Gamsat 2013

Jammyc

Hi guys,

Can you guys tell me about the transcripts that you have submitted? Do they have details of all modules that you took over the years of your degree or just your results for each year and a final grade?

I've been told that the latter is unacceptable but it is the only transcript I can manage to get from my University at the moment. I've only just finished up my degree and so haven't graduated yet.

Can anybody shed some light on this?

Hypnos

Jammyc wrote: »

Hi guys,

Can you guys tell me about the transcripts that you have submitted? Do they have details of all modules that you took over the years of your degree or just your results for each year and a final grade?

I've been told that the latter is unacceptable but it is the only transcript I can manage to get from my University at the moment. I've only just finished up my degree and so haven't graduated yet.

Can anybody shed some light on this?

I'm also just after finishing. Didn't graduate yet. My transcript is 6 pages long. On the first page it gives my name, student number, degree name, course name, GPA (UCD is the only uni in Ireland that does it's grading system by GPA I think), degree awarded (1.1, 2.1, 2.2 etc), length of degree and something else I think. Just a summary of everything.

The following 5 pages contain all the results from every module from every year.

Page 2 =

Year 1

Semester 1: Lists the 6 modules (Name, module code etc), results (A, B, C etc) and GPA for that semester.

Semester 2: Lists the other 6 modules done in Semester 2, results and GPA

+ At the end it gives a Stage GPA (sums the GPA from Sem1 and Sem2 and it's just divided by 2)

Page 3 = year 2 and you get the gist. The same process is done for the 4 years and at the end it has a table since UCD uses the GPA system.

1.1 = GPA >3.68
2.1 = GPA 3.08-3.67

Since my final year only counts towards the degree, that info is there too and some other UCD stuff and that's it.

I honestly don't know what they're expecting or what the bare minimum is, but I assumed all transcripts listed your module names all your results etc.

Stephan Grundy

I think they make it pretty clear that they want a *full* transcript, e.g. all details of everything. The reason for this baffles me, since as far as I can tell the only thing they actually take into account is whether or not you got a 2.1 or better (or equivalent if you went to a US university). But nonetheless, all the materials I've seen stressed the "full transcript" thing.

Jammyc

Gracias guys.

pc11

Jammyc wrote: »

Gracias guys.

Yes, they do say complete transcript, I don't get it either, but them's the rules.

I would start hounding my university for when they can produce the transcript, emphasising the urgency. And I would contact your main GEM college choices admission offices right now to explain the situation and ask what can you do.

Is your GAMSAT enough to assure you of your top choice? If not, you'd may need to ring all the colleges. I know UCD Admissions is almost impossible to phone, try their GEM office, or call in to the Admin building immediately if you can.

letsdothis

Sorry to interrupt the flow of the pre-offers chat to ask a question about the good ol' GAMSAT!

I'm preparing to sit the UK GAMSAT in September and have now covered the science subjects and still have more than two months so I'm trying to do as much questions/papers as I can get through. With this much time, I'm trying to keep the ACER and GAMSAT-style papers til a bit later in the summer and am working through some MCAT-style papers that I managed to get my hands on. I realise the exams are not exactly the same but it does seem to be the best way for me to get as many GAMSAT-style questions done as possible.

I did, however, do the ACER Practice Questions (orange/red) book first to see if I had covered enough ground and I was fairly happy that I had. The MCAT papers presuppose a huge amount of scientific knowledge, particularly in the area of biology. For instance, you couldn't answer a fair few of the questions on the MCAT papers without an in-depth knowledge of enzymes and hormones. So, after that intro, my question is: isn't the GAMSAT more about having a basic grounding and knowledge of the science and that any detailed information will be supplied in the passage? Or have I to go back and beef up my biology knowledge (I'm fairly confident that I have enough general & organic chemistry and physics covered)?

Thanks.

nomoreexams

letsdothis wrote: »

Sorry to interrupt the flow of the pre-offers chat to ask a question about the good ol' GAMSAT!

I'm preparing to sit the UK GAMSAT in September and have now covered the science subjects and still have more than two months so I'm trying to do as much questions/papers as I can get through. With this much time, I'm trying to keep the ACER and GAMSAT-style papers til a bit later in the summer and am working through some MCAT-style papers that I managed to get my hands on. I realise the exams are not exactly the same but it does seem to be the best way for me to get as many GAMSAT-style questions done as possible.

