Hey Daphane, I made a detailed post on how I prepared for the GAMSAT
here. This was my first test.
A lot of students from Unimelb science and biomed sit the GAMSAT. Not all of them sit the test to apply for medicine, although I would think that the majority does. It's also required for courses such as Dentistry and Physiotherapy. There are also a few who sit the test just to keep post-graduate options open. So you can imagine how many people end up sitting the test - at least as many who sat the UMAT. Probably more actually. Some older applicants also sit the test - people who already are in full-time work and perhaps are trying to switch to a health-science course. I have heard stories of people from Arts, Commerce and Law backgrounds sitting the test and still doing rather well.
The test itself is designed to stretch you to your limit, but I guess that it can be more easily prepared for than the UMAT. It's thought to be more "hardcore" because the test goes for almost six hours and is of a high academic standard. The passages are more wordy and syntactically complex, so a background in literature does help to an extent. You also get 30 mins to write each essay, which is difficult because it's tough to produce a well thought-out, sophisticated and coherent argument under such short time constraints. The science section tests 1st year bio, chem and year 12 physics, but rather than focusing on knowledge, the test places more emphasis on reasoning. Meaning that they give you most of the information you need to know to answer the question.
So yes, in a sense it's more academically demanding. At the same time, you can prepare yourself simply by doing a lot of practise questions, and perhaps reading and writing more.
To prepare, I bought Des' MCQ books + Examkrackers + official ACER resources + a USB containing a whole lot of other material. In total it cost around $700, which was very cheap in comparison to other prices. The Des MCQ books themselves normally sell for $700-900. I started reading some literature in mid-December and only started really doing practise questions and essays at the start of January. For essay writing, I found a random quote generator on pagingdr.com and used it for my first few essays. My only issue with the generator was that sometimes the quotes lacked a connection with each other - in the actual test, the theme of the quotes are meant to be more clear and link up better. After a while I just grabbed prompts from the material I bought.
There are many GAMSAT preparation companies (GradReady, Des O Neill, prepgenie). They are similar to MedEntry in a way. They offer lots of practise questions and classes for teaching Humanities and Science. Most of them also mark your essays. A lot of people attend these courses, but they are pretty expensive. I didn't enrol with any of the companies so I can't say much else about them.
I think the essay section is probably the easiest to improve in a short time-span. Learning structure and logic doesn't take too long and they are crucial in essay-writing. I wrote 43 essays leading up to the GAMSAT, but for some reason I think I bombed out on the day and ended up writing two really bad essays. Exam pressure does weird things to you. It's annoying and perhaps demoralising but it's just bad luck really.
A lot of students who don't have science backgrounds do a lot of study on for the science section. But I would suggest to just understand the basic theory, and then to proceed spamming lots of practise questions. Writing out really long and detailed summary notes for the GAMSAT is not really efficient. This is because the science section is not knowledge-based, but reasoning-based. It tests how you interpret scientific data, how you can manipulate equations, and how you can reach a conclusion based on the information they give you. Doing a LOT of practise questions teaches you how to apply scientific principles to problem solving - which is exactly the skill that is being tested in GAMSAT. A basic understanding is necessary to actually understand what's going on but don't put too much focus in learning everything to impeccable detail. Having said that, if you are more familiar with several topics in 1st year science then you can afford to skip the long explanations provided (i.e Benzene substitution, stereoisomers...etc)
The day was pretty exhausting in all honesty. This was my first time sitting the GAMSAT. I've been adjusting my sleep pattern throughout the course of the week so that I wouldn't begin the test feeling like a sleep-deprived zombie. I did the test in Melbourne Showgrounds which was quite far from where I live, so I needed to train myself to get up at 5.30am. I went to bed at ~9.30pm the night before the test, so I felt pretty good with 8 hours of sleep. As expected, traffic at the showgrounds was horrendous. I arrived to the centre at 8am but we didn't start until 9.40. Section I and II (humanities + essay writing) go for around 3 hours, and then you get a one hour lunch break, and then everybody has to be readmitted back into the centre to start the science section. We didn't start the science section until around 3.20 and so the test went until 6.20 - I swear my stomach digested my lunch ultra-fast and shrank in size by the time the test was finished. Prepare for a VERY long day...I only got back home at 8.30pm-ish, totally exhausted and feeling pretty down from the whole ordeal.
To those sitting the GAMSAT next year, I highly recommend getting the ACER practise tests and doing them under exam conditions. One of the most pressing issues of the GAMSAT is the time constraint - you have less than 2 minutes to answer each MCQ. What I did to keep track of my timing was to set my watch to 12 at the start of each section, since it's easy to lose track of time when the test starts at something like 8.47. For section I, I would allocate 20 questions per 25 mins and for section III, I would allocate 20 questions per 30 mins. I think this really helped my timing during the test.
AND WRITE LOTS OF ESSAYS. Yes they can be really frustrating to prepare for but they are really helpful. Also learn to self-critique and be harsh on your writing. Having other people critique your essay is also very helpful - in this case a private tutor may help you.
Last but not least, do not be afraid of failing. Many people find themselves sitting the GAMSAT multiple times. This is a difficult test don't put too much pressure on yourself to do really well on your first sitting. Give it your best shot by all means, but if you fail, just try again.
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