For those of you who have sat the GAMSAT; how different was it to the UMAT? (1 Viewer)

[emilios]

I know structurally they're very different tests. However, do they employ similar thinking styles? Is there a correlation between how you perform on either test? Because I know section I of the GAMSAT is pretty similar to the UMAT, while section II is essay writing and section III is totally different, being science.

Has anyone bombed the UMAT and generally done well in the GAMSAT? From what I've heard, the GAMSAT, while extremely difficult, can be prepared for, contrasting the UMAT which some people find very difficult to make improvements on.

 

[Squar3root]

iirc UMAT is more thinking/skills and GAMSAT is more knowledge stuff

what exactly do you want from this thread? wheather or not someone knows someone who did "bad" in the UMAT but "good" in GAMSAT?

 

[Medman]

GAMSAT is knowledge based unlike UMAT. I still think you can prepare for both but you definitely need to prepare GAMSAT or you may suffer.

 

[britaker]

I'm close to someone whose sat the GAMSAT before (last year). From what I learnt; most people won't have a high enough GAMSAT to qualify for med on the first try. It's more expensive; it's much longer, and yes there are three sections (section III kind of assumes you have an at least Y12 level of chem, phys, bio).

Also a lot of people tend to take 3-6 months off to prepare for the GAMSAT... uh, that's all I really remember (take with a grain of salt), and I've no idea what the UMAT is like. There's also the pagingdoctor forum for more information on the GAMSAT if you'd be interested.

 

[bangladesh]

iirc UMAT is more thinking/skills and GAMSAT is more knowledge stuff

what exactly do you want from this thread? wheather or not someone knows someone who did "bad" in the UMAT but "good" in GAMSAT?

Gamsat is still fairly thinking/skills as well. It's defs not a knowledge test.

 

[Medman]

Gamsat is still fairly thinking/skills as well. It's defs not a knowledge test.

Science is basically a knowledge component. If you have studied the concept prior to the question you can skip 1/2-1 page of them explaining to you how the reaction works or the physiology of the heart. Given many people don't actually finish the test on time having knowledge is an important aspect to doing well.

I know this because I scored 100% percentile in the science component of the GAMSAT.

 

[paragonvex]

GAMSAT sitter here. Sat in 2014 and will sit again in 2015. Missed narrowly on getting in.

The GAMSAT is like the UMAT on steroids, in that the skills are very similar and it's certainly not knowledge dominated. It's been said that you can't study for the GAMSAT or the UMAT, and that's true in either case. Both tests are very similar, and they rely on smart critical thinking and logical problem solving. In the GAMSAT it's helpful to be familiar with certain concepts especially in science, as the GAMSAT assumes a first year tertiary level in its section for science questions, although often the chemistry question can be of a much higher level than that.

The GAMSAT is a 6 hour slog of both humanities reading comprehension, essay writing, and the three sciences. It's a hell, and yet it's the greatest thing ever. Studying for such a beast of a test often causes you to become a more well rounded and knowledgeable person, because the amount of generalist learning you acquire in studying for it is phenomenal. It's very common to resit it more than once, and it's much harder than the UMAT.