The Gamsat Bible

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1 - Gamsat
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The GAMSAT Bible

A Complete Outline of All Techniques, Tips,
Strategies, and Resources for GAMSAT Success
www.AceGamsat.com
The information contained in this guide is for informational purposes only.
The publication of such Third Party Materials does not constitute my guarantee of any information,
instruction, opinion, products, or services contained within the Third Party Material.
Publication of such Third Party Material is simply a recommendation and an expression of my own
opinion of that material. No part of this publication shall be reproduced, transmitted, or sold in
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responsible for the success or failure relating to any information presented in this guide.
©2018 AceGAMSAT. All Rights Reserved.
II
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About GAMSAT
The GAMSAT (Graduate Australia Medical School Admissions Test) has been developed by the
Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER). This test selects for students that have the
greatest capacity to advance their studies in medicine, dentistry, and pharmacy. The GAMSAT was
developed for Australian universities and its component of use for admissions has spread to
institutions in the UK and Ireland.
GAMSAT evaluates the nature and extent of abilities and skills gained through prior experience and
learning, including the mastery and use of concepts in basic science as well as the acquisition of
more general skills in problem solving, critical thinking and writing.
Candidates whose first degree is in a non-scientific field of study can still sit GAMSAT and succeed
in an application for admission to one of the graduate-entry programs. A science degree is not
always a prerequisite and institutions encourage applications from candidates who have achieved
academic excellence in the humanities and social sciences. However, it must be stressed that
success in GAMSAT is unlikely without knowledge and ability in the biological and physical
sciences.
III
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Table of Contents
OVERVIEW OF THE GAMSAT 1
INTRODUCTION 1
FORMAT 1
WHAT DO I NEED TO SCORE IN GAMSAT? 2
WHICH UNIVERSITIES CURRENTLY USE GAMSAT SCORES? 3
GAMSAT: STRUCTURING YOUR STUDY 4
THE TIMETABLE 5
BEING FLEXIBLE 10
HELP I’VE RUN OUT OF TIME 10
SECTION I: REASONING IN HUMANITIES 12
OUTLINE 12
SUGGESTED READINGS 12
VOCABULARY 13
PRACTICE 13
SECTION II: WRITTEN COMMUNICATION 15
OUTLINE 15
TASK A 17
TASK A SAMPLE PLANNING 17
TASK B 18
TASK B SAMPLE PLANNING 18
TASK A PRACTICE QUOTES 19
TASK B PRACTICE QUOTES 20
SUGGESSTED READINGS FOR SII 21
SECTION III: REASONING IN BIOLOGICAL AND PHYSICAL SCIENCES 22
OUTLINE 22
TOPIC LIST FOR GAMSAT 22
WHAT LEVEL OF MATHEMATICS IS RECOMMENDED? 27
THE BASICS – STUDYING FOR SPEED 28
THE BASICS – FIRST PRINCIPLES 29
MAXIMISING YOUR SCORE 30
GAMSAT SPECIFIC TECHNIQUES 31
GAMSAT TRAPS 32
IV
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TIPS FOR GAMSAT 33

GENERAL TIPS FOR EACH SECTION 33
THE ACEGAMSAT ELIMINATION STRATEGY 33
THE ACEGAMSAT GUESSING STRATEGY 34
THE ACEGAMSAT MINDSET TECHNIQUE 34
FINAL THOUGHTS 36
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The GAMSAT Bible 1
Overview of the GAMSAT
Introduction
The GAMSAT is a prerequisite test run by ACER for the admission into dental and
medical schools in Australia, Ireland, and the UK.
Throughout this text the words ‘candidates’ and ‘students’ will be used interchangeably
to represent anyone preparing to sit the GAMSAT.
Test dates in Australia and Ireland are in March. The test date in the UK is in September.
Candidates can sit the GAMSAT twice in one year.
In Australia: Candidates can take the Australian GAMSAT in March and/or the UK
GAMSAT in Melbourne in September.
In UK: Candidates can take either the Irish or Australian GAMSAT in London in March
and/or take the UK GAMSAT in September.
GAMSAT results are valid for two years.
Format
There are 3 sections in the GAMSAT.
Section I
This section is called Reasoning in Humanities and Social Sciences.
Students are given 100 minutes to complete 75 multiple-choice questions.
Section II
This is the Written Communication section.
Students are given essay Task A and B to complete in 60 minutes total.
Section III
This is called the Reasoning in Biological and Physical Sciences section.
Students are given 170 minutes to complete 110 multiple-choice questions.
Rulers and calculators are not permitted for the exam.
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The GAMSAT Bible 2
What Do I Need to Score in the GAMSAT?

The overall GAMSAT score is determined using the following formula:
Overall score = (Section I + Section II + 2 x Section III)/4
As you can see, the formula gives greater weight to Section III (Sciences) of the exam.
Therefore, this section is extra important as it accounts for 50% of the final grade.
Minimum GAMSAT entry scores can be found at:
http://www.acegamsat.com/minimum-gamsat-scores-/
These scores have been put together from scores that students have submitted on the
Paging Dr forum. These minimum scores are not set in stone and they should only be used
as a guide.
Students will receive an individual score out of 100 for each section. These scores are
not percentage scores because ACER scales each year’s scores. They are adjusted each year
so that results can be directly comparable with results from previous years.
As a general guide, a minimum score to get into medicine needs to be between 60 and
65. For entrance into dentistry it is slightly lower. However, students must remember that
their GPA and Interview Scores will affect their chances of gaining acceptance. For example,
a student who obtains a GAMSAT score of 70, but has a poor GPA and does not perform
well in the interview may not gain acceptance into medicine. However, another student
may get accepted into the same medical program with a GAMSAT score of 65 if they
perform well in the interview and have an outstanding GPA.
Every university has different entry requirements. Students should read the information
below regarding acceptance for each university.
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The GAMSAT Bible 3
Which Universities Currently Use GAMSAT Scores?
Australia: Ireland:
Australian National University Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland
- Medicine - Medicine
Deakin University University College Cork
Flinders University University College Dublin
University of Limerick
Griffith University
- Medicine
- Medicine
- Physiotherapy
The University of Queensland
UK:
- Medicine
The University of Melbourne
- Medicine Cardiff University
- Dentistry - Medicine
- Optometry
The University of Notre Dame (Fremantle) Keele University
Plymouth University
The University of Notre Dame (Sydney)
- Medicine
- Medicine
- Dentistry
The University of Sydney
- Medicine University of Exeter
- Pharmacy
The University of Western Australia
- Medicine University of Liverpool
- Podiatric Medicine
The University of Wollongong St George's University of London
Swansea University
- Medicine
The University of Nottingham
- Medicine
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The GAMSAT Bible 4
GAMSAT: Structuring your study

The GAMSAT is a tough exam that needs to be treated with great respect. It is, at its
basis, an exam that will analyse your ability to problem solve. It is not an exam that can be
defeated through brute memorisation. The GAMSAT is a task that tests how you think, not
what you’ve managed to cram into your brain. Just rote learning for the GAMSAT is a
critical mistake that some first-timers with little prior knowledge of the format will
make. Don’t make this mistake - the GAMSAT is more similar to an IQ test than a first year
university exam (where often just memorising the lectures will give you a passing mark).
Now you’re probably wondering “how can I possibly study for a IQ test…isn’t my score
set in stone?” Well luckily, after a great deal of research and exploring a great many
strategies, it turns out it is possible. The GAMSAT mindset can be learnt.
Luckily for you by obtaining this book you’ve already made the crucial first step in
adopting the GAMSAT mindset. You’ve already made a decision to learn the rules of the
game that underlie the GAMSAT testing method, placing you in front of the countless
people who don’t do any effective study for this exam. Once upon a time, when I had just
started my undergrad studies, I heard of people that managed to get very respectable
scores in the GAMSAT without any study. But times have changed. With the explosion of
GAMSAT companies and tutoring services, people are much more competent at this exam
now than five years ago. To stay competitive, you’ll likely need to put some time into
learning how the GAMSAT works before you go in on that day. But how much study is
required?
It varies. Obviously. But here’s a table that estimates when you should start studying at
certain levels of science knowledge/writing ability:
Overall Competency Study Time (for each section)

