Good Luck in GAMSAT 2011!

etymon · 24-03-2011 7:13pm #1

Good luck on Saturday lads
me and my classmates were just talking about how glad we are that it's behind us - such a rotten exam - hope it isn't TOO hard and you all give it some welly

remember - EARPLUGS!! lifesaver.

Biologic · 24-03-2011 8:25pm

Good luck all. Keep calm and keep your timing, you'll surprise yourself! If the weather is good I'd recommend Stephen's Green for the break. It's miles more relaxing than staying in RCSI and listening to every eejit boast about their PhD in Org Chem and Literature.

Sid_Justice · 24-03-2011 8:28pm

go to bed early on friday.

del85 · 24-03-2011 10:20pm

Best of luck to everyone else doing it.

I for one am bricking it!

sparrow3 · 25-03-2011 10:31am

Best of luck to all . I know its a horrible grueling day but before you know it , it will be over.

The best advice i can give is stay calm , be concious of your time and DONT spend too long on any one question.

TIME IS THE ENEMY

imported_guy · 25-03-2011 11:56am

the board has been very quiet in terms of people posting RE: gamsat lately... wonder if it means theres less people doing it :rolleyes:

any way gluck

hurdygurdy85 · 26-03-2011 12:11am

The GAMSAT held tomorrow will be:

a) very very very very hard
b) temper inducing
c) head wrecking
d) all of the above

If you answered "d", you will do brilliantly tomorrow!

Good luck everyone. This is my last time sitting this exam. Forever!!!

Yillan · 26-03-2011 2:10pm

Woo posting on boards in the middle of the gamsat. I think I'll go learn some formulas instead. Essays were on Affirmative Action and how to live a good life v money =/= happiness.

SI was grand. Well as grand as it ever is and it my third time bloody doing it. Loved that there was a Breaking Bad quote in the middle of it... Took me a while to remember what affirmative action was though.

SIII is where the money is. Come on law degree don't fail me now

Yillan · 27-03-2011 12:49am

SIII seemed lovely from first glance. An absolute delight. Kinematics, pH, two punnet squares questions. ****in joyous. Til I started making my way through it. Kinematics question included friction, of which I was completely ignorant and everything had a horrible little sting in the tail. 30+ left randomly guessed at the end I reckon, which is about the norm for me really. It didn't go any worse or better than last time really and I got a 58 there. I'd take a 58 again this time. I think I just need a bit of luck.

Some lovely little ochem questions on it though. If you had your positioning of R groups down, you'd do well. Not much chirality, but enough. 3/4 questions. Graphs on breathing rate v tidal volume I think. Handy marks, but I didn't see it til the end. That fingernail question came up again....

I was very happy with my section I. Only cos I got it finished in time. THREE cartoons. Unbloodyprecedented. None on the GAMSAT UK in September where I finished with 14 qs to go.

Loved this

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LDnodgqcrP8

Having done the exam in Bristol and RCSI before, it came as a surprise that we weren't given a break between section 1,2, but I made my way out during the reading time of section II, so no biggy. That beeping yoke was a new addition aswell. I thought we were going to have trouble with the woman operating it when it started to beep like made at the start of section I.

Just delighted it's over and I don't ever have to endure it ever again. Just about coming down from the caffeine tablets now. Anyone know how to forget about the questions and stop torturing myself with them? 50m braking distance of a car travelling at 30km/hr? You twat yillan

del85 · 27-03-2011 2:28am

Yillan wrote: »

SIII seemed lovely from first glance. An absolute delight. Kinematics, pH, two punnet squares questions. ****in joyous. Til I started making my way through it. Kinematics question included friction, of which I was completely ignorant and everything had a horrible little sting in the tail. 30+ left randomly guessed at the end I reckon, which is about the norm for me really. It didn't go any worse or better than last time really and I got a 58 there. I'd take a 58 again this time. I think I just need a bit of luck.

Some lovely little ochem questions on it though. If you had your positioning of R groups down, you'd do well. Not much chirality, but enough. 3/4 questions. Graphs on breathing rate v tidal volume I think. Handy marks, but I didn't see it til the end. That fingernail question came up again....

I was very happy with my section I. Only cos I got it finished in time. THREE cartoons. Unbloodyprecedented. None on the GAMSAT UK in September where I finished with 14 qs to go.

