Gamsat 2013

WoolahUrma

Hypnos wrote: »

It's all over now anyways but for some reason I've been thinking about it all day and I just keep doing different possibilities; where I went wrong and what's the best/worst case scenario (results wise)...

Well, you study for however long and the big day approaches, the test itself is a pretty intense experience and then theres a GAMSAT blackout.

You're experiencing Gamsat withdrawl symptoms!!

I was the same over the last couple of days but luckily I'm in work so I forget about it from time to time and I reckon after about a week it won't be as much of a hinderance.

Take up a new challange maybe, I'm thinking about getting back to running!!

Lub

I've been wondering (in light of the dreadful section 3), is it actually possible to fail any of the sections? I've heard that 50 is the pass threshold and certain universities in Australia only interview people who scored 50+ in each section... but what's the story here?

beardedmaster

Lub - no, you can't fail any section. Your result is purely calculated from SI + SII + (2 x SIII) all divided by four. CAO/Universities don't care what you got in any individual section, only what the overall result was.

Hypnos

Lub wrote: »

I've been wondering (in light of the dreadful section 3), is it actually possible to fail any of the sections? I've heard that 50 is the pass threshold and certain universities in Australia only interview people who scored 50+ in each section... but what's the story here?

You're lucky because there is no such threshold in Ireland. You can't really 'fail' any section per say but you can do so bad in a section that it will be bring your overall score down pretty hastily.

WoolahUrma

I'm preparing myself for the possibility/probability of re sitting in September.

I suppose there's no such thing as too early to start study?

Do they open up uk applications before the results of the march test are out?

Does anyone have any take on sitting in the uk? Test centres etc

demure

WoolahUrma wrote: »

I'm preparing myself for the possibility/probability of re sitting in September.

I suppose there's no such thing as too early to start study?

Do they open up uk applications before the results of the march test are out?

Does anyone have any take on sitting in the uk? Test centres etc

If you are thinking of re-sitting in September, now is the time to get back to the notes. I would get my hands on Des O'Neill's materials; they are well sectioned, each chapter covering a portion of the info you need to know + exercises for you to practice on.

Secondly, I'd suggest practice essays to keep the momentum and perhaps use Exam Krackers for SI, if you have exhausted the Acer material for this part of the exam.

In regards to the location, I couldn't recommend Bristol enough: it is quieter than the others and there are direct Ryanair flights from Ireland (that's where I am guessing you are based). The exam usually takes place in the Thistle hotel; they have very large conference rooms and it's very modern.

Hopefully, you will not have to do it again, but it's best to be prepared. Good Luck!

IEMedAp

The one bit of advice I would offer without any hesitance is not to buy any "guides" or anything similar claiming to offer expert insight into how to prepare or conduct the GAMSAT. One came up with some fantastically awful theory that if you don't know the answer, put C down for everything.

Stick with a few text books. I have seen five GAMSAT papers now and all of the science sections have an Organic Chemistry bias, so focus on this if you must learn something. Section 1 and 2 can be practiced best by utilising the ACER papers.

WoolahUrma

I would rather the small group. I did the most recent one in Limerick, there were 50 odd there which ment not much waiting for registration etc.

What about gamsat prep? I heard about DES but people have a lot of good to say about Ferdinand as well.

I understand that acer use analysis to weed out consistent use of a particular letter at the end of the tests when we start running out of time.

Thanks for your comments

Hypnos

WoolahUrma wrote: »

I would rather the small group. I did the most recent one in Limerick, there were 50 odd there which ment not much waiting for registration etc.

What about gamsat prep? I heard about DES but people have a lot of good to say about Ferdinand as well.

I understand that acer use analysis to weed out consistent use of a particular letter at the end of the tests when we start running out of time.

Thanks for your comments

To be honest I was fortunate enough to get a chance to speak to a lot of GradMeds in UCD on the GEM open evening. I was speaking to a group of 5 and I asked how they prepared and what did they use. They said they knew nobody in their class who used material that didn't belong to ACER or who bought those GAMSAT Gold Standard books.
I can honestly say from my experience, having seen some of those books/crash courses and they way they work is nothing but a cash grab.
I got a chance to borrow a few of those practice books/papers outside the ACER material and I found it hardly useful and decided not to invest the money in it. Wherever there is a hurdle in life for a moderate amount of people, you can be certain there will be people looking to cash in on it. I don't like it at all, and those websites claiming to guarantee success (you gotta love their testimonial sections... what a load of BS), are opportunistic and are as valuable as that spam in your email box claiming to make you lose weight, get a bigger penis or win free money.