Science Undergraduate + Strong in
1-2+ Months (Section 3)
Chemistry, Biology, Physics, Maths
Science Undergraduate + Strong in
3+ Months (Section 3)
Chemistry, Biology + Weak physics, Maths
Non-Science Background + Strong Maths 4+ Months (Section 3)
Non-Science Background + Weak Maths 6+ Months (Section 3)
Weak writing skills 2-4+ Months (Section 2)
A person who only requires one month of study is going to have a vastly different
academic foundation to a person who needs six months. I’d like to bring up two examples
that illustrate this difference.
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The GAMSAT Bible 5
One prospective doctor is Kylie – a 2nd year Biomed student. Kylie has completed
compulsory physics, chemistry and biology subjects over the past year that just so happen
to overlap perfectly with the concepts tested in the GAMSAT. She is getting above average
marks in all her subjects. She scored highly in her Year 12 English exam, and has been
sitting highly pressured tests for the last 3 years consistently. Her study habits are
disciplined and her motivation to get into medicine is strong. She studied intermittently for
one and a half months, only really studying full time (5+ hours a day) for the GAMSAT for
one week, and got a 71 in the GAMSAT.
Another prospective student is Bruce. Bruce is a mature aged student, whose previous
degree was in music teaching. He hasn’t opened a science book in 10 years and Maths
concepts like indices and logarithms elude him. His writing is good, but Bruce isn’t used to
writing under time constraints. Bruce hasn’t sat a timed exam in 10 years, but he is highly
motivated to do medicine.
These are two different but very real students that I tutored for the GAMSAT. Bruce is
starting at a much lower level than Kylie, and he will likely need to start studying for the
exam 6 months before the testing day. What I do know is that Bruce will have a fighting
chance at this exam, if he starts 6 months out.
The odds may have been stacked against him, but with lots of preparation under his belt,
Bruce eventually gets a good enough score to interview at his choice university.
The Timetable
So now you have a starting date, how should you structure that study?
Note: this timetable has been constructed for a non-science background, low writing
skill student. It is not the only way to do it, however, it is a framework from which you can
chop and change to suit your individual needs.
6 months prior to the exam
Complete all practice exams from ACER (highly recommended). This is the FIRST thing any
student should do.
Do not worry about completing questions under timed conditions at this stage.
Once completed, make a list of all problem areas, sorting by subject (Chemistry, Maths,
Biology etc.) then topic (logarithms, buoyancy, punnett square etc.) then by type of mistake
(lack of knowledge, inability to interpret question, too unfamiliar etc.). If you haven’t done
a lot of science before this list may be very long - that’s okay! You’ve got plenty of time to
space out your revision.
This list of topics will form the core of your study. They have a high probability of
turning up on the exam, and must be learnt.
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The GAMSAT Bible 6
Once you’ve completed this list, add on other topics from the GAMSAT bible list (see
topic list toward end of book). High priority topics are ones that you are unfamiliar with.
If you are running out of time, focus on chemistry and physics, learning these topics will
have a greater effect on your GAMSAT score than biology.
Once you’ve finished all practice exams, construct a timetable. This timetable should be
back heavy (i.e. you ramp up your workload as the exam gets closer). You may potentially
only spend 3-6 hours a week at the very beginning, but do that much in a day the week
before the exam.
For Section 2: Split up your timetable into two phases, resource gathering and writing.
For resource gathering compile a list of themes that often recur in the GAMSAT. Start to
watch TED talks, read novels/newspapers/magazines that relate to those topics, looking
for a wide variety of sources. Record all the interesting facts, statistics, quotes you find in a
master document. Then, when you start writing, focus on writing an essay with a large time
limit to begin (1 hour each essay) and scale it back over time until you get to the time limit
that the GAMSAT requires you to write it in (30 minutes).
Note: Make sure that you are getting these essays reviewed as you write them, as it is
not very beneficial to write them without receiving feedback. Our team offer an exceptional
and affordable professional Essay Marking Service.
Whilst it is good to prepare for section 2 by gathering resources, do not become over
reliant on having prepared for a topic before writing an essay. Both times I sat the GAMSAT
I had prepared for one topic and the other I had never seen before. Yes, you will write
better if you have an armory of facts/statistics/examples behind you. But you also need to
be ready to write on a topic that has not been posted on any forums or on any ACER paper
before. Essentially you need to be able to improvise. So, try to practice this as you write
your essays, have resources gathered for some and for others come up with points on the
spot (in the time limit). We offer a free GAMSAT Quote Generator, which is the ultimate
resource for Section 2 essay practice.
For Section 3: Generally, you can split it up into three stages: note making, completing
individual questions and completing exam papers.
The first stage (note making) should be completed over 1-2 months. Basically, it
involves reading up on the individual topics and writing down explanations and examples
in a summary document. This period is where you familiarise yourself with the various
concepts.
The second stage (completing questions) is where you start applying that
knowledge. For students with a shaky foundation this is where the majority of your
eventual GAMSAT mark will be determined. In general, doing more questions will make
you faster, and analysing your mistakes will make your answer percentage higher. Aim to
learn time saving techniques in this period. We have released thousands of the highest
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The GAMSAT Bible 7
quality practice questions in our study courses and packages.
The last stage, completing exam papers, is where you start to think like the examiners.
Generally started two weeks before the sitting date, you should complete all the ACER
papers again. After each paper, a very thorough analysis must be conducted, and any
thoughts/mistakes should be written down. As you complete these exams, hopefully
patterns in the questions should start to emerge, which will help you immensely in the
actual exam.
Expect to be studying heavily/full-time in the two weeks before the exam. Any effort
spent in this period will be a lot more effective than in the preceding months.
After completing the timetable, the next step is to compile resources for Section 3. Find a
wide variety of relevant textbooks, practice questions, writing resources and websites. The
go-to online forum for the GAMSAT (and indeed becoming a doctor) is PagingDrNet.
Then, having compiled your final resource, you can get started on each section!
3 months prior to the exam
By now you should have finished reading up and/or summarising each of the topics, and
have started doing questions.
It is extremely important to do a high volume of questions. It is the main way in which

