Please also see my earlier posts "Free GAMSAT resources online - and how to use them" and "More free GAMSAT study resources"
For those looking for free GAMSAT information, there's a new tutoring group offering free resources called Fraser's Gamsat Journey.
They offer an online video masterclass, a topics list, a study planner, spreadsheets for tracking your improvement over time, a Section 2 quote generator, a Section 2 style guide, a Section 3 Chemistry checklist, Section 3 Physics Checklist, and two physics formula cheat sheets (one, two), and a Section 3 Biology checklist.
Again, I don't recommend any particular test preparation company. I didn't use any tutoring company and still had excellent scores, although I had studied many of these topics at University level. Many of the medical students I know sat the GAMSAT and got in without paying for tuition. I would suggest the PagingDr forums and Graduate Medicine Informant as the best sites for unbiased information that isn't trying to sell anything.
It's been many years now since I took the GAMSAT, but I still get the occasional email from others who have found this website helpful. I hope it saves you further searching helps direct your GAMSAT studies.
GAMSAT UK
Wanted to sit GAMSAT twice a year?
There is an opportunity to do so by taking the UK GAMSAT, which happens in September. This allows you two opportunities in a year to take the test. While the UK GAMSAT is intended for entrants to UK universities, it is accepted by most Australian universities - but it's a good idea to confirm this directly with your university of choice.
The UK GAMSAT is the same test and material as the GAMSAT in March. It;s not available in all test centres in Australia, so you'll likely need to travel to sit the test. However, a warning: if you are not prepared for the GAMSAT, then resitting it is unlikely to improve your score, and you will waste you money and effort. The September timing means that you do not have enough time to apply in Australia for the following calendar year, although your GAMSAT score is usually valid for two years - you can check this on ACER's Currency of Results page.
More free GAMSAT study resources
I note that a lot of the free resources I linked previously are out of date, so here are some updates:
Des O'Neill appears to have retired from the GAMSAT preparation business as of 2015, according to his website.
ACER, according to their '16 Info Booklet, now provides a Sample Questions e-book with registration for the GAMSAT. They also have a Practice Test and Practice Test 2 available for sale, which are full-length tests, as well as Practice Questions. Sample Questions and Practice Questions include worked answers. ACER is also offering computer-based scoring for the Written Communication section. These can be purchased after registering with ACER here. ACER also offer brief preparation tips.
PrepGenie.com.au offer a 'free' GAMSAT mock test for $1 here.
e-gamsat is offering a free GAMSAT practice test with suggested timings, as well as further hints and tips.
MedPrep International used to have a practice exam which is still available on the Internet Archive here. I think they're now operating as Medired, and have an online practice test available here.
The amazingly helpful PagingDr forum has collated a practice test available here.
Gold Standard Gamsat at Gamsat-Prep.com offer a free practice test after account creation here. Gold Standard GAMSAT also have 100+ videos on Youtube, including worked solutions to questions in the ACER booklets.
Youtube has a variety of channels with GAMSAT and interview tips, like The Medical Method, Second Degree Medicine, PrepGenie, and Gold Standard on Section 2 tips.
gamsat.co.uk, which now appears to be abandoned, had a GAMSAT practice test which is still available via the Internet Archive here.
I hope these free resources are helpful in your study. I recommend using practice tests to identify problems with test timing and identifying knowledge gaps.
Reading for Section II - Atul Gawande
A good place to start your Section I reading is with Atul Gawande. He has written 3 books, including Complications: A Surgeon's Notes on an Imperfect Science. Many of his articles are available online, for example at the New Yorker and Slate. Of special interest may be his article "The Cost Conundrum" which was used as an example in the US healthcare debate, as it illustrates a small town where the profit motive has taken over medicine.
Interview format - Group interview
This interview format allows observers to see how you interact with peers in a way that might not be seen in other interview formats.
Usually the group interview format follows a structure similar to that used by Practice Based Learning (PBL) classes, in giving a group a very large, complex problem to resolve and then guiding their dicussions.
DO:
- Listen and don't discount other's views; don't be the only person talking
- Leader? Follower? Medical schools are full of type A personalities and while it's OK to step up if no one else is, don't feel you have to yell over everyone else in the room.
- Make a plan - as you would in a real PBL - for later action. Assign parts of the follow up reaserch and action to different people in your group.
- Make use of the whiteboard to plan or brainstorm.
- Brainstorm some crazy 'zebra' ideas as well as other more workable ideas.
- Consider the full picture. Are there cultural or religious implications? Financial? Social? Ethical? Environmental? How are these going to affect the problem?
- Don't feel you need to provide a full solution to the problem now; rather, you've found out a lot about the problem, are going to research further and you've got a few ideas that might help that you're looking further into.
- Keep an eye on the time for your interview, ensure you've got enough time to brainstorm, discuss, assign tasks.
In my group interview, the doctor guiding the discussion was a doctor I'd visited previously who performed a rather personal medical test on me. Talk about embarassing!
More seriously, while most of the group from my interview got on well (many even stayed after the interview to chat for hours) one person had strong religious views that conflicted with the problem we were solving (for example, if the PBL was regarding options for an unwanted child, including abortion, and this person was a pro-lifer). This person stated their strong beliefs and then would not become involved in any discussion that involved abortion, instead withdrawing for the rest of the interview. While other group members tried to involve them by asking questions and assigning tasks that did not involve the abortion side of the task, it felt very forced. This is the only person in my group who I would have picked as failing the interview.
Usually the group interview format follows a structure similar to that used by Practice Based Learning (PBL) classes, in giving a group a very large, complex problem to resolve and then guiding their dicussions.
