Am I doing this right?

**whenwhere** · 12-01-2010, 05:09 AM

Hi all,

I've been prepping for the September 2010 gamsat since November 09. I've essentially been doing this by teaching myself A-level chemistry (planning to add Biology from February).

I've more or less completed all the AS modules, and can handily get 90-100% on all the past papers from the last 5 years.

When I look at the gamsat papers however, it scares the life out of me. I had a go at a small portion of section III of the 2007 example paper (granted, it was parts I haven't studied) and I managed 13 correct out of the 20 questions I completed. Only about 5 of these I was confident I was correct on- the others were, at best, educated guesses.

I'm studying extremely hard, but I've read countless posts here of people doing this in 2-3 months on an hour of study a day. I'm doing an average of 5 and there's so much material I just don't see how people are sailing through it so quickly.

Granted I haven't started organic chemistry yet..

But still.. am I doing something wrong here?

**samspade** · 14-01-2010, 05:38 AM

...what was your first degree, if it was a biological science degree like mine, and you have studied maths and physics at A level, that section shouldnt worry you too much,

i think going through the entire AS syllabus, might over stretching yoursen, as this section tend to pick qns from from specific topics in bio, chem and physics rather than the entire AS!

..having said that though, its Section II that i am dreading sooooo much myself

good luck with your studies

PS:

where did you buy the past test papers from?

PM me if you need to, as im looking for them!

**heavenlyjohnson** · 16-01-2010, 11:05 PM

Hi whenwhere, I'd say you were taking a good approach by working through the A level Chemistry syllabus. The GAMSAT questions may go up to first year degree level though so you should see this as a foundation and a jumping off point.

Are you going for the March paper of the September paper? If you're going for September I'd say keep doing what you're doing and move on later. If March I'd suggest optimising your revision to the topics covered in the past papers, i.e. organic chemistry, stereochemistry (chirality), optics, basic electronics, the structure and function of the major organs, negative feedback and a few others I can't remember here.

I'd suggest you check Revise Gamsat for a list of the main topics and a bunch of video clips that might help you.

Good luck with your GAMSAT, it sounds like you're really taking it seriously!

**whenwhere** · 17-01-2010, 04:31 PM

Neither of my degrees are in the pure sciences, so i'm learning the majorit of this stuff from scratch. I got all the AS/A-Level past papers that i've done from Past Papers | GCSE Papers | AS papers

A big part of my prep at the moment is printing out tons of any type of exam I can get, and doing them as quickly as possible. I think that a huge part of the gamsat is time preparation. I also have the ACER practice papers, some questions from Des O'neills and a bunch of MCAT papers. I intend to buy the Ozimed papers when I find them for sale second hand.

I plan to do the GAMSAT in september, but i'm considering doing it in March as a practice run. I haven't decided yet, although I've only got a week or two to make the choice.

I'm not hugely worried about S1 or S2. I'll do the griffiths essay examples twice a week I guess, but I'm semi-confident in my 30-minute essay writing ability.