Starter GAMSAT Guide

The planner is down the bottom if you want to skip to the meat.

This guide aims to provide you with a study template to follow based off different internet sources and personal experience. This is not the best way, every studies and learns differently, it is designed for you to start somewhere. Any GAMSAT study help is heavily monetized and makes it very difficult for first timers and those who are not financially capable. The principle of this guide is volume, I will also provide links to free resources to study for (however, for the best preparation you will need to buy ACER's practice exams). 

I recommend you read GAMSAT info booklet to understand what the test is about. In brief, the test has with 3 sections:

• Section 1
• Normally this section contains 75 multiple choice questions with 100 minutes allocated 
• For online proctored sitting this section is reduced to 40 questions 55 minutes
• Question you are likely to see involve reasoning in humanities and social science 
• Section 2 
• Occurs directly after section 1 (no break)
• Normally this section contains 2 with 60 minutes allocated
• Does not change for online proctoring
• In this section you are asked to develop a piece of writing in response to 5 comments (one piece per question) 
• Section 3
• You will receive a break after Section 1 & 2 
• Normally this section contains 110 multiple choice questions with 170 minutes allocated
• For online proctored sitting it is reduced to 60 questions with 114 minutes
• Question you are likely to see involve reasoning in biological and physical sciences 
• expect year 12 and first year university standard chemistry, physics and biology
• no calculator permitted

Resources

I wish it was possible to study for the entire exam for free but if you want the best preparation possible you will need to spend some money. What I recommend you buy:

1. Three practice exams from ACER. If you can only buy one thing, buy this
2. It is also recommended you have more practice exams or question banks to follow this guide, you can buy these from a third party organisation or a friend but remember volume is key. 

If you really cannot spend any money, I would advice you to search for free MCAT questions. The MCAT is a very similar test, some question are the same however the MCAT does include questions that you will not see in the GAMSAT. But this is the best free alternative.

     

The Plan:

The study period will take 12 weeks (this is a template, change to your needs). This plan is best executed when you get into a routine. It will be separated by weeks you may decide when to do them, just make sure to do it in order. On those days when you don't feel like doing anything just force yourself to do something, not every week will be perfect. Keep chipping away, something is better than nothing. 

I advise you to read through the entire program before hand (understand why you are studied each part in this way) and refer to it when you are actually studying. I do not want you to feel discouraged because you couldn't follow it precisely, everyone lives are different. 

This stuff I want you to do on top of the weekly stuff i'll give you: 

I want you to install a poem a day app (there are many free opotion) and read one poem everyday, also install a word of the day app and do the same.

Every week I want you to find a controversial news topic or theme and write an essay in 30 minutes about it. Compare this essay with last weeks, is it better? if not give yourself another 30 minutes and try again (same theme).

Between weeks 1 and 10, I want you to go through the entire khan academy MCAT test prep course, it covers most of the theory required for the GAMSAT. I don't really want you trying to learn anything in the last two weeks of preparation (obviously best case scenario), if you haven't done it though make sure you finish it

Week 1:

ACER practice exam 1

I want you to sit the practice exam as close to exam conditions as possible, this will be your starting benchmark. Don't worry if you can't finish the test, do any of the questions or you get tired and quit, just try to answer as many questions as possible.

First marking of ACER practice exam 1

After the test, mark section 1 & 3 of the exam with either a cross or a tick. Do not circle in the correct answer, you will write on the exam again. Find the type of questions you made the most mistakes on, be as precise or as broad as you need.

For the rest of the week, I want you to go through your question bank or other mock exam questions and do the questions that you are not good at. Mark these question as you go, if you get it wrong try to figure out why your question is wrong and why the correct answer was the right choice. No time constraints take your time.

Week 2:

Revised ACER practice exam 1

Lets say you got 44% in section 1 in week 1, give yourself 56% of 100 minutes to redo the test (exam conditions). Only work on the incorrect answers, this time you only have three answers to choose from because you've crossed out the incorrect answer from last week (kumon style).

