren Fellowship. To gain a better understanding of the detailed mechanics for applying for the Boren Fellowship, I exchanged a few emails with the Boren Fellowship Program Manager. At the time, he confirmed that studying medicine in the Philippines would be covered if ever I were to apply for, and receive, the award. One eligibility requirement is that I would need to be enrolled and matriculated in graduate degree (not graduate certificate) program with an accredited graduate-level institution in the United States during the same time that I would be attending a Philippine medical school. Some of the options that I had considered (if I were to pursue and qualify for the Boren Fellowship) were to a) enroll in an online PhD program, b) enroll in an online MPH program, and then the easiest route--c) go back to my Alma Mater where I received my MBA, enroll in another graduate degree program (but this time, choose the online program), enroll in only one or two courses during the Boren Award year, then put the program on hold until I'm done with med school. If ever I were to decide to revisit that graduate program at a much later time so as not to waste the previously competed one or two courses, I would have the option to switch it to a graduate certificate vs. a graduate degree program (since the ROI for obtaining another master's degree in my case wouldn't be significant in achieving my educational goals). Obtaining a graduate certificate would take less time and would only entail completing as little as one more semester-long course after med school. After exploring and weighing my options, however, I decided not to pursue the Boren Fellowship, as I felt that I wouldn't be in a position to fulfill their one-year service requirement after graduation. However, it is a very viable route for other students, and I have personally worked alongside--and mentored--a Boren fellow pursuing an advanced degree from Harvard University (at the time, I was unaware that she was a Boren fellow). 

IV.  Planning for Study Time

Here's my take (from my limited reference and experience) with regards to planning for study time:

• If you have children and want a high Philippine NMAT score (in the high 90s), consider increasing your study time to significantly more than one month.
• If you have children and are okay to settle for a lower score (from the 40s), one month of study time could be workable, as long as you apply the right mix of study and test-taking strategies.
• If you do not have children and want a high Philippine NMAT score, one month of study time could be workable, as long as you pour a considerable amount of time in studying. Of course, being a Science major and/or a recent college graduate might increase your chances of getting a high score even more.
• If you do not have children and are okay to settle for a lower score, one month of study time should be sufficient, as long as you apply the right mix of study and test-taking strategies.
• Factor in additional time to do feasibility studies and research prior to committing to studying medicine in the Philippines. If possible, don't let this activity creep into your protected study time.

My husband and I decided to sit for the Philippine NMAT on December 1, 2012, since we already had prior plans of traveling to the West Coast during that same time for a Continuing Medical Education (CME) Conference. We understood that maximizing our travel itinerary would also mean limiting our time to study. We were not aiming for the highest score. We understood the risks as well as the sacrifices.

Parenting is tough (and rewarding at the same time) and requires lots of sacrifices. It also requires re-adjusting our own expectations and timelines. Something's got to give. We need to know our priorities. While I was once thought of as an over-achiever (although I always thought otherwise) during my graduate and undergraduate years, I am not sure if I would be able to--or would even want to--apply the same rigor in med school, now that we have three children.

V.  My Study Strategy

Since most of the recommendations in blogs and online forums stressed a thorough review of the Practice Tests, I decided to take some time to create a personalized reviewer system suitable for my current situation. I created it in PowerPoint so that I could have the slides rotate in front of me while I was either breastfeeding my baby or cradling him to sleep.

• I re-typed--and in some cases, took screen shots of--each question for each subtest found in the supplied Practice Tests
• I created two slides per question: one slide only had the question with multiple choice answers while the other slide had the same question with the highlighted correct answer
• I created one PowerPoint file per subtest (resulting in 8 files as there are 8 subtests)

Due to my circumstances, I prioritized studying the sections that were my natural areas of strength. In my case, these would be "Inductive Reasoning" and "Perceptual Acuity". Cycling through the slides for these subtests enabled me to recognize problem-solving patterns and develop techniques that would allow me to spot problems faster. As the saying goes, "A problem identified is a problem half-solved". Identifying the problem accurately allowed me to apply the correct solution. While I now only have a vague recollection of such patterns and techniques, I was able to impart such knowledge with my husband during that time, which resulted in his enjoyment of the exercise. From what I had gathered through personal research and observation, a majority of Science majors and healthcare practitioners (like my husband) find my favorite subtests to be challenging. On the other hand, my fellow Business School and Communications colleagues found such subtests to be entertaining. Isn't that interesting?

