Illegal Copies of Courses/Books/etc

[Mrock]

Does anybody else feel that the whole GAMSAT process is disappointing?

Why is it more to sit the exam in the UK (195GBP) than Australia (308AUD)? It is also far more expensive than the UK's BMAT used by Oxford UCL and Cambridge (£32.10) and the UKCAT used by KCL and Newcastle (£60). They charge an "overseas levy" (165AUD) which is completely unjustified - what possible extra cost is it to them if people take the exam in Washington or Sydney? They charge £25 in the UK for a practice test booklet. It is extortionate and they can get away with it because you have no choice.

If you want a shot at actually getting a good mark you have to spend a huge amount of money on unofficial preparation materials which are riddled with mistakes and compiled by opportunist amateurs taking advantage of a chaotic system that is just designed to make money.

The GAMSAT itself is off the mark as an aptitude test, with an emphasis on irrelevant vocabulary, semantics and tiny scientific details. The whole system is elitist and all about the money.

My advice to anyone looking to revise for it (and despite the claim that it is a "reasoning test" you really do need to prepare) is to get a list of all the minutiae that come up from someone who has already taken it and has the practice materials and then thoroughly go through it all on the internet. I have all the quasi-professional preparation material and the internet has been far, far more useful as a teaching tool. You do however, need to know what to specifically revise.

[Soul and Onward]

If you want a shot at actually getting a good mark you have to spend a huge amount of money on unofficial preparation materials which are riddled with mistakes and compiled by opportunist amateurs taking advantage of a chaotic system that is just designed to make money.

Not true at all, the only money I spent was £15 on one of the sample questions books (which I intend to sell when the 2009 exam approaches, it seems they have a rather high resale value). I picked up science texts from my local library and did no revision whatsoever for the first two sections. I found the test to be a much better indicator of ability than the UKCAT (can't speak for the BMAT) and would like to see it adopted by more universities. The cost is quite steep, but I'd be surprised if ACER made much profit from the exam fee (remember, about £30 is VAT).

[Mrock]

Regarding the need for the section III preparation materials, I'm speaking from a non-science background and have found that other students with scientific degrees that aren't "straight" chemistry or similarly focused disciplines also needed the preparation material.

I did try getting standard text books from the library and to be fair that might have worked if I had known exactly what topics to revise, but the only way I can see of really pinpointing your revision is through the GAMSAT-focused preparation materials.

I agree that the GAMSAT, whilst it needs to shed some irrelevancies, does give you a much more vigorous grilling than the UKCAT, which I too thought was a narrow indicator of ability. And at least the GAMSAT does give students some credit for hard work.

True it's hard to speculate on their profits (who knows how the company is structured and what they get paid), but I'd be very surprised if there wasn't a significant cut taken somewhere. if 3000-4000 people take the exam in London that's between £495,000-660,000 with £30 VAT taken off. It's largely computer marked, with student invigilators, but sure, I wouldn't know.

[gamsatgirl]

Hello fellow nutcases! We must all be insane by now - only 12 days to go... I'm applying for Cork (ROI) where there are only 20 places and at the moment, forget study, all I can think about is 20, 20, 20....
I absolutely agree with Soul and Onward that the manual itself is the essential thing to have. Not coming from science background, I shelled out a fortune on prep materials for section III, but discovered pretty quickly that in-depth knowledge of the sciences is not really what they're after. Think of it as a cryptic crossword- the prep materials will give you the vocabulary suggested by the clues, but only getting into the crossword setter's way of thinking will enable you to solve said clues.

[bethanm]

Hi,
I have the following materials for sale, please PM me if you are interested.

The GAMSAT Guru Method- detailed study guides for Biology,Chemistry,Physics,Organic Chemistry and Sections I and II of the Gamsat. Includes sample questions and explained answers.

Gradmed Materials - Over 20 bound books including subject guides and practice questions. Loads of great advice.

The official Practice and Sample Questions

Giffiths Gamsat Review

The Ozmed Practice Papers - Set of 10 complete practice papers including answers and anwering grids.

Thanks,
Bethan

[olire2003]

hey there, i wrote gamsat , ukcat and bmat last year and would like to sell off the materials i used.
these are the list of materials i have available

1. des o neil's human biology notes
2.des o neil's physical chemistry notes
3. des o neils biochemistry notes
4.des o neil's physics notes
5. des o neil's organic chemistry notes
6. des o neil's multiple choice questions and answers
7. gamsat revision syllabus
8. ozimed practise tests and answers on all three sections. (1-4)
9. UKCAT and Bmat revision guide
10.letts A2 chemistry
11. Cambridge BMAT revicion guide
12. organic chemistry for dummies (REALLY HELPFUL)
13. griffiths gamsat review

All this i will be selling for 100 pounds flat. excluding postage. contact me via olirei@hotmail.com

[Drneuro]

Would you say the content of the gamsat is aimed at kind of first year degree level or even more advanced than that? Don't think i could even revise A Level physics!

[billturner84]

hey there, i wrote gamsat , ukcat and bmat last year and would like to sell off the materials i used.
these are the list of materials i have available

1. des o neil's human biology notes
2.des o neil's physical chemistry notes
3. des o neils biochemistry notes
4.des o neil's physics notes
5. des o neil's organic chemistry notes
6. des o neil's multiple choice questions and answers
7. gamsat revision syllabus
8. ozimed practise tests and answers on all three sections. (1-4)
9. UKCAT and Bmat revision guide
10.letts A2 chemistry
11. Cambridge BMAT revicion guide
12. organic chemistry for dummies (REALLY HELPFUL)
13. griffiths gamsat review

All this i will be selling for 100 pounds flat. excluding postage. contact me via olirei@hotmail.com

Blimey you needed some help with those exams...

[Aiden]

olire2003, you willing to break that collection up?