Loved this
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LDnodgqcrP8

Having done the exam in Bristol and RCSI before, it came as a surprise that we weren't given a break between section 1,2, but I made my way out during the reading time of section II, so no biggy. That beeping yoke was a new addition aswell. I thought we were going to have trouble with the woman operating it when it started to beep like made at the start of section I.

Just delighted it's over and I don't ever have to endure it ever again. Just about coming down from the caffeine tablets now. Anyone know how to forget about the questions and stop torturing myself with them? 50m braking distance of a car travelling at 30km/hr? You twat yillan

The invigilators were terrible. Very dour, treated people like ****e, didnt permit a toilet break in between sections 1 and 2 (which they usually do) and gave out to me at one point because I had the audacity to have a bottle of tippex on the desk for the essay section. What was the woman with that bleepy thing up to?

Section three was a nightmare. So much orgo, and as good as the "Organic Chemistry for Dummies" book is, I don't think it's sufficient preparation for the range and depth of questions that popped up throughout the section. That said, even the 'easy' questions (lenses, that heart diagram, etc) gave me trouble so maybe I'm over-stating the difficulty.

Left the exam hall very knackered, and very disconcerted with the whole experience. Got a sixty last time, but that was largely because I did a brilliant section 1/2 which balanced out my terrible section 3 score. Unfortunately, I think section 3 is the real predicter of how an applicant will fare in medicine, and the fact that I probably guessed about 70% of the sciencey questions this time around does not bode well.

Flange/Flanders · 27-03-2011 4:39am

Dear God I made a mess of the essay sections, I thought affirmative action was to do with decisiveness, not necessarily discrimination! Then the money=/= happiness essay should have been a gimme but my essay writing skills was a no go.

Dont know how to call section 3, Im a GAMSAT virgin and did it more for the experience but yesterday really scared that sh*te into me about all I have to do for next year. Dont know how to study for section 1, I found myself zoning out of some of the longer sections. Thought the poetry was easier than some of the sample poetry that we were provided with.

Section 3 was hard to call, thought the orgo was ok if you had the basics (which i was ver iffy on). The lens questions were grand and the diagrams questions ranged from not hard to very hard.....actually this sounds like the synopsys of GAMSAT every year.

Anyway, Im drunk and exhausted, dont know whats the point of being there at 8.15, we flew through registration. Thought the invigilators were sound in fairness, I went to the jacks and the fella in college hall was awful chatty!

Anyway, thats it, time for bed.....anyone up for forming a study group for GAMSAT 2012!!

Cailleachdubh · 27-03-2011 1:12pm

I'm also (no longer) a Gamsat virgin and Section 3 also scared the ****e out of me..

Thought Section 1 was grand although there were more long passages than in the sample questions. Squashed in the last maybe 5-10 questions but only 'blind-guessed' one or two of those. Section 2 was also ok, though the second essay probably wasn't my best effort.

Not from a science background and only started studying in January so I was only going to do the biology questions and guess the rest. Not a great plan in hindsight. I knew coming up to it that I wasn't going to do well this time though due to lack of chemistry. Next time I'm going to have to do a chemistry course by night or something if I stand any chance at all.

Sat it in Cork. The invigilators were sound. I'd say they felt sorry for us (or thought we were mad).

Wrecked now, but at least I get my life back....for a while!

Yillan · 27-03-2011 2:15pm

del85 wrote: »

The invigilators were terrible. Very dour, treated people like ****e, didnt permit a toilet break in between sections 1 and 2 (which they usually do) and gave out to me at one point because I had the audacity to have a bottle of tippex on the desk for the essay section. What was the woman with that bleepy thing up to?

Section three was a nightmare. So much orgo, and as good as the "Organic Chemistry for Dummies" book is, I don't think it's sufficient preparation for the range and depth of questions that popped up throughout the section. That said, even the 'easy' questions (lenses, that heart diagram, etc) gave me trouble so maybe I'm over-stating the difficulty.

Left the exam hall very knackered, and very disconcerted with the whole experience. Got a sixty last time, but that was largely because I did a brilliant section 1/2 which balanced out my terrible section 3 score. Unfortunately, I think section 3 is the real predicter of how an applicant will fare in medicine, and the fact that I probably guessed about 70% of the sciencey questions this time around does not bode well.

I think the bleepy thing was setting the start time and end time of the particular section. Very poor system if that is indeed the case. Probably GAMSAT just trying to screw us over. If you can't handle beeping, you can't handle being a doctor and all that... I gave an invigilator a big smile as she came down cos I was looking to head out to the toilet. Big sour face in return.

