GAMSAT 2015

medpad

DdocU wrote: »

Hey guys best of luck with the GAMSAT, its a tough exam but nowhere near as tough as the GEM course! Just a heads up, the BOI loan, for UCD anyway, has changed. Instead of taking a 60K loan out you have to take out 4 separate loans of 15k each year which is a nightmare. They are also pretty strict on the guarantor side of things, my first guarantor was turned down and i know a lad who was refused the loan altogether. The loan process also takes several visits to the bank. If anyone has questions about gamsat or first year in UCD feel free to ask.

That sounds like a right hassle. Cheers for taking the time to post here. Hope course going well.

pm24 wrote: »

What's everyone's view on a Gamsat score of 56? Safe for this year?

Should be safe for UL and probably UCC anyway

pm24

medpad wrote: »

That sounds like a right hassle. Cheers for taking the time to post here. Hope course going well.



Should be safe for UL and probably UCC anyway

Cheers medpad. I'm thinking RCSI will possibly drop to 56 in round 1 or so like it did last year.

Omega28

What's a realistic score for someone studying 3/4 weeks with no science background? Is it passable?

DdocU

Omega28 wrote: »

What's a realistic score for someone studying 3/4 weeks with no science background? Is it passable?

It will be hard but possible. I'd watch Khan academy science religiously and try get as much practise papers done as possible. Khan is great at explaining science. I'd focus mostly on organic chemistry, they asked a lot of it in my paper

Omega28

With 11 days or so away I won't get much work done. I'll just keep at the papers and watch Khan Academy.

cyt123

know someone who said they rang CAO and was told applications for GMED have gone up this year

hope GAMSAT scores don't go up too much....

sReq | uTeK

cyt123 wrote: »

know someone who said they rang CAO and was told applications for GMED have gone up this year

hope GAMSAT scores don't go up too much....

Went up by 6 people is the figures I heard + this has no relevance on GEM at all.

medpad

This time tomorrow the battle will be underway.... Can't wait to get this over with

SwiftEagle

medpad wrote: »

This time tomorrow the battle will be underway.... Can't wait to get this over with

I know how you feel, because I work full time for the last 3 months, everyday after work and on the weekends in constantly thinking about studying. Even going for the odd drink has me feeling guilty about my inability to study when im hungover!!

It all finishes tomorrow

sReq | uTeK

medpad wrote: »

This time tomorrow the battle will be underway.... Can't wait to get this over with

SwiftEagle wrote: »

I know how you feel, because I work full time for the last 3 months, everyday after work and on the weekends in constantly thinking about studying. Even going for the odd drink has me feeling guilty about my inability to study when im hungover!!

It all finishes tomorrow

Best of luck guys, hoping to be in the same position come september with the UK exam.

Quick question is the GAMSAT UK culturally different to the GAMSAT IRE?

medpad

sReq | uTeK wrote: »

Best of luck guys, hoping to be in the same position come september with the UK exam.

Quick question is the GAMSAT UK culturally different to the GAMSAT IRE?

No idea Im afraid..
Only thing I have read is that UK one tends to be a bit easier.

Ballet17

Best of luck everyone sitting the Gamsat tomorrow! Bring/eat a good lunch This time tomorrow it'll be nearly over .

I sat both the Irish and UK gamsat last year, did not find the UK one easier was just better prepared . Also probably having sat it before helped with knowing what to expect from the day. Best of luck to everyone again!

Omega28

First timer taking the GAMSAT. Any last minute advice?

Regarding start time tomorrow. It states on the ticket that the registration time commences at 8:15am. I presume start time is 9:00am?

Peter_j

Start time depends on number of people being ready to start. It should start around 9ish anyway.

As for last minute advice, get good sleep, have nice breakfast in the morning and lunch in the break. Read each question carefully. Sometimes they seem to look for something different than they really do. Manage your time well. If you're left with many questions untouched or have no clue what's the answer I put C 2 years ago. And last but not least, don't get stressed.

Good luck everyone tomorrow!

Omega28

Thanks, I need it!

medpad

Section 3 was a disaster for me. Way worse than I could have imagined!

Anita Blow

Everyone I talked to felt the same way about Section 3. Was just far harder than any practice material I'd used.

