GAMSAT 2017

medennial

GrabTheCREAM wrote: »

How did everyone get one?? I’m very pleasantly surprised anyway

Pleasantly surprised too. I think being relaxed on the day (resigning myself to the fact that it was a practice run and I could do it again in March for real) ended up really helping me. I scored 80 in S2 which I didn’t even think was possible for two topics I didn’t have prepared. I’m delighted.

Celestial12

I got SI 56, S2 64, and S3 67 for an overall of 63!

Disappointed with SI but I sucked at it the whole way through. Shocked at s3! So happy.

Celestial12

medennial wrote: »

Pleasantly surprised too. I think being relaxed on the day (resigning myself to the fact that it was a practice run and I could do it again in March for real) ended up really helping me. I scored 80 in S2 which I didn’t even think was possible for two topics I didn’t have prepared. I’m delighted.

Well done! Fantastic score in s2.

medennial

Celestial12 wrote: »

I got SI 56, S2 64, and S3 67 for an overall of 63!

Disappointed with SI but I sucked at it the whole way through. Shocked at s3! So happy.

Unreal! Congratulations, that’s a great score! Overall I’m at 60 which I’m happy with for my first attempt with very little study (and no science background). It should hopefully be enough for UL which I’m applying to anyway!

Celestial12

medennial wrote: »

Unreal! Congratulations, that’s a great score! Overall I’m at 60 which I’m happy with for my first attempt with very little study (and no science background). It should hopefully be enough for UL which I’m applying to anyway!

Well done! 60 is a very good score too. I'm 90% sure that I'll choose UL too. Really impressed with it, and it's closest to home (Galway). So nice getting it on our first attempt. We should get in anywhere really, and once you're in the GAMSAT will become like the leaving.

Typical, the section I was happiest on the day ended up being by worst. :P Found section III quite hard, and using the score predictor I was anticipating a score of around 59 based on the practice test results. My essay score ended up being slightly below the second practice test which predicted 65-67.

GrabTheCREAM

Mine was S1: 58 S2: 61 S3: 59 so overall 59

Probably gonna do it again in March to try and get 60+ to make sure I can get into Dublin but overall so happy!!

Celestial12

GrabTheCREAM wrote: »

Mine was S1: 58 S2: 61 S3: 59 so overall 59

Probably gonna do it again in March to try and get 60+ to make sure I can get into Dublin but overall so happy!!

Well done! I reckon you'll get in with that score but there's no harm to sit it again for the safety net. I was also planning on sitting it again if I got below 60, but I'm not going to bother now. I'm crap at S1 and don't think I'll be able to change that no matter what I do! :P

GrabTheCREAM

Thanks! Yous did unreal btw congrats!

Also, not sure but a 61 in 2016 would’ve been 80th percentile, in 2017 March would be 50-60th percentile and now it’s 70th percentile.. anyone know what this means in terms of point jumps?

Celestial12

GrabTheCREAM wrote: »

Thanks! Yous did unreal btw congrats!

Also, not sure but a 61 in 2016 would’ve been 80th percentile, in 2017 March would be 50-60th percentile and now it’s 70th percentile.. anyone know what this means in terms of point jumps?

Not sure, I know people were expecting big jumps in August but they didn't transpire. I think the reason the percentiles have changed is because we are now all grouped together (Australia, IE and UK) whereas in the past each territory was ranked alone.

My percentile was 79, but if I was just compared to the Irish cohort it would probably be higher. Australians tend to do much better than the UK and Ireland.

medennial

Celestial12 wrote: »

Not sure, I know people were expecting big jumps in August but they didn't transpire. I think the reason the percentiles have changed is because we are now all grouped together (Australia, IE and UK) whereas in the past each territory was ranked alone.

My percentile was 79, but if I was just compared to the Irish cohort it would probably be higher. Australians tend to do much better than the UK and Ireland.

Yeah exactly. It's amazing how just a few points in the difference can make, my percentile was circa 70/75 (can't remember off the top of my head now) with three points in the difference.

I think I might take it again in March just to be on the safe side - I wouldn't mind trying to improve my S3 score.

Celestial12, were you at the UL Open Day, I thought it was great. I have friends there now (and friends who have been through it) and they all rave about the experience. We might end up being classmates, you better be sound ha!

Celestial12

Irish percentile curve from 2012.

medennial wrote: »

Yeah exactly. It's amazing how just a few points in the difference can make, my percentile was circa 70/75 (can't remember off the top of my head now) with three points in the difference.

