Alternative/Passive Study Ideas for GAMSAT

This post is to provide you with alternative or passive learning resources you can complete to help you reach your goal. This is not a replacement of the tried and true process of GAMSAT study. These are just alternatives which you can fit into your day along side your normal study and are great for "off season" or on days where you don't feel like studying (always remember, something is better than nothing). I recommend creating a daily routine or a habit and you won't even notice you're passively learning. 

My first advice, read/listen/watch/absorb some sort of news every day. Just like the stereotypical dad reading his newspaper with breakfast everything, try and find a moment in the day (everyday to build a routine) where you can learn about the news. The current major topic, as of writing this post, is the terrible murder of George Floyd. Perhaps, in questions dealing with themes involving prejudice, you might be able to mention this incident to enhance your writing. I recommend some sort of news app or feed from an unbiased studio. Political cartoons often displayed in the news is quite similar to the cartoons you see on S1 questions (but not political of course).

My second tip, read something creative everyday. It might be a poem or short story, something similar to what you might find in the GAMSAT except you are reading it for recreation instead so pick something popular. As you read more and more you will be able to gain an opinion much faster on a piece of text, like a reviewer, be able to judge the text and determine how much you enjoyed. Like a reviewer you will be able to critically piece the aspects of the story and get faster as you gain experience. Do not force yourself to analyse the text while you are reading be sure to allow that to happen subconsciously, focus on the story while you are reading but once you finish ask yourself how the text ranked amongst the others you've read and why? 

The third tip, chip away at a bigger book every night. It might be 30 minutes before you go to bed but try to read an informative book. Books like Sapiens can help you expand your knowledge on human history or Meditations which can help you develop alternative perspectives both extremely helpful in S2. Obviously, your book choice will determine which aspect it will help on. 

Now, section 3 is hard to learn passively without it feeling like study. If you must have something fro S3 you can try Kurzgesagt or Crash Course YouTube videos, some of it can feel like a lecture but hopefully their delivery makes it enjoyable and most importantly will help you visualize concepts with their animations.

This last tip, which I've put last because i'm not too sure if it works, is using a word a day app to increase vocabulary. When I tried it all I did was read it and forgot about to a couple of days later and i'm not really sure if any of them stuck. A lot of help on the internet recommends using a word a day to increase vocabulary so that's why i'm putting it in. A method that really helped me (while I was doing the questions) was to stop, then google and write down the definition next to the word, when I met a word I was unsure of.