GAMSAT - Is it similar to leaving cert?

Sheepdish1

I have asked a few different people their opinion on GAMSAT.

A few have said it is as tough a slog as the leaving cert and takes an enormous amount of learning and studying . Others have said it it no where near as difficult as the leaving cert and seemed to downplay how difficult it is to achieve a good score in it even though they come from a non science background.

Is it plausible to achieve a high score while working with a young family? If sitting GAMSAT points would be needed to gain entry to veterinary medicine.

If only I had known not studying for my leaving cert would cause me so much difficulty:eek: Can't see any other way around it:(

Vet med is the only course in the country with no mature entry as far as I can see so GAMSAT and grad entry is a possibility I am researching

I know difficulty of GAMSAT is subjective however I would appreciate some input

sk9

Just home from my first sitting there, found it far harder than the LC to be honest. I got A2's in both English and Biology and got decent points, I also do science in college and get decent results.

The problem appears to be that ACER is moving away from 'knowledge' based questions in favour of 'stimulus interpretation' type questions. I don't want to discourage you from doing the GAMSAT but it is very different from the LC (and in my limited experience harder, though you may be better suited to GAMSAT questions than I am).

If vetinary is your goal, look abroad. That's my advice

sk9

Take what I say with a slight pinch of salt though - I'm demoralised after today's sitting, and anyway results are yet to come so I still have some hope

Sheepdish1

sk9 wrote: »

Just home from my first sitting there, found it far harder than the LC to be honest. I got A2's in both English and Biology and got decent points, I also do science in college and get decent results.

The problem appears to be that ACER is moving away from 'knowledge' based questions in favour of 'stimulus interpretation' type questions. I don't want to discourage you from doing the GAMSAT but it is very different from the LC (and in my limited experience harder, though you may be better suited to GAMSAT questions than I am).

If vetinary is your goal, look abroad. That's my advice

I have a family so going abroad is not an option for me. It’s strange, I get completely conflicting opinions on Gamsat!

Did you study for long for it? Did you do any of the prep questions?

Sheepdish1

sk9 wrote: »

Take what I say with a slight pinch of salt though - I'm demoralised after today's sitting, and anyway results are yet to come so I still have some hope

I’m sorry you don’t feel too good about today but you may have done better than you think. Well done for sitting it!

What are you hoping to study? Human medicine or vet medicine ?

sk9

I have done all of the prep tests, average about 55/75 section 1 and low 60's/110 for section 3. I have also done the Des stuff and perform better in that than in Acer materials.

I don't feel that bad to be honest - the general consensus of people leaving the test centre was that it was a hard test, many multiple test takers said that. There's always March too!

Hope to do GEM in Dublin somewhere

1direction

I did three years of veterinary medicine in ucd (came through the traditional method of LC)

I would just warn you, out of the 40 odd grads that were in my year, only about 3 of them were Irish. As far as I’m aware it’s extremely difficult to get in as a graduate. I know a few people who had degrees who actually just repeated the leaving cert instead to get in.

I’m really not trying to be a downer on this because I think you should 100% try if that’s the career you want but just thought I’d put this out there!

If you have any other qs about the course, give me a message

Sheepdish1

1direction wrote: »

I did three years of veterinary medicine in ucd (came through the traditional method of LC)

I would just warn you, out of the 40 odd grads that were in my year, only about 3 of them were Irish. As far as I’m aware it’s extremely difficult to get in as a graduate. I know a few people who had degrees who actually just repeated the leaving cert instead to get in.

I’m really not trying to be a downer on this because I think you should 100% try if that’s the career you want but just thought I’d put this out there!

If you have any other qs about the course, give me a message

Thank you. I’ve heard that a lot of the grad entry are Northern American students. Someone said that it would be easier to get in by repeating the leaving certificate than doing Gamsat and then trying to get grad entry place.

It is the only course in the country that there is no mature entry to as far as I can see which is a little frustrating as the graduate entry route doesn’t seem to weigh up well either particularly if you are coming from a non science background. It’s a shame there is no other route into it as many people who would make excellent vets don't get the opportunity to do so especially if they can’t move abroad

Sheepdish1

sk9 wrote: »

I have done all of the prep tests, average about 55/75 section 1 and low 60's/110 for section 3. I have also done the Des stuff and perform better in that than in Acer materials.

I don't feel that bad to be honest - the general consensus of people leaving the test centre was that it was a hard test, many multiple test takers said that. There's always March too!

Hope to do GEM in Dublin somewhere

Well done! Fingers crossed you get the grade you need. Best of luck with GEM, hope it goes well for you.

somebodylikeme

In the Leaving Cert the real focus is on the knowledge learned, while the GAMSAT is really trying to assess your ability to apply what you know using reasoning to answer problems.

GAMSAT is far trickier with a lot of curveballs thrown into the mix, and you may not get questions which on the face of it have absolutely nothing to do with what you already know.

I agree with you that it's a shame there is no other option for those who do not have a science background. It would be great if there was a premed year where non-science graduates could have the chance to learn the sciences in a structured environment before gaining entry onto medicine/vet science.