Pharmacy Student wanting to do GEM

I'm a pharmacist, graduated in 2015 and just finished 1st year GEM in UL. I don't think I can stress enough how incredibly beneficial finishing off your pharmacy education will be if you decide to do medicine, for so many reasons - practical experience will give you an edge in the clinical years, you'll have the opportunity to work (and make some decent money, which is SO welcome) and why would you not, after four years of ridiculously hard work?? I did my pre-reg in hospital, worked there for another 9 months after I qualified and then went to UL. I had also worked a bit in community prior to qualifying and have locumed in both areas since starting medicine. Absolutely do the pre-reg year. I think it's a no-brainer, especially as you say, doing it later on probably won't be an option. There's also the possibility that GEM just won't work out for you (not getting GAMSAT points, not being approved for the loan, just not liking it etc. etc.)

I would be really careful though - make sure you get your 2.1 degree. Don't focus too much on GAMSAT. Without your 2.1 degree, it's useless. Feel free to PM me if you have any more questions!

Also, places are allocated just on GAMSAT score. No interviews. As far as I know, this has always been the way. Interviews are used for the mature entry system though.

Did you find the GAMSAT difficult inca2? I'm sitting it for the first time this September, hoping to get it on the first attempt!

debbysoap are you going into your fourth year or have you finished it? Best of luck with the exam in September.

inca2 wrote: »

It's a tricky exam alright! The worst part is the length of the day really, and trying to keep your focus. It's a marathon and I think the key is really to have gotten a good night's sleep before and make sure that you're well hydrated and fed throughout! Staying calm is so important. I did less than three months of very part-time study so didn't expect much from it - but I would put my success with it down to my relaxed approach, I viewed it as a trial run and was just really fortunate

Being familiar with the layout and types of question is also so important, it really speeds you up. You have to be really disciplined with time. Lots of the questions are designed to be far too complex to be reasoned out in the given time, so you just need to be smart and move on. Anyone I've spoken to in my class has said the same as me - focus on sections one and two as you will pick up lots of marks here if you're prepared, especially section two. We all did quite badly in section three, which was really surprising to me at the time. As long as you do ok-ish, you can really boost your marks with the other sections. We found that the style of question was quite different to the practice papers so it's most definitely just assessing your reasoning ability and not your knowledge.

Personally, I wouldn't go spending a fortune on materials or prep courses - but that's just me. I used the ACER practice papers, Khan Academy and YouTube videos and tried to read good articles from the Guardian or Irish Times each week.

Best of luck! Please don't hesitate to ask if you have any more questions

Thanks for the advice!

Glad to hear you got in on three months part time study. Well done! I registered 3 weeks ago today, and there's another 9 weeks to go, so I'll have spent 12 weeks studying altogether. I've been very laid back with it so far, so really need to step it up in the coming weeks! Also doing a PhD so I'm a little stretched.:P Surprised to hear that section III wasn't great for most of the people in the class. My undergrad was biology based, so hoping to do well there. Averaging 80% in the practice questions I've been doing but I haven't looked at chemistry or physics yet. I did chemistry for two years in my undergrad, I like physical/general chemistry but not organic so I've loads of work to do there! Haven't studied physics in years.

Did the first Des O'Neill practice test for section one and I got 34/75! I was shocked. That would put me in the bottom 20%. I'm getting better at them though, but can't see it being a strong section for me.

I did the Acer online essay test and got 73-84 or something like that. I think section two could go well as long as the topics aren't really awkward. I've only written two other essays since, so I need to practice more. Going to aim to write about 4 per week.

I heard people mentioning that the points might go up this year based on the curve shifting this year, apparently people scored better in the March exam than in previous exams. I'll feel more relaxed once I know what I need to get. 54 doesn't seem too bad, certainly not compared to the scores need in Australia. Hoping for UCD or UL. The exam is going to be gruelling! Haven't looked at the acer practice tests yet, but I'm going to try to leave them towards the end and sit them as though it was the exam so that I'll have some idea of what to expect on the day.