looking for Study advice

hcoben111

Hey guys I am looking for some study guidance.
This will be my fourth time sitting, I always score around the 50's but all I need is enough for UL. I have studied and practised questions.. des acer ozimed gradready you name it. I am a nurse so have some science knowledge although I have studied org chem physics etc again anyway.
I am interested to hear what materials and how you guys have studied for gamsat, how many hours a week how many essays etc. Partly for motivation also.
TIA

gradmed2020

Best thing I found was the gold standard answers to papers on YouTube. The person goes through every paper and explains the logic to how to answer them. Just from my personal experience

avalon68

Focus on timing. Don’t know, guess and move on. Section 2 is easiest to prep for and do well. Just practice structuring an essay. Section one is about speed reading. Just practice reading and summarising in your head - read the guardian, some different styles of literature and that should help. Section three is the hardest - practice questions and worked examples - YouTube is good.

NiceMedBoy

What I can say is this:
GAMSAT is less a knowledge test than it is a reasoning test. It's standardized such that groups of questions tests certain abilities.

1. The answer is in the passage, you just have to reason it out. You have to read, understand every passage/question and treat it as new information. If you think a prior knowledge will help then apply the knowledge to the current situation. But always treat each question as a new concept. A tip: what are they asking? The chemistry questions will mostly explain everything in the passage then ask questions based on the info presented.

2. Timing: probably already overstated at this point but this is the biggest limitation for the exam. So you should try practicing with time.

3. Section 1+3 requires that you're consciously focusing on the exam in front of you at all times. You should practice some meditation or concentration exercises well before the exam.

4. Section II is the easiest to improve and score highly in. Practice, practice, practice. The more you practice, the more structured your essays will be. Practice makes generating questions->titles-> paragraphs easy. It becomes second nature. Read general concepts on wealth, war, education, family, love, friendship, class warfare, racism etc. Stay current on news, innovation, social movements (this year's gamsat essay topic was so current it should've been everyone's cup of tea). Use the official acer gamsat online essay scoring system. It's only like €15 for 2 essays but it's a very accurate prediction of where you're at. This is the truly the cheapest score you can pick up.

5. Don't get tangled in a question or in your mind. Some questions will prove too difficult. Pick an option, move on and forget about it. Don't beat yourself up or feel bad as it'll only affect the next few questions. Consciously remind yourself you're doing ok!

6. Gold Standard- the book, the online study materials and question bank and practice test, the online videos. Khan academy is great as well for explaining concepts through videos, they cover all essential gamsat topics.

Stay hydrated, do whatever you need to do to keep yourself in the moment. The exam is not a knowledge test but a reasoning one.

I wish you all the best and pray this is the only other attempt you'll need! Good luck

garret03teeg

I did the Gamsat in September 2019, I studied for it over the summer before going into fourth-year college. I got in the 70th percentile while working part time, I'm starting medicine in UCD next month! *modsnip*

I took a good bit of time out to study for section 3, especially focusing on mental maths, organic chemistry, and how to read and interpret graphs.

The most important thing is consistency and repetition. I was working full time in a cafe, but made myself a strict study time table. I took 2 hours study for the days that I was working, and the days I wasn't working i'd do the full day.

I can't recommend practising exam questions enough. Do the same ones again and again, correct them, figure out where you went wrong, and start to recognise patterns.