Preparation Course Material - Which One?

bradsmith281 · Veteran Joined: 08 Apr 2007 Posts: 60 Location: Melbourne

I'm just starting my preparation for the '08 GAMSAT now, and will be getting the ACER material. I am also going to get just one course material and was wondering which one I should get. I have a very strong science background and my literature comprehension and essay writing isn't as strong.

I hear Ozimed is good, but there doesn't seem to be very such material there. Medprep is very expensive and I hear it doesn't prepare you to the standards of which are tested in the actual exam. I havn't heard much but MediRed! What other ones are out there? Which do you recommend?

woodie · Veteran Joined: 04 Apr 2007 Posts: 38

Hi,
I am also intending to appear for GAMSAT 2008--first attempt. I have heard that there is Des O'Neill's course and materials as well. Try his website www.comptext.com.au
Cheers
Woodie

drjv · Veteran Joined: 03 May 2007 Posts: 90 Location: Brisbane

Hey,

I have tried a few of them:

Medired - dont bother, esp if your science is good. Very basic and there are errors in my experience (I got it a few years ago though)

Des O'Neil - Definitely do the correspondence essay course, it got my score up heaps for that (61 to 71), don't go to the science/humanities course, although the practice gamsat may be useful.

Medprep - too expensive and lecture based so yo u don't get much problem solving practice.

My advice is to get a tutor for the biochem, biol, physics. Read heaps of literature (i.e. penguin classics) to increase your vocabulary and comprehesion. Read news papers and current events magazines to improve your comprehension and increase your knowledge base.

Hope that helps.

SpaceAce73 · Veteran Joined: 04 May 2007 Posts: 67 Location: Melbourne

From my experience, Medprep was largely a waste of money and I found the notes quite poor.
Des O neill's course was excellent for section 1 and 2. However I personally dont think it helped much for section 3 other than perhaps giving some direction as to what to study.
Section 3 is an unpredictable and frustrating beast in its own right.

tree14 · Posted: Mon May 07, 2007 11:46 am Post subject:

I would like to second that Spaceace! Section 3 is a nasty beast and unpredictable! I found medired quite good. Had one error that I picked up in it though - to do with enthalpy and entropy etc with spontaneous and non-spontaneous reactions. Their formula was wrong when I checked it agains des's notes and the chem text book. Otherwise medired was worth what I paid for and a good refresher - though not enough organic chemistry revision in it.

Des's notes were overwhelming in detail and not enough time to cover all of it - I only had 2 months to study though.

Secton 2 medired prepares you well for it. And section 1 takes a lifetime of reading and comprehension to master. I think it is best to read the newspaper each weekend to keep abreast with the latest information and keep learning a few new words each week and practice using them - i remember learning dysphemistic and euphemistic - I used them on people at work and got a few blank looks! Rolling Eyes

akharmon81 · Veteran Joined: 14 Mar 2006 Posts: 71 Location: Brisbane

Hey there!

I practised last year with the ozimed tests which were okay. I found the language and reasoning section extremely easy, not really gamsat standard. As for the science section, that was better and it helped refresh a lot! But I still found it not as complex as the gamsat - but great practice using test conditions, as they are full-length exams.

SpaceAce73 · Veteran Joined: 04 May 2007 Posts: 67 Location: Melbourne

Hi tree14, yes des o neills notes are extremely long!! Did you do his live course including the practice exam?? I thought his mock exam gave everyone a false sense of security considering the section 3 we actually did at Gamsat was a million times harder.
Also just out of interest how many people did Gamsat in QLD. We had about 1,500 in Victoria.

tree14 · Posted: Tue May 08, 2007 6:01 pm Post subject:

Hi Space Ace - no idea how many sat GAMSAT in QLD but I do know that 5000 total sat it this year all around australia!
I did Des O'Neils home course cause I work full time (6 days a week actually - but have saved 15000 so can't complain) and am not in Brisbane. I am in central Queensland. Really I only purchased it last minute (one month before the exam) when I finished medired and wanted something different to amuse myself - and realised that section 3 would be the major hurdle for me. I found the real exam a nightmare as I did not study ANY organic chem - I wilted! I think I failed section 3 and am just dying to find out how i did - fail or no fail!

SpaceAce73 · Veteran Joined: 04 May 2007 Posts: 67 Location: Melbourne

Hi tree14, I thought 4,000 people did Gamsat Australia wide. Thats what Des O'Neill told us in the course anyway. How did you find out it was 5000?

Adrian · Posted: Wed May 09, 2007 5:36 pm Post subject:

I was at the UQ St Lucia testing centre and the examiner mentioned there was just over 5,000 registered examinees. We had around 1,000 at ours!

tree14 · Posted: Wed May 09, 2007 6:29 pm Post subject:

I e-mailed ACER ages ago and they told me it was 5000!
I was just curious... Idea

bradsmith281 · Veteran Joined: 08 Apr 2007 Posts: 60 Location: Melbourne

Would I be right in saying there are about 1000 graduate med places each year? To think that 1 in 5 people get in is quite high, considering the prestige of studying medicine.

This has made me more confident!

By the by, does anyone know a lot about the American process. How difficult is it for international students (ie. aussies) to get a place in America.

tree14 · Posted: Wed May 09, 2007 8:27 pm Post subject:

I don't like the way med is seen as a way to get prestige - this is not a reason to want to do it at all. I only want a great interesting career in health and whether or not i do med i will achieve that anyway. I think the interview process tries to eliminate people who want to do med for this reason.

1 in 5 is still tough though. I think that is why many people have to sit it 2 or 3 times before they succeed.

SpaceAce73 · Veteran Joined: 04 May 2007 Posts: 67 Location: Melbourne

So I guess out of the 5,000 examinees about 2,000 will be interviewd for the 1,300 places up for grabs.

Adrian · Posted: Thu May 10, 2007 7:36 pm Post subject:

Yeah I'm not a major fan of this 1 in 5 thing. After all - that means only 20% of GAMSAT examinees will gain a place in medicine.

Who here was ever thrilled by 20%?