GAMSAT Strategies is not affiliated or endorsed by ACER, GAMSAT or any of its

related bodies. This work is an opinion piece only. Any reliance upon the
information contained within this booklet is at the candidate’s risk alone with no
recourse whatsoever against GAMSAT Strategies, its agents or servants.

©GAMSAT Strategies 2013

2
Introduction ............................................................................................................................................................ 6
Who are we?........................................................................................................................................................... 6
Why do we exist?.................................................................................................................................................... 6
How are we different? ............................................................................................................................................ 7
We don’t ‘over-sell’ ............................................................................................................................................ 7
Two Specific Courses .......................................................................................................................................... 7
No Section I ......................................................................................................................................................... 7
Premium Service – the 48 Hour Promise ............................................................................................................ 7
We Start Early ..................................................................................................................................................... 7
Sophisticated Concepts And Unfamiliar Circumstances ..................................................................................... 8
A Classroom Atmosphere ................................................................................................................................... 8
Continuity of Care ............................................................................................................................................... 8
A Student Network ............................................................................................................................................. 8
Testimonials ............................................................................................................................................................ 9
Section II ............................................................................................................................................................. 9
Section III ............................................................................................................................................................ 9
How are your classes run? .................................................................................................................................... 10
Section II ........................................................................................................................................................... 10
Section III .......................................................................................................................................................... 11
If I come to the course what resources do I receive? ........................................................................................... 11
Section II ........................................................................................................................................................... 11
Section III .......................................................................................................................................................... 12
Section I Tips ......................................................................................................................................................... 12
Tip 1: Make sure you finish the test ................................................................................................................. 12
Tip 2: What to do in perusal ............................................................................................................................. 12
Tip 3: How to read the questions ..................................................................................................................... 12
Tip 4: The role of practice questions ................................................................................................................ 12
Tip 5: Highlighters are not allowed ................................................................................................................... 12
Tip 6: Play games .............................................................................................................................................. 12
Tip 7: How to speed read .................................................................................................................................. 13
Tip 8: Try to discern whether there is a macro structure to the passage before focusing on the micro detail 13
Tip 9: Fill in your answer sheet as you go ......................................................................................................... 13
Tip 10: Practice using techniques to manage your nerves ............................................................................... 13

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 Tip 11: Your perception of time ........................................................................................................................ 14
Section II Tips ........................................................................................................................................................ 14
Tip 1: You can sit GAMSAT twice a year ........................................................................................................... 14
Tip 2: Size doesn’t matter ................................................................................................................................. 14
Tip 3: Discursive vs Argumentative Essays ....................................................................................................... 14
Tip 4: Quantitative vs Qualitative Marking ....................................................................................................... 15
Tip 5: Improve your vocabulary ........................................................................................................................ 15
Tip 6: File all of your readings ........................................................................................................................... 15
Tip 7: Use the same pen ................................................................................................................................... 15
Tip 8: Plan your essay ....................................................................................................................................... 15
Tip 9: Practice using techniques to manage your nerves ................................................................................. 15
Tip 10: Your perception of time ........................................................................................................................ 15
Tip 11: Never write your practice essays on a computer ................................................................................. 15
Tip 12: Develop 1 idea properly, not many ideas poorly .................................................................................. 16
Section III Tips ....................................................................................................................................................... 16
Tip 1: Read the questions first .......................................................................................................................... 16
Tip 2: Process of elimination............................................................................................................................. 16
Tip 3: Don’t get stuck ........................................................................................................................................ 16
Tip 4: Don’t let the wording freak you out ....................................................................................................... 16
Tip 5: Consider all options ................................................................................................................................ 16
Tip 6: Apply the basics: you CAN reason this out ............................................................................................. 17
Tip 7: Practice interpreting graphs and data tables .......................................................................................... 17
Tip 8: Read the question ................................................................................................................................... 17
Tip 9: Take a few extra pens ............................................................................................................................. 17
Tip 10: Write your own practice questions ...................................................................................................... 17
Tip 11: Study smart ........................................................................................................................................... 17
Tip 12: Practice working to a time limit ............................................................................................................ 18
Tip 13: Stay calm ............................................................................................................................................... 18
Frequently Asked Questions ................................................................................................................................. 18
Are your textbooks included as part of the course fees and when will I receive them? .................................. 18
Are the textbooks for the course different from the textbooks available through the online store? ............. 18
Does the Section II Essay Course include 10 practice exams (20 essays) for correction? ................................ 18
I am not a native English speaker or a strong writer - can I benefit from your Section II course? ................... 18