I did, however, do the ACER Practice Questions (orange/red) book first to see if I had covered enough ground and I was fairly happy that I had. The MCAT papers presuppose a huge amount of scientific knowledge, particularly in the area of biology. For instance, you couldn't answer a fair few of the questions on the MCAT papers without an in-depth knowledge of enzymes and hormones. So, after that intro, my question is: isn't the GAMSAT more about having a basic grounding and knowledge of the science and that any detailed information will be supplied in the passage? Or have I to go back and beef up my biology knowledge (I'm fairly confident that I have enough general & organic chemistry and physics covered)?

Thanks.

I literally didn't study anything other than the heart in biology. Now there were one or two questions in the exam that I felt would have benefited from some biology revision but I still pulled it out of the bag with minimal biology revision so I wouldnt spend too much time on it. Like I say, the heart and the lungs is sufficient. Also Auxin, in plants seems to crop up every year.

Hypnos

letsdothis wrote: »

Sorry to interrupt the flow of the pre-offers chat to ask a question about the good ol' GAMSAT!

I'm preparing to sit the UK GAMSAT in September and have now covered the science subjects and still have more than two months so I'm trying to do as much questions/papers as I can get through. With this much time, I'm trying to keep the ACER and GAMSAT-style papers til a bit later in the summer and am working through some MCAT-style papers that I managed to get my hands on. I realise the exams are not exactly the same but it does seem to be the best way for me to get as many GAMSAT-style questions done as possible.

I did, however, do the ACER Practice Questions (orange/red) book first to see if I had covered enough ground and I was fairly happy that I had. The MCAT papers presuppose a huge amount of scientific knowledge, particularly in the area of biology. For instance, you couldn't answer a fair few of the questions on the MCAT papers without an in-depth knowledge of enzymes and hormones. So, after that intro, my question is: isn't the GAMSAT more about having a basic grounding and knowledge of the science and that any detailed information will be supplied in the passage? Or have I to go back and beef up my biology knowledge (I'm fairly confident that I have enough general & organic chemistry and physics covered)?

Thanks.

I didn't do a tap of biology for either of my GAMSAT's. It's the only topic in the science section I left out completely. It has a lot of graph interpretation and extrapolating facts from those so the chances of seeing some graph or diagram you have learned or looked over is negligible.
I didn't think biology was worth the time investment because it's hard to try and guess whats on it. I will say that the 'ternary plot' is one thing that took my by surprise on my first go and I figured out how to read them the second time around and 5-6 questions came up on it again so that was handy. Watch out for the fingernail question. Came up the two times I sat it and it's handy to know before you go in. I also read on forums in came up in 2010 and 2009 exam.

nomoreexams wrote: »

I literally didn't study anything other than the heart in biology. Now there were one or two questions in the exam that I felt would have benefited from some biology revision but I still pulled it out of the bag with minimal biology revision so I wouldnt spend too much time on it. Like I say, the heart and the lungs is sufficient. Also Auxin, in plants seems to crop up every year.

Auxin?? Never came across it. The exam booklet is slightly different for most candidates so I must have been lucky to not get that question. I don't remember any questions on plants but I got a few on fly reproduction and cockroaches and one of the most surprising and interesting questions I ever came across: "The Circadian Rhythm of Flies". I didn't think someone would have the patients to do research on that

The vascular system of some animal always comes up. This year it was a frog I think?

nomoreexams

Hypnos wrote: »

I didn't do a tap of biology for either of my GAMSAT's. It's the only topic in the science section I left out completely. It has a lot of graph interpretation and extrapolating facts from those so the chances of seeing some graph or diagram you have learned or looked over is negligible.
I didn't think biology was worth the time investment because it's hard to try and guess whats on it. I will say that the 'ternary plot' is one thing that took my by surprise on my first go and I figured out how to read them the second time around and 5-6 questions came up on it again so that was handy. Watch out for the fingernail question. Came up the two times I sat it and it's handy to know before you go in. I also read on forums in came up in 2010 and 2009 exam.