you will improve your speed and works to solidify concepts in your mind.
Remember to log your mistakes. As you go through questions for each of the topics
analyse what type of mistakes you are making and try to correct for them.
Now is when you may want to start gathering resources for Section 2 in preparation for
essay writing practice.
2 weeks prior to the exam
Complete all the practice exams under timed conditions over the next week. It is
important to do the ACER exams with a large break in between each sitting, and preferably
as few times as possible (2 times in total is ideal). This is because the ACER exams are your
most high quality study resource (aside from ACEGAMSAT material of course), so you don’t
want to accidentally memorise all the answers by doing the same exam too frequently. You
want it to be as realistic as possible when you sit it the second/third time, so definitely save
it for just before the exam.
Do some in depth analysis of your attempts, marking down the type of mistake and it’s
frequency. Try to correct those mistakes as you attempt a new ACER exam each day.
Do the practice exams under timed conditions, and preferably with identical breaks to
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The GAMSAT Bible 8
the testing day (short break between section 1 and 2, long break between section 2 and 3)
Relax for a few days. It’s important not to feel burnt out for the exam, especially as you
may be in the testing center for 10 hours. Take some time to do whatever relaxes you in the
days just before the exam.
Get enough sleep. Try to develop a routine sleeping schedule a week ahead of the exam.
Exam day
Bring a jumper just in case. Even if it's 30 degrees plus outside, the air-conditioning can
be very cold in the examination room.
Moderate amounts of caffeine can boost cognitive performance, meaning 1-2 cups at
most on the morning of the GAMSAT.
Arrive early - nothing is more stressful than worrying about being on time.
Remember your pencils and invest in a good pen for Section II.
Pack a nice morning tea and good lunch so you have something to look forward to.
Include lots of low GI food for long-lasting energy. Good examples are a chicken and salad
sandwich on multigrain bread, yogurt, fruit, and tuna.
DO NOT nap in the afternoon in the weeks/days leading up to the exam. It is not good for
your body to expect a nap at 3 in the afternoon because you will be doing section III at this
time.
Bring water in a clear bottle and make sure the label is removed.
Example timetable for Non-Science background student:

Timeframe Section 3 Section 2
Weeks 1-2: Complete all ACER
papers. Make list of problem
6 Months topics. Supplement this list with
From topics from The GAMSAT bible.
GAMSAT Weeks 3-4: Construct timetable.
Compile resources. Begin taking
notes/reading up on physics.
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The GAMSAT Bible 9
Week 1: Continue taking notes on

physics
5 Months
Week 2-3: Take notes on chemistry
From
topics
GAMSAT
Week 4: Take notes on biology
topics
Week 1: start compiling list of essay
Weeks 1-4: Start doing questions topics from ACER papers and other
4 Months resources
for physics topics. Make sure you
From
are keeping a list of mistakes + Week 2-4: start gathering resources
GAMSAT
shortcuts. (statistics, quotes, examples) on a few
topics
Weeks 1-4: Write one essay a week, 1
3 Months hour time limit, on the topics you’ve
Weeks 1-4: Start doing questions
From prepared resources for. Continue to
for chemistry topics
GAMSAT gather resources (from a wide variety of
sources)
Week 1: Do questions for biology
topics
2 Months Weeks 1-4: Continue writing one essay a
Weeks 2-3: Redo/review questions
From week, lower time limit to 45 minutes.
for physics topics
GAMSAT Continue gathering resources.
Week 4: Redo/review questions for
chemistry topics
4 Weeks
Write 3 essays over the week in 30
From Review biology/chemistry
minutes.
GAMSAT
3 Weeks
Review any problem topics from Write 6 essays over the week in 30
From
chemistry, biology, physics minutes.
GAMSAT
Monday: ACER blue paper On the review days (Tuesday, Thursday),

write out the respective ACER GAMSAT
Tuesday: Review ACER blue paper essay topics under timed conditions,
2 Weeks consecutively for the half papers (blue
Wednesday: ACER red paper
From and red ACER papers).
GAMSAT Thursday: Review ACER red paper
Friday: ACER purple paper
For the full papers complete them all in
Saturday: Review ACER purple one sitting under exam conditions (i.e. do
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The GAMSAT Bible 10
paper all the sections on the same day)

Sunday: ACER green paper
Monday: review ACER green paper
1 Week Tuesday-Friday: finish reviewing

From anything you’ve left out. Once
GAMSAT you’ve done that, relax! There’s not
much more you can do by this
stage, all the hard work is over.
Being Flexible
It’s important to note that this timetable is something that will need to be adapted to
your individual needs. Some students will only need 1-2 months to study for the GAMSAT,
and as a result their timetable will be a much more abbreviated version of this one,
although probably in the same order of events. But also, don’t be afraid to swap out parts of
it, for example you might want to skip gathering examples for Section 2 and go straight to
writing essays. That is a perfectly viable strategy if it works for you! Just try to understand
why the timetable is structured in this way. For example, if you feel like you need to review
the ACER papers more often, then go ahead and complete them more regularly, however
just be aware that it’s important to have forgotten most of the content in the papers every
time you do them, otherwise it will become a much less realistic exam resource.
Help I’ve run out of time!
If you’ve discovered all this advice too late or you’ve been tied up with other
commitments, there are a couple of things you can do.
First is to not panic. Over the years, I’ve seen the whole spectrum of GAMSAT effort, and
people have gotten very respectable scores with minimal effort. It is just that the method
with the highest chance of getting a 70+ overall score is one with months of study. But it is
still possible to do it with not much time at all.
Second is to prioritise your study and target the subjects you feel you can improve the
most in. For most people, priority will be allocated like so: physics/chemistry > writing >
biology.
Now you might be wondering why biology has such a low priority despite making up
the greatest percentage of the exam. Whilst understanding core biology concepts will
enhance your problem-solving ability, ACER exam writers structure GAMSAT biology
questions such that they generally answered purely based on the stem (the stimulus
material). As a result, you can mostly go into a GAMSAT biology question knowing
absolutely nothing about the topic and still answer every single question comfortably,
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The GAMSAT Bible 11
because everything you need to know is in the stem. In a way, GAMSAT biology questions
are more reading comprehension than assumed knowledge and as such will benefit less
from learning the background material than the other two subjects. Whilst it is still critical
to learn the biology content (it will help a lot with efficiency and understanding) and
practice biology questions to enhance your speed (especially as there is so much biology in
the exam), learning the actual background material for biology is less important as all the
necessary information is provided in the actual question.
Next up is writing. Whilst significant gains can be made in your Section 2 score with the
appropriate effort, unfortunately writing is something that takes a lot of time to improve in.
If you run out of time, focus on writing a couple of high quality essays on a few topics and
hope that one of them comes up on the day. To prepare yourself for a wide array of topics
with minimal effort, you can compile a list of topics and for each one write down three
points and three examples for each of these points in dot point form. Then you can
memorise all of these before you walk into the exam and hopefully some of these points
will be useful on the day. Our Free Advanced Essay Bible will show you everything you
need to know for writing the perfect GAMSAT essay.
Finally, chemistry and physics should take the highest priority, as they are most easily
improved in the shortest amount of time. Learning to use a formula does not take a long
amount of time, and knowing the right concept in the right place will secure you marks.
So that’s it! It’s a tough exam, but one which you can do well in with the right mindset. It
will be very stressful and draining, but if you can keep a cool head then you will be ready
not only for the GAMSAT, but also medicine itself.
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The GAMSAT Bible 12
Section I: Reasoning in Humanities and Social Sciences

Outline
Section I of the GAMSAT consists of multiple-choice questions with 4 options.