I'm sure that there is some good stuff out there but I'm not taking any part in it having seen Des O'Neill, Gold Standard, Ozimed. One of my friends who gave up on Grad med spent 500quid to see that guy Ferdinand and he said it was absolutely useless. Only thing he is good for is preparing you for interviews.

Anything with problem sets can also be problematic. Some of the practice questions I've seen outside the ACER papers are way too good to be true. They are of lower standard and easier than what you get in the real thing.

I also wouldn't use the ACER papers as a guide, but a tool. To help you practice timing and get adjusted to how the questions are asked and the difficulty to expect.

I've sat it in the UK in 2012. I had a bad time. I got little-no sleep and against all odds was sick too. Literally could not have felt worse going into an exam. Sleep deprived and a pounding headache. My advice would be stay in a Hotel where you're sure to get some rest and try not to catch a cold or the flu before the exam. And I don't know if this is just me, but I found the UK exam a little tougher. Less chemistry than I expected. I just felt more comfortable sitting it here in Ireland. No flights, more rest, etc...

Sorry for the long post. Think I've covered what I had to say.

demure

And on that point, yes, sleep is do important do make sure the hotel is quiet!
When I stayed in the Thistle hitel in September I got zero (literally) sleep the night before dueto the noise. So I would certainly not recommended them. Perhaps go over equipped with sleeping meds in case of emergency...
Asides from that, let's hope the results aren't as atrocious as we predict :-)

Somalion

All I can say is fair play to anyone who is already able to think about sitting it again in Sept. I'm sure I'll get there too but right now the thought of it makes me feel unwell

WoolahUrma

Hypnos wrote: »

To be honest I was fortunate enough to get a chance to speak to a lot of GradMeds in UCD on the GEM open evening. I was speaking to a group of 5 and I asked how they prepared and what did they use. They said they knew nobody in their class who used material that didn't belong to ACER or who bought those GAMSAT Gold Standard books.
I can honestly say from my experience, having seen some of those books/crash courses and they way they work is nothing but a cash grab.
I got a chance to borrow a few of those practice books/papers outside the ACER material and I found it hardly useful and decided not to invest the money in it. Wherever there is a hurdle in life for a moderate amount of people, you can be certain there will be people looking to cash in on it. I don't like it at all, and those websites claiming to guarantee success (you gotta love their testimonial sections... what a load of BS), are opportunistic and are as valuable as that spam in your email box claiming to make you lose weight, get a bigger penis or win free money.

I'm sure that there is some good stuff out there but I'm not taking any part in it having seen Des O'Neill, Gold Standard, Ozimed. One of my friends who gave up on Grad med spent 500quid to see that guy Ferdinand and he said it was absolutely useless. Only thing he is good for is preparing you for interviews.

Anything with problem sets can also be problematic. Some of the practice questions I've seen outside the ACER papers are way too good to be true. They are of lower standard and easier than what you get in the real thing.

I also wouldn't use the ACER papers as a guide, but a tool. To help you practice timing and get adjusted to how the questions are asked and the difficulty to expect.

I've sat it in the UK in 2012. I had a bad time. I got little-no sleep and against all odds was sick too. Literally could not have felt worse going into an exam. Sleep deprived and a pounding headache. My advice would be stay in a Hotel where you're sure to get some rest and try not to catch a cold or the flu before the exam. And I don't know if this is just me, but I found the UK exam a little tougher. Less chemistry than I expected. I just felt more comfortable sitting it here in Ireland. No flights, more rest, etc...

Sorry for the long post. Think I've covered what I had to say.

The effort is appretiated!

I hear what your saying about the bigger penis and the free money but at the same time if one of those programs consolidates the material down and offers a bit of an insight to some stuff that might save a bit of time then why not?

Do you reckon I should get some first year text books?

I found Khan Academy brilliant last time around.

WoolahUrma

Somalion wrote: »

All I can say is fair play to anyone who is already able to think about sitting it again in Sept. I'm sure I'll get there too but right now the thought of it makes me feel unwell

After all the study, I'm kinda missing it. Ive become institutionalised!

I finished my degree a while ago so it was my first academic test in a while and I enjoyed a lot of the science.

