Coronovirus - Gamsat MARCH 2020

Confused_!

gradmedgirl wrote: »

I'm considering asking my sister to sit it for me! We look identical and she scored 65!! Aaaah the temptations!

I really hope this is a joke. Most people who will be sitting the exam have been working really hard over the last few months to get the best score, and it's incredible frustrating that people are trying to use this one chance that ACER has given us for 2020 entry as an excuse to cheat. It's **** that we can't sit the exam as normal, but the world is going through an unprecedented crisis where people are already anxious enough, without people like you making us more anxious for this exam because you think it's ok to cheat. People cheating and getting high scores as a result is just going to make it harder for those of us who actually put the work in and who want to get in without compromising integrity.

Nobody will be able to sit the exams for you if you get into medicine, so what will you do then? If you are thinking this way for just trying to get into medicine, then how do you think you'll get through a 4 year intensive course? Not to mention it doesn't speak for much for your ethical behaviour, a cornerstone of being a doctor.

gradmedgirl

Confused_! wrote: »

I really hope this is a joke. Most people who will be sitting the exam have been working really hard over the last few months to get the best score, and it's incredible frustrating that people are trying to use this one chance that ACER has given us for 2020 entry as an excuse to cheat. It's **** that we can't sit the exam as normal, but the world is going through an unprecedented crisis where people are already anxious enough, without people like you making us more anxious for this exam because you think it's ok to cheat. People cheating and getting high scores as a result is just going to make it harder for those of us who actually put the work in and who want to get in without compromising integrity.

Nobody will be able to sit the exams for you if you get into medicine, so what will you do then? If you are thinking this way for just trying to get into medicine, then how do you think you'll get through a 4 year intensive course? Not to mention it doesn't speak for much for your ethical behaviour, a cornerstone of being a doctor.

Thank you for your unnecessary input lol, and yes that was a joke, but on that note - may consider it now just to piss you off ☺️🙌 xo

Confused_!

gradmedgirl wrote: »

Thank you for your unnecessary input lol, and yes that was a joke, but on that note - may consider it now just to piss you off ☺️�� xo

Good one 🙄

galwaypharmer

Anyone selling laptops with a 15 inch screen? :pac:This whole exam is the biggest joke I've ever seen!!! Such high stakes and so unequal!

sbm_s

what day are you guys going to sit it? im thinking of doing it the first day just to get it over with

Tacadh

Hey, has anyone gone onto proctorU yet? My speakers wont pass the equiptment test

Bartman26

Tacadh wrote: »

Hey, has anyone gone onto proctorU yet? My speakers wont pass the equiptment test

Hi folks, I've just come on and found this thread.. To say I'm a little shocked would be an understatement. Sitting the exam under these conditions is completely unfair, not only on the people who are sitting it (although that remains to be seen) but particularly on the people who sat it in Sept in a hall full of people.. Personally I've waited 5yrs to get a score that will hopefully get me my 1st preference uni and if this "online" sitting in May suddenly turns out to skew the scoring and scores go up out of nowhere.. I can see some serious protesting from people, including myself, who sat the exam in Sept 2019 or even in March 2019.

taxignorant

Bartman26 wrote: »

Hi folks, I've just come on and found this thread.. To say I'm a little shocked would be an understatement. Sitting the exam under these conditions is completely unfair, not only on the people who are sitting it (although that remains to be seen) but particularly on the people who sat it in Sept in a hall full of people.. Personally I've waited 5yrs to get a score that will hopefully get me my 1st preference uni and if this "online" sitting in May suddenly turns out to skew the scoring and scores go up out of nowhere.. I can see some serious protesting from people, including myself, who sat the exam in Sept 2019 or even in March 2019.

Hi bartman, I know it must feel quite stressful and in some ways unfair. There is so much that is unfair about a pandemic. It would also be unfair for candidates to be denied their chance to have a shot where they may have taken months off work to study.

Personally, I will find it harder to sit this online as my small kids will be downstairs the whole time due to quarantine restrictions, also my desk and chair are crap and there isnt really a shop open to improve them I will find that distracting!

