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Swansea GEM (A101) Applicants 2015

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Reply 160
Well hope you all pass your interviews with flying colours!

Original post by MedicineBall
Phew! Written confirmation has just been sent to those who met the 58 cut-off. Check your spam filters!

Better luck next year to those who didn't get the grade. I always breeze the essay section (it's science that lets me down), so if anybody wants some informal advice just yell. :smile:




Well, what is it? Bargain Hunt or rain and sheep? :wink:


Well, since you're offering, I could do with some advice. The essay section was my worst section. The issue I have with it isn't the actual writing, but the planning. I'm having trouble formulating arguments/extracting key points from the quotes in a reasonable length of time. Any tips?
Original post by wl1
Well hope you all pass your interviews with flying colours!



Well, since you're offering, I could do with some advice. The essay section was my worst section. The issue I have with it isn't the actual writing, but the planning. I'm having trouble formulating arguments/extracting key points from the quotes in a reasonable length of time. Any tips?


Happy to help :smile:. May I ask what your academic background is first? To what level have you studied an essay-based subject in the past, and what subject was it?
Original post by Zorg
It's alright, I thought as much. Just saw it was a different team to admissions so I wasn't sure if they knew the status of applicants/interviewees. But it's been confirmed it's more or less a confirmation of interview. Well done to all who received it!

Rachel also suggested we just crack on with confirming the visit day places and the IT chaps will sort out the dates later.


You said you went to an open day earlier in the year? What was it like and is it worth going to? My MRes graduation ceremony is on the Tuesday in the afternoon in Liverpool and I am having some issues with arranging transport to get to the open day short of arriving at midday and missing the majority of the finance stuff and guided tour. :/
Reply 163
Original post by MedicineBall
Happy to help :smile:. May I ask what your academic background is first? To what level have you studied an essay-based subject in the past, and what subject was it?


Sure. Science background, so I'm barely literate :tongue:. I studied engineering, so I did a couple of essays but most of my written pieces of work were technical lab reports. I think the last time I did a vaguely essay-based subject was Geography at A-Level 6 years ago, and I wasn't very good at it.
Reply 164
Hey, does anyone know what time the applicant day starts?


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Original post by sjb93
Hey, does anyone know what time the applicant day starts?


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10am though the afternoon session is from 1pm onwards I believe, morning is fees and campus tour etc
Reply 166
Original post by TranquilRawr
You said you went to an open day earlier in the year? What was it like and is it worth going to? My MRes graduation ceremony is on the Tuesday in the afternoon in Liverpool and I am having some issues with arranging transport to get to the open day short of arriving at midday and missing the majority of the finance stuff and guided tour. :/


It was pretty good, I can't remember all of it off the top of my head but I do remember being pleasantly surprised. There were aspects of the uni I still left unsure about but I did feel it was a nice place to study and that the faculty were really quite supportive. The students all seemed to rave about it, more than most open day students even. I'm really going because it started as 3rd/4th on my personal ranking, but now sits on a solid 2nd. I want to just make sure it is what I imagine it to be and also use it to motivate myself for interviews.

Could you not arrive the night before if you really wanted to attend those talks?

The accommodation, finance and university talks are much of a muchness. They're just there to sell the university to you in a completely unabashed manner. You could very well miss those out and it be of no real significance, I suppose it does settle one down for the morning though.

I've little to no interest in the accommodation tours, unless I hear from the current students that a large majority do live in student accommodation. Even in the event of such, I know a large part of the year choose housemates at the meet and greet, after offers are handed out, and find houses together. I'm quite certain I don't want to be back in halls again.

I am slightly interested in the sports village tour, to see the facilities if nothing else. Not hugely important as if it doesn't meet my needs there will be gyms elsewhere in Swansea I'm sure.

The rest of the morning seems to be tours of the campus and stands from careers, study abroad and SU. All of which you could just do yourself; wander around the campus and/or field questions to the relevant departments via email.

The bit I would say you'd almost certainly want to be there for is the departmental programme, not only because it is a complete mystery as to what they are planning to do, but it's also the perfect opportunity to field questions to the admissions tutors and Dean/professors directly if they are present as they were last time.
Reply 167
Hmmm I still have nothing from Swansea but got 61 in the GAMSAT... I'll give it another hour then give them a ring I think. :-)

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Original post by Zorg
It was pretty good, I can't remember all of it off the top of my head but I do remember being pleasantly surprised. There were aspects of the uni I still left unsure about but I did feel it was a nice place to study and that the faculty were really quite supportive. The students all seemed to rave about it, more than most open day students even. I'm really going because it started as 3rd/4th on my personal ranking, but now sits on a solid 2nd. I want to just make sure it is what I imagine it to be and also use it to motivate myself for interviews.