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 I have no background in Chemistry - can I benefit from your Section III Chemistry course? ........................... 19
I am a strong writer can I benefit from your Section II course? ....................................................................... 19
How do I submit my essays for marking? ......................................................................................................... 19
Why am I not allowed to write my essay on the computer? ............................................................................ 19
How are the essays corrected? ......................................................................................................................... 19
How long does it take for my essays to be marked? ........................................................................................ 19
Who marks my essay? ...................................................................................................................................... 19
How long does it take for my products from the online store to arrive? ......................................................... 20
Do you offer private tutoring? .......................................................................................................................... 20
Do you offer courses in Sydney or Perth? ........................................................................................................ 20
How long has GAMSAT Strategies been in operation? ..................................................................................... 20
How many pages are your resources? .............................................................................................................. 20
Section II Practice Questions ................................................................................................................................ 20
Task A:............................................................................................................................................................... 20
Task B: ............................................................................................................................................................... 20
Task C: ............................................................................................................................................................... 21
Section III Practice Questions ............................................................................................................................... 22

5
I NTRODUCTION
Thanks for downloading our GAMSAT Strategies Information Booklet. Jo and I have
put this document together to assist students to understand our overall training
approach and to answer many of the common questions about our course offerings.
There are also a few GAMSAT practice questions at the end of this booklet. We
hope that you find it useful and if you have any questions please don’t hesitate to
send us an email or give us a call. We’re always happy to have a chat.

Good luck!

W HO ARE WE ?

Joanna Adie BSc (UQ)

Co-Founder & Section III Director
Section III Score 100

Saf Marikar BSc (UQ)

Co-Founder & Section II Director
Section II Score 76

W HY DO WE EXIST ?
We exist to provide an empirically based training program for Section II and Section
III of GAMSAT. What does that mean? It means that we have performed well and
then documented our techniques for you to follow. We have then taught these
techniques to other students and have seen significant improvements in test scores.
Given that ACER (the company who administrates the test) does not endorse any
training providers, we believe this to be the most honest approach to teaching

6
candidates how to do well on the test. After all, if our techniques worked for us,
why wouldn’t they work for you?

H OW ARE WE DIFFERENT ?
WE DON ’ T ‘ OVER - SELL ’
We believe that candidates are being ‘over-sold to’, meaning that existing training
providers overload candidates with copious amounts of study material that is hard
to navigate and practically and emotionally overwhelming. This is because there
seems to be a ‘more is better’ approach in the marketplace that drives training
providers to provide increasing amounts of unusable materials that seem enticing
but in reality, are not used by high performers. This is indicative of a fundamental
misunderstanding of the unique nature of GAMSAT and instead of feeding this
misunderstanding we are seeking to correct it.

T WO S PECIFIC C OURSES
In keeping with our ‘less is more’ approach, we only offer two types of courses. A
Section II course that provides an essay system that simultaneously insures against
topic risk while allowing a candidate to personalise their essays and a Section III
course that focuses on organic and physical chemistry covering first and relevant
sections of second-year university course work. This is done because the other
sciences, namely physics and biology, can easily be learnt with the help of a high
school tutor and an appropriate textbook. Additionally, chemistry is normally the
area in which candidates are the weakest.

N O S ECTION I
Again keeping with our ‘less is more’ approach, we are different because we do not
provide a Section I course. The reason for this is because we do not believe that it is
possible to teach students to improve their score in Section I in a limited time period
(6-12 months). That is not to say that a candidate cannot improve their Section I
score, it just means that we cannot identify a strategic pedagogical pathway that we
are certain will assist you.

P REMIUM S ERVICE – THE 48 H OUR P ROMISE

We are different because we provide a premium level of service. This means that
we are available for phone and email consultation after our courses in an unlimited
capacity. Many students complain that after purchasing resources they can’t get any
further advice from the course provider. That’s why we have a 48 hour promise –get
in contact with us and we will respond within 48 hours. No excuses.

W E S TART E ARLY
We are different because we run our courses at the start of December. We believe
that most people start their preparation for GAMSAT much too late. Keeping in
mind that most people sitting GAMSAT are either studying or working full-time,
leaving 2 months to prepare really equates to only a few weeks of study in a raw
7
hour sense. Accordingly, instead of running in early February (which is essentially 1-
2 months before the test) we run our courses approximately 4 months prior to the
March test date. This is tough for us because it reduces our course numbers but
ultimately it is one of the best ways of ensuring adequate preparation time for our
candidates and in turn, strong results.

S OPHISTICATED C ON CEPTS A ND U NFAMILIAR

C IRCUMSTANCES
We are different because we teach pure content and then we teach you the next
step of how to apply it to the unique dynamic of GAMSAT. GAMSAT is
fundamentally about the application of sophisticated known concepts in unfamiliar
circumstances. It is the root cause as to why students who study a lot do not
necessarily come out with the best marks. That is, they understand the
sophisticated known concept, but they cannot translate that understanding to an
application in an unfamiliar circumstance due to time pressure or a rote learning
bias. We emphasise and explain how to systematically deal with the unfamiliar
circumstances that you will face on the day.