Candidates are provided with stimulus material – essays, poems, cartoons, dramas,
editorials, graphs, figures, short stories, essays, letters, journals, and biographies. These
types of stimulus material can be categorised into the following 4 categories:
1. Prose (in all diverse types)
2. Poetry (including Drama)
3. Social and/or Behavioural Sciences
4. Editorial Cartoon and/or Graphic Representations
An in-depth analysis of these different categories is covered in The Humanities Bible.
The Humanities Bible also provides over 75 questions and solutions for all the
categories.
Regular reading and practice are the most effective ways to prepare for this section. An
e-book reader is a worthy investment (I use an Amazon Kindle). E-books can easily be
downloaded through the Amazon store and unfamiliar words can easily be learnt via the
inbuilt dictionary. This is a great way to improve your vocabulary through reading.
Suggested Readings
Some great readings that will help prepare you for the type of texts you will receive in
Section I include:
The Great Gatsby - F. Scott Fitzgerald
If you are not a regular reader, you should start with this. An easy read, but still covers
some important concepts.
Defying Hitler - Sebastian Haffner
A tale of being a regular person in pre-NAZI Germany. Also provides great examples for a
range of themes that can arise in Section II.
English Passengers - Matthew Kneale
This book circulates around problems that an Aboriginal family are faced with when the
British settle in Australia. The ideas covered in this book can also serve to be great
examples for Section II.
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The GAMSAT Bible 13
Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens

This is a great book for honing your language manipulation skills. This book has a lot of
difficult words and will prepare you to quickly understand classical texts in the actual
GAMSAT. Make sure to look up all words that you are unfamiliar with and write them down
along with their definitions.
The Penguin Book of Twentieth Century Essays - Ian Hamilton
This book is a collection of the best essays written in the English language during the
past one hundred years. It is also great at exploring a vast range of ideas that can be used
for Section II.
A Short History of Nearly Everything - Bill Bryson
This book is like an introduction to Physics, Chemistry, Geology, and Astronomy all in
one wonderfully droll book.
The Story of My Life - Helen Keller
This is an amazing story of a deaf and blind woman who achieved so much and
experienced so much of life despite her handicaps.
Vocabulary
A sound vocabulary will be highly beneficial for SI. It will aid in the understanding of
texts and can be helpful in crossing off the incorrect multiple-choice answers when in
doubt.
An excellent resource to improve vocabulary can be found at vocabulary.com. This

resource has helped many of our students improve their vocabulary. Get into the routine of
completing one mini-test every day (10 words), which will take less than 5 minutes. Choose
the MCAT word list to practice, as this includes words that are commonly found in Section I
of the GAMSAT.
Practice
Practice is key.
A free site that provides Section-I-like questions is readtheory.org. It will provide

detailed feedback for each series of questions. For GAMSAT preparation, candidates should
do at least one passage per day (less than 10 minutes).
Our team has released a full-length GAMSAT Practice Test, which is identical to the
actual GAMSAT exam. Students should complete all the Section I practice questions in this
test. Students should then check all answers and go back and see where they went wrong.
This is the most effective and fastest way to improve your score in Section I.
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The GAMSAT Bible 14
The more questions you can do, the better you will get! This is the key rule that I always
engrave into our students. Our GAMSAT prep books contains thousands of the highest
quality Section 1 questions are the perfect resource for practising Section I questions.
The 4 ACER booklets also provide many great questions to prepare you for Section I.
It may be a good idea to work through the two half-length ACER booklets and save the
two full-length papers for just before the GAMSAT to sit under timed conditions.
I repeat. TIME YOURSELF! You will adapt to working at this pace and with consistency
these stimulus-based questions will become like second nature.
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The GAMSAT Bible 15
Section II: Written Communication

Outline
In the exam, students are to complete two essays – both Task A and Task B.
Essays should be at least 350-400 words.
Five quotes are provided for each essay task and all the quotes surround a common
theme.
Task A deals with socio-cultural issues and Task B deals with social and personal issues.
A title is recommended for each essay. Be creative! The markers are looking for the best
ideas. Ideas are more important than spelling, grammar, and punctuation.
The best ideas get the best marks, so planning your essay in the first 5 minutes is the key
to success.
When planning your essay, read the series of 5 quotes carefully and determine the
overall theme. The theme is quite obvious. Some examples of themes include: freedom,
crime, poverty, wealth, punishment, science, technology, love, friendship, humour,
suffering, youth, beauty, ageing, conformity, originality.
On the following page is an example of how Section II looks in the GAMSAT. We will use
Task B as an example to see how quickly we can find the theme.
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The GAMSAT Bible 16
Task B - Example
Consider the following comments and develop a piece of writing in response to one or
more of them.
Your writing will be judged on the quality of your response to the theme, how well you
organise and present your point of view, and how effectively you express yourself.
You will not be judged on the views or attitudes you express.
It gives me strength to have somebody to fight for; I can never fight for myself, but, for
others, I can kill.
Emilie Autumn, The Asylum for Wayward Victorian Girls
A good friend is a connection to life - a tie to the past, a road to the future, the key to
sanity in a totally insane world.
Lois Wyse
Friends are the family you choose.

Jess C. Scott, The Other Side of Life
A true friend is someone who thinks that you are a good egg even though he knows that
you are slightly cracked.
Bernard Meltzer
There are some things you can't share without ending up liking each other, and knocking
out a twelve-foot mountain troll is one of them.
J.K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone
Here we can see that the common theme is friendship. There will always be a common
theme that all 5 quotes relate to in the exam.
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The GAMSAT Bible 17
Task A
Task A is an argumentative essay. Each paragraph should be planned. Below is a basic
recommended outline for planning your GAMSAT essay.
Paragraph 1: Introduction – explanation and interpretation of a chosen quote or
standpoint you have concerning the overall theme.
Students should aim for three body paragraphs. They should be Thesis, Thesis,
Antithesis (or Thesis, Antithesis, Antithesis).
A concluding paragraph should then sum up and reconcile between the Thesis’ and
Antithesis.
Common themes that students could expect in the GAMSAT Task A include:
• Freedom
• Crime
• Poverty
• Wealth
• Punishment
• Science
• Technology
Task A Sample Planning - Basic

The following is a sample of the planning for each body paragraph. This is quick and
simple and can easily be done in 5 minutes. This will provide a framework and will allow
you to know what you are going to write about before you even start your essay.
Quote - ‘The machine does not isolate man from the great problems of nature, but plunges
him more deeply into them.’
Thesis: Cars, computers = decrease physical activity = diabetes, stroke and heart
problems.
Thesis: Invention of electronic devices = use of electricity = burning of fossil fuels =
increase global warming, drought, etc. Or mobile phones = less intimate and personal
communication (SMS) = destructive to essence of human nature = great problem.
Antithesis: Biotechnology = vaccinations have cured diseases. Or computers have
allowed education to isolated students with no access to schools and other resources =
solved problems.
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The GAMSAT Bible 18
Task B
Task B is a personal essay. It should be written with feeling. Students need to be able to
explain and visualise how other people may be feeling in different life situations.
The quotes that students receive have a personal theme, which allows students to relate
the themes to their own experiences in life.
Paragraph 1: Acquaint the reader with the topic/theme and state your specific point of
view.
There should be 3 body paragraphs. Each paragraph should focus on a different idea that
supports your specific point of view.
A concluding paragraph should summarise the main points, then support the main view
and end with a great impact on the reader.
Common topics that students can expect in the GAMSAT Task B:
• Love • Beauty
• Conformity • Friendship
• Originality • Humour
• Suffering • Youth
• Ageing
Task B Sample Planning - Basic

Quote - ‘The secret to happiness is freedom.’
Body paragraphs: Each of the following paragraphs expresses a different idea of freedom
bringing upon happiness.
1. Freedom from oppression – Scottish citizens could only be truly happy after they
defeated the English and were free from oppression and enslavement.
2. Freedom from the monotonous 9-5 job – Tim Ferris (author of the 4-hour work week)
says that true happiness is working from his laptop whilst having the freedom of traveling
the world and spending more time with his loved ones.
3. Freedom of speech for the GLTB community or animal rights protestors – By having
the freedom to speak out and express certain views, one can feel satisfied and a deep-
rooted happiness.
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The GAMSAT Bible 19
Important
As part of your preparation for Section II, we recommend that you write an essay for each
of the following quotes for your essay preparation for Task A and Task B. Remember,
practice is extremely important for the GAMSAT and the fastest way to improve your essay
ability is by practising as many essays as possible and then receiving professional feedback.
Completed essays can be submitted to our essay marking service. Our professional markers
will provide extensive feedback and an estimated GAMSAT score.
Essay Marking Service – Submit Your Essays For Marking
Students should attempt to write an essay for each of the following quotes for Task A and
Task B before sitting the GAMSAT exam.
Task A Practice Quotes