Could you not arrive the night before if you really wanted to attend those talks?

The accommodation, finance and university talks are much of a muchness. They're just there to sell the university to you in a completely unabashed manner. You could very well miss those out and it be of no real significance, I suppose it does settle one down for the morning though.

I've little to no interest in the accommodation tours, unless I hear from the current students that a large majority do live in student accommodation. Even in the event of such, I know a large part of the year choose housemates at the meet and greet, after offers are handed out, and find houses together. I'm quite certain I don't want to be back in halls again.

I am slightly interested in the sports village tour, to see the facilities if nothing else. Not hugely important as if it doesn't meet my needs there will be gyms elsewhere in Swansea I'm sure.

The rest of the morning seems to be tours of the campus and stands from careers, study abroad and SU. All of which you could just do yourself; wander around the campus and/or field questions to the relevant departments via email.

The bit I would say you'd almost certainly want to be there for is the departmental programme, not only because it is a complete mystery as to what they are planning to do, but it's also the perfect opportunity to field questions to the admissions tutors and Dean/professors directly if they are present as they were last time.


Hmm I might do. I may give the department a ring in half an hour and ask if it would be okay to turn up just for the departmental tour.

See I would do the whole travel down the night before, but because of my graduation ceremony at 3pm on the Tuesday the earliest train I can get is around 8pm which leaves me arriving in Swansea at 2am. Yeah I think I am with you on the departmental thing been the most important and being only mildly interested in the sports facilities. Though the downside with the other gyms is how ell equipped, costs and hours they are open but guess a quick interweb search will solve that issue haha :tongue:
Original post by MedicineBall
Happy to help :smile:. May I ask what your academic background is first? To what level have you studied an essay-based subject in the past, and what subject was it?


I'll help you as well if you need any, only had 61 but could help if you need anything extra


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Reply 170
Original post by TranquilRawr
Hmm I might do. I may give the department a ring in half an hour and ask if it would be okay to turn up just for the departmental tour.

See I would do the whole travel down the night before, but because of my graduation ceremony at 3pm on the Tuesday the earliest train I can get is around 8pm which leaves me arriving in Swansea at 2am. Yeah I think I am with you on the departmental thing been the most important and being only mildly interested in the sports facilities. Though the downside with the other gyms is how ell equipped, costs and hours they are open but guess a quick interweb search will solve that issue haha :tongue:


The email/online form seems to imply you can come when you please.

I'd imagine other gyms to be better equipped unless the Uni gym has some really good sports facilities. The price may be higher but if I can go and do things that I want, when I want I'll be happy. Support is usually much better if you go to a gym with a good community/team too.
Any idea if when you get an interview that gets updated on UCAS track? Can't remember from a few years back


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Original post by Zorg
The email/online form seems to imply you can come when you please.

I'd imagine other gyms to be better equipped unless the Uni gym has some really good sports facilities. The price may be higher but if I can go and do things that I want, when I want I'll be happy. Support is usually much better if you go to a gym with a good community/team too.


Yeah decided I will just come to the departmental bit and skip the morning stuff.
Original post by wl1
Sure. Science background, so I'm barely literate :tongue:. I studied engineering, so I did a couple of essays but most of my written pieces of work were technical lab reports. I think the last time I did a vaguely essay-based subject was Geography at A-Level 6 years ago, and I wasn't very good at it.


Don't worry, I'm scientifically illiterate! I really thought going back to school and getting good AS levels in Biology and Chemistry would improve my Section III grade, but it came out the same both times :frown:.

I'm going to say you're not a total beginner. We'll bring human geography in a bit as we go.

I think the main mistake people make with Section II is thinking that you can't revise, as you don't know what the essays will be about. Absolutely not true! The trick is to have four or five essay templates in mind that can be adapted to suit almost any subject. The structure of these should always be the same:

1. Think of a title in the form of a question. If you're asked to write about the benefits of mass food production, for example, your title might be "Does mass-produced food benefit society?"

2. Define your terms, e.g. "There are many types of mass-produced food, including meat, vegetables and grains. This essay will focus on food that is distributed through the major supermarkets in India, as this example will demonstrate the positive and negative impacts on a country with features of a developed and developing economy." OR "This essay will focus on mass-produced meat and the benefits to UK society" etc etc

3. Brainstorm 2-3 points for and against your question. We'll come back to this.

4. Reach a conclusion that either reconciles the points or comes down on one side. Make sure it follows on logically from your arguments.


In terms of the focus and the 2-3 points for and against, it should be possible to have a few essay templates that can be twisted to fit almost anything, to the extent that at least one of your essays will be pre-written before you've walked into the exam.

For example, this year we were asked to write about a particular kind of technology (not sure how much of the GAMSAT we're allowed to give away publicly).