I'm with you on the supposed easy questions being difficult aswell. My idea of the scoring system is that if you get 20 of them right, you're up to 40, the next 15 and you're up to 55. Then the marks you end up with for questions you get right are handed out gradually less willingly. Hopefully that 59.5 stands up as a 60 in Ireland eh? I had nailed converting fischer projections so I was disappointed there was none of that.

Ochem>biology>physics>physchem for me

As ever can't wait for the results. 63,64,58 for a 61 please!!

jtsuited · 27-03-2011 3:01pm

what a strange day....sections 1 and 2 went perfectly for me. then section 3.........
read through it and it seemed fine, was thinking 'here we go, i can give a good attempt at it and hopefully section 1 and 2 marks will counterbalance it'.
oh how wrong was I. They had thrown in curve balls to nearly every question, and tbh I psyched myself out.
I completely fcuked up the whole section through a sheer lack of stamina and a healthy dose of panic, and just got freaked out.
On the upside, everyone I talked to afterwards felt the exact same.

I don't think I'll get it this time round, but the amount you learn by actually doing the test is insane.

Next time I do it, I'm going to do a load of practice tests under exam conditions before and get caffeine pills for the day.

On the upside, I come from a complete non-science background and managed to cover everything I needed in under 2 months. Simple case of getting it right and not burning out on the day the next time.
Hadn't done an exam since 2005 so expecting my brain to be able to function like it used to under pressure was a bit wishful on my part.
I'm just happy to have done it and know what it's all about now.

The invigilators and pretty much everyone involved administrating (bar some of the younger ones) the exam yesterday came across as complete and utter cúnts.

Biologic · 27-03-2011 3:58pm

Congrats to everyone on completing what is a pretty horrible day. It looks like everyone had the same issues with SIII so, given that it's marked relative to other candidates, you could all still do well. It's not worth torturing yourself over for the next 6 weeks. Good luck and hopefully some of you will be joining us in RCSI next September

Yillan · 27-03-2011 4:01pm

jtsuited wrote: »

what a strange day....sections 1 and 2 went perfectly for me. then section 3.........
read through it and it seemed fine, was thinking 'here we go, i can give a good attempt at it and hopefully section 1 and 2 marks will counterbalance it'.
oh how wrong was I. They had thrown in curve balls to nearly every question, and tbh I psyched myself out.
I completely fcuked up the whole section through a sheer lack of stamina and a healthy dose of panic, and just got freaked out.
On the upside, everyone I talked to afterwards felt the exact same.

I don't think I'll get it this time round, but the amount you learn by actually doing the test is insane.

Next time I do it, I'm going to do a load of practice tests under exam conditions before and get caffeine pills for the day.

On the upside, I come from a complete non-science background and managed to cover everything I needed in under 2 months. Simple case of getting it right and not burning out on the day the next time.
Hadn't done an exam since 2005 so expecting my brain to be able to function like it used to under pressure was a bit wishful on my part.
I'm just happy to have done it and know what it's all about now.

The invigilators and pretty much everyone involved administrating (bar some of the younger ones) the exam yesterday came across as complete and utter cúnts.

I reckon you did better than you think. You're supposed to come out of section III thinking you did really badly. It's part of the fun

paraguay99 · 27-03-2011 5:00pm

S1 and S2 went really well. Got S1 finished on time and answered everything as best I could so I think I probably scored highly.

The essay on wealth/happiness was great because I had just done one before hand as a practise essay so I planned that out easily. The affirmative action one was a bitch but I plowed through it.

SIII - jesus. I thought the entire section was very manageable but the questions required so much thought that I just didn't have the time to complete the test. I guess I lingered too long on some of the questions. Answered all the organic, except the annoying question about bicyclic molecules.. guess that entire question. I knew how to do it but it would have taken too much time. I found that I could have answered everything perfectly if I'd had enough time. I ended up guessing about 25-30 questions, which is really bad!

My guessing strategy was the griffith gamsat review one. Just guess all Cs and take the 1 in 4 chance of getting them right. That fingernail question was weird. I can't even remember what I answered.

The invigilators in college hall did come accross as complete c*nts though I agree!

All in all I'll predict

S1 63
S2 63
S3 53
Overall - 58.

Should get me into Limerick.

heres hoping!

