GAMSAT March 2020

Wackadoodle

Hi folks,

I’m a nurse, currently working in emergency department. Graduated with a 1.1 in 2017

Am very interested in studying GEM. Hoping to sit GAMSAT in March 2020. Looking for advice and tips on study material to use to prepare. Particularly for the chemistry and physics as have no background of these at all.

Has anyone attended the gradmed prep courses held in Dublin?

Thanks

APower79

Wackadoodle wrote: »

Hi folks,

I’m a nurse, currently working in emergency department. Graduated with a 1.1 in 2017

Am very interested in studying GEM. Hoping to sit GAMSAT in March 2020. Looking for advice and tips on study material to use to prepare. Particularly for the chemistry and physics as have no background of these at all.

Has anyone attended the gradmed prep courses held in Dublin?

Thanks

Hi! I’m interested in doing it to but need to do a lot of study!! I’ve heard most people say the courses are overpriced and not necessary but I think I’d feel more confident after doing one

Wackadoodle

Hi APower,

After reading loads of threads here on the exam I’m going to try prepping without the course for now using khan academy and the ACER prep material. Hoping it will be enough, might review that decision in January if it’s still not making sense !
Worse case scenario I think March will be a practice run at the exam and will retry in September if necessary

What’s your background in?

Scuid Mhór

Hello everyone,

Similar to you Wackadoodle, I'll be sitting this exam in March too, any personal recommendations as to what to study (materials, etc) and if any particular prep courses are helpful would be massively appreciated. I have a non-science background also.

Looking forward to discussing how things are going as we come closer to the day.

lucasmaximus

I have a gamsat of 59 from September 2018, just missed out on a place in UCD and wasn't in a position this year to move to Cork or Limerick. Gonna re-sit in March just to see if I can improve on it but have the 59 still valid for next year and can prepare for the costs of moving over the coming year.

I sat the gamsat in Setpember 2017 and got 54 so I had a marked improvement, having done next to no study for the first one, I spent around 3-4 hours most evenings for a month prior to the 2018 one watching the youtube Gold videos going through the published sample exams and found it very beneficial.

BeckiB

Hi I'll let you know my opinion of some of the materials I bought as I got quite a few, personally I wouldn't spend hundreds or even thousands on some of the courses advertised. I didn't do any personally but I know a couple of people who did and they were both disappointed.

As Lucas above said the Gold videos on Youtube are great for the science. The book wasn't quite as good but maybe worth getting if you struggle with the science. Another book that is great for all 3 sections is Griffiths Gamsat Review as it covers all three plus some pretty good general strategies for the test etc. I found it most useful for section 2.

The Des O Neill books are mainly good for lots of question practice but may be getting a bit out of date now as they're no longer in print but you can get second hand copies or PDF copies.

Those are the three most people use, there are some others I got but they weren't that good so I won't go into them.

Washiwill

I agree with BeckiB above regarding the Gamsat Review book I found that enormously helpful. Also have a look for the Gold Standard videos on Youtube particularly for their worked answers to the ACER books. Also have a look at the Khan academy and TED talks for ideas for s.2

DANCER97

I have a large amount of Gamsat material including practice tests and other material including des O’Neill etc. Selling for a reasonable price.

somebodylikeme

Hello,

I am also planning to sit GAMSAT in March. I sat it once before during the worst time of my life and just missed out on the entry score by two points. I have not studied chemistry or physics before either so it is daunting.

I personally like to work through textbooks. I have two that I am flicking through for chemistry and one so far for physics. What I have found is that each textbook has a different way of presenting the information and phrasing concepts so having different books to consult has helped me get a better understanding of what I'm reading.

So far I have a really old chemistry book that I found for free (it's from about 1993) and then I use library books for the others.

I bought the Gold Standard book which to me was a waste of money, and I bought the AceGamsat guides. I think the latter are better for revision rather than for learning about topics one has no background in.

To supplement my learning I also use Khan Academy and Youtube videos as sometimes it's just really helpful to watch someone explaining and working through problems.

I have heard the prep courses are very expensive and not worth the money. Having never attended one I wouldn't really be able to say. I suppose it is a personal thing but I've decided not to waste that money and just to stick to learning the material myself!

Wackadoodle

Thanks guys for all the info, am officially kicking off my study on Monday. Have some material I bought on adverts to get me started, and have started listening to random ted talks for the essay section.

I think even if I do somehow manage to score well I won’t be in a position financially to go to college until 2021 but I’m going to view this as a positive. Am going to view the March sitting as a practice run

taxignorant

Hi whackadoodle, Im starting my study in earnest on Monday too. I plan to hack through practise test 3 from Acer. Im hoping to get enough points in March but with only 20 weeks to study and two small kids underfoot Im thinking next September more likely for a passing mark.

I have very little science background, and I defintely wont do a classroom based course. I think they are way too overpriced and probably wont tell much we dont know. I feel the skills needed will be honed from practise questions.

I have the GAMSAT gold book and its ok for skimming through the science material, Im using science books from local library and khan academy. I think I will be ok on the biology but I havent studied chemistry before. I work in health but my degree wasnt health or science based. I have a shelf full of philosophy, sociology, economics and english lit at home that I think will help with sec 2. Section 1 will probably be my strong point and I dont plan on studying for that.

20 weeks doesnt seem like enough! I only have a couple of hours a day. So Im digging into basic chemistry.

Registered and paid the fee for the exam today to give myself a bit of a kick in the bum to study! Feel free to pm me for exchanging study ideas/books/notes etc - Im Dublin based.

milhous

Thinking of sitting in March.
Undergrad is in chem, post grad in management. Undergrad was some years ago so it won't really stand to me. I'm a master at rote learning and cramming, unfortunately that is the opposite of what I need for gamsat.