I trust that acer have many years of expertise in the business of assessment and they will note if marks in increase alot compared to traditional method of sitting, in my own opinion I suspect if they see that in the marks they may introduce a handicap.

Can I ask if you are sitting the exam in May? Truly it is an uncertain time, and lots of regulations are being modified in so many settings and domains. I hope you get your choice of uni, but the rest of us who haven't had a chance to sit don't want to be denied a shot.

Bartman26

taxignorant wrote: »

Hi bartman, I know it must feel quite stressful and in some ways unfair. There is so much that is unfair about a pandemic. It would also be unfair for candidates to be denied their chance to have a shot where they may have taken months off work to study.

Personally, I will find it harder to sit this online as my small kids will be downstairs the whole time due to quarantine restrictions, also my desk and chair are crap and there isnt really a shop open to improve them I will find that distracting!

I trust that acer have many years of expertise in the business of assessment and they will note if marks in increase alot compared to traditional method of sitting, in my own opinion I suspect if they see that in the marks they may introduce a handicap.

Can I ask if you are sitting the exam in May? Truly it is an uncertain time, and lots of regulations are being modified in so many settings and domains. I hope you get your choice of uni, but the rest of us who haven't had a chance to sit don't want to be denied a shot.

Hi Tax, of course absolutely no one should be denied their opportunity to sit the exam and I understand that the current crisis is leaving Acer with little other option but to do what they are doing. I just feel uncomfortable with the test conditions to be honest. How will they monitor toilet breaks, what if someone has a biochem book waiting in the bathroom.. There's a lot of unknowns. If the scores go up we will know anyway and there will be pushback. No I'm not sitting it in May. I sat it for a 3rd time in Sept and 'had' assumed it was safe for my 1st pref. But with this now I don't know what will happen. Anyway, I wish you the best in it and I hope the kids will be quiet on the day for you!

taxignorant

Bartman26 wrote: »

Hi Tax, of course absolutely no one should be denied their opportunity to sit the exam and I understand that the current crisis is leaving Acer with little other option but to do what they are doing. I just feel uncomfortable with the test conditions to be honest. How will they monitor toilet breaks, what if someone has a biochem book waiting in the bathroom.. There's a lot of unknowns. If the scores go up we will know anyway and there will be pushback. No I'm not sitting it in May. I sat it for a 3rd time in Sept and 'had' assumed it was safe for my 1st pref. But with this now I don't know what will happen. Anyway, I wish you the best in it and I hope the kids will be quiet on the day for you!

I totally understand your fears of cheating. Just to reassure you though, I used to invigilate uni exams alot; bathroom break should take 2 mins max except for once or twice a day on "those occasions". The proctor will note the exact time the candidate left room for bathroom and their return time, every single time. I also think the software probably saves their input before and after bathroom break (it should if it's any good haven't checked). As such there are two scenarios I can see, a) if they go lookup some single thing it will only buy them a few marks in a quick round trip to bathroom b) if they are gone for an extended period and look up a bunch of stuff it would be quite obvious if significant cheating has occurred by the input before and after the bathroom break, gamsat will deal with that.

corkgal_89

Only getting a chance to properly read through the information booklet for the online test now..

On page 5 of the booklet it talks about the structure and content of the GAMSAT and states the number of questions and length of each section.. Says there are 40 questions for Section 1 and 60 for Section 3? Am I completely missing something or have they reduced the number of questions for this online sitting? It's usually 75 questions for Section 1 and 110 questions for Section 3!

Would appreciate any clarification!!

taxignorant

corkgal_89 wrote: »

Only getting a chance to properly read through the information booklet for the online test now..

On page 5 of the booklet it talks about the structure and content of the GAMSAT and states the number of questions and length of each section.. Says there are 40 questions for Section 1 and 60 for Section 3? Am I completely missing something or have they reduced the number of questions for this online sitting? It's usually 75 questions for Section 1 and 110 questions for Section 3!

Would appreciate any clarification!!

OOOoooh hadnt read the complete document yet, thank you for the heads up. Am going to go check now. Wondered if they would change structure.

corkgal_89

Yes, please have a look and let me know your thoughts!

