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Good Luck in GAMSAT 2011!
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24-03-2011 6:13pm#1
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SIII seemed lovely from first glance. An absolute delight. Kinematics, pH, two punnet squares questions. ****in joyous. Til I started making my way through it. Kinematics question included friction, of which I was completely ignorant and everything had a horrible little sting in the tail. 30+ left randomly guessed at the end I reckon, which is about the norm for me really. It didn't go any worse or better than last time really and I got a 58 there. I'd take a 58 again this time. I think I just need a bit of luck.
Some lovely little ochem questions on it though. If you had your positioning of R groups down, you'd do well. Not much chirality, but enough. 3/4 questions. Graphs on breathing rate v tidal volume I think. Handy marks, but I didn't see it til the end. That fingernail question came up again....
I was very happy with my section I. Only cos I got it finished in time. THREE cartoons. Unbloodyprecedented. None on the GAMSAT UK in September where I finished with 14 qs to go.
Loved this
Having done the exam in Bristol and RCSI before, it came as a surprise that we weren't given a break between section 1,2, but I made my way out during the reading time of section II, so no biggy. That beeping yoke was a new addition aswell. I thought we were going to have trouble with the woman operating it when it started to beep like made at the start of section I.
Just delighted it's over and I don't ever have to endure it ever again. Just about coming down from the caffeine tablets now. Anyone know how to forget about the questions and stop torturing myself with them? 50m braking distance of a car travelling at 30km/hr? You twat yillan0 -
SIII seemed lovely from first glance. An absolute delight. Kinematics, pH, two punnet squares questions. ****in joyous. Til I started making my way through it. Kinematics question included friction, of which I was completely ignorant and everything had a horrible little sting in the tail. 30+ left randomly guessed at the end I reckon, which is about the norm for me really. It didn't go any worse or better than last time really and I got a 58 there. I'd take a 58 again this time. I think I just need a bit of luck.
Some lovely little ochem questions on it though. If you had your positioning of R groups down, you'd do well. Not much chirality, but enough. 3/4 questions. Graphs on breathing rate v tidal volume I think. Handy marks, but I didn't see it til the end. That fingernail question came up again....
I was very happy with my section I. Only cos I got it finished in time. THREE cartoons. Unbloodyprecedented. None on the GAMSAT UK in September where I finished with 14 qs to go.
Loved this
Having done the exam in Bristol and RCSI before, it came as a surprise that we weren't given a break between section 1,2, but I made my way out during the reading time of section II, so no biggy. That beeping yoke was a new addition aswell. I thought we were going to have trouble with the woman operating it when it started to beep like made at the start of section I.
Just delighted it's over and I don't ever have to endure it ever again. Just about coming down from the caffeine tablets now. Anyone know how to forget about the questions and stop torturing myself with them? 50m braking distance of a car travelling at 30km/hr? You twat yillan
The invigilators were terrible. Very dour, treated people like ****e, didnt permit a toilet break in between sections 1 and 2 (which they usually do) and gave out to me at one point because I had the audacity to have a bottle of tippex on the desk for the essay section. What was the woman with that bleepy thing up to?
Section three was a nightmare. So much orgo, and as good as the "Organic Chemistry for Dummies" book is, I don't think it's sufficient preparation for the range and depth of questions that popped up throughout the section. That said, even the 'easy' questions (lenses, that heart diagram, etc) gave me trouble so maybe I'm over-stating the difficulty.
Left the exam hall very knackered, and very disconcerted with the whole experience. Got a sixty last time, but that was largely because I did a brilliant section 1/2 which balanced out my terrible section 3 score. Unfortunately, I think section 3 is the real predicter of how an applicant will fare in medicine, and the fact that I probably guessed about 70% of the sciencey questions this time around does not bode well.0 -
Dear God I made a mess of the essay sections, I thought affirmative action was to do with decisiveness, not necessarily discrimination! Then the money=/= happiness essay should have been a gimme but my essay writing skills was a no go.
Dont know how to call section 3, Im a GAMSAT virgin and did it more for the experience but yesterday really scared that sh*te into me about all I have to do for next year. Dont know how to study for section 1, I found myself zoning out of some of the longer sections. Thought the poetry was easier than some of the sample poetry that we were provided with.
Section 3 was hard to call, thought the orgo was ok if you had the basics (which i was ver iffy on). The lens questions were grand and the diagrams questions ranged from not hard to very hard.....actually this sounds like the synopsys of GAMSAT every year.
Anyway, Im drunk and exhausted, dont know whats the point of being there at 8.15, we flew through registration. Thought the invigilators were sound in fairness, I went to the jacks and the fella in college hall was awful chatty!
Anyway, thats it, time for bed.....anyone up for forming a study group for GAMSAT 2012!!
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Congrats to everyone on completing what is a pretty horrible day. It looks like everyone had the same issues with SIII so, given that it's marked relative to other candidates, you could all still do well. It's not worth torturing yourself over for the next 6 weeks. Good luck and hopefully some of you will be joining us in RCSI next September
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S1 and S2 went really well. Got S1 finished on time and answered everything as best I could so I think I probably scored highly.
The essay on wealth/happiness was great because I had just done one before hand as a practise essay so I planned that out easily. The affirmative action one was a bitch but I plowed through it.
SIII - jesus. I thought the entire section was very manageable but the questions required so much thought that I just didn't have the time to complete the test. I guess I lingered too long on some of the questions. Answered all the organic, except the annoying question about bicyclic molecules.. guess that entire question. I knew how to do it but it would have taken too much time. I found that I could have answered everything perfectly if I'd had enough time. I ended up guessing about 25-30 questions, which is really bad!