A C LASSROOM A TMOSPHERE
After the course, we clarify points of contention that are common across our
students via group emails and generally stay in contact and provide feedback in the
months leading up to the test and when results are released. This is the primary
reason why we don’t engage in a race to the bottom in a price sense - we aim to
provide a great product with great service so that we can optimise our candidates’
results.

If you would like additional tutoring on top of the course, we can provide that too.

C ONTINUITY OF C ARE
The reality is that trying to get into medical school is a stressful process. In our
experience, it can take anywhere from 1-5 years with quite a bit of doubt and hard
work thrown into the mix. That’s why we are more than happy to keep in touch
with our course participants and if we live in the same state as you we are also
happy to catch up for an informal cup of coffee to discuss your study. Everyone is
different and sometimes it helps to discuss your GAMSAT related worries with
someone who has seen a number of candidates turn around their scores.

A S TUDENT N ETWORK
We also serve as a conduit for student networking. For example, if you are a lawyer
seeking to leave your profession to study medicine then we generally try to find
someone who has attended our course with your background so that you can have
a chat to them about the intricacies of making such a change.

Jo is currently studying medicine at the University of Melbourne so she is also

available to field any questions about life as a medical student.

8
T ESTIMONIALS
“I am writing today with the good news that I have received an offer for a position
at Deakin University starting in 2013. I would like to thank Jo and yourself for the
special role you have played in my journey to get to this point. I really appreciate
what you are trying to do, and hope it is paying off for you in all the ways you
hoped”. Sam

S ECTION II
“The best Section II training material available in the marketplace – I had a 9 point
gain using your methods” Michael

“Saf, thanks so much, I improved my Section II score from a 67 to a 72 in Section II -

your guide was invaluable" Kevin

“Hi Saf, I sat the UK exam last year and got an overall score of 70. My section two
score was 73, which I'm sure wouldn't have been possible if I didn't attend your
course in January 2011. Thanks for your help.” Kuna

“GAMSAT Strategies Section II is an innovative course. I achieved a score of 74 on

Section II and it definitely helped clarify what the best approach was. ” Adrian

“Your mind and ideas just astound me Saf! You completely changed the way I
approach the essays.” Alana

“Essay writing was fantastic – will recommend!” Mary-Anne

“Hi Saf, just wanted to say thanks again, your strategies were excellent and really
helped me prepare for the day.” Lucy

“I have enjoyed the course. It has really helped me. I couldn’t write before this
course” David

“Saf you're a total genius, I've gone from the sloppiest writer ever to knowing at
least how to put something recognisable as an essay on a page!” Helen

“Saf, Your guide really gives me piece of mind when it comes to section II as it
breaks down what can appear to be a very scary task! Thanks again for the help.”
Caitlin

S ECTION III
“Jo's chemistry explanations were flawless and helped me understand the material
in a way university lecturers and school teachers never have.” Jessica

“Jo thanks so much for running what was an extremely helpful course. Of all the
chemistry lecturers and teachers I have had over the years you were by far the
clearest and easiest to understand.” Nathan

“I would really like to thank Jo for her help with the science section. Having done
Environmental science and Arts at uni, my knowledge of fundamental scientific

9
principles was nowhere near what I needed to get a reasonable score on the
GAMSAT. I really needed the boost you guys gave me.” John

“Jo is such a fantastic teacher – made it very easy to understand”. Rachel

“Loved the textbook, mini exams and simple explanation of complex topics. This
course was beyond valuable! Thanks!” Phillip

H OW ARE YOUR CLASSES RUN ?

Our classes are run from 9am-5pm over a weekend. Typically, the Section II Essay
System course is run on the Saturday and the Section III Chemistry course is run on
the Sunday. We pride ourselves on offering a friendly and open environment where
no question is too stupid. If you don’t understand just stick up your hand and we
will do our best to clarify. That said, please be prepared to work hard as we cover a
lot of material and you will be exhausted by the time 5pm rolls around.

An example schedule is as follows:

S ECTION II
1. Welcome and Introduction to GAMSAT Strategies

2. Section II Data Analysis

3. Explanation of Section II Theory including:

a. criteria analysis

b. mitigation of topic risk

c. essay personalisation

d. reasoning structures

e. time-management

f. high performance strategies

4. Break for Lunch

5. Model Essay Analysis

a. Here we examine a number of past exams and identify the

strengths and weaknesses of each piece of writing

6. Question time

7. Full 1 hour individual practice exam (2 essays)

a. In order to test your grasp of the concepts discussed during the

course, we finish the day with a full practice exam which you then
submit via email for marking. This is an additional exercise that
does not form part of your practice essay allocation.
10
S ECTION III
1. Welcome and explanation of how GAMSAT tests chemistry in Section III

2. Important fundamentals of organic chemistry that students NEED to

understand

3. Break for lunch.

4. Strategies to tackle the common styles of Section III questions:

a. the initial approach;

b. translating the questions; and

c. finding the clues.

