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Although the GAMSAT ® exam is incredibly challenging, figuring out how and where to start studying can seem overwhelming in itself. This is partly because there are so many diverse strategies and factors that you can and should consider when starting your preparation. However, as with anything, the key is to have a plan. A well thought out GAMSAT ® Study Schedule will simplify, structure and direct your GAMSAT ® exam preparation so that you can be ready when exam day comes around. Here at GradReady, we’ve decided to help by providing you with a sample GAMSAT ® Study Planner and some tips on how to best manage your study plan.
Feeling overwhelmed with all the information available and not sure how to create a GAMSAT® study schedule that’s perfect for you, or even where to start? Our expert tutors, Kayley and Aleesha, have summarised the contents of this page in this GAMSAT ® Study Planner video guide.
Our GAMSAT ® Study Planner sets out what you should be doing from 6 months out before the GAMSAT ® exam, right up to the date of the exam. You can either use this plan all the way through your GAMSAT ® preparation ,or use it as a skeleton to prepare your own GAMSAT ® Study Timetable.
Our GAMSAT ® Study Schedule can be accessed for free through the link below. Print it out and use it to check off the main topics of the course, note down difficult topics, and ensure that your preparation is going according to plan.
You can also access our more detailed week-by-week GAMSAT ® Study Guide by signing up for our free trial here: GAMSAT ® Free Trial. Our Free Trial includes a complete breakdown of the GAMSAT ® Syllabus, 50 free MCQs as well as a wealth of other preparation materials to help you kickstart your preparation.
The GradReady GAMSAT ® Study Schedule provides the following tools :
The GradReady GAMSAT ® Study Schedule is a useful tool in planning your GAMSAT ® Preparation. However, you also need to ensure you know yourself and the GAMSAT ® exam thoroughly before you can make the best use of it.
Everyone is different, and you need to be able to assess your background, skills and current knowledge. If you are particularly strong in humanities and essay writing, you may need to focus more on the sciences. Conversely, if you are a science whiz, you may be better off spending more time on reading media and practising your essays. Knowing what to study can often be the hardest part of studying for the GAMSAT ® exam, but it is the first step to effectively using the GAMSAT ® Study Schedule. A great way to analyse your current preparation level is to use a GradReady diagnostics assessment. All of our GAMSAT ® Preparation Courses include a diagnostic assessment to quickly identify your strengths and weaknesses. With the most advanced learning technology on the market, our performance tracking systems allow you to constantly assess your progress and identify the areas you need to work on. To learn more about our courses you can click here: GradReady GAMSAT ® Preparation Courses.
The GAMSAT ® exam tests many different skills, so it is important to have a thorough knowledge of what exactly you will be assessed on. You should keep in mind that it is an exam that tests reasoning and problem solving skills, rather than knowledge, meaning it may be different from exams you have sat in the past. To learn more about the GAMSAT ® exam, you can read our comprehensive guides for each Section:
Planning ahead and sticking to your plan are the most important tips for achieving success in the GAMSAT ® exam, as well as in many other aspects of life. Below are some key reasons why:
This is really the main point of having a plan. Everyone has a mental image of what they want in life and for their GAMSAT ® results ; but it often seems overwhelming to start such big tasks when you first look at them. Having a GAMSAT ® Study Planner allows you to break these huge projects into smaller chunks, making them easier to approach and complete. This then gives you a framework and strategy on how you can complete and achieve all these smaller pieces to reach your overall goal.
Having a plan gives you direction and reduces confusion over what you are doing. Each day you can sit down to study knowing exactly what you should be doing, when you should be doing it, and how long it will take you. This helps avoid covering areas you have already learnt, and on trying to work it out as you go along, which inevitably leads to chopping and changing, and wasted time. This also means you are productive in your study, leaving you with more time to do other things in your life.
Creating a GAMSAT ® Study Timetable helps you be more structured and organised because the planning process involves understanding yourself and the syllabus as discussed in the Where to start section of this guide.
Having a plan has many psychological benefits - it reduces the chance you will wake up in the middle of the night panicking that you don’t have a handle on your study. Having a clear routine will help you manage your mental health when balancing personal commitments, work, university, and GAMSAT ® study. For more tips on this, read about Balancing GAMSAT ® study and work here.
The best thing to do is to first understand the three major sections and specific tips on preparing for each section. Here at GradReady, we’ve tried to filter out all the noise, simplify the process and break it down into the following no-nonsense approach to help you start your GAMSAT ® preparation. The best thing about this approach is that it can be adapted as a general set of principles to how you, as an individual, study best, and provides you with a framework to best prepare for the GAMSAT ® exam.
For more information, sign up for our GAMSAT ® Free Trial and access our comprehensive Study Guide which includes a week-by-week study schedule for each section to help you plan out your preparation in addition to providing you with access to our GAMSAT ® MCQ Bank. Using these resources will allow you to better understand your strengths and weaknesses which can be incredibly helpful in your GAMSAT ® journey.
Students often ask how much time they should spend studying for the GAMSAT ® exam but the quantitative ‘amount’ of study that any candidate should do is a complex question, and not accurately answered. Various candidate-specific factors obviously influence the amount of revision that is required to firstly understand the basic concepts in the GAMSAT ® exam.
