GAMSAT 2018

medgirl18

e1994 wrote: »

53 ~ 25th percentile
55 ~ 35th percentile
59 ~ 57th percentile
61 ~ 67th percentile
63 ~ 77th percentile
65 ~ 85th percentile

Just some rough numbers to give you an idea!

Anyone know how this compares to last year?!

futuremedic777

medgirl18 wrote: »

Big congratulations to those that are happy and to those that aren't, I feel you

I got 58/59/50 giving me an average of 54. I'm disappointed but I can't say I put in the effort either so I guess I deserve it. I'm lucky there's still the slightest bit of hope and it solves my RCSI vs UCC dilemma obviously... LOL.

Anyway I'll just have to hope for UL! I know a current first year there with a score of 53, he got offered a place just before the semester started in round 2.

How did you friend get in wit a 53 ?! The cutoff last year was 54!

medgirl18

futuremedic777 wrote: »

How did you friend get in wit a 53 ?! The cutoff last year was 54!

I know! I wonder if it was actually 53* but they had put up the cut offs before the second round offers?!

GrabTheCREAM

Wait... so the curve shifted to the left.. doesn’t that mean more people did better in it than the Sept 2017 one? 🀔

Last year a 59 would be roughly 65-67th percentile

ChromosomeT

medgirl18 wrote: »

I know! I wonder if it was actually 53* but they had put up the cut offs before the second round offers?!

Hopefully I will have a bit of luck on my side and manage to get in with a similar situation. Were they offered their place in round 1 or 2 do you know and if they pestered the GEMS admissions office with calls (at the time of offers anyway)?

ilovesmecounty

brendanwalsh wrote: »

Glad your delusional is still strong despite having never worked a day in your life as a doctor. Enjoy your results. Don't forget to take your olanzapine today, you'll feel much better.

I genuinely worry for your well-being. Have you looked at other options? Or maybe take a career break? To feel that way all the time is not good for you.

santino

Hi All,

Congrats to everyone. Genuinely very happy for those who are happy with their results.

I got 53 again I'm afraid. No improvement on last year. UL is my first choice so my only hope is if the points come down, they were 54 last year, and if everyone on 53 is offered a place.

Not going to go a rant about the exam again, ironically Section 3 had a slight improvement for me but that's only a coincidence ha. However, my Section 2 came down from 77 to 63 this year. I'm shocked! It was always my strong point and I came out thinking it went very well again. I have always accepted exam results all the way up but would love to re-check it, however, from a quick google this morning, Sections 1 & 3 are the only ones that can be re-checked. Has anyone come across that before? Not that it would change my result that much (I've nothing to lose) but can't see how I dropped 14 points, it's genuinely baffling me...

Long anxious wait to the first offers now but we'll see.

Thanks.

ilovesmecounty

santino wrote: »

Hi All,

Congrats to everyone. Genuinely very happy for those who are happy with their results.

I got 53 again I'm afraid. No improvement on last year. UL is my first choice so my only hope is if the points come down, they were 54 last year, and if everyone on 53 is offered a place.

Not going to go a rant about the exam again, ironically Section 3 had a slight improvement for me but that's only a coincidence ha. However, my Section 2 came down from 77 to 63 this year. I'm shocked! It was always my strong point and I came out thinking it went very well again. I have always accepted exam results all the way up but would love to re-check it, however, from a quick google this morning, Sections 1 & 3 are the only ones that can be re-checked. Has anyone come across that before? Not that it would change my result that much (I've nothing to lose) but can't see how I dropped 14 points, it's genuinely baffling me...

Long anxious wait to the first offers now but we'll see.

Thanks.

Hi Santino I had the same thoughts this morning. My section 2 dropped 6 marks and I know it doesn't seem much but when I did a quick search for a recheck, it seems that it's not possible. I had already mentally decided not to recheck, for fear my mark would drop further and move me from 59 to 58 but it's odd that they don't even have that as an option, as that section is the only one that's open to human interpretation.

Hopefulgem2018

Hi guys, new to this board and love how supportive most of you all seem to be. Congrats to all of those who are happy with their results and serious commiserations to those who aren’t - hopefully most of us will get offered places come August. Just wondering what people think a “safe” gamsat score for the Dublin universities would be? It’s so hard to know whether they’ll go up or down from year to year I feel!