Auxin?? Never came across it. The exam booklet is slightly different for most candidates so I must have been lucky to not get that question. I don't remember any questions on plants but I got a few on fly reproduction and cockroaches and one of the most surprising and interesting questions I ever came across: "The Circadian Rhythm of Flies". I didn't think someone would have the patients to do research on that

The vascular system of some animal always comes up. This year it was a frog I think?

Auxin could be one of the control questions alright. It's come up consistantly for a few years (according to pagingdr anyway) I had one on my paper about which way the plant would bend depending on the auxin production (or something along those line) I think I had a fish question on mine about the flow of oxygen around it's body and something about the percentage that got to his heart???

Letsdothis: go on pagingdr on the post exam talks and go over the last few years of what comes up - it's the same stuff every year and even though the questions change slightly, there's something calming about seeing a question come up that you already knew about!

letsdothis

Thanks for the responses, saves me a lot of time. Think i'll keep doing those papers anyway and except the poor scores on those biology questions!

nomoreexams wrote: »

Letsdothis: go on pagingdr on the post exam talks and go over the last few years of what comes up - it's the same stuff every year and even though the questions change slightly, there's something calming about seeing a question come up that you already knew about!

Was literally about to ask if this is worthwhile... cheers for that!

pc11

I just covered basics that came up in the sample papers like meiosis/mitosis, cell structure, basic genetic topics like dominant/recessive, Hardy-Weinberg Law and so on. I just googled topics on the papers and read up on the topic quite briefly.

There were some questions that looked like biology but are really physics like on blood pressure or blood flow. Also make sure you're very comfortable reading graphs as interpreting them is common.

It really is about reasoning rather than detailed knowledge. They don't really expect you to know how fish reproduction changes with temperature or whatever, they will give you all you need to work it out.

The questions can look awfully complex and long, but the more complex they look, the more likely there is an obvious answer, or at least an obviously wrong answer. When I saw the really long questions, I didn't even read them, I went straight to the answer choices to see what they were getting at. Only then would I read the question to try to narrow it down. If it's not obvious within a few moments, move on.

Sounds like you're well covered in SIII - how is your SI and SII? You have lots of time, you are way ahead of where I was for last September.

Hypnos

nomoreexams wrote: »

Auxin could be one of the control questions alright. It's come up consistantly for a few years (according to pagingdr anyway) I had one on my paper about which way the plant would bend depending on the auxin production (or something along those line) I think I had a fish question on mine about the flow of oxygen around it's body and something about the percentage that got to his heart???

Letsdothis: go on pagingdr on the post exam talks and go over the last few years of what comes up - it's the same stuff every year and even though the questions change slightly, there's something calming about seeing a question come up that you already knew about!

I never got one of those questions, but I got a lot of similar questions related to animals. Yeh I remember that fish questions, can't recall the details.

The best study tool I found was definitely the ACER papers. Not using the questions as a guide to the exam but more so as a guide of what topics are common and to look over. Khan Academy was my life boat for physics. Anyways, I'm glad my GAMSAT days are over (I hope).

letsdothis

pc11 wrote: »

I just covered basics that came up in the sample papers like meiosis/mitosis, cell structure, basic genetic topics like dominant/recessive, Hardy-Weinberg Law and so on. I just googled topics on the papers and read up on the topic quite briefly.

There were some questions that looked like biology but are really physics like on blood pressure or blood flow. Also make sure you're very comfortable reading graphs as interpreting them is common.

It really is about reasoning rather than detailed knowledge. They don't really expect you to know how fish reproduction changes with temperature or whatever, they will give you all you need to work it out.

The questions can look awfully complex and long, but the more complex they look, the more likely there is an obvious answer, or at least an obviously wrong answer. When I saw the really long questions, I didn't even read them, I went straight to the answer choices to see what they were getting at. Only then would I read the question to try to narrow it down. If it's not obvious within a few moments, move on.

That's for the help. Actually one other question for ye - nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy - does this come up in GAMSAT enough to warrant putting effort into it?

pc11 wrote: »

Sounds like you're well covered in SIII - how is your SI and SII? You have lots of time, you are way ahead of where I was for last September.