In the end, I was only able to brush up on "Inductive Reasoning" and "Perceptual Acuity".

Seeing that delving into a little bit of everything else,  i.e. Biology, Chemistry, Physics, etc., would mean sacrificing the premium time that I had to otherwise sharpen my innate strengths, I decided to study nothing else but "Inductive Reasoning" and "Perceptual Acuity".

Why?

I knew that out of all of the subtests, I would be able to solve these problems the fastest (with the highest accuracy rates) compared to all other subtests.

While "Quantitative" is also another strength of mine, I did not focus on this subtest as it required more time to solve these problems. In my case, I would need to spend more than one minute to solve a majority of the questions (each question is allotted one minute more or less--more so, less). Although they were not complex math problems, they simply required more time. It was also difficult to just "eyeball" the answer, as the multiple choice selections looked very similar to each other--for example, a) 101.2 b) 101.3 c) 101.7 d) 102.5, and so on. Needless to say, I decided to skip this section then go back only after I had accurately answered the other questions and sections that required less time to answer.

In a nutshell, I concentrated on my strengths: I honed my speed and accuracy in solving problems in the areas in which I was already strong.

If only I had more time to study, I would have also been able to focus on my weaknesses (which are many). But, I didn't have the luxury of time. I needed to concentrate on what I already had vs. what I didn't. 

Given our current situation, I would be satisfied with simply meeting the cut-off score for the medical school of our choice.

VI.  Cut-Off Score And What Others Are Saying About the Philippine NMAT

The cut-off score for the Philippine medical school of our choice is in the 40th percentile.  However, there are rumors that they will be changing this to 60 due to high scores in recent Philippine Board exams.

From what I have been reading in the online forums, there are quite a number of prospective students who scored in the 30's and 40's and still submitted their application. Some of them claimed that they were able to secure an interview and are now awaiting to get accepted. Some say that they were told that Philippine NMAT scores are not the be-all-end-all of the admission process, unless you're trying to apply for scholarship and/or trying to get into the University of the Philippines (UP), University of Santo Tomas (UST), and Pamantasan ng Lungsod ng Maynila (PLM).

In the online forums, prospective medical students reveal their Philippine NMAT scores and undergraduate GWA/GPA. From the limited information that I was able to glean from those who did disclose their information, this is what I saw:

• There are those with relatively high Philippine NMAT scores (in the 80s and 90s) with an average GWA/GPA (between 1.80 - 2.20 where 1.00 is high)
• There are those with lower Philippine NMAT scores (between the 40s and 60s) with Latin-honor GWAs/GPAs
• There are those with average Philippine NMAT scores (in the 70s) with failed subjects/courses in college and an average GWA/GPA (between 1.80 - 2.20 where 1.00 is high)

What did these groups have in common?

They all claim to have applied and have gotten an interview. They are now just awaiting the school's decision.

VII.  Finally, My Philippine NMAT Result

It is in the 50s.

It's certainly not stellar, but it is good enough to meet the cut-off score.

Currently, our medical school application status is as follows: 

• The Admissions Office has confirmed receipt of our application (per my telephone conversation with them yesterday)
• Our application is in their InBasket awaiting review

Here's the rest of their screening process (as I understand it):

• The Admissions Office will send us an email once they have completed reviewing our application
• The Admissions Office will forward our application to the College of Medicine for review
• The College of Medicine will email us to schedule an interview via Skype (so that we don't have to fly over to the Philippines to appear in person for the interview)
• If all goes well after the interview, the College of Medicine will send us a Notice of Acceptance (NOA)
• Upon receipt of the NOA, we will be given two weeks to respond and secure our spot in medical school by paying PHP20,000.00 per applicant (this will be credited to the tuition) 

Also noteworthy for those interested in applying for a scholarship:
From what I was told over the phone, the scholarship application process will begin sometime in April

Target dates for enrollment (per the Admissions Office):
First week of May

Projected start of classes (per the Admissions Office):
First week of June


DISCLAIMER: I am by no means affiliated with any of the organizations listed in this blogpost. For the most accurate and recent information on any of these organizations, please visit their website or contact them directly.