Newbie Advice Needed

[starlite2020]

Hi I'm new here and I'd be very grateful for any advice. I'm a History and Politics graduate and have wanted to study medicine for the past year. I last studied Science subjects when I was 16, and as a result I hope to do an Access course at Birkbeck, or Chemistry and Biology A levels at a local college, to learn what I need to for GEPs. At some point in the future I hope to apply to GEPs, and would be grateful for any advice on how to prepare for the GAMSAT? What books do I need to read? What did others do to prepare for it? And what's the best way to prepare for parts 1 and 2? Any advice would be greatly appreciated! Thanks!

[chris5656]

For some GEPs (Notts, PMS, St Georges) you dont even need science a-levels, just a good score in the GAMSAT. I would advise getting as much work experience as possible before you apply.

For the GAMSAT I got A-level chemistry and biology text books and went through them as best I could in a short space of time. For sections 1 and 2 theres not much preparation you can do: when your in the exam, just remember that time is very limited. I would advise buying the ACER books from the GAMSAT website to get an idea of the structure.

[kiya]

As a history and politics graduate, I would expect you would need very little in the way of preparation for GAMSAT sections I and II, as the skills required to answer these questions are skills you would have acquired during your degree (essay-writing, analysis of documents etc). Writing an essay in half an hour isn't too bad. I don't know how your exams were structured, but in my history degree we had an hour for each essay question and that was mainly filled by having to recall heaps of acquired knowledge. GAMSAT is different and I just drew on my own experiences for one essay and managed to turn a quote on democracy into an essay on Simon de Montfort and the origins of parliament!!!

For Section III, I had done a recent A-level in Chemistry and got help with some A-level Physics and that seemed enough to pass. I would recommend studying all three sciences from A-level revision guides and as Chris suggests, the ACER books are a good idea too.

[starlite2020]

thanks for the information!

Just out of interest can someone give me an example of what a question is like in Section II? As i have no idea at the moment!

[kiya]

Yep, sure. This is from one of ACER's sample question booklets:

Consider the following comments and develop a piece of writing in response to one or more of them.

Your writing will be judged on the quality of your response to the theme; how well you organise and present your point of view, and how effectively you express yourself.

You will not be judged on the views or attitudes you express.

-----

If poverty is the mother of crime, stupidity is its father. John de La Bruyere

The faults of the burglar are the qualities of the financier. George Bernard Shaw

Speaking generally, punishment hardens and numbs, it produces concentration, it sharpens the consciousness of alienation, it strengthens the power of resistance. Nietzche

The reformative effect of punishment is a belief that dies hard, chiefly, I think, because it is so satisfying to our sadistic impulses. Bertrand Russell

The faculties for getting into jail seem to be ample. We want more organisations for keeping people out. Charles Dudley Warner

-----


I found it far easier to write in response to one quote, but everyone's different and the quotes they give are usually highly related so it's possible to write based on more than one.

Hope that's helpful.

[Boudicca]

HI

The essays can be really nasty and a sticking point. I was given a good piece of advice which I used; write one analytical essay with a neutral stance yet voicing both (or more if app.) sides of any arguement you develope. Secondly, write another which is an emotive essay from the heart in the first person.

I am not saying that this method is the best formula and please use whatever works for you.

If you can find an 'Access to Medicine' rather than 'Access to Science' course it will give you a good advantage. The latter course tends not to have a universal marking strategy across the UK.

Best wishes
B

[piglette]

Hello,

I also hadn't done any biology or chemistry since GCSE so section 3 was most worrying for me. There are only 3 official practice publications (I think they're called practice questions, practice paper, and test questions), so to focus my revision I bought 4 ozimed papers off ebay for about £10.

Ozimed is an independent company that provide practice GAMSAT papers and a comprehensive revision strategy. They're quite expensive to buy from Ozimed directly. Anyhoo, the ozimed papers are by no means perfect - much more knowledge-based than the real GAMSAT in my humble opinion. When I went into the real exam I was pleasantly surprised at all the information given in the questions and you could work out lots of it without any prior knowledge. However, the Ozimed papers gave me a focus for what to learn, and having come across the concepts before gave me much needed confidence in the exam itself (got 76 in that section in the end).

Oh, and I found all the texts books I needed at the local library, and started off by rereading GCSE texts books front to back, as it had been a while.

Best of luck, and don't be intimidated. Preparation is the key. You'll rinse the first two sections anyway, with your background!

[starlite2020]

Thanks to everyone for the advice and telling me what the practice questions might be like.

Out of interest Piglette are you on a medicine course now? And did you study Biology and Chemistry A levels to get on the GEP? I'm still quite concerned about the first 2 sections, but practice makes perfect!

[piglette]

no, i'm not on an a level or access course. At the moment i'm working as a health care assistant while i'm waiting to hear from universities. I think the idea is that if you can prove yourself in the GAMSAT, you don't need to have the prerequisite A levels (biology and chemistry).

I looked into Access to Medicine courses, and i thought they looked excellent, but in the end i wasn't really prepared to move away to study for these, and these access to medicine courses do not qualify you for entry into any GEPs (graduate entry programmes) - which, by the way, are a lot cheaper than undergraduate courses - and i decided to only go for graduate programmes. Some of these require you to have chemistry and / or biology A level, but the courses i decided to go for did not require these. I've applied to Warwick (which my "life sciences" degree makes me eligible for), Kings, Nottingham and St George's.

If you are worried about sections 1 and 2, just buy the past papers from the exams board and have a go at them. Bear in mind that many people sitting the exam are science graduates and you will probably be miles better at these sections than they are. I thought my essays in the GAMSAT were pretty incoherent and would have been quite unacceptable in any exam during my degree, but got a decent mark for them. And the first section you can mark yourself and see how you do.

Best of luck

[starlite2020]

Originally Posted by piglette

If you are worried about sections 1 and 2, just buy the past papers from the exams board and have a go at them. Bear in mind that many people sitting the exam are science graduates and you will probably be miles better at these sections than they are. I thought my essays in the GAMSAT were pretty incoherent and would have been quite unacceptable in any exam during my degree, but got a decent mark for them. And the first section you can mark yourself and see how you do.

Best of luck

So I assume the only preparation that you did for Section I and II was past papers? I think I'm quite good at essay writing but I did my degree 2 years ago and I've already forgotten so many aspects of what I learnt.

I'm currently working at the charity Mind and am working with service users. I'm hoping to do some voluntary work at my local hospital soon, and then apply for an HCA position like yourself.

I have another question for you people! Do the universities have a close look at your GCSE grades? I didn't really work during my GCSEs so didn't do too well. I do however have good A levels and a good degree mark.