Not too sure if I am! I'm coming from an incredibly low base (a bad Junior Cert Science in the mid-90s) so needed to get a grounding well in advance if I have any hope of getting through this. That said, I still have March 2014 if September doesn't work out.

For SI I've gone through about half of the Exam Krackers 101 passages as well as some MCAT papers so far and I'm starting to make an effort to look at a bit of poetry as well as cartoons in the Guardian/Observer/New Yorker. I think the MCAT S1 passages are longer than for GAMSAT but either way it's getting me used to reading long passages quickly, which is useful for both S1 and S3.

Have done very little of S2 (3 essays) and know I should focus on this but find it to be the least appealing of the sections. Having said that, I think I've a fairly good writing style and have an opinion on just about everything so that has to help! My MSc in social science so I'm no stranger to writing...

nomoreexams

Hypnos wrote: »

Anyways, I'm glad my GAMSAT days are over (I hope).

Ditto. On the upside I've heard from at least one grad med that it was the hardest exam they've done and they haven't had one as hard since so that's promising!

Hypnos

nomoreexams wrote: »

Ditto. On the upside I've heard from at least one grad med that it was the hardest exam they've done and they haven't had one as hard since so that's promising!

Exactly. Even reading the GAMSAT 2012 thread, GradMed did say the hardest obstacle you face in med school is getting in.

nomoreexams

Letsdothis: I can't say this enough- prepare essays! I learnt 4 essays on a few common topics that would fit into a few quotes. I got 70 on the essays so it's absolutely worthwhile learning a few. I'm pretty opinionated and have a very high standard of english but that all disappears under time pressure. Even if you only learn off some essay plans, dont go in hoping to be creative on the spur of the moment!

demure

nomoreexams wrote: »

Letsdothis: I can't say this enough- prepare essays! I learnt 4 essays on a few common topics that would fit into a few quotes. I got 70 on the essays so it's absolutely worthwhile learning a few. I'm pretty opinionated and have a very high standard of english but that all disappears under time pressure. Even if you only learn off some essay plans, dont go in hoping to be creative on the spur of the moment!

I agree. This is the single most important prep work you can do. Take it to heart and you will ace the exam. I thought essays would be my strong part, as a Psychology grad and a pretty opinionated person too, yet at the start I would barely manage a paragraph in half an hour! Two months of solid practice (an essay every day) got me 75 in SII which really elevated my overall grade. Write.

WoolahUrma

I didnt learn anything off but I did pay for an essay correction service.

I assumed with my background that the writing and comp would be the last thing that I would be studying given that I had left my study a little late. I was struggling with the format which became obvious once I did a few practice essays (almost for the sake of it). What worked for me was structure. I had a cast iron structure for both essay types going in. I think I made a bad job of the first essay and managed 69 overall for that section.

The correction service was a big help if you're unsure at all. Costs a few bob but that shouldn't really figure if you're serious about doing the business.

Hypnos

SII by far the make it or break it section and the fact that it's a 1hr (fast) section really in a lot of cases decides whether you're going through or not. Non-science depend on it to avoid SIII, and science to avoid SI.

My personal experience with it. Wrote out a lot of essays (I have a few saved on my comp if you want me to email them to you). They happen to come up in the previous exam not IE 2013 and got a score of 72 I think (I'd have to check now to be certain). Anyways, prepared a few more for the 2013 exam and it saved my ass so much I can't tell you enough. Although boredom as a topic threw me off, I still managed to use the fancy language and provocative thoughts for the essays by changing things around a little. The other essay was what kept me afloat since it was the government one. Had 3 essays prepared for it and nailed it on all accounts. I have no doubt that boredom dragged me down a bit since I wasn't expecting it and I found the essay challenging to write without making it boring in the process.

I read this advice from someone in the 2012 thread. Use famous quotes in situations where you can and if you can start off with an anecdote then all the better. They seem to like that. So that's what I did for the essay I prepared and used a couple of quotes from Mark Twain, Picasso, Howard Zinn, Christopher Hitchens, George Orwell (depending on the topic) in each essay in the exams. It payed off and I manged to get a 70 in SII this time around and although it was a small drop from the previous score, it's better than I could have hoped for. I thought the boredom essay would bring me down to the low 60's in SII.

