Live prep courses in London area??

[Dr Nick]

I think the griffits gamsat review is good alright for helping you set a study plan and talking you through the exam. Not much else in it though.

Study is definately the most important at the start. I did one practice test about 4 months before the exam. Then did 2 months solid study (eve's and wkends as I'm working full time). Then started into practice questions for a week then full practice tests every second Saturday for a month (plus study every eve). Then one a week for the last month. Two the week before the exam.

So yea, I guess if you know about 70% of what you set out to learn, then you're probably ready for practice tests at that point. I was so sick of doing them by the time the real one came around that I took 2 weeks 'holidays' before the exam but ended up going on the lash and only really spent about 3 days studying....I guess the practice tests must've stood to me! I reckon its the only way to do it.

[Mad Max]

I've already blown all my annual leave, so I wont have any left for the GAMSAT. Practice is very important for science/maths type examinations in my experience. Leading up to the exam, spending a lot of time going over past papers and what not just gets you used to the feeling of sitting the exam, so that when you go into the real thing it feels like business as usual (although the GAMSAT is probably quite different in this regard).

[superdoc1]

Hey Nick,

Well done on the GAMSAT score. How do you rate the chances of RCSI with a 63?

Thanks for the insight into the GRADMED prep course too. From their website you get the impression that you're practically guaranteed > 60! Obviously thats not the case on the whole

[Dr Nick]

Yea there's no easy fix for a high grade. And gradmed didnt seem to do much for anyone. That said, I could've done worse without it...who knows.

With 63 I'm thinking (from the dodgy curve!) that it's in the top 8% which is around the top 48 people. With alot applying for UL and UCD I really hope I get RCSI but at the same time I wouldnt be overly surprised if no offer came at all. I'd be happy to go anywhere so I'll be doing some serious celebrating on the 1st Aug if I get any offer at all!

[Sarah G]

Just wanted to mention my experience of the Gradmed courses as I found them really helpful and so it seemed appropriate to balance up the weight of opinion so far. Can I just say I have NO vested interest in or links to Gradmed and just found out about them via an intenet search on GAMSAT a few months before the exam.

I have not studied science for over 25 years(!) so I joined the intensives for the science subjects only. I thought the lecturers were excellent, the course notes very good and the advice on how to prioritise really helpful. I could never have organised my studying without it. It probably was a bit too close to the exam but I had done some basic studying a few weeks before and then did two weeks revision full-on after the courses.

It was expensive and unfortunately not affordable for everyone but I thought it was a good investment if it got me an interview, which it did. I only have 'o' level physics and some crummy 'A' level results but I managed 70 on the GAMSAT last year (67/79/66). I can't quite believe I even passed the science paper - I was the person who actually laughed out loud a couple of times in the London exam at the absurdity of it all if anyone was there!

I also found the Griffiths e-book really helpful overall. I didn't follow all the advice in the end but tried a lot of the suggestions on the practice papers and discarded those that didn't work for me. It helped me really focus on the timing and because of its advice I completed every question (even if the last few were complete guesses).

Maybe if you are already confident in the basic sciences then the Gradmed-type courses aren't necessary, and I can't comment on the courses for verbal reasoning and essay writing or whatever they were called (its all a bit of a blur), but I found the science ones worthwhile given my background.

Good luck to all of you taking the exam this year.

Sarah

[Dr Nick]

Hi Sarah,

Did you just do basic study and two weeks revision plus the 5 day science revision course? And got 70? That's amazing. Sickeningly, a friend of mine got 70 this year too with zero effort but she's just unbelievably gifted. Maybe that's you too. I guess that's what alot of med school people will be like.

I dont want to bash gradmed altogether, just to warn people to be careful. Like I said, I know about 8 people who did it, results were 63, 58, 55, 55, 55, 53, 51 and 'shit'. Maybe I just hung out with the piss heads...definately a possibility.

How did you find Physics and Chem? Our class actually erupted into a 'heated debate' with the lecturer in the middle of the chemistry because it was so bad. I think people were too confused to even speak in Physics!

[Mad Max]

Griffiths is quite good actually, particularly the part about science topics to revise. There probably isn't much more to it than studying these topics and practicing the papers, although I haven't actually sat the exam so what do I know.

Sarah, did you have a job during those 2 weeks leading up the GAMSAT, or were you able to study more or less all day every day?

[Sarah G]

Hi guys

Its a bit hazy now but I remember only finding out about the GEP/GAMSAT process in June and almost immediately booked on to the intensives coming up in August/Sept (exam was 21st Sept). I got the reading lists from them in advance so I could go and buy some key texts and this is when I started studying (whilst working full-time and 3 kids so not huge amounts of time available!). I went to the maths day, both chemistry days and one of the biology days- the rest I was on holiday during, so, with gradmed permission, I saw the physics tutor at home for a couple of 3 hour sessions and had a 3 hour lesson with the biology tutor. I found all of the tutors helpful but others may have had different tutors on their weekends. I actually found I enjoyed the physics which I never did at school so he must have been good! Being a psychology graduate though I wouldn't know about the accuracy or level of any of the science lessons, but they did help with getting you to think about the types of themes likely to come up in GAMSAT(eg biological systems, intepreting data, plus shortcuts) not just content (there were biochem grads there for example who would obviously know a lot of the subject matter already).
After the intensives I did have two weeks at home to study but this was cutting it really fine and I was pretty stressed by the end.

Perhaps as I approached this very naively and with so little science I felt more positive thean others who had higher expectations? I was so grateful for the help I might have had a less critical eye.

Sarah

[yahooy]

Thanks for the heads up Dr Nick. Also Sarah G, you make a very good point. I'll hve to inverstigate further to make sure I;ve got a worthy course. I've heard that Des Oneil has great courses but I dont think he holds live ones in the UK.

Also I have found a useful webpage but I'm not sure if this is the correct thread to post it on. Anyways, its -->here