Wisco · 27-03-2011 9:17pm

Well, appropriately enough, the first song on my iPod as I was leaving the car park was Insane in the Brain so that about sums up how I felt after it all. I'm a first timer (and hopefully last timer) but don't need as high marks as the medicine people, or so I hope, for what I want. I finished SI with time to spare and feel pretty confident about that as well as the affirmative action essay, but not as happy with the wealth/happiness one. And, needless to say, SIII was a shambles....I don't know how many I guessed on as I didn't have time to fully read the last few questions and I didn't have a clue on the more complex orgo and physics stuff. I expected it to go pretty badly, but will still be keeping my fingers crossed for an acceptable result....it's going to be a long wait til results day!

hurdygurdy85 · 27-03-2011 10:49pm

Well done to everyone for getting through yesterday. Thought the absence of a 15 minute break between section 1 & section 2 was a particularly dirty new trick.

Based on the timelines last year, the results should be out on the 20th May..... Its gonna be a long 8 weeks.....

Yillan · 28-03-2011 2:09am

Not to mention the wait between now and August... Still though, the hard part is behind us. What's that line? Your best days in med school are those between when you're accepted and when you start

Scientist1 · 28-03-2011 4:39pm

Sat the GAMSAT for the first time Saturday, degree and MSc in Science and found S III impossible, firat 20 to 30 qts were fine, then I realised how much time was gone and I started to panic....guessed a lot as didnt have the time to read / work then out properly...will be sitting it again in Sept I'd say, definitely need a lot more work on Org Chemistry...knew the GOLD STANDARD GAMSAT book inside out and it is crap - too basic...what a waste of 100 quid...invigilators were lovely in Cork - best of luck to everyone...If I don't get it next year I'm giving up as nearly 28 yr old at mo...

paraguay99 · 28-03-2011 5:40pm

Scientist1 wrote: »

Sat the GAMSAT for the first time Saturday, degree and MSc in Science and found S III impossible, firat 20 to 30 qts were fine, then I realised how much time was gone and I started to panic....guessed a lot as didnt have the time to read / work then out properly...will be sitting it again in Sept I'd say, definitely need a lot more work on Org Chemistry...knew the GOLD STANDARD GAMSAT book inside out and it is crap - too basic...what a waste of 100 quid...invigilators were lovely in Cork - best of luck to everyone...If I don't get it next year I'm giving up as nearly 28 yr old at mo...

From what I could gather from the short convos I struck up with people afterwards, everyone found S3 difficult so you are not alone. Because of the way it is marked, you never know. I didn't do as well as I could have in S3, for the same reasons as yourself - timing, but I'm staying positive.

Anyone know how many sat the exam and how many places will be available this year? I heard UCD and UL are increasing their places but heard nothing solid about that.

Was RCSI the only test centre in Dublin? I'd say there could have been around 200 in college Hall and then there was another 200 in another room in RCSI as I saw them all walking out when I was waiting for the Luas.

sparrow3 · 29-03-2011 10:51am

I have contacted RCSI , UCD, UL and UCC requesting confirmation on the number of places offered in Sept 2011. So far, RCSI is the only college to confirm that it will not be increasing its places ( 30).

In 2010, 607 applied for Graduate Medicine in UL. Assuming that everyone puts UL on their CAO form, it is reasonable to assume that this is the total number that applied for Graduate Medicine in Ireland 2010.

CAO has just confirmed that 680 people have applied for graduate medicine in 2011 which represents an increase of 12% ( which in all fairness is a lot less then most predicted).

Ignoring the percentile curve for a second. If the number of places offered increases ( as speculated for UCD and UL) then this should hopefully off-set the increase in candidate numbers .

However, the percentile curve is the real determinant and we wont have any real clue of minimum points requirements till May.

Personally, i think the minimum points requirements will likely increase from 57, however, i cannot see the points jumping by more then 1 or 2.

What do other people think . Be nice to get people's opinions as opposed to just a large amount of views

del85 · 29-03-2011 1:02pm

sparrow3 wrote: »

I have contacted RCSI , UCD, UL and UCC requesting confirmation on the number of places offered in Sept 2011. So far, RCSI is the only college to confirm that it will not be increasing its places ( 30).

In 2010, 607 applied for Graduate Medicine in UL. Assuming that everyone puts UL on their CAO form, it is reasonable to assume that this is the total number that applied for Graduate Medicine in Ireland 2010.

CAO has just confirmed that 680 people have applied for graduate medicine in 2011 which represents an increase of 12% ( which in all fairness is a lot less then most predicted).

