How I got an 82 in my first sitting

Hiya everyone! I got a 69/90/84, 82W this September 2021 sitting. I've had a ton of messages asking for some advice on prepping for the GAMSAT, so this post runs through my experience and a few of my thoughts. This is not a perfect how-to guide, it's a bit of wisdom from taking the GAMSAT in a very methodological, driven, and balanced way. I tackled the GAMSAT by taking many breaks, sometimes not taking enough, cutting many corners, spending too long on some things, and not long enough on others.

This is a verryyyyy (very, very) long post, but posts like these were how I got my strategy together for the test. I found them incredibly useful- everything you see here has been influenced by all the wonderful things people have put on the sub over the years. Take it all with a grain of salt, but I just wanted to put all my reflections and learnings out there in case it can be of use to any of you.

(I realised in my adrenaline rush of results release, I reported an 84 overall on the results thread- my apologies, totally wasn't intentional, my overall weighted was 82.)

Disclaimer: Everything below is speaking from my own study experience, a big part of which was building my self-confidence and recognising where my strengths lie, and telling myself that regardless of the eventual outcome, the strengths and wholeness of my person as never going to be reflected in ACER's scoring metrics. There is no definite method, nor any definite marker, of achievement in the GAMSAT. This sub (which I love dearly and wholly attribute my score to), and general pre-med culture, emphasises cutthroat perfection- I'll say it right now that you DO NOT need a sky-high, or a 70+ GAMSAT to get into med, and you certainly DO NOT need a sky-high GAMSAT to be a good doctor. You need a GAMSAT that will suit your needs, goals, and context.

You don't need a perfect prep method to get a GAMSAT that can get you to where you want to go- no such thing as perfect prep exists. Everyone will find different aspects of the GAMSAT challenging, and one thing to take away from everything below is that you need to be methodological, realistic, and balanced with your prep, and it needs to be individual to your context. I've added heaps of context about my scenario, needs, and goals for GAMSAT in the hopes you'll view this as one experience rather than a bible of how to achieve mythical GAMSAT success. Getting a high GAMSAT won't be the answer to your problems, nor will it give you fulfilment. I've still had many anxious thoughts swirling the past few days about my capacity to get into med. I'm telling you just as much as me- put the doubts and comparison to bed, and focus on where you need to be. Take some of the tools below for your study, leave whatever doesn't sit right for you.

Let's go!!

My context:

I'm a 19yo 2nd year arts student (health humanities- lots of english, sociology, public health, philosophy, history). Other than ATAR Chem and Human bio, I'm a total NSB. I've always been strong in literature and the humanities, and I read a lot of non-fiction in my spare time. I haven't studied maths since Year 10- I was pretty high achieving at school, but I've got ADHD and have had my fair share of challenges. I tutor English, organisation skills, and ADHD mentoring for work, so I have a lot of exposure to writing, reading, coming up with ideas on the spot, explaining and disseminating concepts in logical ways, and communicating ideas. This was my first GAMSAT sitting, and I'm hoping to get in for med somewhere in Aus for 2023.

Resources:

I used notion to make a big syllabus of basic content concepts right at the beginning of my study. I also had a page of my exam day strategy (note- I had extra time as an accomodation, so my timings are altered), a task timeline for the 1st stage of my revision, and a spreadsheet of every incorrect answer from my 2nd revision stage. The link to all that is here, I'll refer to these docs throughout this post:

https://sapphire-piper-5ce.notion.site/GAMSAT-87c79a03041f42d09f8926e9d1f57f89

I also kept a drive of resources I found online of things I used to study and the schedule I used for the 2nd phase of my revision. There's many good textbook PDFs online that I couldn't link for copyright, but it's worth having a search for some good self-teach science books. Klein's Organic Chemistry As A Second Language was my reference for the 2nd phase of my revision, as was the Kuhn Physics Self Teaching Guide- any of the ochem/physics prep in my 2nd phase timetable was making notes from these books on the listed chapter topic for that day.

