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Gamsat
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GAMSAT Graduate Australian Medical Schools Admission Test To apply to one of the Graduate Medical Schools you will need to take the GAMSAT. The test is administered by ACER.
RegistrationGAMSAT is held only once a year in late March/early April. You need to register with ACER by Mid February on an official registration form, so make sure to contact them earlier. They will also need a photo for identification purposes. For details on registration follow these links to ACER What the Uni's say about GAMSAT requirementsFollow this linkPreparationACER has two booklets with sample and practice questions. They are $20 a piece and well worth purchasing. They cover about half a test each and are meant to give you an idea about the type of questions you can expect at the test. And that may be deceiving. ACER also has a Practice Test for $35 covering a full GAMSAT There is no prescribed synopsis of what you can expect at the test. All that you are told is that the questions require knowledge at the following levels:
But the questions are not really based on knowledge-recall. They are more "solution seeking" or requiring "problem solving" abilities. What that means is - you must be very proficient: know but also understand. To answer questions you will need to analyse the problem. The real problem is that this is all done under pressure with limited time. Basically, you must have all the knowledge at your fingertips because you won't have time recalling stuff - instead you need to spend time working out the solution (and not rereading the question) You also won't need a calculator (but you can take one) - again, it's not the numbers that matter but coming up with the right solution. ACER does not endorse any particular books for the GAMSAT, and there are no specific GAMSAT books (at least not yet). There are a few GAMSAT preparation courses that I am aware of.
Please note that these courses are not connected or endorsed by ACER or the Universities. Go to their websites to get more info about the courses. The TestThe test will take a full day: (from 8 till about 4pm). It goes like this:
Take lunch and anything (sugar, drugs, whatever) that can keep you going - especially in the afternoon for the sciences section. The ResultsThese come in the mail in the last week of May. You get four scores: one for each section and the weighted overall score. With this comes a graph of overall result percentiles so that you can compare your performance against others. In 1998, the following scores gave the corresponding percentile ranks (percentage of applicants you scored higher than):
The thing is, some universities take the minimum achieved in each section rather than the overall score. See the Admissions page for what you need to get. ACER also handles the University application process, so you should receive an application form and booklet with the result. For details follow these links The test results are good for two years and, since 1999, you can attempt the test as many times as you like. Also to note is that scores are rescaled so that results from any year can be compared to other year scores. MCATInternational students have choice of either sitting the GAMSAT or the MCAT (Medical College Admissions Test) which is the American equivalent of GAMSAT. MCAT results are valid for 4 years (as opposed to 2 years for the GAMSAT). MCAT is similar to GAMSAT but much more based on knowledge recall. The structure is also a little bit different. A whole industry exists around the MCAT in the USA and no doubt GAMSAT will experience something of the sort in years to come. Here are some MCAT related links including preparatory courses and sample tests, but don't take them seriously as the GAMSAT is different. UMATAll Graduate programs will use GAMSAT as the basis for selection. There is another test, also developed by ACER, which is used in the selection for some undergraduate medical and dental courses. This is the UMAT (Undergraduate Medicine and Health Services Admission Test). For more details check out the links to UMAT resources My Test ExperienceThis was a very exhausting test. I found the first section, Humanities & Social Sciences, to be the easiest. I had time to spare. With the essays, the questions were pretty standard: in 1998 - freedom of speech and the family, but it just took me a while to get rolling. I probably underestimated this section and should have practised more. The physical sciences section, was probably more difficult than the sample and practice questions. I had an impression that there were a lot of Physics and Organic Chemistry questions. I ran out of time and for about 15-20 questions simply scanned the text and picked an answer. Theoretically, since it is a multiple choice exam (4 answers per question) you should be able to get 25% without trying. |
Created: 04 Jan 1999
Last updated: 26 Feb 2002
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