Really confident about Section 1 and 2 though so my feelings are fairly neutral right now I guess.

jody24

I agree med pad. i found the first 50 ok but then extremly harder for the rest and used my lucky guesses for quite a lot of them!
did ppl get to finish sec 1 and 3 on time? I had to gues for the last 20 for both!!

medpad

Ya I didn't talk to any after so no idea what the consensus was. Ran out of time for section 1... about 8 where I had to just fill in. Section 3 was such a disaster than I kinda bottled the last ten minutes found hard to focus on the graphs etc.

Did anyone else find some of the ques/ans were wrong? One or two didn't look right.

medpad

Ya I didn't talk to any after so no idea what the consensus was. Ran out of time for section 1... about 8 where I had to just fill in. Section 3 was such a disaster than I kinda bottled the last ten minutes found hard to focus on the graphs etc.

Did anyone else find some of the ques/ans were wrong? One or two didn't look right.

I don't think I did well enough in section 1 or 2 to bring my score.

Omega28

Section 1 & 2 was ok. Section 3 was a guessing game. I found the 3 hrs flew in for Section 3, and could have done with another 3 hours. My timing was very poor, which cost me dearly in the end.

Delighted to have it done now. It was an experience to say the least.

sReq | uTeK

Anyone that did the UK in September and Ireland one in march comment on the differences ?

jody24

does any one remember the section 3 question that involved interpretation from a triangle? all i can remeber about it that it had micro and macro in it#! if some on remember plz pm as i am mad about learning interpretation of triangles and 3 axis question. they are my night mare

Omega28

Now the 2 month wait for the results...

Pharmatrist

I sat the irish paper in cork this weekend and also the UK version back in september. I felt that S1 was slightly harder (like you say, just couldn't get into it), S2 was about the same, and S3 was easier than the uk paper.

Med2015

I actually felt exactly the same about S1- found it hard to get into it.. found myself having to re-read a lot more than with any of the papers I've done. Despite the fact that there is usually 2 very plausible answers I found that it was harder to identify the one that stood out. So I agree the UK S1 was a nice paper (easier to digest). Essays both fairly straight forward in both instances.. Nothing completely unexpected.. Section 3 I don't think I could judge because I wasn't at all equipped for it the first time and was much more equipped this time so I saw the paper in a completely different light.. in that I actually knew how to do some of the questions this time round! :P But I actually found the Irish paper so tough that I think the UK paper (had I been better prepared for science) seemed less WOH... to put it that way! Had the Irish paper been the standard it was throughout the first half, I would have been chuffed with that section... But it suddenly got very messy in the last 60 Q's... Barely any Org on UK paper in comparison to loads in Irish which suited me, was chuffed with those Q's.

Has anyone else found the whole experience an absolute kick in the stomach generally speaking?

Yeah Omega, a whole 2 bloody months to think about it... no fun!

Also the triangle Q was in the UK paper as well... albeit it was much less complicated... You have to follow the diagonal lines that were dotted across the triangle given the info in the Q's.. although to be honest I only really felt confident about the first Q in that unit ..

Anyone going for UL?

Med2015

sReq | uTeK wrote: »

Best of luck guys, hoping to be in the same position come september with the UK exam.

Quick question is the GAMSAT UK culturally different to the GAMSAT IRE?

No its definitely not culturally different. I'm pretty sure acer in auz do out all the material or where ever their team of aptitude experts are.. so it can't be ambiguous in its form... A lot of people say they score higher in the UK, but I wouldn't listen to any of that stuff.. expect the same. The only thing that really differs about the UK sitting is the nerves.. you know you have the march sitting so your much more relaxed because you know its not the end of the world which actually helps I think in getting a better score. So I'd say that's why everyone says they do better in the UK. More about mentality than anything else.

Omega28

Med2015 wrote: »

I actually felt exactly the same about S1- found it hard to get into it.. found myself having to re-read a lot more than with any of the papers I've done. Despite the fact that there is usually 2 very plausible answers I found that it was harder to identify the one that stood out. So I agree the UK S1 was a nice paper (easier to digest). Essays both fairly straight forward in both instances.. Nothing completely unexpected.. Section 3 I don't think I could judge because I wasn't at all equipped for it the first time and was much more equipped this time so I saw the paper in a completely different light.. in that I actually knew how to do some of the questions this time round! :P But I actually found the Irish paper so tough that I think the UK paper (had I been better prepared for science) seemed less WOH... to put it that way! Had the Irish paper been the standard it was throughout the first half, I would have been chuffed with that section... But it suddenly got very messy in the last 60 Q's... Barely any Org on UK paper in comparison to loads in Irish which suited me, was chuffed with those Q's.