Plus I think its a bit of damage limitation on my part, if/when I get the bad news in May. Starting back into it now is a sort of acceptance of a bad score in my head. So on the day if it works out that way the blow might not be as severe.

I've been imagining the appearance of the gamsat e mail in my inbox and the opening of the e mail. Not constructive.

Hypnos

WoolahUrma wrote: »

The effort is appretiated!

I hear what your saying about the bigger penis and the free money but at the same time if one of those programs consolidates the material down and offers a bit of an insight to some stuff that might save a bit of time then why not?

Do you reckon I should get some first year text books?

I found Khan Academy brilliant last time around.

Khan Academy is the best tool for S3 hands down! Simple and brilliant explanations. He has a playlist of MCAT video's which are similar to GAMSAT standard science questions and topics. I found it more useful than any text books. I learned physics from him and I managed to answer 8Q in S3 just from watching him, which otherwise I would have never been able to. I think ACER give you the best idea of what to expect in terms of content and standard. I have papers from Acer (all of them). If I get a decent score anyone here is welcome to have them for absolutely nothing. Free! If you want other papers or the Ferdinand books/DVD I can probably get them off my mate who gave up on GradMed and someone who wants to see them can take it? I found it pretty useless...

Hypnos

demure wrote: »

And on that point, yes, sleep is do important do make sure the hotel is quiet!
When I stayed in the Thistle hitel in September I got zero (literally) sleep the night before dueto the noise. So I would certainly not recommended them. Perhaps go over equipped with sleeping meds in case of emergency...
Asides from that, let's hope the results aren't as atrocious as we predict :-)

I was in a hostel. How do you think I felt? XD Worst sleep ever!

The wait for these results is gonna kill me. Luckily I have final year to keep me busy and the thesis

WoolahUrma

Hypnos wrote: »

Khan Academy is the best tool for S3 hands down! Simple and brilliant explanations. He has a playlist of MCAT video's which are similar to GAMSAT standard science questions and topics. I found it more useful than any text books. I learned physics from him and I managed to answer 8Q in S3 just from watching him, which otherwise I would have never been able to. I think ACER give you the best idea of what to expect in terms of content and standard. I have papers from Acer (all of them). If I get a decent score anyone here is welcome to have them for absolutely nothing. Free! If you want other papers or the Ferdinand books/DVD I can probably get them off my mate who gave up on GradMed and someone who wants to see them can take it? I found it pretty useless...

Can you post up a link to the mcat videos? I never saw these but I agree, the videos are top notch.

Thanks for the offer on the gold standard stuff I'll keep it in mind but for now I'll stick to sal

Hypnos

WoolahUrma wrote: »

Can you post up a link to the mcat videos? I never saw these but I agree, the videos are top notch.

Thanks for the offer on the gold standard stuff I'll keep it in mind but for now I'll stick to sal

Just type into YouTube "Khan Academy MCAT"...

or....

http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=khan+academy+mcat&oq=khan+academy+mca&gs_l=youtube.3.0.0l2.324.3298.0.4174.10.10.0.0.0.0.43.348.10.10.0...0.0...1ac.1.uI91LaMfI8U

WoolahUrma

I haven't seen anything on this forum about grants? The full student tuition grant is 50% of the total fees?

nerrad01

WoolahUrma wrote: »

I haven't seen anything on this forum about grants? The full student tuition grant is 50% of the total fees?

not quite 50% anymore, but still leaves a tuiton fee of €15k for the student to pay

WoolahUrma

I thought it was 14 odd total per anum for locals before any grant..

nerrad01

WoolahUrma wrote: »

I thought it was 14 odd total per anum for locals before any grant..

nope, its that figure after the grant has been applied, the government reduced their contribution last year or the year before which pushed it up to the 15k mark....or 17k in RCSI

Edit: So basically the total we should be paying if there was no government contribution would be 30k or there abouts per year (thats for locals)

WoolahUrma

Is this grant applied across the board or is the a means test of some sort?

Agnieszka_88

WoolahUrma wrote: »

Is this grant applied across the board or is the a means test of some sort?

It's applied automatically for all home students (=EU citizens).

WoolahUrma

Agnieszka_88 wrote: »

It's applied automatically for all home students (=EU citizens).