I think I might take it again in March just to be on the safe side - I wouldn't mind trying to improve my S3 score.

Celestial12, were you at the UL Open Day, I thought it was great. I have friends there now (and friends who have been through it) and they all rave about the experience. We might end up being classmates, you better be sound ha!

I was at it! Really impressed with the place. I'm going to go to the UCD open day at the end of the month to see what that's like. The program in UL looks really good anyway. 90% sure that's where I'm going to go.

ilovesmecounty

Oh my god. I just opened mine.
63 in Section 1, 81 in Section 2, and 38 in section 3, which makes me 55!!! I'm so delighted with that considering I couldn't even describe an atom in early August. Motivation to hit the books hard for March.

debbysoap

Congratulations everyone!!! I’m so happy we’ve all done so well; it almost feels like a group of school-friends getting their results together! This is one giant step closer to bright futures as medical healthcare professionals!

As for me...THANK YOU GOD!!!!!!
Got a 66 overall, just about 90th percentile.

Here’s to much more success!

ilovesmecounty

Now, bear in mind that despite not making a complete show of myself in the gamsat, I still struggle with sums! How do I calculate my percentile based on that score? Am I using the curve Acer sent us, or is there an Irish specific one?

debbysoap

ilovesmecounty wrote: »

Now, bear in mind that despite not making a complete show of myself in the gamsat, I still struggle with sums! How do I calculate my percentile based on that score? Am I using the curve Acer sent us, or is there an Irish specific one?

I presume that the curve we received was the general one, so inclusive of Australia and the UK. In fairness, the percentile only really comes to play in roughly gauging your chances of being accepted, but that’s a rough estimate.

You could extrapolate your total GAMSAT score (x-axis) to the y-axis to get your overall percentile

As Celestial12 said, your percentile will likely be slightly higher if you factor in just Irish applicants.

Celestial12

Well done Debby! Fantastic score. Have you decided where you want to go?

iLoves, Acer will tell you what percentile your score was for this cohort. Well done! You may get a UL offer with that next year.

ilovesmecounty

Yeah 55 might... might... get me an offer. But I'll have to resit in march. Which doesn't disappoint me at all as I always assumed I'd have to. The challenge now is to maintain my good s1 and s2 marks. I've been scratching my head all morning trying to remember what I wrote. I remember being happy with my first essay but thought my second was the most tenuous link ever the theme!

medennial

ilovesmecounty wrote: »

Yeah 55 might... might... get me an offer. But I'll have to resit in march. Which doesn't disappoint me at all as I always assumed I'd have to. The challenge now is to maintain my good s1 and s2 marks. I've been scratching my head all morning trying to remember what I wrote. I remember being happy with my first essay but thought my second was the most tenuous link ever the theme!

I’m the same - I’ve been stratching my head all morning, trying to ascertain what exactly it was about my essays that resulted in the high S2 marks. I have always been a fairly good writer when it comes to essays, so I am putting it down to that for the moment. I was purposely outlandish in the first (I quoted Hitler. Numerous times) and almost poetic in description in the second, which I think probably went in my favour as they may have been different.

I’m so delighted for everyone though. Hope you’re all doing something nice to celebrate!

debbysoap

Celestial12 wrote: »

Well done Debby! Fantastic score. Have you decided where you want to go?

Well done to you too!
I’ll be applying for 2019 entry and I’m aiming for UCD here. I’m applying in the UK also.

HopefulGEM18

Hi guys. I sat in September and got 57. Has anyone got any tips for the science section? It was my lowest one at 45. I haven't got a science background. I got 59 in section one and I'd like to bring that up to so all advice will be more than welcome. Congratulations to everyone who did great first time round.

Celestial12

debbysoap wrote: »

Well done to you too!
I’ll be applying for 2019 entry and I’m aiming for UCD here and I’m applying in the UK also.

If the UK leave the EU before you start it could be an issue. Apparently brexit may be delayed until 2020 though, so you should be fine. There's a new GEM course starting in Scotland that would have no fees! Could be a good option. Next year is its first year.

You'll get in anywhere in Ireland with your score, best of luck with the rest of your degree.

Celestial12

HopefulGEM18 wrote: »

Hi guys. I sat in September and got 57. Has anyone got any tips for the science section? It was my lowest one at 45. I haven't got a science background. I got 59 in section one and I'd like to bring that up to so all advice will be more than welcome. Congratulations to everyone who did great first time round.