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1-lflOwU7nEJ_mltNo3q9YdPW8xlTQdPI?usp=sharing

Mindset:

GAMSAT is inherently overwhelming. You need to use all the tools in your personal resilience toolbox to realise that you can and will tackle it. Tools include the fluffy stuff- I swear by a regular yoga, meditation, and reflective writing practice- but also the gritty stuff- committing to study times, sacrificing (a healthy level) of social life for your long term goal, and sitting down to work through the shit you really don't want to do (maths, I see you). Cracking GAMSAT means a methodological study approach- I knew from my ADHD brain that my study needed to be smart, sharp, and directed both at my strengths and weaknesses, otherwise I'd switch off. I knew that for this loopy brain of mine, 3 months of intense revision interspersed with time outside and time with mates was the only way I could tackle it- so that's what I did. Your brain and body can and will commit to short, directed periods of study- you'll produce more dopamine when your tasks are achievable, segmented, and the end goal is close. TL;DR: ditch the 6 months of laborious study, drill down for 3, and make it smart and strategically planned. Try to bring as much joy and curiosity into it as you can- I loved seeing my reasoning develop, and found many of the stems interesting when I allowed myself to enjoy the learning process.

Where do you start?

Trawl through this reddit, pick up the tips that might work for you, make a master doc of them all, and then timetable the shit out of it. Calculate how much time you've got, work out your goals, then build a strategy that mediates the two. I knew I had 3 months between finishing Semester 1 exams and my GAMSAT sitting, with about a month total of holidays/social commitments already in place over the winter break in between.

I split my revision into two: 1.5 months of lax content review interspersed with breaks away with friends, then 1.5 months of pretty uncompromising active question/skill drills until my sitting.

From a lot of investigating of this sub, and being honest about my weaknesses, I knew I had some key goals for my prep:

• Get basic literacy in the key sciences, including advanced chemistry knowledge and ochem, and getting a grasp of physics
• Refine my maths skills in key areas (graph reading, dimensional analysis, algebra, trigonometry, scientific notation, linear relationships, log graphs, exponential relationships, logs, exponents)
• Significant practice for S3 Qs (ACER and Des)
• Keeping track and analysing where I went wrong in each Q using a spreadsheet
• At least 3 full practice exams before my sitting
• Getting good at generating ideas quickly for S2

Just a note- you'll see a lot on here talking about not worrying about bio study, and focusing S3 revision on physics and chem. However, if you're a complete NSB with no prior bio study, in my opinion I think you should allocate a lil bit of time to develop an understanding of basic bio. A lot of us don't know how daunting a bio stem can be if you don't have an understanding of basic concepts. I had this literacy from ATAR human bio, but otherwise Khan academy would be the go to- just watch the vids, understand the words, put the pieces of the body and cells together in your head so you can recognise them in a stem. No need to memorise facts or anatomy, but you need to understand key body systems, components, and functions (+ genetics etc) on a superficial level. The more science terminology you intuitively understand, the less shit there is to wade through in a stem- yes, most of GAMSAT is science reasoning, but you've gotta know the basics to be able to reason. If you're NSB, give yourself the gift of a little relaxed content review. Which is where I began...

1st revision period: content review and TAKING BREAKS !

My Notion page titled Topic Review Task Timeline summarises the topics and timing for the first half of my revision, during winter break. I tried to do a few hours a day whenever I wasn't away- usually I would head away camping for weekends, and then study and work in the city during the week. I did head up north of WA for 2 weeks and took that time totally off (it was divine! and necessary to give me perspective and motivation when I got home).

I used this period to ease into study, and to build a basic literacy with the sciences that I was unfamiliar with. I designed it to be a pretty lazy and vague overview of content so I could recognise the language of ACER Qs once I got to them. I tried to cover each concept in the informal 'syllabus' of prereq knowledge at least once- usually half-assed notes, and then 5-10 content based Qs a day or two later.

For this revision, I bought the basic GradReady package, including the textbook/question bank. If I did it again, I wouldn't bother- it was a waste of money. In this first period I used their PDF textbook and questions to review basic science concepts, but the GR package was only helpful for giving me structure at the start of my revision when I felt very lost, because all their info was segmented. The S3 resources that GR provided were shit- they had many mistakes, were written with heaps of assumed prior knowledge, and used Qs that were poorly formatted and tested very little reasoning. Use the free syllabi that prep companies put out and make yourself a database of content review resources from Khan Academy/Coursera that cover the basics of each topic. It will take a bit longer to organise, but the quality of study will be far higher. I didn't look at GR S3 content after this period of study.

