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GAMSAT results poll

Poll

GAMSAT Score

How did it go? Feel free to discuss below. Number is just your average GAMSAT score. Results are anonymous!
(edited 8 years ago)
Reply 1
People scoring over 70. How do you even????

(╯°□°)╯︵ ┻━┻
80-67-70
Classics grad (2012), very happy
For any humanities students thinking of going for it next year:

I found section I MUCH easier than the VR section of UKCAT. It's more broadly interpretive and the timing is much gentler.

Section II caught me out a bit actually! It was quite weird writing an essay with no actual question, no sources, no secondary literature etc. I did a fair bit of philosophy at uni and it was tempting to get into details that don't fit the format. I haven't written any essays by hand for years also, should have practiced this section more than I did.

Section III was easier than I expected. I did chemistry and biology A levels last year, but I don't think you actually need to. Spending a decent amount of time with some textbooks would probably be enough. Not many questions actually require prior knowledge - but it does speed things up a lot. You can ignore what they say about 1st year uni level knowledge - if they do include questions like that (I didn't see any), there are so few that you'd be better off skipping them and using the time on something you're more confident you can answer correctly.
The physics questions were a bit more calculation based and looked like you'd need to have actually learned equations etc. so I just answered them all randomly. Time better spent on questions I could definitely answer.
I think the questions are weighted to bio and chem (it's in the documentation how much) and of those, a solid knowledge of A level genetics, pH, isomerism and molecular structure (esp organic) are what you want.

Preparation:
The stuff ACER sells you with the test is obviously the best. I did some a few months before the test, and then again a few days before to practice timing. I don't think I even used all the question packs - they give you a lot. There's a ton of places selling practice papers but I was quite suspicious of them and didn't think you need more examples of content, if they're even accurate.
I didn't really spend that much time preparing for GAMSAT compared to UKCAT (which I was sure I was going to flunk!).

I think what was most in my favour was that I happened to be in a great mood on the day of the exam and felt really relaxed. Skipping details from stress or rushing will definitely hurt your score. The first few times I did practice papers I had to really force myself to slow down because I'd been doing UKCAT prep and was used to speed-reading everything.

As a comparison, I got 710 in UKCAT (~85th percentile) and 71 in GAMSAT (98th percentile!?). So humanities grads shouldn't be scarred of GAMSAT - especially if you've got some time to put into doing science A level revision.
My GAMSAT choices are Swansea and Nottingham. Notts is more accommodating in that they don't weight the science double if that works against you. Going by the regs and consultants here it also has a better reputation. If you can wrangle a good score out of I&II then you only need to scrape through III.

GOOD LUCK!
(edited 8 years ago)
Where did everyone sit the gamsat? I was at Sheffield and the hall seemed half empty!
Reply 4
Howdy fellow >70 (i got 69,73,73 mean: 72) wondered who you were!

I sat the irish gamsat in march in London - it was rammed!!!
(edited 8 years ago)
Yeah I bet London was packed, i was surprised at the amount of empty seats in Sheffield! Made me feel better about the competition though 😂

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