One of my pre-prepared essays was "to what extent has X changed society".

I have a spheres I select from (education, the media, families, healthcare, work) and I think of a benefit from one or two of those. I also think about *who* it benefits (working class, middle class, men, women, disabled people) and I give examples. I make sure I am familiar with the government bodies that produce the data (DfE for education, OFCOM for comms etc) and I watch the news. If a social trend has been identified in the news, for example boys closing the achievement gap with girls, I just say "according to DfE data, boys are closing the achievement gap. This could, in part, be due to X". You don't even need to look up studies. If a trend has made it to the news, the chances are that it's been assessed or produced by the relevant government department, and no examiner is going to go to the time and effort of looking it up.

One of my negative points is always that people from working class and impoverished backgrounds are at an economic disadvantage already, and if they have to pay for a new technology or to access a new service, said "new thing" will continue to disadvantage those groups. I don't even have to think about it, I just write it down.

In order to make your own personal catch-all templates, I would suggest you go back to your A-level Geography textbook and look up human-environment interaction. You will almost certainly be able to write an essay that goes along the lines of "To what extent has [insert topic for discussion] affected the environment?" The textbook will then advise you on the different ways of measuring this, and the emphasis placed on the problem by the main schools of thought.

I would also suggest dipping into a good (A-level standard) reader for sociology, ethics or something similar. Don't memorise any of the detail, just make a note of the schools of thought and the themes that cut across all the different areas. Then practice applying these to the most random topics you can think of.

Okay, I admit that post was not very concise, but I do hope it's given you something to work with. Basically, just watch the news and learn a few schools of thought and themes for the social sciences and humanities, and you can do anything!

xx :smile:
Original post by MedicineBall
All that stuff

xx :smile:


Jesus.. fair play for that write up, guess that's probably why you got higher than me in SII :P

Great answer there!
Original post by Rosser1994
I'll help you as well if you need any, only had 61 but could help if you need anything extra


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Actually, do you have any tips for improving your science grade? I'm sort of thinking I might not bother next year, as I'm getting way to old for this "limbo" lifestyle, but if I do I would really like to improve my science score. One of my friends told me to practice rearranging equations before I sat the test, and I think that's what's stopped me from getting below 50 both times, but it's really not enough to get the kind of score I need (ideally 60ish).

Thanks! :smile:
Original post by MedicineBall
Actually, do you have any tips for improving your science grade? I'm sort of thinking I might not bother next year, as I'm getting way to old for this "limbo" lifestyle, but if I do I would really like to improve my science score. One of my friends told me to practice rearranging equations before I sat the test, and I think that's what's stopped me from getting below 50 both times, but it's really not enough to get the kind of score I need (ideally 60ish).

Thanks! :smile:


That's if I don't screw up Swansea the way I did SGUL, of course! I would like to think I have as good a shot as anybody as securing a place this year...
Original post by Rosser1994
Jesus.. fair play for that write up, guess that's probably why you got higher than me in SII :P

Great answer there!


Oh good :smile:. Glad it helped.

Good luck!
Reply 178
Anybody else still not recieved an email? In panic mode now as I got 58 58 63 in GAMSAT with 61 overall and I still haven't recieved anything...

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Original post by MedicineBall
Actually, do you have any tips for improving your science grade? I'm sort of thinking I might not bother next year, as I'm getting way to old for this "limbo" lifestyle, but if I do I would really like to improve my science score. One of my friends told me to practice rearranging equations before I sat the test, and I think that's what's stopped me from getting below 50 both times, but it's really not enough to get the kind of score I need (ideally 60ish).

Thanks! :smile:



What did you have this time round? I had 64, so I am happy with that for the next 2 years!

Well I had 69 in S3, my best section out of the 3, S1 I don't really think you can practice for.

S2 just do as above, sounds very much perfect, I would probably just add is that if theres anything that you might consider relevant, then it is relevant!
Like this year, with the art question, I just started fetching in something along the lines that people from a poorer background are less likely to have experienced art at a younger age, therefore they aren't likely to experience art in nature.. so essentially I pulled it out of my ass!

In S3, I'm currently in my 3rd year of BMedSci, so that probably helped, but the main thing I did was download a torrent pdf of the Gold standard book, that helped a lot!

I would say, that biology is the main area to look into, I spend a solid 3/4 of my time on biology revision and it worked out well, the rest I spent on organic chem and re-learning how things bound in reactions etc.

I didn't learn any physics, as I only had 6 days to revise for the exam, but I would say there seems to be a lot less physics in this than I thought.

And by the way, you don't need to learn all of the gold standard book, just learn the basics behind each section, so you can kind of apply the mechanisms to each question.

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