GrabTheCREAM

Hopefulgem2018 wrote: »

Hi guys, new to this board and love how supportive most of you all seem to be. Congrats to all of those who are happy with their results and serious commiserations to those who aren’t - hopefully most of us will get offered places come August. Just wondering what people think a “safe” gamsat score for the Dublin universities would be? It’s so hard to know whether they’ll go up or down from year to year I feel!

I would say anything over 60 would put you in the safe zone (people @ the cutoff of 59 get offered places randomly) so if it even goes up it won’t go up more than 1 point I’d say

medgirl18

ChromosomeT wrote: »

Hopefully I will have a bit of luck on my side and manage to get in with a similar situation. Were they offered their place in round 1 or 2 do you know and if they pestered the GEMS admissions office with calls (at the time of offers anyway)?

I know it was the week before the course started, so that's round 2 right? He definitely never rang them at all and almost rejected the offer. (Not because he wanted somewhere else but he didn't know if he wanted medicine and had no intention of repeating gamsat).

Hopefully the admissions office will have a better idea after round 0 because it's a long while to wait for round 1 and 2 otherwise, and it'll be hard to sort accommodation etc. at that short notice. I'm a bit concerned about the curve shifting though, as it means people did better. Hopefully it's just all the Australians haha.

Time for me to register for the September exam I guess!

Congrats again to those celebrating

ilovesmecounty

This may be a silly question and apologies if it's already been answered, but do we have to forward our score to the CAO, or is there a section on the CAO website to do that? Or do the CAO magically get it from Acer? I'm cream crackered today. Haven't slept properly all week worrying about these results.

medgirl18

ilovesmecounty wrote: »

This may be a silly question and apologies if it's already been answered, but do we have to forward our score to the CAO, or is there a section on the CAO website to do that? Or do the CAO magically get it from Acer? I'm cream crackered today. Haven't slept properly all week worrying about these results.

It says somewhere on the CAO website that gamsat will communicate all the March 2018 scores to the cao but if you're using a result from a previous date then you must send that in yourself Same here, can't wait to sleep properly tonight!!

Limk88

You need to add your CAO number to your acer account for them to forward results... you should have gotten an email about it on the 13th of April with the details

Rainbowdash1

Any chance anyone has a first year gem timetable for either of the dublin colleges?

futuremedic777

Rainbowdash1 wrote: »

Any chance anyone has a first year gem timetable for either of the dublin colleges?

Oh my gosh, I've been looking for those too, only Limerick has a planned one or that what I've found so far.
They have a more generic format of each term's modules on the Medical school sites.

Celestial12

Does anyone know what date our offers are out this year?

e1994 wrote: »

53 ~ 25th percentile
55 ~ 35th percentile
59 ~ 57th percentile
61 ~ 67th percentile
63 ~ 77th percentile
65 ~ 85th percentile

Just some rough numbers to give you an idea!

I got 63 in the September GAMSAT which put me in the 79th percentile for that exam. People tend to do better in the March GAMSAT, so the same score usually results in a lower percentile when compared to the September percentile curve.

indiep

Anyone sitting on 56 worried UL might jump up?

medennial

Celestial12 wrote: »

Does anyone know what date our offers are out this year?

I got a letter from the CAO a few days back with a statement of my course choices and I think it said that restricted courses or Round 0 offers were posted on 1 August this year and available online 6am on 2 August? Don’t have the letter to hand now to check but it was on a sheet that came with that letter!

brendanwalsh

Congrats to all


I'd start looking at your usmles as soon as you start the course. Make your exit plan swift!

Anita Blow

Congrats to all for getting your scores!
I'm a GEM graduate and thought I'd pop in when I saw results were out. The road ahead is tough but you won't regret a second of it. In fact the GEMS in the course were the only ones who never had any regrets, as we had the benefit of pursuing other paths first.

Relax and enjoy your couple of weeks off for the Summer and more importantly enjoy medical school it's an amazing experience

futuremedic777

Anita Blow wrote: »

Congrats to all for getting your scores!
I'm a GEM graduate and thought I'd pop in when I saw results were out. The road ahead is tough but you won't regret a second of it. In fact the GEMS in the course were the only ones who never had any regrets, as we had the benefit of pursuing other paths first.