Has anyone else found the whole experience an absolute kick in the stomach generally speaking?

Yeah Omega, a whole 2 bloody months to think about it... no fun!

Also the triangle Q was in the UK paper as well... albeit it was much less complicated... You have to follow the diagonal lines that were dotted across the triangle given the info in the Q's.. although to be honest I only really felt confident about the first Q in that unit ..

Anyone going for UL?

By the time I settled in, Section 1 was over. In comparison to the practice papers, I found S1 to be much harder. I was having to read Q's over and over, wasting valuable time!

S2 was straight-forward, got 2 x 1.5-2 page essays done in the 60 minutes allocated.

S3 was a disaster, found myself guessing a lot of the questions.

I was chatting to a lad who graduated from Dentistry in Trinity, going back to do Medicine, and he said he was half guessing - what chance did I have coming from a non-scientific background!

I was shocked to see so many people handing up half full answer sheets, why not put something down?!- it's not like it's negative marking!

Med2015, I found it to be taxing alright, still a bit shattered from the overall build-up and experience of it!

Applying to UL myself. 56 was the cut-off last year. Overall, delighted I did the exam, but I won't be holding my breath for an offer.

Med2015

Omega28 wrote: »

By the time I settled in, Section 1 was over. In comparison to the practice papers, I found S1 to be much harder. I was having to read Q's over and over, wasting valuable time!

S2 was straight-forward, got 2 x 1.5-2 page essays done in the 60 minutes allocated.

S3 was a disaster, found myself guessing a lot of the questions.

I was chatting to a lad who graduated from Dentistry in Trinity, going back to do Medicine, and he said he was half guessing - what chance did I have coming from a non-scientific background!

I was shocked to see so many people handing up half full answer sheets, why not put something down?!- it's not like it's negative marking!

Med2015, I found it to be taxing alright, still a bit shattered from the overall build-up and experience of it!

Applying to UL myself. 56 was the cut-off last year. Overall, delighted I did the exam, but I won't be holding my breath for an offer.

To be honest, nearly every person I spoke too (this being my second time) said you need to sit it to really know what the experience is like! So regardless of how you do, just see it as a good investment and fingers crossed you get 53 + and you should have a good chance of getting in.. UL's cut off was 53* so random selection at 53 for remaining places... Where did you get 56 from? I know a girl who got offered it with 53 so its def the case..

You totally have a chance if your willing to work hard.. in the event that you don't get it this time.. I know quite a few non-science background peeps who got in.. So don't be worried about the competition..

Also I think the fact that everyone found it hard is good for the non science students seen as its all relative!

You'd also be surprised at the impact the essay section can have on your score.. I got a 71 in the UK and I was only a mark off getting what I wanted despite an abysmal score in science.!

Omega28

Med2015 wrote: »

To be honest, nearly every person I spoke too (this being my second time) said you need to sit it to really know what the experience is like! So regardless of how you do, just see it as a good investment and fingers crossed you get 53 + and you should have a good chance of getting in.. UL's cut off was 53* so random selection at 53 for remaining places... Where did you get 56 from? I know a girl who got offered it with 53 so its def the case..

You totally have a chance if your willing to work hard.. in the event that you don't get it this time.. I know quite a few non-science background peeps who got in.. So don't be worried about the competition..

Also I think the fact that everyone found it hard is good for the non science students seen as its all relative!

You'd also be surprised at the impact the essay section can have on your score.. I got a 71 in the UK and I was only a mark off getting what I wanted despite an abysmal score in science.!

I agree, you really need to sit the exam to fully grasp it! I know next time what to expect.

I am almost 100% certain I didn't get near 53+. In fairness, I only started studying 5/6 weeks ago. I think you need a good 6 months prep for this exam.

I got 56 for UL from their site or maybe from a recent post/thread on here.

I really hope you're right about the essay section, but how much can it realistically bring your score up?

Not sure if I should bother with the UK exam, or wait until March next year.

With a score of 71, why re take the exam?