Says that the test element is 4 hours which would imply that it's a shorter exam alright but it's strange that this hasn't been made more obvious!? That's why i'm doubting my eyes somewhat and am looking to others for clarification on the matter!!

taxignorant

Yep, it seems you are correct. This is a totally different exam now.

Section 1: Reading time 5 mins, 40 Qs, 55 mins writing time
Section 2: Reading time 5 mins, 2 Qs, 60 mins writing time
Section 3: Reading time 6 mins, 60 Qs, 1 hr 54 mins writing time.

@Bartman ... I think now you have more cause for feelinrg fed up.

I'm not sure how to feel about it, it is certainly proving to be a rollercoaster. Students all over the world are going through similar though. Trying to study while homeschooling kids is really proving difficult on a personal level.

I feel like the exam will be more difficult in the sense that if a few topics you are unfamiliar with come up you could be at a big disadvantage on the science side. However, the marathon number of questions and brain fog that must go with the original format are reduced.

Have new practise questions been posted or are we going in blind?

taxignorant

Maybe proctorU servers cant cope with 7 hours of video? The proctor would need relief/break if the exam was in the long format, which given the good ole pandemic would not be possible. So I can see why GAMSAT may have needed to change it.

taxignorant

I cant believe my webcam just died. Now have to buy new laptop.

corkgal_89

taxignorant wrote: »

I cant believe my webcam just died. Now have to buy new laptop.

Oh no! How do you do the equipment test!? I haven’t done it yet.. clicked on a link that I thought was it but nothing loaded!!

Also, just out of interest - what background are you coming from!? I’m coming from a business background myself!!

Bartman26

taxignorant wrote: »

Yep, it seems you are correct. This is a totally different exam now.

Section 1: Reading time 5 mins, 40 Qs, 55 mins writing time
Section 2: Reading time 5 mins, 2 Qs, 60 mins writing time
Section 3: Reading time 6 mins, 60 Qs, 1 hr 54 mins writing time.

@Bartman ... I think now you have more cause for feelinrg fed up.

I'm not sure how to feel about it, it is certainly proving to be a rollercoaster. Students all over the world are going through similar though. Trying to study while homeschooling kids is really proving difficult on a personal level.

I feel like the exam will be more difficult in the sense that if a few topics you are unfamiliar with come up you could be at a big disadvantage on the science side. However, the marathon number of questions and brain fog that must go with the original format are reduced.

Have new practise questions been posted or are we going in blind?

It's a different exam now. This is getting interesting.. Here's the reply I got from Acer to an email I sent them..


Thank you for your email. Please note scores are scaled by ACER to make them directly comparable from test to test. ACER psychometricians will apply Item Response Theory methods to scale and equate the May 2020 GAMSAT Online test onto the existing GAMSAT scale. These methods reflect international best-practice for scaling and equating high-stakes admissions tests. This is the same process that occurs each year to allow for differences across tests and testing cohorts.

GAMSAT results obtained from different sittings are directly comparable and may be used when applying to universities for up to two consecutive years.

si1234

Did anyone receive a confirmation email that their exam is now in May 2020? I’m worried my choice didn’t save, I know if you don’t choose anything your automatically deferred to September! Been trying to reach ACER since yesterday but they’re OOO until April 14th. can someone ease the anxiety?

corkgal_89

si1234 wrote: »

Did anyone receive a confirmation email that their exam is now in May 2020? I’m worried my choice didn’t save, I know if you don’t choose anything your automatically deferred to September! Been trying to reach ACER since yesterday but they’re OOO until April 14th. can someone ease the anxiety?

If you log into your ACER account you'll be able to see if you're registered for May 2020.. The cut off for choosing your test date was yesterday.. Did you go into the 'View options' tab in the past week or two and choose a test date?? If not, may have automatically deferred you to September..

si1234

corkgal_89 wrote: »

If you log into your ACER account you'll be able to see if you're registered for May 2020.. The cut off for choosing your test date was yesterday.. Did you go into the 'View options' tab in the past week or two and choose a test date?? If not, may have automatically deferred you to September..