I have no doubt if I didn't practice SII I would be repeating the GAMSAT again.

letsdothis

Thanks for all that....I got the message loud and clear and I needed that! Will start to write essays regularly! I have every intention of writing essays but it was always a plan for soon rather than now. I have also been working on a table of possible essay topics, points on each and quotes to go with them, sort of writing essays without writing essays. As you've all said, it's the writing essays that's required, so I'll get on that....

pc11

nomoreexams wrote: »

Ditto. On the upside I've heard from at least one grad med that it was the hardest exam they've done and they haven't had one as hard since so that's promising!

I've heard that said, but I really don't agree TBH. I always thought of getting in as the 'easy' part, and I still do, but obviously we all have different strengths. That said, I did much better than I would have expected in my GAMSAT as I was just doing it for practice and did very little prep (<50 hours). There's no doubt the GAMSAT exam format personally suits me. In med school, the detailed memorisation type exams for things like anatomy will not suit me quite as well and I will have to put in a lot of work there.

If it is true that no exam in med school will be as hard as GAMSAT I would be beyond delighted. But, I genuinely doubt that it's true, I'm afraid.

I definitely recommend getting someone else to read some of your essays, I think that's vital. I've said here before that I think people don't realise they are looking for basic stuff in the essays: coherent thoughts, expressed clearly, with good language and grammar. No need for fancy stuff, no need for very original or clever ideas (on the contrary I think) - they want to see if you have a thought or opinion and can express it to another person in a limited time. Practice the essays in the required time and in handwriting, not typed.

Let me emphasise: learn basic correct grammar and spelling. Don't use language you're not certain of. Plain English is better. If you have any idea at all and express it in clear, proper English, you will get a decent score, I promise. I'm an experienced proofreader and editor so my grammar and spelling is very good and I'm certain that was a big factor in getting over 70 in both SI and SII.

Edit: I should clarify - I don't mean that GAMSAT is easy, and I was pretty bamboozled by it going in to the exam, which is why I was just doing it as a practice and always planning to sit it twice. But, I then got a way higher score than expected so I'm concluding it's not as bad as some might think. I guess what I'm trying to say is don't over-estimate it and be scared of it, it's totally doable.

Stephan Grundy

letsdothis wrote: »

Sorry to interrupt the flow of the pre-offers chat to ask a question about the good ol' GAMSAT!

I'm preparing to sit the UK GAMSAT in September and have now covered the science subjects and still have more than two months so I'm trying to do as much questions/papers as I can get through. With this much time, I'm trying to keep the ACER and GAMSAT-style papers til a bit later in the summer and am working through some MCAT-style papers that I managed to get my hands on. I realise the exams are not exactly the same but it does seem to be the best way for me to get as many GAMSAT-style questions done as possible.

I did, however, do the ACER Practice Questions (orange/red) book first to see if I had covered enough ground and I was fairly happy that I had. The MCAT papers presuppose a huge amount of scientific knowledge, particularly in the area of biology. For instance, you couldn't answer a fair few of the questions on the MCAT papers without an in-depth knowledge of enzymes and hormones. So, after that intro, my question is: isn't the GAMSAT more about having a basic grounding and knowledge of the science and that any detailed information will be supplied in the passage? Or have I to go back and beef up my biology knowledge (I'm fairly confident that I have enough general & organic chemistry and physics covered)?

Thanks.

The MCAT, as I understand it and as the prep questions looked to me, is easier than the GAMSAT if you already have a science background, because more memorized knowledge is required; harder if you don't, because it puts more weight on memorized knowledge than on pure reasoning. The GAMSAT is designed, more or less, so that you can logic out the answers to most things from a pretty basic level of knowledge. Of course, you have to have the basic concepts to begin with, particularly for chem/org chem/physics, or you'll just be staring at the page going, "Wha'?"
However, the logical reasoning above pre-existing knowledge seemed to be particularly the case with biology...and they seem to consistently love graph-interpretation on biology questions. It wouldn't hurt to keep your biology review up just to make sure you have an initial clue on most things - but you're not likely to see a straightforward knowledge-question like, "What enzyme converts fumarate to malate?" without the details being supplied already in the question. However, they do sneak the odd surprise in - like last year's vampire bat widdle graph. If you read the graph very accurately - or knew something about the peculiar vampire bat metabolism in the first place - you would find yourself giving the unlikely answer that, yes, vampire bats *do* start widdling before they've finished feeding; but if you were not paying careful attention, you would probably not have ticked that answer because it sounds so odd. Or at least might have been delayed checking and double-checking the unlikely answer. But trying to learn all the details of biology in case a strange question is asked about a random animal is impossible, whereas good graph-reading abilities would have served just as well as pre-knowing the answer.