• War settles nothing. - Dwight D. Eisenhower
• You can’t hold a man down without staying down with him. - Booker T. Washington
• Those who expect to reap the blessings of freedom, must, like men, undergo the fatigues
of supporting it. - Thomas Jefferson
• I have to follow them, I am their leader. - Alexandre-Auguste Ledru-Rollin
• I would rather be exposed to the inconveniences attending too much liberty than those
attending too small a degree of it. - Thomas Jefferson
• The cost of liberty is less than the price of repression. - W. E. B. Du Bois
• Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. - Martin Luther King, Jr.
• Ability is a poor man’s wealth. - John Wooden
• The mother of revolution and crime is poverty. - Aristotle
• Let us never negotiate out of fear. But never fear to negotiate. - John F. Kennedy
• All diplomacy is a continuation of war by other means. - Chou En-Lai
• That man is richest whose pleasures are the cheapest. - Henry David Thoreau
• The technologies that have had the most profound effects on human life are usually
simple. - Freeman Dyson
• There are as many versions of history as there are historians. - Anonymous
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The GAMSAT Bible 20
Task B Practice Quotes

• Nobody can make you feel inferior without your consent. - Eleanor Roosevelt
• Music has the power to entertain, but seldom to educate
• Laughter is the shortest distance between two people. - Victor Borge
• They can’t hurt you unless you let them. - John C Maxwell
• There are three things extremely hard: Steel, a diamond, and to know one’s self. -
Benjamin Franklin
• You can’t get rid of poverty by giving people money. - P.J. O’Rourke
• Youth is the best time to be rich, and the best time to be poor. - Euripides
• Some people say they haven’t yet found themselves. But the self is not something one
finds; it is something one creates. - Thomas Szasz
• I can assure you, pleasure is quite different from happiness – Dorian Gray
• Hatred is the coward’s revenge for being intimidated. - George Bernard Shaw
• Conform and be dull. - James Frank Dobie
• It is amazing how complete the delusion that beauty is goodness. - Leo Tolstoy
• Whether you think you can or you can’t – you are right. - Henry Ford
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The GAMSAT Bible 21
Suggested Readings For Section II

The Meaning of Things by AC Grayling is a great book for generating ideas. It consists of
short essays that cover common themes in the GAMSAT. I would suggest reading through
1-2 different topics per day and making sure you really understand what it is talking about.
You could even write a couple of sentences about each topic.
AC Grayling’s Essay Collection can be found at:
http://www.skeptic.ca/grayling_essays.htm
50 Big Ideas You Really Need to Know by Ben Dupre is a great guide to the most
important ideas in history. It covers some of the most influential ideas ever conceived in
politics, philosophy, religion, economics, science, and the arts.
Reading the newspaper is also important in keeping up to date with socio-cultural
issues. It is recommended that students read the comment section of the Sydney Morning
Herald or The Economist. A good recommendation is to read 3 articles per day (less than
15 minutes). For UK students, read articles at www.telegraph.co.uk, and Irish students can
read The Irish Times.
It is highly recommended that students research current events in the world –
Ukraine/Russia, Islamic State, Palestine/Israel, Boko Haram, corruption in Bolivia, and
conflict in Syria. Don’t forget WW1 and WW2.
These events can provide examples for a range of different quotes. A simple YouTube or
Google search can be a good starting point.
TED Talks also provide many great ideas - http://www.ted.com
The ACER booklets contain Section II questions. Only attempt the quotes from the two
shortened ACER papers. Leave the other two papers for a mock test in the last 1-2 weeks
before the GAMSAT.
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The GAMSAT Bible 22
Section III: Reasoning in Biological and Physical Sciences
Outline
This section includes biology, general chemistry, and organic chemistry all at university
level, and physics at year 12 level. Overall, the exam consists of 40% biology, 20% organic
chemistry, 20% general chemistry, and 20% physics.
Candidates are required to use their knowledge and the understanding of concepts to
answer questions. This section involves the analysis of tables, graphs, charts, and scientific
information.
Practicing Section III under timed conditions is crucial. The ACER booklets provide
GAMSAT-like questions. A few questions from the ACER practice booklet were used in the
2015 March GAMSAT, so it is important to work through these and make sure you fully
understand every question.
The AceGAMSAT ‘Full-Length GAMSAT Practice Test’ contains 110 questions that are
just like the real exam so this is definitely a valuable resource. Our entire Home Study
Course contains 1000+ Section III questions.
Once again, practice is the key. The best way to learn all the sciences is by utilising the
AceGAMSAT science study guides for chemistry, biology, and physics. Students should also
watch all the video material that is provided in each book of the GAMSAT Study Package.
Learn and then practise. This is the key to success in Section III!
Topic List for GAMSAT

When studying the units in the following list, aim to grasp and understand the main
concepts rather than just relying on memorisation. The following are the syllabus topic lists
for the GAMSAT.
These topic points are covered to the required depth for the GAMSAT in our GAMSAT
Preparation Courses. Our home study courses contain thousands of the highest quality
practice questions to allow you to apply your knowledge to actual GAMSAT questions.
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The GAMSAT Bible 23
Biology Syllabus Cytoskeleton Glycolysis

Cell movement Aerobic respiration
Macromolecules Fungi Kreb’s Cycle
Carbohydrates Virus Electron transport chain
Nucleic acids Enzymes
Proteins The Cell Membrane
Lipids Structure Mitosis and the Cell
Phospholipids Cycle
The Cell Passive transport Binary fission
Cell theory Active transport Eukaryotic cell cycle
Cell size Endocytosis and Interphase
Visualisation of cells exocytosis M Phase
Cell structure
Prokaryotes Energy, Metabolism Sexual Reproduction
Eukaryotes and Respiration and Meiosis
Endomembrane system Adenosine triphosphate Stages of meiosis
Mitochondria and (ATP)
chloroplasts Cellular metabolism
The eye The Cardiovascular
Meiosis VS mitosis The ear System
The nose and mouth Anatomy of the
Genetics
cardiovascular system
Overview The Endocrine System
Blood vessels
Mendel’s first law: The Chemistry of hormones
The blood
Law of Segregation Hormones in detail
Incomplete dominance The Respiratory System
Reproduction
Codominance
Male reproductive The Lymphatic System
Punnett Squares
system
Mendel’s second law: The The Immune System
Female reproductive
Law of Independent
system Muscle
Assortment
Skeletal muscle
Male VS female The Digestive and
Cardiac muscle
chromosomes Excretory System
Smooth muscle
Mouth and esophagus
The Nervous System
The stomach Bone
Resting potential
The small intestine
Action potential Cartilage
The pancreas
The synapse
The liver and gall bladder Joints
Types of neurons
The large intestine
Divisions of the nervous Skin
Absorption
system
The kidney Homeostasis
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The GAMSAT Bible 24
Organic Chemistry Preparation of Alkenes Aldehydes and Ketones

