Best pathway for school leaver to medicine

mhuffer · Rookie Joined: 24 Dec 2008 Posts: 1

Hey everyone,

Just finished TEE in WA and now i'm moving to Melbourne, hopefully going to do biomed/science over there. What i'm interested in is what the best units/gamsat preparation over the next three years that would give me good foundations for medicine, i'm slightly confused about my pathway.

Thanks!

macca_sti · Grizzled Joined: 16 Jan 2007 Posts: 148 Location: Bris

IMO anatomy, physiology are essential maybe some psych then do some other random but difficult subjects to get you thinking and get a good global understanding of the body/health system/people

yuyuandmarmar · Veteran Joined: 13 Aug 2007 Posts: 60

Anatomy, Physiology, Biochemistry, Pathology and Immunology/Microbiology.

GAMSATtutor · Veteran Joined: 24 Jan 2009 Posts: 51

Chemistry (high level university !!!!)

economics (read lots of journal articles and understand the thoughts and theories of the famous economists, take a high level economic thought/history unit)

literature (know how to interpret it, uni)

physics (1st year uni or year 12)

biology (not required if you ahev done it in year 12)

Lovebite · Posted: Sat Jan 24, 2009 4:47 pm Post subject:

economics?

GAMSATtutor · Veteran Joined: 24 Jan 2009 Posts: 51

well apparently the GAMSAT changes each year

the year I sat it they had a lot of quotes from economics journals in it

(well I knew that it i was economics because I had come across the authors in my course, writing about "happiness" etc ie some people living in africa saying they are happier than millionaires living in peppermint grove

another year it will have a lot of poetry etc

maybe another year it will have a lot of history (maybe people who have studied history will recognise the authors and their concepts)

it had a lot of heavy chem the year I sat it (way harder than in the practice exams) I thought it was unfair for the people who hadn't studied chem.

apparently the year before it was really heavy physics

Adrian · Posted: Tue Jan 27, 2009 8:11 am Post subject:

You don't need to really know anything about economics. Those questions in the GAMSAT shouldn't be taken so literally - for those of you who remember the harrowing nightmare of a question regarding energy expenditure of the Eskimo people, you'll know that it was really saying "try and make sense of this gibberish".

You have to look through the questions to really find out what it's asking you.

As for economics and an awareness of the world around you - The topic of conversation in my interview was mainly me.

GAMSATtutor · Veteran Joined: 24 Jan 2009 Posts: 51

the fact that i understood the extracts (because I had previously encountered the topics and the writers - stiglitz, keynes ...) really calmed me down and made it easier.

any genneral history of economic theory unit would help

also a general history unit would help. I learnt a lot through volunteer work overseas. Australia hasn't had much happen to it compared to other countries. What I learnt in high school was a joke. I used this experience in answering some of my essay questions.

high school english literature (and anything done at uni would help with the poetry interpretation etc)

Lovebite · Posted: Thu Feb 05, 2009 12:28 am Post subject:

Maybe the point GAMSAT Tutor, is learning how to weave your own life experiences, and your own areas of interest/expertise into your writing.

So, if you know about the country, and farming, relate the essay question to something topical in rural australia.... or use an story about managing the farm, or leadership during a drought....

The best way to write a compelling essay is to speak from your heart, and to speak from your strengths.

Antsare · Regular Joined: 11 Jan 2011 Posts: 14

Really helpful thread guys