Ignoring the percentile curve for a second. If the number of places offered increases ( as speculated for UCD and UL) then this should hopefully off-set the increase in candidate numbers .

However, the percentile curve is the real determinant and we wont have any real clue of minimum points requirements till May.

Personally, i think the minimum points requirements will likely increase from 57, however, i cannot see the points jumping by more then 1 or 2.

What do other people think . Be nice to get people's opinions as opposed to just a large amount of views

From speaking to other hopefuls I know that there are people who, for whatever reasons, limit their application to the Dublin programmes, so the Limerick figures might not tell the whole story. I'd suggest that the percentage increase might be even lower than 12%.

As you say though, it's all pure speculation/wishful thinking until we get a look at that bell curve.

Biologic · 29-03-2011 3:12pm

There was ~760 CAO applications last year for all schools (I was talking to the CAO office about it when I applied).

sparrow3 · 29-03-2011 3:59pm

that is great if true . I was only going on the number of UL applicants as a gauge

paraguay99 · 29-03-2011 4:03pm

sparrow3 wrote: »

I have contacted RCSI , UCD, UL and UCC requesting confirmation on the number of places offered in Sept 2011. So far, RCSI is the only college to confirm that it will not be increasing its places ( 30).

In 2010, 607 applied for Graduate Medicine in UL. Assuming that everyone puts UL on their CAO form, it is reasonable to assume that this is the total number that applied for Graduate Medicine in Ireland 2010.

CAO has just confirmed that 680 people have applied for graduate medicine in 2011 which represents an increase of 12% ( which in all fairness is a lot less then most predicted).

Ignoring the percentile curve for a second. If the number of places offered increases ( as speculated for UCD and UL) then this should hopefully off-set the increase in candidate numbers .

However, the percentile curve is the real determinant and we wont have any real clue of minimum points requirements till May.

Personally, i think the minimum points requirements will likely increase from 57, however, i cannot see the points jumping by more then 1 or 2.

What do other people think . Be nice to get people's opinions as opposed to just a large amount of views

I think it depends on how many extra places are being offered. If as Biologic says, 760 applications were made for all schools last year, and as Sparrow says, 680 this year, that is quite a drop. I noticed some empty seats in college Hall myself - maybe 15 in total. These were people who paid to do the exam but didn't turn up.

If the amount of people who applied has decreased, which is hard to understand, then the points should drop in theory. The high achievers will all go for RSCI. UCD will be next highest, followed by UCC and finally UL.

It's hard to predict but if we get solid numbers on how many appllied this year (680), how many applied last year (760), how many more places are going to be available (??), We can make better guesses.

I personally don't see a massive increase happening, if any. I think round 0 might look like..
RSCI 64
UCD 61
UCC 59
UL 58

sparrow3 · 29-03-2011 4:20pm

CAO confirmed today 680 total applicants for 2011/2012

I sent out a few emails to the colleges yesterday and got 2 replies thus far:
UL : Currently 102 places on course, 70 EU and 32 Non EU. They expect 2011/2012 to be "in or around that number "
UCC: 25 EU places

paraguay99 · 29-03-2011 4:34pm

So...

UL = 70 places
RCSI = 30 places
UCC = 25 places
UCD = 55 places (was in 2010)

Since UL have confirmed to sparrow that 2011 will be quite close to 2010, we can take their 2010 number - 70.

I have heard about UCD increasing their number of places.

However, if all stays the same, we have to expect a decrease in the points required to get into the courses due to the fact that 80 less people have applied this year.

Going off the above figures, there are 180 places available in total (May be more because UCD could be increasing their numbers)

With 680 applicants, that means 26.47% of applicants will get an offer, essentially 1 in 4 applicants will be offered a place this year.

paraguay99 · 29-03-2011 4:36pm

another way of looking at it is you would have to be in the 74th percentile to be offered a place.

bubbleking · 29-03-2011 4:42pm

paraguay99 wrote: »

So...

UL = 70 places
RCSI = 30 places
UCC = 25 places
UCD = 55 places (was in 2010)

With 680 applicants, that means 26.47% of applicants will get an offer, essentially 1 in 4 applicants will be offered a place this year.