I think I did, you choose the date range vs actually individual dates, right? Now I’m worried it didn’t save or I messed something up. My registration says PROGRAMME: GAMSAT, Year: May 2020, Status: Completed and then just gives me the Action Option to Manage.. is this the same as yours?

Thank you I hope I’m just freaking out!

corkgal_89

si1234 wrote: »

I think I did, you choose the date range vs actually individual dates, right? Now I’m worried it didn’t save or I messed something up. My registration says PROGRAMME: GAMSAT, Year: May 2020, Status: Completed and then just gives me the Action Option to Manage.. is this the same as yours?

Thank you I hope I’m just freaking out!

Oh I know, it's a very stressful time so I completely understand.. the deadline to get a refund was yesterday and I was panicking and almost cancelled the whole thing altogether but then just decided to truck on with it!

It says that on my homepage, yeah, but when I click into the 'Manage' tab and scroll down it says 'Preferred Test Centre - 30 May 2020 - Remote Proctoring'.. I went in and picked the test date which I think you're supposed to do?

I wouldn't worry about it too much though as you're registered for May 2020 and it says 'Completed' on your homepage so I would say there will be no issue with you selecting your test date then as soon as the ACER staff at back in the office and email you.

Which college are you hoping for!?

taxignorant

Hello all,

Hope the study is proceeding ok for you all.

So, I got a confirmation email from CAO for receipt of supporting documentation but when I checked they had not scanned my main transcript. Their email simply says dont post anything until covid restrictions are lifted - this has me quite concerned. They managed to scan the cover letter, which included a list of the documents I had sent but not my actual transcript. The impression I get from the email is that they dont want to be contacted, has anyone spoken to CAO recently?

Thanks

galwaypharmer

not a response to your question, but thinking today, there could be far less International students studying graduate medicine this year so maybe we picked a good year to apply - it makes sense that points could drop if they increase Irish places to pay for fees. Just a thought!

corkgal_89

galwaypharmer wrote: »

not a response to your question, but thinking today, there could be far less International students studying graduate medicine this year so maybe we picked a good year to apply - it makes sense that points could drop if they increase Irish places to pay for fees. Just a thought!

Very true! Only thing is that the international students pay double the fees that Irish students pay so even if they increase Irish place fees they still won’t cover their costs.. Time will tell I suppose!?

I’ve completely lost motivation to study.. haven’t done anything in almost 6 weeks now.. was on a roll up until then!!

galwaypharmer

Same!! Its very hard to have the same motivation with everything thats going on at the moment aswell!
Yeah, id say they will still want to fill as many places as they can still...
Hopefully we have some luck with it anyways

corkgal_89

galwaypharmer wrote: »

not a response to your question, but thinking today, there could be far less International students studying graduate medicine this year so maybe we picked a good year to apply - it makes sense that points could drop if they increase Irish places to pay for fees. Just a thought!

Very true! Only thing is that the international students pay double the fees that Irish students pay so even if they increase Irish place fees they still won’t cover their costs.. Time will tell I suppose!?

I’ve completely lost motivation to study.. haven’t done anything in almost 6 weeks now.. was on a roll up until then!!

corkgal_89

Everyone get that email about the two separate GAMSAT sessions!? Section 1 & 2 will be together on one day and then Section 3 will be another sitting on a separate day..

Surely this is better as it alleviates the pressure of having to do it all in one sitting? Here's hoping anyway!!

galwaypharmer

Probably easier for us but how are the scores anyway comparable to March 2019 and September 2020? Changing things by the day is unsettling, its not fair on peoples mental health.

corkgal_89

galwaypharmer wrote: »

Probably easier for us but how are the scores anyway comparable to March 2019 and September 2020? Changing things by the day is unsettling, its not fair on peoples mental health.

Completely agree! I think I will find it very difficult to do the science questions looking at a laptop tbh.. even little things like the noise the laptop makes will distract me!! Sounds silly I know!

I think ACER should be more accommodating with regards to refunds at this stage too - they're saying the deadline for refunds was 9th April but, considering everything keeps changing, they should allow people to defer / get a refund if this new arrangements doesn't suit them!