GAMSAT

The Graduate Australian Medical School Admissions Test (more commonly known as the GAMSAT) is a test used to select candidates applying to study medicine, dentistry and veterinary science at Australian, British, and Irish universities with so-called Graduate Entry Programmes (candidates must have a recognised Bachelor degree completed prior to commencement of the degree).

Sitting the GAMSAT is a separate process to applying to study medicine. Commonly, the GAMSAT is taken by students in their final year of university studies in order to apply for medicine commencing the following year.

Most universities with graduate-entry medical programs require:
* Completion of any Bachelor degree (this includes non-science related degrees eg. arts, law)
* Obtaining a prerequisite GAMSAT cut-off score
* Achieving a prerequisite GPA - Grade Point Average based on marks from the Bachelor degree

Once a candidate has fulfilled these criteria, they may then apply to universities offering a medicine/dentistry/veterinary science course. If the GAMSAT and GPA scores of the candidate are of sufficient calibre, the candidate may be offered to attend an interview at only one of the universities to which they applied, based on priority laid out in the student's application. This interview is conducted by established medical practitioners, education professionals and community meaders/members, and aims to elucidate the candidate's ethics, verbal reasoning skills, and motivation to study medicine at their university. If successful at this interview (as approximately 2/3 of candidates are), then the candidate may be offered a position in their chosen course at the university.

History

GAMSAT was originally produced in 1995 by four Australian medical schools as a tool to select for candidates applying to study medicine. In 1999, it was brought into use by British universities - St Georges, University of London first, and subsequently by others including the Peninsular Medical School (Plymouth University and Exeter University). The University of Limerick and Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland have adopted the GAMSAT for medical applicants for the 2007 cycle.

Usage

GAMSAT is a reasoning rather than knowledge-based test. Not to be confused with a dissimilar test UMAT (which used for applicants to traditional undergraduate-entry medical schools - open to high schools leavers).

Format

GAMSAT is held only once a year in late March/early April (in Australia) and around the middle/end of September (in The UK), and is administered by Australian Council of Education Research (ACER) and requires timely registration usually by late January (for Australia) / August(for the UK).

There is no prescribed synopsis of the test, but it does require knowledge from:
* Biology and Chemistry - 1st year university
* Physics - Year 12
* English - general proficiency

The test takes a full day (from 8am till about 4pm):
* Section I comprises 75 questions in 100 minutes from the Humanities and Social Sciences
* Section II - 2 essays assessing written communication (1 hour) following a 20 minute break (you may not leave the exam room during this 20 minute break)
* Section III - 110 physical science questions in 170 min after 1 hour lunch

A score is calculated based on performance in all 3 sections with double weighting towards section III.This score is then used by medical schools to determine who receives an invitation for interviews.

Attendance

According to ACER, "quite a few thousand" attend the GAMSAT annually.

External links

* [http://www.gamsat.acer.edu.au/ www.gamsat.acer.edu.au] - Official website of GAMSAT Australia
* [http://www.gamsatuk.org/ www.gamsatuk.org] - Official Webpage of GAMSAT UK
* [http://www.gamsat-ie.org/ www.gamsat-ie.org] - Official Webpage of GAMSAT Ireland