Assuming this is all correct we wont know what happens until we see the bell curve for the 2011 GAMSAT exam - you will then need to cross reference this graph with the London sitting back in September and run a proportional probability of how many applied to the CAO already before you can come up with an estimate for points

edit - from what I remember there was a good lot of Irish over in London

del85 · 29-03-2011 4:51pm

bubbleking wrote: »

edit - from what I remember there was a good lot of Irish over in London

Lots in Bristol too.

bubbleking · 29-03-2011 4:58pm

paraguay99 wrote: »

another way of looking at it is you would have to be in the 74th percentile to be offered a place.

again the answer is it depends. If history is anything to go by then you need to be higher than the 74th percentile to be offered a place - I would guesstimate that you need to be in the 76th-77th percentile of the Irish sitting.

The reason is that candidates can sit the exam in England. e.g. If I scored a 59 that would put me in the 76th percentile in England. However this score equates to an 81st percentile in Ireland in the same year if you get me.

Therefore one can assume that people scoring in the English Gamsat will drive up the points of the courses.

Thats terribly explained but Im knackered I apologise

bubbleking · 29-03-2011 5:16pm

Ok hopefully these graphs will help to explain my point better. Sort of explains why doing the exam in england is better also. All things staying equal Coming in the 75th percentile in England is worth a lot more to you than coming in the 75th in Ireland

GAMSAT ireland curve 2009

GAMSAT ireland curve 2010

London 2009

London 2010

del85 · 29-03-2011 5:33pm

bubbleking wrote: »

Ok hopefully these graphs will help to explain my point better. Sort of explains why doing the exam in england is better also. All things staying equal Coming in the 75th percentile in England is worth a lot more to you than coming in the 75th in Ireland

The two countries' distributions look they could be converging- UK GAMSAT scores were generally lower in 2010 compared to 2009, Irish GAMSAT scores were generally higher. They might "meet in the middle" this year.

Other stuff (number of applicants etc) might skew it, but I reckon the Irish results in May could look quite similar to that UK 2010 distribution.

drspock · 29-03-2011 6:46pm

jtsuited wrote: »

what a strange day....sections 1 and 2 went perfectly for me. then section 3.........
read through it and it seemed fine, was thinking 'here we go, i can give a good attempt at it and hopefully section 1 and 2 marks will counterbalance it'.
oh how wrong was I. They had thrown in curve balls to nearly every question, and tbh I psyched myself out.
I completely fcuked up the whole section through a sheer lack of stamina and a healthy dose of panic, and just got freaked out.
On the upside, everyone I talked to afterwards felt the exact same.

I don't think I'll get it this time round, but the amount you learn by actually doing the test is insane.

Next time I do it, I'm going to do a load of practice tests under exam conditions before and get caffeine pills for the day.

On the upside, I come from a complete non-science background and managed to cover everything I needed in under 2 months. Simple case of getting it right and not burning out on the day the next time.
Hadn't done an exam since 2005 so expecting my brain to be able to function like it used to under pressure was a bit wishful on my part.
I'm just happy to have done it and know what it's all about now.

The invigilators and pretty much everyone involved administrating (bar some of the younger ones) the exam yesterday came across as complete and utter cúnts.

Hey Guys hope everyone survived the GAMSAT! I agree section 1 and 2 were grand. I thought section 3 was rough. I did all the OZIMEDs and all the full practice tests, and even on my GAMSAT go section 3 threw me. Being used to the timing I thought afterwards that the overall layout of the questions was timed more for 115-120min rather than the given 110. An 87 in section 2 brought me up in the london gamsat, hope I get lucky again.

I'm hoping for UCC but didn't realise they out have the 25 EU places? Anyone else aiming for Cork? I think my GAMSAT results last year came out around 14th of May? The waiting begins........

paraguay99 · 29-03-2011 7:10pm

bubbleking wrote: »

again the answer is it depends. If history is anything to go by then you need to be higher than the 74th percentile to be offered a place - I would guesstimate that you need to be in the 76th-77th percentile of the Irish sitting.

The reason is that candidates can sit the exam in England. e.g. If I scored a 59 that would put me in the 76th percentile in England. However this score equates to an 81st percentile in Ireland in the same year if you get me.

Therefore one can assume that people scoring in the English Gamsat will drive up the points of the courses.

Thats terribly explained but Im knackered I apologise

I understand your point and its a good one. There may have been 30+ people sitting on 60+ scores before the exam and about 50 more with a score of either 57/58/59.

It's all theory until we get the results.

Overall, I'd probably agree that you'll need to be in the 77-78th percentile at least.