DO:
- Listen and don't discount other's views; don't be the only person talking
- Leader? Follower? Medical schools are full of type A personalities and while it's OK to step up if no one else is, don't feel you have to yell over everyone else in the room.
- Make a plan - as you would in a real PBL - for later action. Assign parts of the follow up reaserch and action to different people in your group.
- Make use of the whiteboard to plan or brainstorm.
- Brainstorm some crazy 'zebra' ideas as well as other more workable ideas.
- Consider the full picture. Are there cultural or religious implications? Financial? Social? Ethical? Environmental? How are these going to affect the problem?
- Don't feel you need to provide a full solution to the problem now; rather, you've found out a lot about the problem, are going to research further and you've got a few ideas that might help that you're looking further into.
- Keep an eye on the time for your interview, ensure you've got enough time to brainstorm, discuss, assign tasks.
In my group interview, the doctor guiding the discussion was a doctor I'd visited previously who performed a rather personal medical test on me. Talk about embarassing!
More seriously, while most of the group from my interview got on well (many even stayed after the interview to chat for hours) one person had strong religious views that conflicted with the problem we were solving (for example, if the PBL was regarding options for an unwanted child, including abortion, and this person was a pro-lifer). This person stated their strong beliefs and then would not become involved in any discussion that involved abortion, instead withdrawing for the rest of the interview. While other group members tried to involve them by asking questions and assigning tasks that did not involve the abortion side of the task, it felt very forced. This is the only person in my group who I would have picked as failing the interview.
What is life? Reading for the humanities Section 1 and essay section 2
Three interesting recent articles provide food for thought on how we deal with life and death in a medical setting.
First, ABC journalist Lyndal Curtis talks about the loss of her stillborn daughter Madeline and how she considers Madeline to be as much a daughter of hers as if she had lived. Several readers share their loss of a child in the comments, and it's heartbreaking to hear of parents whose loss is ignored just because their child's death occurred before birth.
Clare Skinner writes in the Sydney Morning Herald about Do Not Resuscitate orders and asks us all to consider our own wishes in this situation.
She emphasises the difference between the medical practice of the emergency room - of doing no harm, of required consults with a distraught and uninformed family, of keeping the patient alive at great cost - and better palliative practice of providing comfort and support in death.
Finally, neurologist Dr Grumpy posts about his experience with a husband unable to accept the death of his wife, a situation where a Do Not Resuscitate order could save resources and human suffering. Commenter Celeste quotes a Bloomberg article:
First, ABC journalist Lyndal Curtis talks about the loss of her stillborn daughter Madeline and how she considers Madeline to be as much a daughter of hers as if she had lived. Several readers share their loss of a child in the comments, and it's heartbreaking to hear of parents whose loss is ignored just because their child's death occurred before birth.
Clare Skinner writes in the Sydney Morning Herald about Do Not Resuscitate orders and asks us all to consider our own wishes in this situation.
Medical ethics rest on four basic principles: beneficence (do good), non-maleficence (do no harm), autonomy (respect your patient as a rational individual) and justice (be fair). In the modern era, with information-savvy and potentially litigious patients expecting more from a resource-strapped and politicised health system, the latter two are frequently the source of conflict.
She emphasises the difference between the medical practice of the emergency room - of doing no harm, of required consults with a distraught and uninformed family, of keeping the patient alive at great cost - and better palliative practice of providing comfort and support in death.
Finally, neurologist Dr Grumpy posts about his experience with a husband unable to accept the death of his wife, a situation where a Do Not Resuscitate order could save resources and human suffering. Commenter Celeste quotes a Bloomberg article:
"Looking back, memories of my zeal to treat are tinged with sadness. Since I didn’t believe my husband was going to die, I never let us have the chance to say goodbye."
I believe our society misses out on that experience: the opportunity to say good-bye and the wisdom that comes from listening to people who are dying.
Interview Format - Multiple Mini Interviews
This interview format allows several small interviews to determine different aspects of your behaviour.
Mini-interview types include:
Giving and following directions - At the ANU, this interview step involved talking someone, unseen, through folding an origami frog from printed instructions. Then, you had to follow instructions.
Empathy - In this scenario, you are presented with a situation which requires you to demonstrate empathy. One example would be being confronted with an elderly man who has just been robbed and is feeling upset. The actors in this scenario are often very good. You will need to show an understanding of their problem.
One refreshing response I heard to this situation was to turn it into a group-hug session.
Rural - This station asked questions about what problems you think are facing rural health, what problems doctors face in working in a rural environment, and whether you have special skills or would be interested in working in such an environment.
Motivation - Why do you want to become a doctor? What are your reasons for becoming a doctor? Where do you get your ideas of what medicine entails? What would make you a great doctor?
Weaknesses - What are your weaknesses? How do you handle them? Do you get stressed? What do you to handle stress?
Problem-solving - What would you do if you were (stuck in the bush with three random objects/finding a small metal object in a haystack/dealing with a prison riot). Look at many different factors - eg with the bush situation, you are considering survival and rescue, but you can also be creative
Ethics - This aims to determine your response to an ethical situation. in this scenario, I was shown a short video where a student had not completed a paper and was offered the opportunity to cheat by using another student's work. However, she did not complete the work because she was involved in charity commitments at the time. The discussion ranged over good reasons to miss school work, whether the charity could have managed without her contribution, and how cheating on the essay would impede her learning. Alternative scenarios: How would you deal with an elderly woman who is the victim of wife-bashing who does not want the situation escalated?
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