JustAnotherOne
New Member
- Joined
- Mar 1, 2010
- Messages
- 24
- Gender
- Male
- HSC
- 2008
Been a while since I posted, so hi.
So I sat the GAMSAT this year after training with Des O'Neil's course. This was my first time sitting GAMSAT, and I got an overall score of 81 (over 60 in everything as well). It's one of the more popular courses, so I thought I'd post a review of my experiences there:
The revision books they sell are extremely useful- in both science and humanities, they were in general very similar to the sort of questions in the real test. The only exception is physics, which for some reason is way harder than anything I saw in the real GAMSAT. There are a lot of questions, so plenty of material.
The essay revision correspondence course was also very good, although not as good as the home study science/humanities courses. The information I got was useful, although could have done with a bit more in the way of advice in improving, rather than simple descriptions of how good or bad the essay was. I also noticed I generally had middle-average marks for all my essays in this course, but got 83 in the actual GAMSAT essay, so maybe its criteria are slightly out of touch.
There is also a science book that contains pretty much all the science you need to know for the course, and is a legitimately useful book by itself.
Then there are the attendance courses (both 1 weekend each):
The first one is a science one, which is pretty full-on to say the least. People without a science background might have a hard time in this one, as there is a lot of material- it could probably have lasted a week instead of a weekend.
The next is a more GAMSAT-specific one, which was definitely a lot better. The first day is a trial run of the GAMSAT, the second is focused on exam advice and how to answer certain questions. Both of these were equally useful, and they give a good indication of what you need to work on.
So in short, I'd say this is a pretty worthwhile program to do. At $1500 for everything, it is pricey, but you get what you pay for. People from a science background can probably do just this course for everything they need and should be pretty well prepared. Even if you've done the science before, this is a great way to review it and get used to the style of questions you will be asked (which are rarely simple knowledge recall). Those without a science background might want to start with some generic science study, then move to the Des material.
You can, technically, do most of the science questions in the GAMSAT without much science knowledge; all the information is usually in the question. But good luck if you aren't familiar with the basic concepts.
So I sat the GAMSAT this year after training with Des O'Neil's course. This was my first time sitting GAMSAT, and I got an overall score of 81 (over 60 in everything as well). It's one of the more popular courses, so I thought I'd post a review of my experiences there:
The revision books they sell are extremely useful- in both science and humanities, they were in general very similar to the sort of questions in the real test. The only exception is physics, which for some reason is way harder than anything I saw in the real GAMSAT. There are a lot of questions, so plenty of material.
The essay revision correspondence course was also very good, although not as good as the home study science/humanities courses. The information I got was useful, although could have done with a bit more in the way of advice in improving, rather than simple descriptions of how good or bad the essay was. I also noticed I generally had middle-average marks for all my essays in this course, but got 83 in the actual GAMSAT essay, so maybe its criteria are slightly out of touch.
There is also a science book that contains pretty much all the science you need to know for the course, and is a legitimately useful book by itself.
Then there are the attendance courses (both 1 weekend each):
The first one is a science one, which is pretty full-on to say the least. People without a science background might have a hard time in this one, as there is a lot of material- it could probably have lasted a week instead of a weekend.
The next is a more GAMSAT-specific one, which was definitely a lot better. The first day is a trial run of the GAMSAT, the second is focused on exam advice and how to answer certain questions. Both of these were equally useful, and they give a good indication of what you need to work on.
So in short, I'd say this is a pretty worthwhile program to do. At $1500 for everything, it is pricey, but you get what you pay for. People from a science background can probably do just this course for everything they need and should be pretty well prepared. Even if you've done the science before, this is a great way to review it and get used to the style of questions you will be asked (which are rarely simple knowledge recall). Those without a science background might want to start with some generic science study, then move to the Des material.
You can, technically, do most of the science questions in the GAMSAT without much science knowledge; all the information is usually in the question. But good luck if you aren't familiar with the basic concepts.