Some people definitely have already booked their place by scoring well in the UK.

sparrow3 · 29-03-2011 11:37pm

wow, 87 on section 2 - congrats,

Drspock - what was your overall score with such a high section 2

bubbleking · 30-03-2011 9:05am

del85 wrote: »

The two countries' distributions look they could be converging- UK GAMSAT scores were generally lower in 2010 compared to 2009, Irish GAMSAT scores were generally higher. They might "meet in the middle" this year.

Other stuff (number of applicants etc) might skew it, but I reckon the Irish results in May could look quite similar to that UK 2010 distribution.

meh Im not so sure. Lets take a score of 60 for example. In 2009 in Ireland this would have put you in the 87th percentile (roughly). Little had changed in 2010 as a score of 60 would still have put you in the 87th percentile.

Now lets look at England. In 2009 a score of 60 puts you in the 74th percentile while in 2010 it has you in the 78th.

So really the only thing that's happening is that it is becoming more difficult to score higher in the English GAMSAT. I believe this is firmly down to more Irish sitting the one in England.

Im not sure if I'v explained it here before but there is a reason it is (was) easier to score a better mark in the English GAMSAT but not an elite mark - I call it the deadwood principal

I'll post it up here if anyone is interested

del85 · 30-03-2011 3:41pm

bubbleking wrote: »

Im not sure if I'v explained it here before but there is a reason it is (was) easier to score a better mark in the English GAMSAT but not an elite mark - I call it the deadwood principal I'll post it up here if anyone is interested

Does it have anything to do with the construction of the test itself, ie, could they be tweaking the tests to omit the types of questions that people are finding unfeasibly difficult?

jtsuited · 30-03-2011 4:01pm

The trauma of the day has subsided and I'm feeling a good bit more positive about it (perhaps incorrectly).

It seems, from reading around forums, that scoring less than 50 is quite rare for question 3 unless you're completely unprepared and guessing the majority (open to correction on this).

Thankfully section 3 seems to have been a bitch for everyone so the marking curve will give me something in the low 50s (hopefully).

I'm confident I've scored quite high on section 1 and 2, so here's hoping for a minor miracle and that I manage to get into the mid 60s and don't ever have to do that exam again!

bubbleking · 30-03-2011 4:04pm

del85 wrote: »

Does it have anything to do with the construction of the test itself, ie, could they be tweaking the tests to omit the types of questions that are unfeasibly difficult?

Im running stats today so Im looking for any excuse to procrastinate and this will do

. By the way I have no way to support this claim its just an opinion.

Personally I think it is down to the English v Irish education system. In England the majority of people take 3 subjects for their A levels while in Ireland we take 6 subjects. Now while we study our 6 subjects to a pretty high standard the English students take their specialist subjects and study them to a very very high level. In essence the English students have an advantage in their specialist area while Irish students are more rounded.

So what does the deadwood principal mean? Well because of the education system there are a lot of english students sitting the exam that havnt got a hope (excuse the bluntness) Those that focused on laungage A levels and Uni find the science section too hard and those that focused on science slip up on the english section. These people really dilute the exam taking population. Since GAMSAT is marked on a distribution curve it is easier for me to come in the top "x"th percentile and so get a decent mark. This is very difficult in a rounded setting because if everyone is roughly the same ability wise it is more difficult to come in the top 25%. Note I will do better on average in the English GAMSAT but I will never come in the top 5% there - The guys that come top over there are experts in their specialist areas and have brought up their weak areas to a high standard - It would take an unreal amount of study for us to reach that level.

In recent years more and more Irish have sat the English GAMSAT and it is being reflected in the results. With a test taker pool that is less diluted it is becoming harder and harder to get a good mark (for the sake of arguement thats between the 75th and 90th percentile) - the average is getting better in England so the 75th percentile is getting lower.

Does that make sense? Im not the best at explaining stuff (not a good thing for a prospective doctor :P)

del85 · 30-03-2011 4:06pm

jtsuited wrote: »

It seems, from reading around forums, that scoring less than 50 is quite rare for question 3 unless you're completely unprepared and guessing the majority (open to correction on this).

Is that the general consensus? Yikes.

I studied my b*llocks off and only got 46...

jtsuited · 30-03-2011 4:21pm

del85 wrote: »

Is that the general consensus? Yikes.

I studied my b*llocks off and only got 46...

