The Graduate Medical School Admissions Test (GAMSAT) includes a portion called GAMSAT Section 1 that assesses a candidate’s verbal thinking and writing communication abilities. If you’re an examinee, your comprehension of the written material is evaluated in GAMSAT Section 1 through a combination of multiple-choice and essay sections.
The passing score for GAMSAT’s first section is 60; most individuals get between 57 and 61 on the test. So, GAMSAT preparation is essential for you. The more you study, the better your chances of passing with flying colors. You’ll feel more prepared and confident and less stressed on exam day. So to fully prepare yourself before your big day, read these seven tips below.
1. Discover Your Style Of Learning
Discovering how you study best requires first recognizing your preferred approach to learning. If you want to get the most out of your study, you should develop unique strategies rather than copying others in your study group. How do you prefer to take in information? It’s important to take some time early in your GAMSAT Section 1 preparation to determine the best learning approach for you.
Videos can be helpful when you’re a visual learner. Take notes and play them back if you learn best by hearing things. If you’re seeking an interactive and scientifically grounded educational experience, adaptive learning is the way to go. Take advantage of this knowledge by studying in the way that best suits you.
2. Master the Art of Reading Quickly and Effectively
It takes discipline to increase your reading speed without sacrificing comprehension. To improve your reading speed, it is recommended that you read regularly and hunt out texts that present mental challenges and take you beyond your safety zone.
You are not recommended to read the texts and sources for Section 1 of your course at the same leisurely pace as you would a novel. Instead, consider it a chance to practice your ability to assimilate new knowledge quickly and effectively.
Skimming over a text fast is not the answer since it can cause you to miss details important to your analysis. To save time, it is preferable to read the source material through once at a moderate pace rather than to read it repeatedly until you fully understand it.
Students accustomed to a more passive reading style may struggle to keep up with text while reading rapidly. Reading everything as though it were the foundation of a GAMSAT question is an excellent strategy.
The exam will feel less foreign and exhausting if you have practiced keeping focus and attention while swiftly processing material. If you have trouble focusing while reading fast, prioritize accuracy and comprehension in your practice rather than speed.
While reading, follow the text with your finger or computer cursor and pause between paragraphs to mentally recap or annotate key ideas. When handling longer, more information-dense portions, shorthand is especially helpful for aiding increased comprehension and memory. Use only a few sentences to summarize your notes’ key points and connections.
3. Familiarize And Practice Question Styles
The first section of the GAMSAT can contain questions of various styles. Learn the specifics of each and prepare for them as needed. While some of the strategies you’ll need to employ will be shared among the many types of questions, others, like those involving poetry, will require a more complex and specialized approach. Below are the question styles you will encounter in GAMSAT Section 1.
- Poetry
- Fiction
- Non-Fiction
- Cartoons and illustrations
- Charts and Diagrams
- Quotes, Comments, and Proverbs
In each category, you may be asked to provide specific information. You should invest some time learning and formulating a strategy for dealing with the possible topics.
4. Strengthen Vocabulary Knowledge
Vocabulary is crucial since it serves as the building block of any language. It’s the component you can shape into a means of self-expression, knowledge exchange, mutual comprehension, and the development of meaningful connections. Make a note of and highlight any new words you come across while practicing.
If you want the best chance of understanding a paragraph, it is worth your time to study the key terms in a dictionary and study them. If you’re ever confused when trying to explain the meaning of a word, remember that context is key. Reading the phrase before and after the word in question can be helpful. In the meantime, using a dictionary alongside your practice is recommended.
5. Keep Track Of The Time
In GAMSAT Section 1, you get 70 minutes to complete 47 multiple-choice questions (MCQs), including 6 minutes for reading. As a result, you’ll have about 1 minute and 20 seconds to answer each question. Try timing yourself as you practice questions to see whether your response time is satisfactory.
You should go steadily, not just to maximize your time but also to guarantee that you answer every question. If you realize you’ve got more time on your hands, you should take it easy and give yourself plenty of opportunity to comprehend the sections completely.
6. Establish Question Logs
Learning from one’s mistakes is fundamental to the practice process. The ideal approach for accomplishing this is to establish a question log. In which you note the sort of source material (fiction, poem, nonfiction, etc.), the style of question (inference, reasoning, etc.), and your effectiveness in answering the question.
Creating a spreadsheet is an excellent time-saving method for this. Once patterns form, you’ll know where to focus your efforts.
7. Take Breaks
It would be best not to let yourself get too tired to learn everything. Taking a break from your studying might be quite helpful. Rather than cramming for an exam the night before, studies show that spending time doing something you enjoy can help you do better on test day.
Preparation Is Your Key To GAMSAT Section 1 Success
If you’re well-prepared for the GAMSAT Part 1 exam, surely you can manage your worry and do your best during the exam. And to ensure that you can make the best of your exam prep time, there are many ways you may implement.
Ways such as the tips provided above and some resources available that you can use as practice materials. Remember that you’ll never go wrong when preparing for the GAMSAT Section 1 exam to execute it perfectly.