Syllabus Nomenclature of alkenes Introduction
Stereoisomerism in Nomenclature of
Basic and Common alkenes aldehydes
Functional Groups Elimination reactions Nomenclature of Ketones
Organic Chemistry E2 reactions Preparation of aldehydes
Basics E1 reactions and ketones
Important reactions of
Molecular Addition Reactions
aldehydes and ketones
Representations Hydrohalogenation
3D bond-line structures Hydration Carboxylic Acids
Identifying lone pairs of Hydrogenation Nomenclature
electrons resonance Halogenation Structure of carboxylic
Hybrid orbitals acids
Alkynes
Acidity of carboxylic
Alkanes Radical Reactions acids
Naming alkanes Preparation of carboxylic
Naming substituents Alcohols and Phenols
acids
Constitutional Isomers of Physical properties of
Reactions of carboxylic
alkanes alcohols
acids
Newman projections Acidity of alcohols and
Cyclohexane and chair phenols Amines
conformations Preparation of alcohols Classification
using Grignard reagents Nomenclature
Stereochemistry Properties of amines
Isomerism Spectroscopy
Preparation of amines
Important concepts in Infrared spectroscopy
Important reactions of
stereoisomerism Nuclear Magnetic
amines
Designating R and S resonance spectroscopy
Relationships between Amino Acids, Peptides
Aromatic Rings
enantiomers and and Proteins
Nomenclature of
diastereomers Introduction
aromatic rings
Meso compounds Structure and properties
Fischer projections Aromatic Substitution of amino acids
Reactions Acid-Base properties
Substitution Reactions Electrophilic aromatic Peptide synthesis
Alkyl halides substitution Protein structure
The SN2 mechanism Sulfonation Protein function
The SN1 mechanism Nitration
Elimination Reactions: Activating groups
Structure and Deactivating groups
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The GAMSAT Bible 25
GAMSAT General Chemistry The second law of thermodynamics

Syllabus Thermodynamic functions
Internal energy
Atoms and Molecules Temperature
Atoms Pressure
Elements Enthalpy
The periodic table Entropy
Ions Gibbs free energy
Molecules
Naming inorganic compounds Solutions
Chemical reactions and equations Units of concentration
Types of Chemical Reactions Vapour pressure
Oxidation numbers and redox reactions Solubility
Oxidising VS reducing agents Phase Diagrams
Gases Acids and Bases

Kinetic molecular theory Definitions
Equilibrium constants for acid-base
Kinetics and chemical equilibrium reactions
The collision theory Logarithms
Equations for reaction rates Titrations
Determining the rate law by experiment Buffers
Reaction orders
Rates of reversible reactions Electrochemistry
Catalysis Oxidation-reduction
Equilibrium Potentials
The reaction quotient Galvanic cells
Le Chatelier’s principle Electrolytic cell
Thermodynamics
The first law of thermodynamics
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The GAMSAT Bible 26
GAMSAT Physics Work Potential energy

Syllabus Energy conservation Equipotential lines and
Power electric dipoles
Translational Motion Fluids and Solids Electromagnetism
Scalars and vectors Density Electromagnetism
Adding and subtracting Specific gravity Electromagnetic
vectors Pressure spectrum
Resolution of vectors and Buoyancy and
trigonometric functions Electricity: Electric
Archimedes’ principle
Distance and Circuits
Fluids in motion
displacement Current
Fluid viscosity and
Speed and velocity Ohm’s law
determination of flow
Acceleration Resistance and resistivity
Surface tension
Uniform accelerated Resistance in circuits
Solids
motion Batteries and
Wave Characteristics electromotive force
Force, Motion, and and Periodic Motion Kirchoff’s laws
Gravitation Transverse and Capacitors and dielectrics
Mass, weight, center of longitudinal mechanical Power
mass waves
Newton’s first law Light and Optics
Mathematical
Newton’s second law Visual spectrum and
representation of a wave
Newton’s third law polarisation
Superposition of waves,
Gravitation Images
phase, interface
Special right triangles Mirrors
Resonance
Free fall motion Refraction, dispersion,
Standing waves
Projectile motion Snell’s law
Harmonics
Friction Lenses
Periodic motion
Inclined planes
Atomic and Nuclear
Circular motion and Sound
Structure
centripetal force Production of sound
Protons, neutrons,
Tension Intensity and pitch
electrons
Pulley systems Beats
Isotopes, atomic number,
Doppler effect
Equilibrium atomic weight
Translational and Electrostatistics Fission and fusion
rotational motion Charge, conductors, Radioactivity
insulators Nuclear reactions and
Momentum and Coulomb’s law, electric radioactive decay
Collisions force Half-life
Energy and Work Electric field, electric
Energy field lines
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The GAMSAT Bible 27
What Level of Mathematics Is Recommended?

Students should be proficient in the following mathematics topics upon sitting the
GAMSAT:
• Properties of Integers
• Orders of Operations
• Algebra
• Factorisation
• Surds
• Logarithms and Exponents
• Scientific Notation
• Basic Geometry
• Graphs
• Probability
• Mathematical Estimation Techniques
These topics are all covered in-depth with fully worked examples in The Mathematics
Bible.
Manipulating and solving linear equations is extremely important and arise in many
different parts of Section III. Students should make sure that manipulating simple
equations becomes second nature.
Exponentials and logarithms are found in almost every GAMSAT exam. It is important
for radioactive decay and acid/base-related questions.
Trigonometry also arises in almost every GAMSAT exam and students need to know the
basics: sin, cos, tan, and converting between radians and degrees.
Manipulating equations is the most important skill in Section III of the GAMSAT.
Students should know how the power laws work when multiplying or dividing quantities.
Example: xy/y4 = xy-3
Probability-related questions arise frequently in Section III. The skill of calculating
probabilities is crucial in Punnett square calculations.
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The GAMSAT Bible 28
Introduction to Section III tips and tricks

Success in the GAMSAT is all about SPEED. There is a magical sweet spot in the GAMSAT
between quality and quantity, and you’ll find that it’s a little bit skewed towards
quantity. Much more favorable scores will be found where a little bit of accuracy is
sacrificed for a shot at actually finishing the exam! This is something that is generally not
appreciated by the average student in their first time sitting the GAMSAT: unless you are
actively studying to improve your speed, or are innately fast, it is very easy to be caught out
by how time consuming the actual GAMSAT questions are!
On the day, the average person will completely guess between 10-30 Section 3
questions as that final buzzer rings. Now, unfortunately if nearly one-quarter of the exam is
left unfinished, your score will be very average. However, the first step to overcoming a
problem is by being aware of it. The next step is to actively combat it, and in the next few
paragraphs I’ll be sharing the GAMSAT specific techniques that WILL help you increase
your speed.
The Basics – Studying for Speed

Always aim to increase your speed - do not get complacent! A mistake that some
students may make is that they may complete the ACER practice exams under time early on
and conclude that they will be fine for the actual exam. Do not make this mistake. The
actual GAMSAT is much harder to complete under time pressure. The biology questions
have much larger stem paragraphs in the actual exam, and this is unfortunately something
that will slow you down on the day, it can’t be avoided! So, you will find time management
harder with the actual exam.
Now, there are two ways in which you can improve your speed:
1. Do more questions. The more questions you do, the faster your brain can recognise
patterns/access formulas/quickly calculate simple maths and the faster you will be.
2. Ramp up your study, as you get closer to the exam, so you can peak in potential on
the day of the exam. The theory behind ramping up is simple: if doing more
questions makes you faster, and you want to be as fast as possible, then doing the
most questions just before the exam will ensure that you are as fast as possible on
the day. This means practising thousands of GAMSAT style questions.
a. Note: This does not mean that you should be frantically filling out questions
as you wait in line to enter the examination room! Do give yourself a few
days before the exam to relax. But your last week of study should be the
week in which you do the most work.
Ramping up, by the way is NOT the same as cramming. By steadily increasing the
amount of study you do as you get closer to the exam, you are giving your brain time to
acclimatise to the subjects and truly understand the material. The issue with cramming for
the GAMSAT is that you don’t give yourself time to develop this mastery, and instead you
will only be able to use the formulas in very linear ways. As soon as you encounter a
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The GAMSAT Bible 29
scenario outside of the one in your textbook (i.e. most of the GAMSAT), you will likely
become lost. Instead if you gradually build up your foundation, you will peak in both
familiarity and speed as you get to the day of the GAMSAT, and be much more flexible on
the day.
The Basics - First Principles