5. Important fundamentals of biochemistry that students NEED to understand

6. Important fundamentals of physical chemistry that students NEED to

understand.

I F I COME TO THE COURSE W HAT RESOURCES DO I

RECEIVE ?
S ECTION II
1. A theory textbook of 80+ pages that includes:

a. a dedicated criteria sheet and criteria analysis;

b. how to mitigate topic risk;

c. how to maximise your score;

d. what to write in each paragraph;

e. how to structure your essay;

f. how much to write;

g. example essays;

h how to manage your time; and

i. how to practice.

2. A content textbook of 170+ pages which supplements the theory textbook

and canvasses 50 general knowledge topics.

3. 20 practice exams which equates to 40 practice essays

4. 20 model essays

5. 10 opportunities to submit an essay for marking via email

11
S ECTION III
1. A plain language guide to organic and physical chemistry to 2nd year
university standard that includes:

a. special topics including the chemistry of complex biomolecules

and imaging techniques in organic chemistry;

b. 120 practice questions over 5 practice exams;

c. 140+ pages in length;

d. Special strategic insights as to how fundamental concepts are

tested in GAMSAT;

S ECTION I T IPS

T IP 1: M AKE SURE YOU FINISH THE T EST

Given the time pressure (75 questions in 100 minutes equates to about 1.3 minutes
per question excluding perusal time of 10 minutes), for most of the questions in
Section I the answer will not be clear. You will be able to narrow down to two
options but you will not have the time to spend an inordinate amount of time
working out which of the two options is the correct one - so just pick one! Don’t get
paralysed. That way, the 50/50 rule, provided you finish the entire test, should work
in your favour.

T IP 2: W HAT TO DO IN PERUSAL
Start answering the questions. Don’t waste time aimlessly flicking through the
pages.

T IP 3: H OW TO READ THE QUEST IONS

Short questions - read the blurb then answer the questions.

Long questions - read the questions then read the blurb.

T IP 4: T HE ROLE OF PRACTICE QUESTION S

They are only useful for practicing answering ‘something’ within the allocated time
pressure. I wrote ‘something’ because none of the products on the market replicate
the style of questions on the day. Getting used to the time pressure can be hard so
they are useful in that respect.

T IP 5: H IGHLIGHTERS ARE NOT ALLOWED

This may sound innocuous but it is difficult to keep track of main points in a long
passage without their aid. Get used to using your pencil or your pen to do this.

T IP 6: P LAY GAMES

12
Speed read a long editorial article and ‘highlight’ with your pencil what you think
the main points are. Then read the article without time-pressure and then check
whether the aspects of the article you ‘highlighted’ were actually indicative of the
main points.

T IP 7: H OW TO S PEED READ
Speed reading (at least for me) does not imply what the label indicates, that is,
reading everything at speed. Instead, for me, it means looking for ‘tags’ - most of
the time from the question, as to what information I am looking for and zeroing in
on that. That’s why reading the question first is so important when presented with a
long passage.

An important thing to note about zeroing in one aspect of the passage is that an
inherent risk of doing so is that something earlier in the passage will qualify the
statement and therefore serves as a ‘booby-trap’ style question. To negate this
problem, after you have zeroed in on your tag, look for ‘qualifiers’ (e.g. words like
however, in this instance, because) that may relate to your tag.

Looking for ‘qualifiers’ is also useful as those words or phrases often act as a prelude
to an important piece of information relevant to a question you may be asked. If
you think about it, any ‘why’ question must, by definition, be answered by some
variation of a ‘because’ statement. Any ‘how’ question, must, by definition, be
answered by some variation of a ‘by’ statement.

T IP 8: T RY
TO DISCERN WHETHE R THERE IS A MACRO
STRUCTURE TO THE PAS SAGE BEFORE FOCUSING ON THE
MICRO DETAIL
Some passages may contain a structure. For example, the first paragraph may
explain the current state of affairs, the second may explain what is wrong with it
and the third may explain how it should be fixed. If you discern what the structure is
you will know where to look for the answer to the question without reading the
whole passage.

T IP 9: F ILL IN YOUR ANSWER S HEET AS YOU GO

Sounds silly but there would be nothing worse than finishing the paper but running
out of time to transfer your answers.

T IP 10: P RACTICE U SING TECHNI QUES TO MANAGE YOUR

NERVES
Visualise yourself in the exam room. What brand of pencil/eraser/pen will you use
on the day, how you will arrange your stationery on your desk, will your water
bottle be on your desk or off it? What will you actively do to manage your nerves?
I’m a big fan of deep breathing exercises and trying to slow down my perception of
time. Find out what works for you.

13
T IP 11: Y OUR PERCEPTION OF TI ME
A minute and 20 seconds does not sound like a lot of time to answer a question.
However, a minute and 20 seconds when you are stressed feels like an even shorter
period of time. Don’t ruin things by losing control - tell yourself that you can do it
and actively practice relaxing when you are at home so the dynamic of the test does
not take you by surprise.