Relax and enjoy your couple of weeks off for the Summer and more importantly enjoy medical school it's an amazing experience

Oh it's great to see a GEM graduate on here, so many questions to ask  I hope you have time to answer them
Do you think GAMSAT prepares students for the course or is it pointless?
Which Med School did you go to?
How interesting was your curriculum? 
And what is your  specific path in your medical career?

futuremedic777

brendanwalsh wrote: »

Congrats to all


I'd start looking at your usmles as soon as you start the course.  Make your exit plan swift!

I plan on studying in the UK after medschool, which means I would be preparing for the SJT and OSCE exams. Do Irish schools cater to students perusing the UK programme? And would it be good to apply for usmles also?

Anita Blow

futuremedic777 wrote: »

Oh it's great to see a GEM graduate on here, so many questions to ask  I hope you have time to answer them
Do you think GAMSAT prepares students for the course or is it pointless?
Which Med School did you go to?
How interesting was your curriculum? 
And what is your  specific path in your medical career?

I think GAMSAT is appropriate. The science section ensures a minimum standard and the other sections ensure you're well-rounded over-all.

I went to UCD and the curriculum was fairly good. Unsure about other colleges but UCD would examine you in a particular module at the end of that module which meant that your clinical years didn't come down to some big single final exam which certainly took the pressure off.

futuremedic777 wrote: »

I plan on studying in the UK after medschool, which means I would be preparing for the SJT and OSCE exams. Do Irish schools cater to students perusing the UK programme? And would it be good to apply for usmles also?

This is a common consideration but it may change during your time in medical school. I have a few friends working in the NHS now and both pay and working conditions are worse than here. They are 3 years out of college and earning less than an intern earns here for at least 30% more working hours.

futuremedic777

Anita Blow wrote: »

This is a common consideration but it may change during your time in medical school. I have a few friends working in the NHS now and both pay and working conditions are worse than here. They are 3 years out of college and earning less than an intern earns here for at least 30% more working hours.

Oh gosh that's atrocious ! The only reason Im considering the UK is simply because I'm from the uk, my whole life, family and friends are here, so the attachment might outweigh the conditions, I also hope it changes by the time I'm done.
 Although if it's beneficial for me to stay in Ireland I'll consider it, or even the US or Canada, I just hope the options are easily available to me once I start. 
So what I'm getting from you is that some of your classmates had a clear access to the NHS route? Along with Ireland, Australia,Canada and the US?

Anita Blow

NHS is grand to get into. I'm not sure the route directly from college but I'm aware it involves doing the SJT. Alternatively you can complete intern year and then get your GMC number and apply for a training post there.

Australia is fine, you just need to do an interview like a normal job.

Canada is a no-go. It's extremely difficult for even Canadians studying abroad to get a spot. But for a fellowship down the line it's possible.

US you will need to do the USMLEs which is a significant task. In total costs >5k at least to complete it. But if going to the States at some point is your wish then it's good to sit it sooner rather than later as it is a prerequisite for practicing there.

e1994

Anita Blow wrote: »

I think GAMSAT is appropriate. The science section ensures a minimum standard and the other sections ensure you're well-rounded over-all.

I went to UCD and the curriculum was fairly good. Unsure about other colleges but UCD would examine you in a particular module at the end of that module which meant that your clinical years didn't come down to some big single final exam which certainly took the pressure off.



This is a common consideration but it may change during your time in medical school. I have a few friends working in the NHS now and both pay and working conditions are worse than here. They are 3 years out of college and earning less than an intern earns here for at least 30% more working hours.

Can I just ask why you picked ucd over rcsi?

Anita Blow

The Mater and Vincents are probably the best Dublin hospitals and easiest to get to.

futuremedic777

Anita Blow wrote: »

NHS is grand to get into. I'm not sure the route directly from college but I'm aware it involves doing the SJT. Alternatively you can complete intern year and then get your GMC number and apply for a training post there.

Australia is fine, you just need to do an interview like a normal job.

Canada is a no-go. It's extremely difficult for even Canadians studying abroad to get a spot. But for a fellowship down the line it's possible.

US you will need to do the USMLEs which is a significant task. In total costs >5k at least to complete it. But if going to the States at some point is your wish then it's good to sit it sooner rather than later as it is a prerequisite for practicing there.

Thank you so much for all this information, it's very helpful, I prefer to plan way ahead of time simply to avoid being lost and ignorant.
So wow Canada is a no-go zone till I'm specialised.
Did you take the USMLEs? And was spending that much worth it? $5k?? wtf? LOL

Anita Blow

I didn't sit them. Practicing in the states isn't something I'm interested in!