“It is important to view knowledge as sort of semantic tree. Make sure you understand the
fundamental principles, i.e. the trunk and big branches, before you get into the leaves/details
or there is nothing for them to hang on to.” - Elon Musk
First principles are extraordinarily important for the GAMSAT – it’s a concept that
helped Elon launch rockets into space, and it’s something that will tremendously improve
your GAMSAT score! The idea is that you attempt to boil everything down into it’s simplest
details, asking yourself why it’s like that along the way. For example, ask yourself what
each of the individual values in a formula actually represent. If we use the pH formula you
can ask yourself: What actually is pH? What actually is acidity? Why is there a log in the
formula? How does this relate to basicity?
What this gives you is a framework to answer difficult GAMSAT questions, because if
you understand the fundamental principles you can find multiple routes to the
answer. This isn’t just confined to chemistry/physics. If you can start boiling biology
graphs and diagrams down to their simplest components and ignore all the jargon, your
GAMSAT score WILL improve! First principles give you flexibility and lateral thinking,
which is important in an exam as varied as the GAMSAT. The one thing that you should not
be doing is plugging numbers blindly into a formula, because it will not work for this exam.
First principles will also enable you to actually see the question for what it is.
I can almost be certain that there will be terms and ideas that you aren’t familiar with on
the GAMSAT. The trick is to ask yourself: what is the question actually asking? Do I need to
know this jargon? You will find that much of the stimulus material ends up being a
distraction, and that the actual question may be asking for something very simple! Many
people will feel uncomfortable answering a question in which you don’t know many
terms/ideas, but unfortunately there is not enough time in the GAMSAT to thoroughly
understand everything. If you get stuck, often it is a better strategy to go back to the stem
and look for something that you missed/misinterpreted, rather than getting distracted by
those unfamiliar terms.
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The GAMSAT Bible 30
Maximising your score

It’s a pretty common scenario – you’re doing Section 3, 20 questions in, well under time,
feeling like the questions are all very understandable. “Great work”, you tell yourself “the
preparation has paid off!” Then you hit a series of questions that are just so foreign. You
have to read through the stem three times just to understand it, your working out isn’t
getting you the answers you need and the graph doesn’t make sense. But you’re stubborn,
so you overcommit your time to this set of questions. This happens a few times throughout
the exam, each overcommitment compounding your time deficit, and by the time the final
buzzer rings you haven’t even seen the last three pages of the question booklet.
No matter how fast you are, or how well prepared, it is likely that there will be a
question in the GAMSAT that stumps you. How you react to this question will have a great
impact on your ability to complete the exam and in turn your overall score.
The key to approaching a question in which you have no idea how to answer is to be
realistic. You need to decide in that moment whether you just need a little bit of time to
answer the question, or whether it is unlikely to come to you under time. Realistically, if
that question is going to take you much longer than the one minute thirty seconds you
have, you need to leave it.
I think leaving a question for later is a very psychologically difficult choice to make.
You’ve likely by this stage put months into preparing for the GAMSAT and sacrificed large
chunks of your holidays or weekends. The scenario everyone wants is to walk out of that
exam, knowing all that hard work paid off, having answered every single question
confidently and calmly, and feeling like you wouldn’t even be surprised with a high eighties
score come results day. So, by overcommitting you preserve that dream GAMSAT run for a
little longer.
You tell yourself: “Maybe I can make up lost time later on in the exam - at least I’ve still
confidently answered every question so far”. But realistically there will be questions that
you can’t answer under time on the day…and that’s okay. High scores can still be obtained if
you leave the odd hard question here and there, but give yourself the allocated amount of
time for the ‘easy' questions.
This is the tactic I used, and it got me much better results than the people who tried to
answer every single question to an equal standard. The key is to have a really good crack at
the 80% of the exam that is not super difficult, that just needs time to read through the
stem and do the working out. The reality is that even for ‘easy’ questions, once you factor
in time to read the stimulus (it might take up half of your 1 minute and 30 seconds), you
really aren’t operating with a lot of time. And as a result, it’s close to impossible to actually
catch up once you’re behind from stubbornly answering that really difficult question.
I find it helps to mark these difficult questions with an asterisk and to answer to the best
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The GAMSAT Bible 31
of your ability within the time limit. Then, if you manage to breeze through the easy
questions in the exam, you can start going back to the marked questions with your
remaining time bank. But do not overcommit to these questions, or your score will suffer.
GAMSAT specific techniques

One of the most useful GAMSAT mental maths technique is to avoid multiplying numbers
with decimals by first treating them as whole numbers and then adding the decimal places
afterwards. For example, instead of trying to multiply 0.9 and 0.32, it’s usually much
quicker multiplying 9 and 32 and then adding three decimal places afterwards. The reason
for this is that naturally we are much better at multiplying whole numbers quickly as it’s
what we’re most used to and practice more often in day-to-day life.
You can also apply this to working with fractions. If you are asked to find 0.9 divided by
0.32, instead you can treat it as 90 divided by 32 (by adding powers of 10 to the numerator
and denominator). This makes it vastly easier for me to see that the answer should be just
under 3. The major advantage is that by being able to approximate the answer (should be
just under 3), you can have a quick look at the multiple-choice answers and see if anything
stands out. A good number of times you will find that you won’t even need to perform the
full working out (actually divide 90 by 32 by hand), and that there is a very obvious
multiple choice answer, based on your approximations. Try it for yourself!
So, we’ve sort of dealt with multiplying small numbers (decimals), but how do we
multiply extremely large numbers (numbers in the millions) without a calculator? Yes, it is
possible to do it by hand. You can probably multiply 10,000 by 18,000,000 if you have a
pen and paper and lots of time. But time is a luxury as you very well know, so instead the
quick way is to convert the large numbers into scientific notation. 10,000 becomes 104 and
18,000,000 becomes 1.8 x 107, meaning the answer is found by simply multiplying the two
indices together to get 1.8 x 1011. By doing this you avoid writing out long numbers over
multiple lines, reducing mistakes (this way you only have to count the number of zeroes
once) and time taken. This will dramatically cut down on your Maths again, and hopefully
get you the speed that you require.
Another way to cut down on math working is to utilise guesstimations. If you can round
one number down and one number up then the answer will likely balance out, and save you
from multiplying hard decimal numbers. For example, 0.82 times 0.37 can be rounded to
0.8 times 0.4. The difference between the rounded (0.32) and exact (0.30) is not super
significant, and will be small enough to still pick the right answer in the GAMSAT exam (i’d
personally say over 80% of the time). If you find that guesstimating results in an answer
that is too inexact then you can finish it off by multiplying the exact decimals to get the
right answer, but the overall time that you can save is very large if you can pull off
guesstimations in the right places.
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The GAMSAT Bible 32
A great way to learn the formulae is to learn the units of the various parameters. For
example, speed has the units metres/second. What this means is that to find speed you
need to divide the distance (meters) by the time (seconds). It’s simple, but ties back in to
first principles, where by learning the very basics you will find that you enjoy much more
flexibility in your solutions. For example, if you see that the multiple choice options are all
in Joules, you might hopefully also know that 1 Joule = 1 Newton metre. This sort of gives
you a hint that maybe by multiplying the overall force (Newtons) with the distance
(metres) a solution for that specific question might be found.
GAMSAT traps
An exam trap is a mistake in waiting. It is something that the exam writer has inserted
that goes against your usual expectations of a question, in order to catch out people who
aren’t paying attention to the finer details. Unfortunately, in the heat of the moment, these
are often very hard to pick out. When you’re working against the clock, and the whole
situation is stressing you out, it’s easy to miss an unusual unit, or that atypical graph.
Luckily, by doing many questions you can get a feel for typical types of traps and hopefully
learn to spot them as you go.
The most common recurring trap in the GAMSAT is the tricky axis. A real staple of the
GAMSAT, the tricky axis is where the examiner somehow makes the axis of the given graph
a little bit atypical, such as making the y or x-axis in log scale (instead of linear) or including
a gap in the axis (so that a graph that starts with a large number can be included on a graph
with small scale divisions).
Often the stimulus material will not otherwise mention this variation, so it’s up to you to
be very observant of the graph axis in the paper.
Always make sure that you are looking at the units of the graph axis too. Often the paper
will give you the axis in a certain unit (mm for example) and ask for the answer in another
(meters). To make it convincing, the paper will include multiple-choice options that would
work if you both didn’t and did pick up that small detail, making this a mark that is very
easy to lose. Just make sure that you try to make a mental note of anything out of the
ordinary as you read through the stimulus material, particularly the axis of the graphs.
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The GAMSAT Bible 33
General Tips for the GAMSAT
The AceGAMSAT Elimination Strategy