Sh1te. Maybe it's that people who get under 50 don't tend to say so on the internet.
Sh1te.

bubbleking · 30-03-2011 4:24pm

jtsuited wrote: »

Sh1te. Maybe it's that people who get under 50 don't tend to say so on the internet.
Sh1te.

you will always hear the success stories on the internet so don't be fooled into thinking it's all rosey in the garden. Also most people (I dont have figures) will do the exam more than once. You have gained an awful lot in sitting the exam once and if you do have to do it again it will stand to you

del85 · 30-03-2011 4:31pm

bubbleking wrote: »

Im running stats today so Im looking for any excuse to procrastinate and this will do . By the way I have no way to support this claim its just an opinion.

Personally I think it is down to the English v Irish education system. In England the majority of people take 3 subjects for their A levels while in Ireland we take 6 subjects. Now while we study our 6 subjects to a pretty high standard the English students take their specialist subjects and study them to a very very high level. In essence the English students have an advantage in their specialist area while Irish students are more rounded.

So what does the deadwood principal mean? Well because of the education system there are a lot of english students sitting the exam that havnt got a hope (excuse the bluntness) Those that focused on laungage A levels and Uni find the science section too hard and those that focused on science slip up on the english section. These people really dilute the exam taking population. Since GAMSAT is marked on a distribution curve it is easier for me to come in the top "x"th percentile and so get a decent mark. This is very difficult in a rounded setting because if everyone is roughly the same ability wise it is more difficult to come in the top 25%. Note I will do better on average in the English GAMSAT but I will never come in the top 5% there - The guys that come top over there are experts in their specialist areas and have brought up their weak areas to a high standard - It would take an unreal amount of study for us to reach that level.

In recent years more and more Irish have sat the English GAMSAT and it is being reflected in the results. With a test taker pool that is less diluted it is becoming harder and harder to get a good mark (for the sake of arguement thats between the 75th and 90th percentile) - the average is getting better in England so the 75th percentile is getting lower.

Does that make sense? Im not the best at explaining stuff (not a good thing for a prospective doctor :P)

That's some high quality procrastination right there, fair play!

The Australian education system (from whence GAMSAT spawned) has more in common with ours than it does the British system. Being a curricular jack-of-all-trades is definitely advantageous when studying for it, so I can see the logic in that "deadwood" idea.

If it's true, then the best advice you could offer anyone thinking of doing the GAMSAT is to do it in Britland- at least until it's all Irish people in the exam halls over there and "deadwood theory" cancels itself out!

bubbleking · 30-03-2011 4:36pm

del85 wrote: »

If it's true, then the best advice you could offer anyone thinking of doing the GAMSAT is to do it in Britland- at least until it's all Irish people in the exam halls over there and "deadwood theory" cancels itself out!

This is pretty much the crux of the arguement - Id estimate that people have 2 years max to get it done in England before it stops becoming an advantage

sparrow3 · 30-03-2011 6:43pm

i completely agree with bubbleking - if you look on boards.ie or particularly newmediamedicine.com, it is usually the people with decent scores who post. On newmediamedicine, some people even add a signature to their posts detailing the status of their offers ( bit demoralising when you see people getting 4 offers and you have none but sure all credit to them)

And as for sitting the exam more then once , most people i know who are in GEM now , took at least a second go . Personally, i have done it three times.

paraguay99 · 30-03-2011 7:00pm

sparrow3 wrote: »

i completely agree with bubbleking - if you look on boards.ie or particularly newmediamedicine.com, it is usually the people with decent scores who post. On newmediamedicine, some people even add a signature to their posts detailing the status of their offers ( bit demoralising when you see people getting 4 offers and you have none but sure all credit to them)

And as for sitting the exam more then once , most people i know who are in GEM now , took at least a second go . Personally, i have done it three times.

What scores did you get each time mate?

sparrow3 · 31-03-2011 9:25am

First time i sat GAMSAT was in Sept 2009 in London and got 52 - was pretty demoralised but determined to do medicine. Got 55 the second time in Dublin and 61 in London 2010 - section 1 was always my achilleus heal

Please God i have enough to get in - the thought of sitting the GAMSAT again makes my left eye twitch !!

bubbleking · 31-03-2011 10:30am

sparrow3 wrote: »

First time i sat GAMSAT was in Sept 2009 in London and got 52 - was pretty demoralised but determined to do medicine. Got 55 the second time in Dublin and 61 in London 2010 - section 1 was always my achilleus heal

Please God i have enough to get in - the thought of sitting the GAMSAT again makes my left eye twitch !!

ah you will have your choice of UCD, UCC and UL - do you have a preference?

Also is anyone else heading down to UL tonight?

Good Luck in GAMSAT 2011!

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