Now that the results are out for Sept gamsat I am hoping to pick up some relatively cheap notes and get going.
Although realistically it'll be the new year. I have the option of taking a months leave before hand and cramming though. If I know me. And I do.. that's what'll happen.

milhous

Just registered for march. How's the studying going?

Confused_!

I'm registered for March too! Study has been going slow so far, hoping to pick it up now in the New Year!!

milhous

I haven't started yet. Hoping to get a run at section 2 in Jan, section 3 in Feb then.. Not so sure there's much point in spending too much on section one. This is a practise run and will then look at September.

sk9

*modsnip*

I got 70 in S3 and 67 overall and I used Des and disagree that it's useless. Seems to be something a lot of people say though.

If you have Des and have a bit of time to prepare, doing Des can be useful to find holes in your knowledge and getting used to the speed at which you need for work for S3.

For example, I found that my physics was weak from Des, so I went to Khan Academy to brush up on concepts. Remember that you ought to save your ACER materials (sample questions etc) for later study because when you have done the papers once, they really lose their worth.

Urethra Franklin.

Asking for advice. I have sat the GAMSAT twice-Sept 18 & Mar 19. I got a 55 and 58 respectively. I received an offer for UL last year and turned it down as I wasnt sure if it was something I wanted, I am quite good friends with a doctor and she hates it-shes perhaps the nicest calmest person I have ever met and she told me a story one day how she got so frustrated and angry trying to book a patient a test they needed that she ended up throwing the phone against the wall! She, and other doctors I know have agreed that what makes a good doctor doesnt seem to be caring about the patients, or even have a lot of medical knowledge but moreso being a competitive bully whose able to get sh.t done, even if it means screwing other people over....thats not me. I know a few doctors, and it seems true, they actually all hate their jobs, but the ones hate it the least are tough, somewhat intimidating people, who make sure they get what they want. So I am very on edge and not sure if medicine is for me. However I like having the option open to me, incase I get some epiphany between now and August :P .

However, I have lived on the west coast of Ireland all my life and want to move to Dublin. Moving to Limerick...well it disheartens me. I don't want to do it. However I am pretty certain I wont get an offer for Dublin with only 58 points. I dont know if I should resit the GAMSAT? Its on my mind, however I dont think I have enough time to prepare-I work full time. Does anyone have any opinions? I can still register until the 10th. I just have to pay a late fee-I really dont think I will be able to beat the 58-when I got that score I had studied for the GAMSAT a few months previous-its been a year since I sat it this time, Ive probably forgotten everything!

RoundPony

Here’s my two cents if it helps.

Being a doctor comes with frustrations for sure. But so do a lot of other challenging careers. I worked in a totally different stratosphere in my career before medicine and the frustrations you mentioned about being happy/success applied equally. You had to not give a sh*t about anything but yourself and bully people around you to climb ahead. And the smartest people unfortunately don’t always win.

Medicine has high rates of burn out without a doubt. The doctors I spoke to before I started studying that were miserably unhappy were all leaving cert direct entry medicine students - please don’ t get me wrong thinking that this is the direct cause of them being unhappy (and I only spoke to a very small subset of doctors). However I do wonder if the reality is that medicine is tough and frustrating - but so are other demanding careers. I know this because I’ve had another career and have seen it on the other side. I wasn’t saving people’s lives but there were things that had to get done or things would go wrong. Some of the complaint you noted are frustrations for smart, driven people regardless of career. But in my personal opinion, I would rather be frustrated being a doctor than frustrated being anything else. And there are a lot of amazing things about being a doctor too.

Also, studying medicine is a major grind, starting almost day one from how much you need to learn - the studying is endless. I can’t imagine studying medicine with any doubt in my mind that being a doctor is the one thing I really want to do.

So really the question is do you really, really want to be a doctor - if the answer is yes then go for it. The reward completely outweighs the frustration in my opinion.

You are clearly capable. Good luck in what you decide to do.

PhoneMain

RoundPony wrote: »

Here’s my two cents if it helps.

However I do wonder if the reality is that medicine is tough and frustrating - but so are other demanding careers.

I agree with this sentiment one million percent. There's loads of other tough careers out there. I have mates who work in finance and while they may be handsomely rewarded, they work long hours and have frustrations of their own. I have mates who work on building sites, as farmers, as Vets, as teachers. Each have their own difficulties and advantages. I think doctors are too quick to feel that their career is the hardest of the lot.

There's also huge variability between jobs and hospitals. There's some really cushy non medical jobs in the peripheral hospitals and there's some terribly busy jobs e.g. cardiology interns anywhere, med regs anywhere. But it's not all work work work with no breaks. I've gotten out at 5 a hell of a lot more times than I had to work after it.

Personally, I love it. You meet so many people, see so many interesting things, have good fun along the way (intern year was my most enjoyable working year ever). Granted it's tough and medical school was really tough for me but I persevered and it's definitely better this side of it.

galwaypharmer

so its in UCD this year instead of RCSI?

Tacadh

Any chance that someone can send me practice test 3 if possible? Would greatly appreciate it

Tacadh

Needless to say, the gamsat will not be happening next week?

Confused_!

Tacadh wrote: »

Needless to say, the gamsat will not be happening next week?

There's another thread started on this - Coronavirus - Gamsat MARCH 2020 - but basically yeah, it's looking like it definitely won't be on in March, but there is hope it'll be rescheduled for those of us hoping for 2020 entry!