S ECTION II T IPS

T IP 1: Y OU CAN SIT GAMSAT TWICE A YEAR

Most candidates don’t realise that you can sit GAMSAT twice a year – the Australian
GAMSAT in March and the UK GAMSAT in September. The best part is that you can
select your best score when applying to your preferred medical school. The only
catches are:

 that you will have to travel to the UK GAMSAT testing centre which is
normally only offered in Melbourne;
 that you need to be aware of the result release dates and how they impact
upon the application dates for your preferred medical school.

T IP 2: S IZE DOESN ’ T MATTER

Most students upon reviewing the 'model essays' by a popular GAMSAT training
provider react by saying that the essays seem to be too long. That is because they
are.

When I sat GAMSAT, I wrote 3 paragraphs: an introduction, first body paragraph

and a second body paragraph for my first essay, and an introduction, first body
paragraph and 3/4 of a second body paragraph for my second essay. I did not finish
either of my essays. I achieved a score of 76.

So why are the 'model essays' too long? Well my gut feeling is as follows. I'm
reasonably certain that the model essays are selected from the numerous practice
essays that are submitted to the provider. These essays are often written by
students who do not write their essay under exam conditions. That is, they take
extra time, use a computer etc, all of which enhance the length of the essay. The
provider then makes the mistake of upholding their essay as an example of what
students should try to achieve.

So what is the moral of the story here? There is an inherent limitation as to how
much you can write in Section II. Don't get distracted by so called 'model essays'.
The key is to focus on quality not quantity.

T IP 3: D ISCURSIVE VS A RGUMENTATIVE E SSAYS

I know that the current information in the marketplace says that you should write 1
discursive and 1 argumentative essay but my view is that discursive essays are a
14
very bad idea and should be avoided at all cost. This is because you can’t control
and systematically plan, practice or produce high quality discursive essays.

T IP 4: Q UANTITATIVE VS Q UALITATIVE M ARKING

Recognise that Section II is qualitatively marked as English is not a science.
Therefore, you need to do something to differentiate yourself from the crowd. In
reality, there is probably no real difference between a 62 and 64 except for a
variance on the marking.

T IP 5: I MPROVE YOU R VOCABU LA RY

Instead of saying cause, say beget. Get a thesaurus. Any time that you come across
a word you don’t know, look it up and write it down in a notebook which you can
continually add to. Drop these ‘big words’ into your essays within reason.

T IP 6: F ILE ALL OF YOUR READ INGS

You should keep a record in a big folder of everything you read. Otherwise, you will
never remember an article you read in January in March. When you are nervous the
night before, you can skim over the articles prior to going to bed.

T IP 7: U SE THE SAME PEN

Sounds silly but inky pens are no good in stressful situations unless you have really
neat handwriting. Use the same pen in practice as you will in the test so you can
work out which pen is best for you.

T IP 8: P LAN YOUR ESSAY

Always spend the first 7-10 minutes of each half hour session planning your essay.
Don’t get intimidated by those who start writing straight away.

T IP 9: P RACTICE USING TECHNI QUES TO MANAGE YOUR

NERVES
Try to visualise yourself in the exam room (in detail - what brand of
pencil/eraser/pen will you use on the day, how you will arrange your stationery on
your desk, will your water bottle be on your desk or off it) will help. I’m a big fan of
deep breathing exercises and trying to slow down my perception of time. Find out
what works for you.

T IP 10: Y OUR PERCEPTION OF TI ME

1 hour to write 2 essays does not sound like a lot of time to answer a question.
However, 1 hour when you are stressed feels like an even shorter period of time.
Don’t ruin things by losing control - tell yourself that you can do it and actively
practice remaining in control under the time pressure of a practice exam so the
dynamic of the test does not take you by surprise.

T IP 11: N EVER WRITE YOUR PRAC TICE ESSAYS ON A

COMPUTER

15
Stating the obvious but lots of people seem to do it. The physical act of writing is a
motor skill - you get better (nee faster) with practice.

T IP 12: D EVELOP 1 IDEA PROPERLY , NOT MANY IDEAS

POORLY
This is the no. 1 problem that I have seen. There is not enough time to cover a lot of
ground so pick your territory and develop it in detail.

S ECTION III T IPS

T IP 1: R EAD THE QUESTIONS FI RST

Forget the blurbs at first. For some questions, the blurbs simply provide background
information which, if you already know the topic, you don’t actually need. For the
others, the blurbs provide a ‘scenario’ – this is particularly common in the biology
questions. Even if the latter is the case, by reading the questions first, you can be
more focussed when you read the blurbs to pick out the important information.

T IP 2: P ROCESS OF ELIMINATIO N
Usually in the questions, you should be able to eliminate one or two of the options
that are definitely wrong. Even if you don’t know the answer, if you can eliminate a
couple of the wrong answers then you have a better change of guessing the right
answer!