Performing well in the GAMSAT ® is not an impossible task, however, it requires a well informed structured approach. There is no set timeline of when you should begin, but it is always best to start early and have adequate time to prepare for the GAMSAT ® . Below, we’ve broken down the GAMSAT study time-frame into 3 options for you:
A 6 month time frame allows you to successfully incorporate all the elements involved in preparing for the GAMSAT ®
By spending sufficient time focusing on each of these components in an iterative process, you will achieve real, measurable progress. This time frame will also allow some buffer for you to optimise your GAMSAT ® strategy after identifying your weaknesses. You would also benefit from the opportunity to participate in study groups and get feedback from your peers.
Three months is considered the average amount of time for a student of a biomedical science or science background to adequately prepare for the GAMSAT ® . It is important to note that a 3 month study plan is not an absolute recommendation and is only suited for someone with the expected level of prerequisite knowledge: first year university levels of Biology and Chemistry along with a Year 12 level of Physics As such, your study plan will revolve around developing suitable GAMSAT® exam strategies, building up your skills for any weaker sections (e.g. Section I and II ), and practising with realistic questions under exam conditions.
Having just one month to prepare for the GAMSAT ® exam is not ideal. However, this does not mean you will not succeed in the GAMSAT ® exam. Instead, you will need to focus and jump straight into preparation with the best materials and guidance available. The bulk of the time will be spent on developing reasoning skills to solve exam style questions in an iterative process allowing you to learn quickly and efficiently from your mistakes.
It is not recommended that you begin your study 3 weeks before the exam, especially given that in the days leading up to the exam itself, you should not be placing yourself under too much pressure to learn and revise new material.
Many students who are not familiar with the nature and difficulty of the GAMSAT ® will approach the test with a similar mindset that they might bring to a school or university examination. These students will often select 3 or even 2 weeks as their study period, and attempt to cram as much of the foundational knowledge and practice content as possible during this period. As mentioned above, the GAMSAT ® exam is unique both in the scope of content and the level of reasoning skills and practice that are required to succeed. For this reason, a preparation period shorter than three months will sharply constrain the extent of content you are able to cover and limit the value of your preparation.
With this being said, if you find yourself with only 2 or 3 weeks to prepare before the exam, do not lose hope. It is important that you maximise the time that you have to prepare, however short a period it may be. For the 2-3 week period, this will mean predominantly focusing your practice on reasoning skills in the exam context and using GAMSAT ® practice questions to gain some familiarity with the exam content. For section 2, your focus should primarily involve learning and implementing the basic structure of essays, rather than aiming to memorise information on sociopolitical issues.
To summarise, when preparing for the GAMSAT ® , it is essential to tailor your approach based on the amount of time you have given yourself to prepare. Ideally, especially for students who are preparing for the GAMSAT ® from a non-science background, an extended GAMSAT ® study timeline (6 months or more) will enable you to develop and implement a comprehensive strategy for approaching the foundational knowledge and examination skills for all three sections of the exam. However, for some students it is not feasible to start their preparation at this time due to work, university or other commitments.
Many students–especially those with a strong science background–will be able to make adequate preparations for the exam in a shorter period of time (e.g. 3-months). If you are selecting this period, it is expected that you have a suitable knowledge of the relevant scientific concepts before commencing your preparation. As such, your preparation will predominantly revolve around developing examination strategies and completing practice questions.
Some students select even shorter preparation periods (1 month or less). Generally speaking, this is not ideal, as it is difficult to acquire the breadth of knowledge and examination skills required for an exam of this sort in such a short period. However, this does not mean that you cannot do well at the GAMSAT ® with one month of study. In one month of study, It will be necessary to focus your preparation around reasoning skills and strategies as opposed to learning foundational content.
The period you select will depend on the amount of time you have to devote to preparation for the GAMSAT ® . The selection should also incorporate an evaluation of your current level of foundational knowledge and your skill-set for each of the three sections. Regardless of the period of study you have chosen, it is important that you focus on using the time you have effectively, and maximising the efficiency and yield of your preparation. This will mean identifying areas of weakness and targeting these as required. If you are a student with a strong science or biomedical background, then your section 3 study should be focused around practising your reasoning skills under exam conditions. If you find that you struggle on sections 1 and 2, you may have to devote more time to developing the foundational skills and knowledge required for succeeding at these sections.
For more information and to better plan your study timeline, check out our GAMSAT ® To Med School Podcast episode which aims to give you a general idea of how hard the GAMSAT ® is.
Every candidate begins their GAMSAT ® journey at a different level of skill, knowledge and competence. Depending on whether you are a first timer or if you are from a science or non-science background, the preparation time will vary. It is always encouraged to have more time. However, more importantly, is how the time is used and what strategies will be utilised to do well in the GAMSAT ® You might find our blog article about How to Manage Time in the GAMSAT ® Exam useful.
There is no specific answer for this and it really depends on when you start and other candidate-specific factors i.e first timer, if you are from a science or non-science background, if you’re currently working full-time etc.. The main takeaway is to start early, develop a sustainable study plan and allow for regular breaks in order to prevent burnout.
The most comprehensive library of free GAMSAT Preparation materials available.
Covers everything you need to know about your GAMSAT ® Results - How the scoring works, result release dates and even GAMSAT ® score cutoffs.
A breakdown of how to approach study effectively and how to set up a GAMSAT ® study schedule
An overview of what to expect in Section 1 of the GAMSAT ® Exam, how to prepare for the Reasoning and Humanities questions.
An overview of what to expect in Section 2 of the GAMSAT ® Exam, how to prepare and how to perfect your essay technique.
An overview of what to expect in Section 3 of the GAMSAT ® Exam and how to prepare for each of the topics - Biology, Chemistry, & Physics.