Something I would advise - do the ACER/GAMSAT questions *now*, timed as per the real test, then give it a few days' rest and do them again. And again. Not only will that help you to pre-identify your weak spots (though there's no guarantee how closely the test you get on the day will resemble the practice stuff - I was ages on acid/base chemistry, and there wasn't a single question on the topic in the version of the test I finally took), but it's good practice and helps you get a sense for the kind of reasoning desired.

Also, do not neglect physics! It's only, what, 20%? But rumours of how they weight the questions' value by response success suggest that the topic in which the fewest people have a good clue may be more valuable to your final score than would seem obvious. You don't need to have all the equations memorized, but you do need to at least know basic terminology, units, and principles so you can make sense of all the information they do give you in the questions.

pc11

Stephan Grundy wrote: »

Also, do not neglect physics! It's only, what, 20%? But rumours of how they weight the questions' value by response success suggest that the topic in which the fewest people have a good clue may be more valuable to your final score than would seem obvious. You don't need to have all the equations memorized, but you do need to at least know basic terminology, units, and principles so you can make sense of all the information they do give you in the questions.

Spot on. Questions are weighted by difficulty and response rate, apparently. Not only that, physics helps with quick order-of-magnitude calculations and reading graphs. In the UK test last year, there was a long waffly question on the expansion of the universe. It looked scary, but if you had basic physics, you could spot the answer right away as it was the only one with plausible units (it's an acceleration, so it must be distance over time over time - simples!)

Stephan Grundy

pc11 wrote: »

I've heard that said, but I really don't agree TBH. I always thought of getting in as the easy part, and I still do, but obviously we all have different strengths. That said, I did much better than I would have expected in my GAMSAT as I was just doing it for practice and did very little prep (<50 hours). There's no doubt the GAMSAT exam format personally suits me. In med school, the detailed memorisation type exams for things like anatomy will not suit me quite as well and I will have to put in a lot of work there.

If it is true that no exam in med school will be as hard as GAMSAT I would be beyond delighted. But, I genuinely doubt that it's true, I'm afraid."

Ah, depends on your strengths, as you said. I found the GAMSAT a head-wrecker, whereas an awful lot of med school exams are just simple brute memorization, hence fundamentally easier (in my opinion).


"I definitely recommend getting someone else to read some of your essays, I think that's vital. I've said here before that I think people don't realise they are looking for basic stuff in the essays: coherent thoughts, expressed clearly, with good language and grammar. No need for fancy stuff, no need for very original or clever ideas (on the contrary I think) - they want to see if you have a thought or opinion and can express it to another person in a limited time. Practice the essays in the required time and in handwriting, not typed.

Let me emphasise: learn basic correct grammar and spelling. Don't use language you're not certain of. Plain English is better. If you have any idea at all and express it in clear, proper English, you will get a decent score, I promise. I'm an experienced proofreader and editor so my grammar and spelling is very good and I'm certain that was a big factor in getting over 70 in both SI and SII.

"

Varying views on this - some advise that they look for an outrageous idea well-presented. However, good clear language with accurate grammar and spelling are crucial.
The other crucial thing is to have examples, at least two (pro and con) per body paragraph. I made up a list of likely topics (they're pretty predictable), then listed examples for each from history, literature, and current events. If you can work in a couple of current-event examples for each essay, you're likely sitting well; one of the objects is to prove that you, like, interact with real life. Collecting relevant quotes is good too - but if you aren't perfectly sure of the quote on the day, paraphrase rather than quoting directly; better to be cautious than to get caught over-reaching.
I'd strongly concur that it *is* worthwhile, very well worthwhile, to engage an on-line criticism facility for your essays; and practice them to timing, because you need to have the timing nailed down. I pre-allotted myself a certain number of minutes for introduction, each paragraph, and conclusion.
(I got a 77 on S2)

Stephan Grundy

letsdothis wrote: »

That's for the help. Actually one other question for ye - nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy - does this come up in GAMSAT enough to warrant putting effort into it?

