[b]Need help in Ireland - GAMSAT in March...[/b]

[sheepdog]

Hi, I will be taking the GAMSAT in Dublin in late March. It is needed for Grad Entry to Vet Medicine. At the moment, I'm doing my A-levels in Chem, Bio, and Maths -- I have a degree, but it is a long time since I did A levels!

What level of science do I need for the GAMSAT beyond A levels? Do I need Physics beyond GCSE?

I live in Northern Ireland -- too far and the wrong time of year for courses, so what written materials can all of you suggest. Specific texts? Gamsat Prep gudes? Anything.

I don't mind spending the money as long as it is worth it.

-- I know about the Ozmed samples....


Thanks in advance and good luck to all

[Seion]

In my opinion I think it would be useful if together with A-level chem it you revised some 1st year degree level organic chemistry; Stereoisomerism, Carbonyls, Amines, Proteins and Carbohydrates.

As for physics I would suggest you learn to the old O-level standard. I didn't do O-level, but came across an old O-level text book that covered seem to be inbetween A-level and GCSE. I wouldn't go into physics in too much detail. Learn all the basic formulas i.e resitance, charge, force, velocity etc.

Hope this helps.

[Seion]

I disagree that first year degree level and A-level are the same. Yes Fluffy you do all those subjects at A-level, but you cover them in more depth at first year degree level.
Stereisomerism extends to E-Z convention, Fischer projections, Meso compounds, stereochemistry and chemical reactions.
Carbonyls extended to Keto-Enol Tautomerism and Hemiacetals and Acetals
Carbohydrates extended to cyclic hemiacetals structures, anomeric carbons, mutarotation.

As for having in depth knowledge of Physices I diasgree with you again. It is more important to know the fundamental principles and equations rather than in depth A level style derivatives. You need to know the basic principles and beable to quickly substitute values into equations.

[exms]

Originally Posted by Fluffy

If they use a different paper from todays, which I suspect they would have to, I would go into physics in depth - two years ago GAMSAT was heavy on the physics from reading posts on other boards....

FYI, the breakdown is: 40% Chem, 40% Biol, 20% Physics. I didn't even bother opening a Physics book last year. Given that Biol questions tend to be about data handling rather than specific recall, it's really the Chem that needs to be focused on.

xmas

[Rich]

I focussed my revision on A' level chemistry and found this was sufficient for me personally. It's good to do more of course but we all have time constraints - especially those who are working at the same time as studying. I've only the experience of the ACER practice papers and this years GAMSAT but I would say spend 75% of your time on chemistry, 15% on biology and 10% on Physics revision. The biology is pretty much all data analysis and reasoning but I would learn basic mendelian genetics as that seems a guarantee to turn up. As for Physics, you may not have time to go into too much detail in which case focus on laws of motion, optics and levers.

I'm relatively happy with how section III went for me, but I guess I won't know til March. If I could go back I would probably have spent a bit more time on Organic chemistry and not bothered much with Periodicity. Oh, as mentioned above, stereoisomerism seems guaranteed to make an appearance each year too.

Best of luck.

[simran]

also there was work on which way a chiral compund will spin, using R,S convention. that came up in the actual GAMSAT.

the only formulas in the physics questions that were not given to us in the text was the electricity ones, like P=I squared times R, and V=C times R.

[jamiewallis]

Originally Posted by Fluffy

Having studied Nuffield Chemisrty (in 1994), I can assure you we covered all the above at A-Level.

Crikey, they aren't wrong when they say A-levels are getting easier. I took my A-levels in 2000 and they were all modular. For maths we were with AQA (SMP) which was, according to the *cleverer* people in the year who sat an OCR terminal exam, for simple minded people - even so, this was my most difficult A-level. For Biology and Chemistry we sat OCR Modular which I have to admit weren't particularly taxing - we were given course books for every module and these covered everything we had to know for the exam - indeed often the mark scheme for the past papers would quote passages form the text book!

Our biology teacher showed us the exam paper he sat for his A-levels - that was an old Nuffield paper as well, and it was really tough. I think the emphasis has shifted from applying knowledge to rote learning information which favours my style of learning. Even at uni, there was alot of rote learning - even though we were told not to, alot of us would regurgitate lecture notes and still come out with good grades. I expected science degree would involve a lot more *thinking* rather than *learning*.

As for those topics you've listed fluffy - wow! They sound horrendous, and most of them we didn't even touch at A-level! I think if we had, I might not have achieved the A grade that I did

[sheepdog]

Originally Posted by jamiewallis

Crikey, they aren't wrong when they say A-levels are getting easier. I took my A-levels in 2000 and they were all modular. For maths we were with AQA (SMP) which was, according to the *cleverer* people in the year who sat an OCR terminal exam, for simple minded people - even so, this was my most difficult A-level. For Biology and Chemistry we sat OCR Modular which I have to admit weren't particularly taxing - we were given course books for every module and these covered everything we had to know for the exam - indeed often the mark scheme for the past papers would quote passages form the text book!

Our biology teacher showed us the exam paper he sat for his A-levels - that was an old Nuffield paper as well, and it was really tough. I think the emphasis has shifted from applying knowledge to rote learning information which favours my style of learning. Even at uni, there was alot of rote learning - even though we were told not to, alot of us would regurgitate lecture notes and still come out with good grades. I expected science degree would involve a lot more *thinking* rather than *learning*.

As for those topics you've listed fluffy - wow! They sound horrendous, and most of them we didn't even touch at A-level! I think if we had, I might not have achieved the A grade that I did

Thanks for all the good stuff, everone. Now that we have established that A-levels are getting easier -- can someone suggest a fast intake method that will take me from current standard to the GAMSAT level. Book suggestions appreciated, as long as they are readable in two inensive months.

Cheers,
Sheepdog