So, you’ve decided to sit the GAMSAT Exam. Hooray! By now you’ve told all your friends, and they’ve given you the crazy looks when you explain that you’ve signed up for yet another exam - and it’s how long?!? Your parents are concerned for your wellbeing. They know this is a vital step for getting into a
medical school in Australia, but this is one doozy of an exam. How will you prepare? Will you survive all this study without pulling your hair out? Here are my top five tips for
preparing for GAMSAT Exam. Hopefully they’ll take some of the stress out of studying, and help you nail the Exam to End All Exams!
GAMSAT Exam Study Tip #1: Breathe and Plan
The GAMSAT exam can be incredibly overwhelming. As soon as you sign up, you’re bombarded with information from ACER, as well as practice exams and vague advice on how to study. Everyone who has ever sat GAMSAT has their own opinion on how to study and are all too keen to share! So, before you start panicking, take a step back, make yourself a hot beverage of your choice and start planning.
How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time! Break your study into manageable chunks and you’ll feel less overwhelmed. Work out a realistic timetable – how much time can you really devote to studying? Make your plan realistic, so you’re looking after yourself but also giving yourself the best possible foundations for the GAMSAT.
Next, work out what you need to study – look at the different sections in the GAMSAT and familiarise yourself with their scope. If you need help, you can download our free
GAMSAT Study Syllabus. Think about how much time you will need to prepare for different areas, and when the best time to do such preparation would be. For example, if you want to write a practice essay, you’ll need at least a solid half hour of sit-down time, but if you want to revise some biology concepts, you may be able to do flashcards on your phone while on public transport. Don’t forget to pencil in some fun things for you to do!
GAMSAT Exam Study Tip #2: READ ALL OF THE THINGS
This is the easiest way to start studying for GAMSAT as you can do it anywhere, anytime! Be it poetry, opinion pieces, scientific journals, political analysis or even just textbooks, every little bit helps. Reading improves your vocabulary, increases your awareness of socio-economic and political issues, and can help you come up with interesting examples for your essays! Furthermore, if you are used to reading, say, poetry, it will make those poetry passages in Section 1 just that little bit easier.
It’s easy to incorporate this type of study into your daily routine – for example, you could read the paper with breakfast and read blogs at lunch. There are several apps that can help with your reading, including ones that send you a poem a day to read! Another pro-tip is to follow newspapers, websites, and other sources of information on social media. Their posts will pop up in your newsfeed, prompting you to read while procrastinating! Here are a few sources to get you started:
Essentially though, all you’re looking for is anything that will broaden your knowledge base and give you interesting things to write about! To get the most benefit, make sure you’re not just skimming over things: analyse what the author is saying and form opinions on the content. See if you can write your own GAMSAT-style questions based on what you’ve read, or see if you can incorporate the things you’ve learned into a Section 2 Essay! Don’t forget to check out our
Free GAMSAT Example Essays to start your Section 2 preparation off on the right foot.
GAMSAT Exam Study Tip #3: Target Your Study
While it’s all very well deciding to start studying for the GAMSAT Exam, you need to know what to study, and this can be the hardest part of preparing for the exam. As mentioned above, we have a free
GAMSAT Study Syllabus available for download if you’re stuck, and we also have a comprehensive guide on
how to study for the GAMSAT.
Once you’ve gotten super-duper familiar with the content of the GAMSAT Exam, work out where your strengths and weaknesses are. Not so good at poetry? Spend extra time reading and analysing poems! Haven’t touched chemistry since high school? Work out which concepts you need a refresher on and get stuck in. Physics is often overlooked, being only 20% of section 3, however you can’t abandon it! Since physics is the weak point of many people, being able to get a few points on the physics questions may just help you get ahead of the pack. Check out our
GAMSAT Physics Guide for more tips on how to prepare for this challenging section of the exam.
GAMSAT Exam Study Tip #4: PRACTISE PRACTISE PRACTISE
Once you’ve worked out what to study, when to study, and how to study, you need to start putting your new knowledge to use. The best way to do this is to PRACTISE PRACTISE PRACTISE. Get your hands on as many practice resources as you can, including MCQs and essay prompts. ACER provides a sample of free practice questions when you register for GAMSAT, as well as two more practice booklets that you can pay for.
GradReady’s GAMSAT Free Trial also come with a question bank filled with more MCQs for you to practise.
The GAMSAT requires a lot of mental stamina (it’s a LONG exam), so work up to practising under exam conditions – for example, give yourself an hour for two essays, or half an hour per essay! Don’t dawdle on those MCQs! If you’ve practise like this, exam day will be less gruelling.
Reviewing practice questions afterwards is just as important as answering them! Really go over the questions you got wrong to see if it was just a simple error or if it’s something you need to learn again. Re-read your essays – are they up to scratch, is there any way I can improve my expression? Use the feedback from your practice exams to really target your study. Not so great on Projectile Motion? Make sure you check out some resources in your next study session! This is where a
GAMSAT Exam preparation course can come in handy. Not only will you get extra resources, and help targeting your weaknesses, but you have the opportunity to get feedback from experts on the GAMSAT Exam, and in turn put that feedback into practice!
GAMSAT Exam Study Tip #5: Form a study group
Study groups can be a useful source of motivation and resources. Get together with a bunch of friends/fellow GAMSAT victims and hash out a study plan. You can use these sessions to discuss articles and stories, bounce essay ideas off each other, and nut out the trickier science concepts. You can also use these sessions to share resources, and work together to create your own new resources, such as your own MCQ bank, or flashcard deck using an app such as Anki!
The best thing about working with a group is the pooling of knowledge – everyone has their own strengths and weaknesses, and you can teach each other. Plus, you have willing victims to inflict your essays on for feedback – as long as you read theirs in turn!
And that sums up my top five tips for GAMSAT prep! Try to have at least some fun- after all, if you succeed and get into medical school, you’ll spend the rest of your life sitting exams – so remember these tips! Good luck!
If you’re looking for some free materials to start your GAMSAT exam preparation with, visit our
Free GAMSAT Practice Questions and Materials page next.