T IP 3: D ON ’ T GET S TUCK
Hopefully this one will be common sense, but it’s very important. If you get stuck on
a question, and you simply have no idea what it is talking about, MOVE ON! You are
better off spending your time on questions you think you can get right, than wasting
your time on complete guesses. If you have time at the end, you can come back to
the harder questions.

T IP 4: D ON ’ T LET THE WORDING FR EAK YOU OUT

One of the favourite strategies of examiners in science is to use complicated
wording to confuse students when the questions are actually quite simple. One of
the major things I find when I tutor is that if I rephrase the question, my students
often figure out the answer quite quickly. Work on your translation skills. When you
learn a topic, think about all the different ways that you could be asked about it.
Write your own practice questions using some creative wording or creative
scenarios.

T IP 5: C ONSIDER ALL OPTIONS

It might seem like a good time-saving strategy to pick the first answer that looks
right and move on, but this is a trap! I often find in my own exams that although one
of the first answers given looks alright, if I keep reading, one of the later answers

16
looks better, and I realise that the first answer I picked is actually wrong! Consider
all the options before you decide.

T IP 6: A PPLY THE BASICS : YOU CAN REASON THIS OUT

When faced with material that is completely new, a lot of students will panic. This is
becoming more and more popular in the GAMSAT! What you need to realise is that
you DO have the knowledge to reason the problems out! Learn the basic scientific
principles, understand them, and then practice applying them. Look at any terms
you don’t understand and use their roots to have a guess at what they might mean.

T IP 7: P RACTICE INTERPRETING GRAPHS AND DATA

TABLES
This is becoming more and more popular in the GAMSAT. Familiarise yourself with
all the different types of graphs, and what they are commonly used to represent.
Then practice data interpretation!!

T IP 8: R EAD THE QUESTION

Sometimes, when you’re stressed, you speed-read the question and miss small
wording changes – for example, when you’re asked to pick the WRONG answer
rather than the right answer. This tip goes hand in hand with Tip 5 – if you consider
all the options, you usually realise if you haven’t read the question correctly.

T IP 9: T AKE A FEW EXTRA PENS

This isn’t just about making sure your pens don’t run out! Unlike university exams,
you’re not allowed to bring a model kit into GAMSAT to make models of the
molecules. Having four or more different types of pens may come in handy if you
get any questions about the 3-D structure of molecules e.g., R/S configuration of
stereoisomers. You can use your pens to make a model of the molecule that you can
manipulate to figure out the configuration. You might want to practice this at home
first so you can do it quickly.

T IP 10: W RITE YOU R OWN PRACTIC E QUESTIONS

Try to write your own practice questions, in the style of the GAMSAT practice
questions from ACER. The best way to find out if you know a topic is to try to write
questions, or to try to teach the topic to someone else. Find a friend who’s also
taking GAMSAT and write practice questions for each other.

T IP 11: S TUDY SMART

When you are studying chemistry for GAMSAT, don’t get bogged down memorising
rules and reactions. This will probably not help you with GAMSAT, which tests more
understanding than memorisation. It is better to focus on understanding how the
reactions work and why they occur than memorising reactants and products. Rather
than memorise the rule, understand how scientists came up with the rule in the first
place and how it relates to more everyday concepts. Know the basic concepts and
be able to apply them to different scenarios.
17
T IP 12: P RACTICE WORKING TO A TIME LIMIT
Practice completing 110 practice questions in the 170 minute time limit. You must
stick to this strictly. To make it even more realistic, take an entire day and sit the
whole test, strictly to the time limit. On the day, once you reach Section III, your
brain is tired! If you practice sitting the section with a fresh brain, this will not mimic
the test circumstances. You should realise by now that questions that look easy
when you have plenty of time start to look a lot more difficult when you are faced
with a time limit. The more practice you do, the more prepared you will be on the
day.

T IP 13: S TAY CALM

This is perhaps the most important tip I can give, and also perhaps the hardest for
you to follow. Try to forget how much is riding on this day. Instead think about all
the preparation you have done, all the practice tests that you have aced. You can do
this. A positive and confident attitude will make all the difference

F REQUENTLY A SKED Q UESTIONS

A REYOUR TEXTBOOKS INCLUDED AS PART OF THE COURSE
FEES AND WHEN WILL I RECEIVE THEM ?
Yes they are. We ship the resources to you immediately upon registration via
Express Post so you should take delivery of them within 2-3 business days.

A RETHE TEXTBOOKS FOR THE COURSE DIFFERENT FROM

THE TEXTBOOKS AVAILA BLE THROUGH THE ONLI NE
STORE ?
There is no difference between the online store textbooks and the course textbooks
but as I'm sure you can understand the nature of an oral presentation is such that
we do cover some different things in the courses. This is primarily caused by
questions the audience asks on the day and by the fact that the books are 'static'
and the course is interactive (for example, we might use a diagram that works when
explained in person but looks silly in print).

