Study Medicine Abroad: Graduate Australia Medical School Admissions Test (GAMSAT)

Medicine continues to be amongst the most competitive courses across the world. The reason is obvious…it is concerned with life – the continued effort to improve. Human body, is a complex system and one small mistake can lead to death. With so much at stake, there is no surprise that the curriculum exacts the best to stretch themselves further. And that very nature of the course makes Universities rather picky about the students that opt to take up the course. Especially, since the course can extend to 6 or 7 years (for Universities Abroad), it becomes rather necessary for Universities to ensure that whatever limited number of students are being selected, have the necessary aptitude and dedication. And in order to discern the candidates, an admission test for medical schools is an accepted norm, not only in India but across the world as well. GAMSAT is one such entrance test.

GAMSAT

GAMSAT or the Graduate Australian Medical School Admissions Test, simply put, is a selection test that is used to check the aptitude and knowledge of a candidate for medical studies. Students applying to Medical schools for a wide range of programs like medicine, dentistry, pharmacy as well as veterinary sciences have can take this exam.

Developed by the Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER) in conjunction with the Consortium of Graduate Medical Schools, the test is a Graduate Test, meaning, applicable for students looking to pursue their master’s in the field. However, what students need to understand is that most of the medical schools in Australia are actually graduate schools and require a student to have completed a basic bachelor level education. (Read more about the structure, eligibility about Medicine from Australia.)

The test is accepted across Medical Schools in Australia as well as Universities in Britain (UK) and Ireland as well.

Eligibility

Being a graduate test, all students who have a bachelor’s degree (irrespective of the subject) can enroll in and sit for the exam. Even a student in his/her final year of the bachelor degree program can sit for the exam. Apart from that, a candidate must be a prospective applicant to a course for which GAMSAT is a pre-requisite. In other words, a student must have shown interest or applied to a Medical School for either of the courses.

It is important to note that a student need not have a background in sciences or biology to sit the GAMSAT. An arts graduate can also apply for and write the exam. However, while it is not important, it is rather unlikely for a student without an aptitude and understanding of the biological and physical sciences to clear. At the same time, the public nature of the job makes Universities encourage students from social sciences to apply for and write the GAMSAT. However, Universities might have a prerequisite of a bachelors in science or related degree and it is always advisable to check with the university first.

A student can sit for the exam any number of times. There is no maximum limit. The results are valid for up to 2 years only.

Structure & Content

GAMSAT has been prepared to assess the ability of the candidate to understand and analyse material, to think critically about issues and, his/ her ability to express and communicate his/her thoughts in a logical way. The syllabus/ content has been collected from a variety of sources and include question formats in reading comprehension and graphical interpretations. Mathematical tools are also required to be used effectively to solve a number of question.

GAMSAT is divided into three sections:

• Reasoning in Humanities and Social Sciences
• Written Communication
• Reasoning in Biological and Physical Sciences

Scoring

The sections of the GAMSAT are given the weightage of 1:1:2 and the overall score is calculated using the formula

Overall Score = (1 x Section I + 1 x Section II + 2 x Section III) ÷ 4

All sections are individually marked and scored on a scale of 0 – 100. Once the individual scores are out, the GAMSAT Overall Score is calculated using the above formula. The results are e-mailed to the candidate and no physical score card is issued. The student can check his/her result by logging on to the website.

Based on the performance of all the students appearing for the GAMSAT in a particular year, a percentile rank is also allotted to the student. However, Universities consider you individual and overall scores and not the percentile.

Fee and Registrations

The exams are conducted once a year and the dates are available on the official website. The registrations usually open in the month of November for Australia and Ireland and the exams are held in the month of March for the admission to the next year’s class. For UK, the registrations for GAMSAT open in Late May and the exams are conducted in September for the next academic session.

Here’s a tentative fee for GAMSAT for the three countries

So if Medicine is your career of choice and UK, Australia or Ireland are the countries that fascinate you, we suggest you start preparing for GAMSAT.

All the Best!