2nd revision period: getting real

Once winter break finished, I had 6 weeks to study. I made a new timetable that focused on principles of active revision, refining areas of weakness, and building my timed skills. I was realistic about my capabilities- I dropped down to 3 units (instead of 4) after a week back at uni, realising I couldn't handle it. I worked about 15 hours a week, and had about 9 contact hours a week. I live at home so didn't have to worry about supporting myself- this was an immense privilege and certainly enabled me to study the way I did, and I do not for a second take it for granted. When building my timetable for this part of my revision, I factored in uni, work, family, and social commitments very realistically. I also set aside a non-negotiable 1-2 hours a day for exercise or just getting out of my chair and moving a bit- don't underestimate how much this stuff matters.

This schedule is in my google drive listed as 'GAMSAT Timetable'. It obvs doesn't include personal commitments, just the time-listed tasks I completed each day. This schedule was flexible- if I was exhausted, I'd shift it around, move things to the next day. This timetable was a pretty solid guide/representation of how much I studied- but the reality was certainly less than what was planned on there, because I inevitably overestimated my study capacity. When my body and brain needed a break, I gave it one.

When formulating your study strategy you need to know WHAT to study (topic, section, subject, skill), HOW to study it (questions vs content review vs timed Qs vs untimed Qs vs ideas generation vs writing a whole essay vs mindmaps- be creative), and WHEN to study each thing (what day, how much time you want to allocate).

My big WHAT was S3, coming from a NSB, so most of my study focused on reasoning, maths skills, and science literacy. My S1 and S2 study was thus pretty minimal. Most of my timed S1 study, and all the practice essays I wrote, were in the 3 practice exams I sat in the 3 weeks leading up to my sitting.

S1 STUDY (69):

• Totally half-assed study here because I had heard it’s tricky to improve on, but also knew that it was an area I was generally strong in
• Tried to do about 10-20 practice questions a day. This was the only time I used the Gradready question bank in this entire 6 weeks, it was relatively useful, but full of errors. Really, any advanced reading comprehension practice will do (I took the SAT in high school and I reckon the khan academy SAT reading question sets have some great stems for complex info, the Qs are a bit different but useful in practicing analytical skills). Also used the ACER S1 Qs intermittently, tried not to space them out so I didn't run out before exam day.
• In general, I read a lot of non-fiction, and a lot of ‘long read’ feature articles (longreads.com is great), also a fair bit of fiction- just for enjoyment, so probably helps with my vocab and expression
• S1 is my lowest scoring section by far so don't have much advice to offer here, you'll find many people on this sub who've worked a lot harder and have a lot more insight for S1 than I do

S2 STUDY (90):

• I gotta be honest and say I only did 6 (mayyyybeee 7) practice essays total, all of them in the 3 practice exams I completed. These are all in the google drive- some of them a pretty shit, some of them are a bit better. No idea how they compare to what I wrote on the day- my sitting is a blur- but they give you an idea of how I write
• I did do a bit of practice looking at prompts and coming up with draft essay ideas/approaches- I used ACER resources, the Des book, and the Frasers online generator (wherever ‘essay’ comes up in my study schedule, it was mostly brainstorming answers or reading sample essays I found in Des or online)
• I am an arts student and my writing is objectively quite strong, vocab and analysis wise. My tutoring experiences also rendered me very good at identifying intuitively what makes 'good' writing and embodying that in my work
• Don’t feel confined to a discursive vs an analytical structure for either essay- for both the essays I wrote on the day, my response was somewhere between the two, but probably verging more on analytical with some discursive intro and conclusion elements
• Similarly, don’t feel confined to rigid structures- you need to produce complete and thorough paragraphs that present unique ideas to support your thesis- a good essay lets the content of these paragraphs be flexible around the prompt
  • ie. structures like argument/counterargument/argument are useful, but they do not make the best essays all the time- good ideas do
  • You should be presenting well-considered, socially aware, and cognitively deft perspectives in response to the theme of the prompt
• Work on approaching questions in novel ways, with an overarching thesis that presents a clear and unified perspective, and then 3-4 body paragraphs that offer slightly different arguments towards this perspective
  • eg. in my second essay in my sitting, I wrote about my topic from a social, evolutionary, and technological perspective- I had an overarching argument as my thesis, and then took different disciplinary approaches for each paragraph- this is just one example of a structure. Don’t memorise a structure and try to jam it into any essay, use structures as examples of how to demonstrate deep and analytical thinking to the marker
• I hear a lot of people talking about improving vocab through reading, but vocab is not as important as expression. Practice writing intros or single paragraphs in response to random prompts, untimed, reading each sentence out loud for flow as you write- think about how it sounds, but also if it presents a concrete idea.
• Don't go with a prep company if you need help for S2, go with a private tutor. Improving writing takes detailed, specific, consistent, and constructive feedback. I didn't, but if you want to spend that money, invest in a tutor who not only has done well and understands GAMSAT writing, but who is a good writer at the university level. Work with them on structure of paragraphs, expression of ideas, and coming up with creative theses.