D OESTHE S ECTION II E SSAY C OURSE INCLUDE 10

PRACTICE EXAMS (20 ESSAYS ) FOR CORRECTION ?
Yes it does. The offering is the same between the course and the online store.

IAM NOT A NATIVE E NGLISH SPEAKER OR A STRONG

WRITER - CAN I BEN EFIT FROM YO UR S ECTION II COURSE ?
You can benefit from the course as the program is sequentially staged from basic to
more advanced concepts so that you can steadily improve and learn at your own
pace.

18
IHAVE NO BACKGROUND I N C HEMISTRY - CAN I BENEFIT
FROM YOUR S ECTION III C HEMISTRY COU RSE ?
You can benefit from the course, provided that you are willing to put in the work!
Due to the limited time frame of the course itself, we do assume knowledge of basic
atomic and organic chemistry. If you don’t have this, we are happy to point you in
the right direction of how to obtain this knowledge prior to attending the course.
Additionally, remember that because we run in December, you have more time to
absorb the material before you have to sit the GAMSAT, and we are happy to
provide you with additional support during that time.

I AM A STRONG WRIT ER C AN I BENEFIT FROM YOUR

S ECTION II COURSE ?
Most definitely. In fact, our ideal candidate is a natural writer who simply needs
guidance as to how to handle the topic risk on the day.

H OW DO I SUBMIT MY ESSAYS FOR MARKING ?

After handwriting your practice test you are required to type your essay into a word
document which you then submit for marking.

Those this may sound annoying it is a great way to put yourself in the seat of the
marker, check for spelling mistakes that you routinely make and to get an average
of your word count across a number of tasks.

W HYAM I NOT ALLOWED TO WRITE MY ESSAY ON THE

COMPUTER ?
Because you don’t get to use a computer in the exam. It’s incredibly important that
you develop your handwriting skills and also get to understand how much you are
able to write in 1 hour. To put it simply, we train as we play.

H OW ARE THE ESSAYS CO RRECTED ?

The essays are comprehensively corrected using the track changes and comment
feature on Word.

H OW LONG DOES IT TAKE FOR MY ESSAYS TO BE MARKED ?

We aim for a 3 business day turn-around but quite often we are much faster than
that. The key is to get started early so that there isn’t a mad rush close to the exam.
This is better for you and for us.

W HO MARKS MY ESS AY ?
All of the essays you submit for marking are marked by me (Saf). We do not use
third-party markers, no ex-teachers, no English teachers. This means that there is a
personal link between the presentation of the material at the course and the
feedback you receive on the essays that you submit.

19
H OW LONG DOES IT TAKE FOR MY PRODU CTS FROM THE
ONLINE STORE TO ARRI VE ?
Within Australia, we always use Express Post so 2 business days is generally our
turn-around time.

For postage outside of Australia, we again use International Express Post so that any
delay is minimised but delivery times vary from country to country. If this is of
concern to you please communicate with us prior to placing your order.

DO YOU OFFER PRIV ATE TUTORING ?

Yes we do. Please see our online store for more information.

DO YOU OFFER COURSES IN S YDNEY OR P ERTH ?

Not at this time..

H OWLONG HAS GAMSAT S TRATEGIES BEEN IN

OPERATION ?
4 years.

H OW MANY PAGES ARE YO UR RESOURCES ?

The essay materials are approximately 200 pages in length and are updated every
year.

The chemistry materials are approximately 150 pages in length and are updated
every year.

S ECTION II P RACTICE Q UESTIONS

Your task is to provide a written response to each of the two sets of stimuli below in
1 hour. It is recommended that you spend 30 minutes per task.

T ASK A:
"Only those who will risk going too far can possibly find out how far it is possible to
go." T.S. Eliot

"Life is being on the wire, everything else is just waiting. Karl Wallenda

"Test fast, fail fast, adjust fast." Tom Peters

“The risk of a wrong decision is preferable to the terror of indecision” Maimonides

T ASK B:
“Anyone who lives within their means suffers from a lack of imagination.”

Oscar Wilde

20
“It’s a recession when your neighbour loses his job; it’s a depression when you lose
your own.”

Harry S. Truman

There is some magic in wealth, which can thus make persons pay their court to it,
when it does not even benefit themselves. How strange it is, that a fool or knave,
with riches, should be treated with more respect by the world, than a good man, or
a wise man in poverty!

Ann Radcliffe

Subdue your appetites, my dears, and you've conquered human nature.

Charles Dickens

It is not the creation of wealth that is wrong, but the love of money for its own sake.

Margaret Thatcher

T ASK C:
Perform the following exercise:

A. With a group of friends, preferably 4-6 people, share what you wrote in response
to Task A and B above having first independently completed the tasks.

B. You will come to realise that if you attempted the tasks within the allocated time,
you will have similar responses. This is primarily caused by the time pressure around
the task.