My guessing strategy was the griffith gamsat review one. Just guess all Cs and take the 1 in 4 chance of getting them right. That fingernail question was weird. I can't even remember what I answered.
The invigilators in college hall did come accross as complete c*nts though I agree!
All in all I'll predict
S1 63
S2 63
S3 53
Overall - 58.
Should get me into Limerick.
heres hoping!0 -
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Ok hopefully these graphs will help to explain my point better. Sort of explains why doing the exam in england is better also. All things staying equal Coming in the 75th percentile in England is worth a lot more to you than coming in the 75th in Ireland
GAMSAT ireland curve 2009
GAMSAT ireland curve 2010
London 2009
London 2010
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The two countries' distributions look they could be converging- UK GAMSAT scores were generally lower in 2010 compared to 2009, Irish GAMSAT scores were generally higher. They might "meet in the middle" this year.
Other stuff (number of applicants etc) might skew it, but I reckon the Irish results in May could look quite similar to that UK 2010 distribution.
meh Im not so sure. Lets take a score of 60 for example. In 2009 in Ireland this would have put you in the 87th percentile (roughly). Little had changed in 2010 as a score of 60 would still have put you in the 87th percentile.
Now lets look at England. In 2009 a score of 60 puts you in the 74th percentile while in 2010 it has you in the 78th.
So really the only thing that's happening is that it is becoming more difficult to score higher in the English GAMSAT. I believe this is firmly down to more Irish sitting the one in England.
Im not sure if I'v explained it here before but there is a reason it is (was) easier to score a better mark in the English GAMSAT but not an elite mark - I call it the deadwood principal
I'll post it up here if anyone is interested 0 -
bubbleking wrote: »
Im not sure if I'v explained it here before but there is a reason it is (was) easier to score a better mark in the English GAMSAT but not an elite mark - I call it the deadwood principal I'll post it up here if anyone is interested
Does it have anything to do with the construction of the test itself, ie, could they be tweaking the tests to omit the types of questions that people are finding unfeasibly difficult?0 -
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Does it have anything to do with the construction of the test itself, ie, could they be tweaking the tests to omit the types of questions that are unfeasibly difficult?
Im running stats today so Im looking for any excuse to procrastinate and this will do. By the way I have no way to support this claim its just an opinion.
Personally I think it is down to the English v Irish education system. In England the majority of people take 3 subjects for their A levels while in Ireland we take 6 subjects. Now while we study our 6 subjects to a pretty high standard the English students take their specialist subjects and study them to a very very high level. In essence the English students have an advantage in their specialist area while Irish students are more rounded.
So what does the deadwood principal mean? Well because of the education system there are a lot of english students sitting the exam that havnt got a hope (excuse the bluntness) Those that focused on laungage A levels and Uni find the science section too hard and those that focused on science slip up on the english section. These people really dilute the exam taking population. Since GAMSAT is marked on a distribution curve it is easier for me to come in the top "x"th percentile and so get a decent mark. This is very difficult in a rounded setting because if everyone is roughly the same ability wise it is more difficult to come in the top 25%. Note I will do better on average in the English GAMSAT but I will never come in the top 5% there - The guys that come top over there are experts in their specialist areas and have brought up their weak areas to a high standard - It would take an unreal amount of study for us to reach that level.
In recent years more and more Irish have sat the English GAMSAT and it is being reflected in the results. With a test taker pool that is less diluted it is becoming harder and harder to get a good mark (for the sake of arguement thats between the 75th and 90th percentile) - the average is getting better in England so the 75th percentile is getting lower.
Does that make sense? Im not the best at explaining stuff (not a good thing for a prospective doctor :P)0 -
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bubbleking wrote: »Im running stats today so Im looking for any excuse to procrastinate and this will do. By the way I have no way to support this claim its just an opinion.
Personally I think it is down to the English v Irish education system. In England the majority of people take 3 subjects for their A levels while in Ireland we take 6 subjects. Now while we study our 6 subjects to a pretty high standard the English students take their specialist subjects and study them to a very very high level. In essence the English students have an advantage in their specialist area while Irish students are more rounded.
So what does the deadwood principal mean? Well because of the education system there are a lot of english students sitting the exam that havnt got a hope (excuse the bluntness) Those that focused on laungage A levels and Uni find the science section too hard and those that focused on science slip up on the english section. These people really dilute the exam taking population. Since GAMSAT is marked on a distribution curve it is easier for me to come in the top "x"th percentile and so get a decent mark. This is very difficult in a rounded setting because if everyone is roughly the same ability wise it is more difficult to come in the top 25%. Note I will do better on average in the English GAMSAT but I will never come in the top 5% there - The guys that come top over there are experts in their specialist areas and have brought up their weak areas to a high standard - It would take an unreal amount of study for us to reach that level.
In recent years more and more Irish have sat the English GAMSAT and it is being reflected in the results. With a test taker pool that is less diluted it is becoming harder and harder to get a good mark (for the sake of arguement thats between the 75th and 90th percentile) - the average is getting better in England so the 75th percentile is getting lower.
Does that make sense? Im not the best at explaining stuff (not a good thing for a prospective doctor :P)
That's some high quality procrastination right there, fair play!
The Australian education system (from whence GAMSAT spawned) has more in common with ours than it does the British system. Being a curricular jack-of-all-trades is definitely advantageous when studying for it, so I can see the logic in that "deadwood" idea.
If it's true, then the best advice you could offer anyone thinking of doing the GAMSAT is to do it in Britland- at least until it's all Irish people in the exam halls over there and "deadwood theory" cancels itself out!0 -
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