S3 STUDY (84):

I'd be lying if I said I didn’t have nightmares about S3 for months leading up to the GAMSAT- how does someone who's a catastrophic NSB, who hasn’t done maths since year 10, get an 84? By realising that she's gonna have to learn maths (faaark 😕), and by realising S3 is about reasoning and science literacy. Note literacy, not knowledge. Literacy is a general and intuitive understanding of key concepts. You can achieve science literacy through basic content review, and then refine it by revising more advanced content/Qs for concepts that appear in ACER or Des Qs frequently (pKA, pH, chirality, waves, light, diffusion are a few big ones) or concepts that you really struggle to grasp.

• I would say the subject you need the strongest grounding in is chemistry- you really do need an intuitive understanding of core chemistry concepts, which Khan academy would be a good resource for. This is a non-negotiable, because although most chem questions ultimately use reasoning, you need a nuanced understanding of chemical terminology, notation, and concepts to be able to reason the answers effectively. I needed help with ochem, so I used a simple ochem textbook to go through the foundational ochem concepts throughout the 2nd phase of my revision- I stuck to the very basics though, and wouldn't even say I understood them that well. Just had exposure to the terminology, notation, and patterns.
• Physics…. I hated, so kept to the basics. You could all probably do a heap more physics than I did. I used a self-teach physics textbook and just reviewed basic concepts throughout the 2nd phase of my revision. I avoided physics practice Qs like the plague (unless they came up in my scheduled ACER or Des Qs), because I just couldn't bring my brain to do it, but I tried to make the concepts feel as intuitive as possible.
• I re-taught myself maths!!! I downloaded 100+ free worksheets from like math-aids.com or something similarly generic, mainly on the key maths skills I knew I was weak in. Lots of exponents, scientific notation, long addition and multiplication, fractions, algebra, rearranging formulas, logs. I tried to work through at least 2 or 3 of these worksheets a day, under timed conditions. It really did only take about 7 weeks for me to go to needing a calculator for simple addition, to being able to manipulate complex formulae and logs and exponents. Second to practice Qs, this was BY FAR the most high yield part of my study. If you’re from a NSB, refining maths skills should be your #1 priority next to gaining basic science literacy.
  • An earlier post I made on this sub calling for help with maths has some really good tips in the comments. Have a read of that, and thanks to everyone who commented for your invaluable advice!!!

I drilled practice Qs like no tomorrow.

Every day had at least 1 hour of timed or untimed practice Qs using Des or ACER S3 Qs.

• Timed: I would do either a 20 or 30 min block of questions, aiming to complete as more Qs in that time than what I would need to do on the day (I had extra time for my ADHD, so my timing was a little different to usual). Trying to do more Qs in the same amount of time made the actual sitting feel more relaxed.
  • I would then allocate double the amount of time I spent answering the Qs to analyse my incorrect answers.
• Untimed: I would try to get through as much of a Des chapter or ACER Qs as possible, analysing each incorrect Q as I went.