Thanks

chips365

International gradmed students are not entitled to a grant so they pay the 30k, government give home/locals the grant but you still end up paying 15k per year depending on the institution you apply to. UL offer a full scholarship but this is only awarded to students that really need it. My mate got it in UL, he had a 1.1 degree in science and had one of the highest gamsat scores out of the cohort.... and he still struggles with living expenses despite the "modest contribution" to living expenses.

IEMedAp

chips365 wrote: »

International gradmed students are not entitled to a grant so they pay the 30k, government give home/locals the grant but you still end up paying 15k per year depending on the institution you apply to. UL offer a full scholarship but this is only awarded to students that really need it. My mate got it in UL, he had a 1.1 degree in science and had one of the highest gamsat scores out of the cohort.... and he still struggles with living expenses despite the "modest contribution" to living expenses.

Without the scholarship I am unlikely to be able to take up a place. I know I am in the running for it but we haven't had the 'full' application form yet.

Hypnos

chips365 wrote: »

International gradmed students are not entitled to a grant so they pay the 30k, government give home/locals the grant but you still end up paying 15k per year depending on the institution you apply to. UL offer a full scholarship but this is only awarded to students that really need it. My mate got it in UL, he had a 1.1 degree in science and had one of the highest gamsat scores out of the cohort.... and he still struggles with living expenses despite the "modest contribution" to living expenses.

Actually it's 44K chips :eek: Ouch!

http://www.ucd.ie/registry/adminservices/fees/undergraduate2012.html

WoolahUrma

What kind of hours are you talking about once your in there?

I assume 9 to 5, 5 days a week plus study.

Would a part time job be out of the question?

I assume that a lot of us applying for grad med will be applying for a loan if we get an offer. I assume that the loan kicks in once you finish the degree.

What can an intern expect to gross including overtime?

I know the basic is 35k odd but the average including the amount of OT your average intern does is difficult to find online.

Hypnos

WoolahUrma wrote: »

What kind of hours are you talking about once your in there?

I assume 9 to 5, 5 days a week plus study.

Would a part time job be out of the question?

I assume that a lot of us applying for grad med will be applying for a loan if we get an offer. I assume that the loan kicks in once you finish the degree.

What can an intern expect to gross including overtime?

I know the basic is 35k odd but the average including the amount of OT your average intern does is difficult to find online.

Exactly 9-5 is pretty much it. This is before you start doing rotations in hospitals. The bank pays your fees directly to the university so you won't get to touch that money

Anyone who plans to work part time is either a machine or just overly ambitious. If I invest 60K into a gradmed degree, I'm gonna do everything in my power to make sure I don't slip up or fail somewhere therefore I see part time work as too much of a risk to a lot of money. Keep in mind gradmed also has 3 semesters (which run into the summer too). That's how it is in UCD. I read that RCSI has GM has 4 semesters. I think that work would be next to impossible, unless you can get a 1 day/week job just to feed yourself for the week.

I'd be hopeful of 30K including overtime. Anything higher than that is just wishful thinking. I would have thought it was around 27K now. I know a few years ago (2009) to be exact it was 33K. It was presented to us during an undergrad med info day. They said an intern (at that time) starts at 33K and can go up to 300K at the peak of his/her career. I don't think it's that high right now.

WoolahUrma

Hypnos wrote: »

Exactly 9-5 is pretty much it. This is before you start doing rotations in hospitals. The bank pays your fees directly to the university so you won't get to touch that money

Anyone who plans to work part time is either a machine or just overly ambitious. If I invest 60K into a gradmed degree, I'm gonna do everything in my power to make sure I don't slip up or fail somewhere therefore I see part time work as too much of a risk to a lot of money. Keep in mind gradmed also has 3 semesters (which run into the summer too). That's how it is in UCD. I read that RCSI has GM has 4 semesters. I think that work would be next to impossible, unless you can get a 1 day/week job just to feed yourself for the week.

I'd be hopeful of 30K including overtime. Anything higher than that is just wishful thinking. I would have thought it was around 27K now. I know a few years ago (2009) to be exact it was 33K. It was presented to us during an undergrad med info day. They said an intern (at that time) starts at 33K and can go up to 300K at the peak of his/her career. I don't think it's that high right now.

Yeah, I was thinking that the extra work would be out but I'm pretty sure that there's a nice bit extra on top of your 27k basic in overtime. Getting a reading on what most interns gross including the extras seem to be a bit of a difficulty.

There is a living expenses allowence but that seems to depend on where you are doing your internship.

I wondering how difficult it would be to cover the loan on that kind of money.