Not too sure if I am! I'm coming from an incredibly low base (a bad Junior Cert Science in the mid-90s) so needed to get a grounding well in advance if I have any hope of getting through this. That said, I still have March 2014 if September doesn't work out.

For SI I've gone through about half of the Exam Krackers 101 passages as well as some MCAT papers so far and I'm starting to make an effort to look at a bit of poetry as well as cartoons in the Guardian/Observer/New Yorker. I think the MCAT S1 passages are longer than for GAMSAT but either way it's getting me used to reading long passages quickly, which is useful for both S1 and S3.

Have done very little of S2 (3 essays) and know I should focus on this but find it to be the least appealing of the sections. Having said that, I think I've a fairly good writing style and have an opinion on just about everything so that has to help! My MSc in social science so I'm no stranger to writing...

I wouldn't be too bothered with the spectroscopy - just get a vague clue.

Don't worry about your low starting science base. I started studying 3 months before last year's exam, and prior to that my last interaction with the sciences had been "Biology for Boneheads" in 1990 (graduation requirement - in the States they make English majors do at least one science class). Still came out with a 55 on SIII, so even if I had gotten more average scores on I and II, I'd still probably be attending med school this year (though I'd probably also be one of those sweating over where the points cut-off for the Dublin schools will fall).

pc11

Stephan Grundy wrote: »

I wouldn't be too bothered with the spectroscopy - just get a vague clue.

Don't worry about your low starting science base. I started studying 3 months before last year's exam, and prior to that my last interaction with the sciences had been "Biology for Boneheads" in 1990 (graduation requirement - in the States they make English majors do at least one science class). Still came out with a 55 on SIII, so even if I had gotten more average scores on I and II, I'd still probably be attending med school this year (though I'd probably also be one of those sweating over where the points cut-off for the Dublin schools will fall).

1990??! Are you even older than me?

pc11

Stephan Grundy wrote: »

"

Varying views on this - some advise that they look for an outrageous idea well-presented. However, good clear language with accurate grammar and spelling are crucial.
The other crucial thing is to have examples, at least two (pro and con) per body paragraph. I made up a list of likely topics (they're pretty predictable), then listed examples for each from history, literature, and current events. If you can work in a couple of current-event examples for each essay, you're likely sitting well; one of the objects is to prove that you, like, interact with real life. Collecting relevant quotes is good too - but if you aren't perfectly sure of the quote on the day, paraphrase rather than quoting directly; better to be cautious than to get caught over-reaching.
I'd strongly concur that it *is* worthwhile, very well worthwhile, to engage an on-line criticism facility for your essays; and practice them to timing, because you need to have the timing nailed down. I pre-allotted myself a certain number of minutes for introduction, each paragraph, and conclusion.
(I got a 77 on S2)

Yes, I think the key is presenting it well either way. If you can pull off a big idea, go for it. The strongest SI people can certainly do it, I just think it's a difficult, high-risk strategy for most. So, keep it (somewhat) simple is my take if you're just looking for a solid 60-70 score as I think most are.

Your mileage may vary, of course.

Stephan Grundy

pc11 wrote: »

1990??! Are you even older than me?

Very probably. I just turned 46.

pc11

Stephan Grundy wrote: »

Very probably. I just turned 46.

Yup, you got me beat. You're heading to RCSI? Part of me was oddly looking forward to being the old man of the class, for the curiosity value and all that, but good to have company!

Stephan Grundy

pc11 wrote: »

Yup, you got me beat. You're heading to RCSI? Part of me was oddly looking forward to being the old man of the class, for the curiosity value and all that, but good to have company!

Definitely RCSI for me...nice to know I won't be the only *really* older student there.

But hey, my father's still running his department (nutrition and metabolic diseases) at UT Southwestern at the age of 80, so I figure in spite of my late start I've still got plenty of mileage left in me.