For every ACER or Des Q that was incorrect or guessed, it went into a Notion spreadsheet ('Unknown concepts spreadsheet'). I detailed the topic of the Q, rated how confident I felt with the topic upon getting it incorrect, explaining why I made the mistake, explaining the reasoning for the answer (usually using the gold standard videos if I couldn’t work it out from the ACER answers), listing an action for reviewing the topic (ie. content review, more practice Qs), and then rated how confident I was with the topic after I had reviewed it. The week before GAMSAT, I used this document to guide the concepts I needed additional review for.

Now, the the eternal ACER vs Des question- which one did I think was better? Both, because neither quite represent what the GAMSAT now looks like. I interspersed both throughout my study to get a balance, but don’t ignore the benefits of Des just because it’s older- it's got some serious strengths, and its weaknesses (being too maths and content heavy) helped me improve my numerical reasoning and use discernment on the day to ignore Qs that I knew I didn't have the content base for.

• ACER overview: The ACER pink exam was definitely the most representative of the real thing, in terms of emphasis on reasoning and maths skills- the others had a bit more content emphasis, which I didn’t really find to be true for my exam. I would use the ACER resources as your first and regular point of call. I timetabled to spread my ACER Qs out across my whole 2nd stage study period. Even when the Qs are content heavy, ACER resources teach you the kinds of Qs that GAMSAT asks, the words they use, and the skills they’re testing you on. I had a stem from one of the ACER exams appear in my GAMSAT, just with slightly different Qs.
• Des overview: People say Des is outdated, but I think his S3 MCQ book was INVALUABLE. Using discernment with Qs that are heavily content-assumed, this book is truly the best you can get. Organised by thinking skills (!!!!), it allows you to see exactly how ACER uses reasoning to trip you up and test you. Yes, many Qs are very maths heavy, but I still did these Qs, because I think they really helped my maths skills and made the actual GAMSAT feel a little easier. Des also is structured very well to help you identify areas of reasoning weakness- I also had a Des stem appear in my GAMSAT, also with altered Qs.

Exam week/day strategy:

The week before my sitting, I scaled back my study hours by half, if not more. That week, I hung out with friends, went to yoga every day (if not twice), and I got into the zone. Relaxing is impossible with GAMSAT looming over your head, but getting mental clarity is achievable- prioritising activities that bring you closer to a bit of peace and acceptance of your hard work, and acceptance of the challenge to come. For the 2 days before my sitting, I did nothing except for an hour or so of very basic skills review (maths, S1, and essay plans) just to keep my brain ticking.

I practiced waking up at 5:30 the week prior to GAMSAT to get my brain used to working early in the morning, and going to sleep very early at night. I did the usual exam day stuff- chose my outfit (trackies and a hoodie), planned a protein lunch with a bit of sugar, packed panadol/claratyne etc just in case, printed admission ticket, got noise cancelling headphones charged for beforehand and the lunch break. I had someone drop me off to the test centre to minimise any anxiety about parking or catching public transport.

In terms of my actual sitting- its all a total blur. I remember feeling like S1 was fine, that my S2 essays felt good generally, and that my second essay was a bit rushed. During the break I ate, walked around outside the test centre and called my boyfriend for a bit of a reality check, did a 5 minute meditation, and had a protein shake for good measure. I walked out of S3 quietly confident- I blind guessed around 4 Qs, and was able to reason my way through most of the others. Maybe 5-6 Qs were a guess between 2 options I couldn't choose between. I was pretty rushed checking S3- I definitely wasn't as strict on my time management as I could've been, and this stressed me out whenever I reflected on the exam before results.

Conclusion!

Whew!!!! Talk about ADHD hyperfocus! Hoping any of that might be useful to you all. I'll be logging out of reddit for a few weeks because despite what my scores might look like, I’ve still got major lingering anxiety about whether it’s all good enough for med entry, and I don’t think checking this sub 400 times a day is helping. I’m gonna take my own advice and take a bit of a break from the mental world of med applications- if you’ve got any Qs, PM me or comment and I’ll give you my 2 cents when I’m back in a little while.

This exam is a devil, but all of you have the skills, drive, and grit to game ACER’s fucked system and get to where you wanna be. You’re all wonderful, amazing people and GAMSAT is just a (terrible) hurdle on the way to wherever life goes. Hope any of this could be a little help to any of you, don't be hesitant to get in contact if ya need <<3