C. Now ask yourself the question, “If 4-6 people wrote very similar responses to the
same questions, how would an examiner differentiate between the papers?
Further, how would a marker differentiate between thousands of papers on the
same two topics?”

D. My view is that there is no material way to differentiate between exams that

contain the same generic responses to a topic. Therefore, the only option available
to the marker (despite their best intentions) is to award an average score to those
papers. Good grammar, spelling and literary flair are capable of shifting you within a
band (50-60, 60-70, 70-80), but, in my opinion, those factors will not be enough to
shift you ‘across’ a band. To put it simply, if the theme was ‘love’, and you wanted
to communicate that love feels good or that love assists individuals to overcome
difficulties, the difference between an eloquent explanation and an inarticulate one
is obvious but not material: you are still both saying the same thing!

E. So, this means that you need an alternative framework which will allow you to
generate a unique response to a given stimulus. Whether you take our course or
work out your own way of getting around this problem, remember, the key is to be
different.

21
S ECTION III P RACTICE Q UESTIONS
Questions 1-3 are based on the following information.

In the presence of a strong base, aldehydes and ketones can react together to
produce aldols. This is called an aldol condensation reaction. The aldol condensation
reaction can occur between two aldehydes, two ketones, or one aldehyde and one
ketone.

A special property of this reaction is that it has the ability to produce multiple
products. The number of possible products depends upon the nature of the groups
on either side of the carbonyl (C=O) group in each of the two reactants.

In the reaction, a strong base must first catalyse the deprotonation of one of the
carbons adjacent to the carbonyl group of the first reactant. This produces an
unstable negatively charged carbon, which attacks the electrophilic carbon of the
second reactant to form the aldol product. The reaction of ethanal with itself is an
example of this.

r r r p
e e e r
a a a o
Multiple products
c are possible if: c c d
t t t u
 There a are two different carbonsa on either side of the
a carbonyl group of the c
first
n reactant that could be deprotonated
n by the strong
n base. t
 The second reactant has one or two carbons adjacent to its carbonyl group
t t t

that could also be deprotonated, and instead attack the first reactant.
1 2 1

Assuming that both reactants are able to be deprotonated at either one or two
(
sites, the following combinations of reactants are possible dto produce product:
e
 Deprotonated reactant 1 with unchanged reactantp 1
 Deprotonated reactant 1 with unchanged reactantr 2
 Deprotonated reactant 2 with unchanged reactanto 1
t
 Deprotonated reactant 2 with unchanged reactanto 2
n
a
t
e
d
A general mechanism for this reaction is:
)

22
Q1. In the reaction between propanal (compound A) and 2-butanone (compound B),
which of the following compounds would be a possible compound C?

23
CQ2. Butanal and propanone are placed in a test tube together
D with concentrated
)NaOH. Which of the following is NOT a possible product
) that may be formed in the
test tube?

B
)

Q3. A single compound is placed in a test tube with concentrated NaOH. After an
aldol condensation reaction takes place, the product 2-ethyl-3-hydroxyhexanal is
formed. Which of the following corresponds to the original compound inside the
test tube?

A) Butanal B) Propanone

C) Propanal D) 2-propanone

D
Questions
) 4-5 are based on the following information.
+
The strength of an acid is dependent on how stable its structure is when a H is
removed. The more stable the structure is, the stronger the acid is, because it is
+
more likely to give up a H . There are two main factors that govern the stability of
the structure: resonance and induction. Resonance occurs when a single molecule
cannot be represented by a single Lewis structure: two or more structures can be
drawn, that differ only in the distribution of electrons. If a molecule displays
resonance, it is more stable. Induction is a phenomenon in which the groups that
+
are directly bonded to the atom that gives up the H have the ability to either
stabilise or destabilise the charged atom. Electron-withdrawing groups, such as
24
electronegative atoms, can stabilise a negative charge by slightly drawing the charge
away. Electron-donating groups, such as alkyl groups, destabilise a negative charge
because these groups are pushing their own negative charges towards the already
negatively charged atom. Hydrogen is a special case: it is neither electron-
withdrawing nor electron-donating.

Strong acids have a low pKa; weak acids have a high pKa.

Q4. Consider the following compounds

Which of the following correctly orders these compounds from lowest to highest
pKa?

A) I < II < III C) III < II < I

B) I < III < II D) II < III < I

Q5. Which of the following orders the amine molecules from lowest to highest pKa?

A) CH2ClCH2NH2 < CH3CCl2NH2 < CH3CHClNH2 < CH3CH2NH2

B) CH3CH2NH2 < CH2ClCH2NH2 < CH3CHClNH2 < CH3CCl2NH2
C) CH3CCl2NH2 < CH3CHClNH2 < CH2ClCH2NH2 < CH3CH2NH2
D) CH2ClCH2NH2 < CH3CH2NH2 < CH3CHClNH2 < CH3CCl2NH2

25