Second marking of ACER practice exam 1

Remark section 1 & 3 in the same way as last week. Self mark section 2, if you can get someone else to mark it as well even better. I want you to annotate all over it like an English teacher.

For the rest of the week, I want you to go through your question bank or other mock exam questions and do the questions that you are not good at. Mark these question as you go, if you get it wrong try to figure out why your question is wrong and why the correct answer was the right choice. No time constraints take your time.

Week 3:

Revised ACER practice exam 1

Same as week 2 except, now you only have two choices.

Third marking of ACER practice exam 1

This time when you mark you should have a clear idea of precisely which questions you are not good at, over the last three weeks you have been getting a clearer and clearer image of your weaknesses.

ACER practice exam 1 section 2

I want to redo section 2 again (exam conditions), you should now have a better idea since you have annotated your previous work. You should know your mistakes from the last trial and aim to achieve  pieces that are better than what you wrote in week 1.

For the rest of the week, I want you to go through your question bank or other mock exam questions and do the questions that you are not good at. Mark these question as you go, if you get it wrong try to figure out why your question is wrong and why the correct answer was the right choice. No time constraints take your time.

Week 4-6:

Repeat what we did the last three weeks with ACER practice exam 2, hopefully you do better this time and have overcome the weaknesses from last week. If you find you are not getting better, it could be because your theory isn't sufficient. When you are going through your question bank, don't be afraid to google words and definitions. If you notice there is a particular area you struggle in, lets say projectile motion, don't be afraid to spend some extra time studying a khan academy course on projectile motion.

The first part of the week is to assimilate you to exam conditions and find your knowledge gap, the second part of the week is as attempt at filling that gap and the best way to get better at doing GAMSAT questions is by doing more GAMSAT question (and some places ask you to pay $4k to tell you that).     

Week 7-9:

Guess what? its the same as the last two periods but for ACER practice exam 3.

Week 10:

I want you to redo ACER practice exam 1, if you have another mock exam with the same conditions you may do that instead. This time try to make it as close to exam environment as well as conditions, drink out of a clear water bottle, eat the same food as you would on exam day, time yourself using an analogue clock, short breaks, don't stand up during the test, if you finish early stay seated until the time runs out, etc. This will take a lot of time so make sure you have one day allocated.

Mark the exam again, this time mark the right answer and find out why it was correct and note down the type of questions you are getting wrong. With section 2 just annotate like you did in week 2 and then leave it be.

For the rest of the week, I want you to go through your question bank or other mock exam questions and do as many questions as you can and as many different varieties as you can. Mark these question as you go, if you get it wrong try to figure out why your question is wrong and why the correct answer was the right choice. No time constraints take your time.

Week 11:

Same as week 10 but for ACER practice exam 2. Note down the questions you repeatedly got wrong from week 10 and week 11. 

For the rest of the week, I want you to go through your question bank or other mock exam questions and do as many questions as you can and as many different varieties as you can. Mark these question as you go, if you get it wrong try to figure out why your question is wrong and why the correct answer was the right choice. No time constraints take your time.

Week 12:

Same as week 10 but for ACER practice exam 3. Note down the questions you repeatedly got wrong from week 10 and week 11 and 12. These questions you will be able to recognize in the actual exam, when you do be sure to slow down and think it through.

For the rest of the week, spend no more than 1 hour going through your question bank. Mark these question as you go, if you get it wrong try to figure out why your question is wrong and why the correct answer was the right choice. Import thing before the exam is to relax, you've put in all the work in the last 12 weeks. Trying to cram more work in is going to make you more nervous leading up, prioritize sleep and relaxation.

You will need to allocate a minimum of 14hrs a week to follow this program, again this is not the best or 100% guaranteed. If you know how you study best be sure to modify it to suit you. This is a program i've written up to help people start and it's completely free to try and counter the ridiculous amount of money people ask for a study program.