Did you do practice questions?

That would be my advice, moreso than covering theory. I spent a considerable amount of time on theory (though I left physics out altogether) but feel I would have been better off just doing practice questions.

Acer are bringing out a third set of practice questions next week, should be useful as SIII was much more reasoning based in the exam than in the sample questions IMO.

ilovesmecounty

I also had no science background whatsoever. And yes the practice questions will help, but as someone who has already walked that road, I think you need to have a good knowledge of the theory to get through those questions. To me, it seems like the Leaving Cert. You learn the syllabus, think you know it, but really you don't know how to apply it. Exam papers will reinforce the learning. That's how I feel anyway. So I'm going over the theory again now, and doing mini-practice questions to make sure I understand them. By December I hope to move on to the papers. This is the method that makes most sense to me, for me. I found I spent too much time reading in September, and getting my head around what was asked. I ran out of time and had to guess about 40% of my answers!

GrabTheCREAM

So does anyone have any idea how the selection process at UCD & RCSI works? Like is it completely random selection, given you get the required score?

Guidance

debbysoap wrote: »

Well done to you too!
I’ll be applying for 2019 entry and I’m aiming for UCD here. I’m applying in the UK also.

First of all, congratulations guys on what seem like good scores!

debbysoap, I have applied for UK entry this year - I took the UKCAT exam in October and have submitted my UCAS application. If you have any questions, feel free to ask. As for Brexit, well I'm not sure what impact it may have but I wouldn't let that deter you if you have your heart and mind set on a particular college!

Guidance

Celestial12 wrote: »

Irish percentile curve from 2012.



I was at it! Really impressed with the place. I'm going to go to the UCD open day at the end of the month to see what that's like. The program in UL looks really good anyway. 90% sure that's where I'm going to go.

Hi Celestial12, well done on your score!

Have you been to the other graduate medical schools in Ireland? Would you prefer UL to RCSI and UCC?

Celestial12

Guidance wrote: »

Hi Celestial12, well done on your score!

Have you been to the other graduate medical schools in Ireland? Would you prefer UL to RCSI and UCC?

I decided not to go to the RCSI open day. It just doesn't appeal to me for some reason! If I go to Dublin then I think I'd prefer to study in UCD.

I'm currently in UCC, so that's part of the reason why I don't want to stay. If they have an open day (haven't heard of one yet) I'll go to it and it may change my mind. I need to look into the international reputation of each of the schools, because whilst I don't think it matters much here, I want to make sure I won't be held back if I chose to go abroad if I chose UL over UCD for example (UCD is ranked much higher in university rankings). I don't think it matters too much though.

How did you get on in the GAMSAT? Best of luck with your UCAS application. Which Universities did you apply to? I considered the UK but decided not to apply in the end.

Celestial12

GrabTheCREAM wrote: »

So does anyone have any idea how the selection process at UCD & RCSI works? Like is it completely random selection, given you get the required score?

I think it's random selection if you meet the cut off score. Some people on 54 were offered places in UL this year for example, I think it's a lottery type system but not sure. Might be worth emailing them about it. RCSI has been at 58 the last few years, so you should get an offer with your score.

Guidance

Celestial12 wrote: »

I decided not to go to the RCSI open day. It just doesn't appeal to me for some reason! If I go to Dublin then I think I'd prefer to study in UCD.

I'm currently in UCC, so that's part of the reason why I don't want to stay. If they have an open day (haven't heard of one yet) I'll go to it and it may change my mind. I need to look into the international reputation of each of the schools, because whilst I don't think it matters much here, I want to make sure I won't be held back if I chose to go abroad if I chose UL over UCD for example (UCD is ranked much higher in university rankings). I don't think it matters too much though.

How did you get on in the GAMSAT? Best of luck with your UCAS application. Which Universities did you apply to? I considered the UK but decided not to apply in the end.

Ok, thank you. I achieved an overall score of 65 in the GAMSAT. I've applied to Scotland and Belfast as regards UCAS.

I'd like to see UCC! I'll also have to go to the open day in UCD.

GrabTheCREAM

Celestial12 wrote: »

I think it's random selection if you meet the cut off score. Some people on 54 were offered places in UL this year for example, I think it's a lottery type system but not sure. Might be worth emailing them about it. RCSI has been at 58 the last few years, so you should get an offer with your score.

I think it was 59 this year, same as UCD so hoping it doesn’t go up!!