What is GAMSAT?

GAMSAT stands for graduate Australian medical school admissions test. This test is a mandatory requirement for taking admissions in many universities of Australia and UK in the fields of medicine, pharmacy, veterinary and dentistry. This test is usually a requirement along with other qualifications which are also required by such universities. Mostly universities demand recognized graduation degree with good CGPA and a good GAMSAT score for admission in the medicine, dentistry, pharmacy and veterinary science disciplines.

GAMSAT does not have a very old and long history. This system of admission tests was firstly used by medical institutions of Australia in the mid of 1990s. Initially this test was only for the admissions in the field of medicine as it was introduced by the institutions of medicine. However later on institutions from pharmacy, dentistry and veterinary science disciplines also joined and made this test a criterion of selection for new students to be enrolled. It gained popularity in the UK in the late 1990s and in the recent decade. Now it has been a criterion of selection for many institutes in Ireland, Britain and Australia.

The procedure for admission at reputable institutions is usually very tough and the procedure becomes easier as the students select some less reputable or new institutions for studying. One has to struggle hard to get admission at good institutions even after getting a good score in GAMSAT. Usually the reputable institutions have tough interview procedures and only bright students can pass such interviews to qualify for admission at such institutes. These interviews are usually taken by a panel of expert medical practitioners, professors and senior staff of these institutions. Their main criterion is to select only bright students as they always have more and more students willing to study at their institutes.

How to score good in GAMSAT?

This test is based on reasoning rather then having a test of medical knowledge. Only mature minds with sound knowledge of medical can answer well in these exams because for applying reasoning one always need a sound base. Usually the students willing to appear in this exam require basic knowledge of biology, chemistry, physics and English. The test is based on three sections. A student has to score well in all these sections in order to score good in the test. The third section is most important as it has double weighting in the score. The third section is about physical science. The total number of questions in this section is 110 and students only have a time limit of answering those questions in 170 minutes. The second section is about essay writing for which students have one hour time. The first section is about social sciences and humanities comprising of 75 questions and students have 100 minutes time to answer them.

GAMSAT a long test because it starts at 8 am in the morning and ends at 4 pm in the evening. It is only for one day with having breaks also but the students do not get chances to leave examination hall except in the lunch break.