Over the years our team has developed a range of strategies that can help you think
critically about the question and answer choices in the GAMSAT. These strategies should be
used when all else fails so you can eliminate some answer choices and make your best
educated guess.
These strategies are obviously used for Section I and Section III of the GAMSAT.
The first step is to make sure you fully understand what the question is asking. It may
sometimes be easier to rephrase the question into a statement, or a simpler question.
Once you fully understand what the question is asking then you can start eliminating any
answer choices that could not possibly be correct.
Then begin by re-reading the remaining answers and ask yourself the following
questions.
• Does the answer choice respond to the question being asked? If not, eliminate it! Even if
it may be a true statement it may not be the answer to the question that is being asked.
This is where many students go wrong. They pick an answer because it is true, however
it does not answer the question! If it does, however, respond to the question being
asked, keep it as an option as it may be correct.
• Do the answer choices contain words like none, all, absolutely, always, or never? The
majority of answer choices that contain these words are incorrect. This is because the
ideas in the answer choices are usually open to interpretation, and cannot be expressed
in such absolute terms as never or always. Instead look for options that use conditional
words such as usually, often, rarely, some, or most. This technique alone has helped
many of our students dramatically improve their scores.
• Does the answer choice express an extreme view of the information from the passage?
This extreme view can either be positive or negative. If so, re-read it carefully to see if it
is actually answering the question or if it is just an extreme summary of the information
from the passage.
• Does the answer choice use the exact same language as the author in the
stimulus/passage, but change the meaning of what is being said? If this is the case, this
answer choice is a misleading option and has most likely been put there to trick you into
choosing the wrong answer. This answer choice can then be eliminated. If not, keep it as
an option as it may still be the correct answer.
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The GAMSAT Bible 34
The AceGAMSAT Guessing Strategy

If you run out of time or you cannot even use the process of elimination technique to
answer the question then guess! When guessing an answer choice always stick to the same
letter! For example, if time is running out and you have 10 questions left then you should
mark the multiple-choice answers all ‘C’. It doesn’t matter what choice you choose (could
have chosen B instead) as long as you are consistent with your ‘guess’ letter.
The AceGAMSAT Mindset Technique

Studying for the GAMSAT requires long hours of study on a consistent basis for several
months. It is so easy to procrastinate and avoid studying until ‘tomorrow’. When you think
to yourself, “When should I start studying and preparing for the GAMSAT?” the answer is
NOW!
We have chosen 4 techniques that will help students focus and succeed in the GAMSAT.
These are:
1. Early Study
2. Meditation
3. Affirmations
4. Visualisation
1. Early study
Students should start studying and practising GAMSAT-related material at least 3
months before the GAMSAT exam. Students should aim to study as early in the day as
possible.
Five great things to try upon waking up include the following:
1. Wash face with cold water
2. Drink a glass of water
3. Eat a light breakfast – Low GI
4. Brush teeth
5. Stretch to loosen up muscles and increase blood flow
2. Meditation (5-10 minutes)

Meditation will reduce your stress levels, so you can begin each day with a kind of calm,
clarity, and peace of mind that will allow you to stay focused on what is most important in
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The GAMSAT Bible 35
your life. Starting your day off with meditation will allow you to focus on your goals and
priorities.
Find a quiet, comfortable place to sit. Sit upright on the ground with legs crossed. You
can close your eyes, or you can look down at the ground. Start by focusing on your breath,
taking slow, deep breaths. Remember to breathe in through your nose and out through
your mouth. Breathe the surrounding air into your belly, not just your chest.
Pace your breath. Breathe in for 3 seconds and out for 3 seconds. During this process,
you will feel your thoughts and emotions settling down as you focus on your breath.
Be aware that as you attempt to quiet your mind, thoughts will still come in to pay a
visit. Acknowledge them, then let them go, always returning your focus to your breath.
The aim of meditation is to clear your mind for the following exercises and allow you to
have laser-focus on your priorities for the day.
Here are two great guided meditations you can listen to:
Video: Meditation 1
Video: Meditation 2
3. Affirmations (3 minutes)
As Muhammad Ali stated – “It’s the repetition of affirmations that leads to belief. Once
that belief becomes a deep conviction, things begin to happen.”
When you actively design and write out affirmations to be in alignment with what you
want to accomplish, and commit to repeating them daily (out loud) – they will immediately
make an impression on your subconscious mind. The affirmations you read out will go to
work to transform the way you think and feel so you can overcome your limiting beliefs
and behaviours and replace them with those you need to succeed.
You should create your own or tweak the following affirmations to suit your own
specific goals. The following affirmations are a great example of what your affirmations
should be like.
“I will put in 110% every day when studying for the GAMSAT. Nothing comes easy in life. I
will write essays as frequent as possible and receive feedback so that I can improve my skills
to the fullest. My essays will keep on getting better, and better, and I will achieve a 70+
GAMSAT score.
I will read all the recommended GAMSAT books for Section I and learn all the required
Section III GAMSAT content. I am going to be a GAMSAT machine! I will practise all of the
GAMSAT practice questions available until I master them all. I will practise the questions
under timed conditions so that I can breeze through the exam on the day. I do not care how
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The GAMSAT Bible 36
long it will take, I will continuously put in hard work and will score high enough in the
GAMSAT to gain acceptance into my first preference university.
If I do not pass the GAMSAT the first time, will I give up? No! I will go back and study twice
as hard and twice as long as last time. I will make sacrifices. I will work my hardest to
improve on my weakest points and no matter what it takes I will eventually SUCCEED!
I will eventually get a high GAMSAT score, no matter how long it takes and I will breeze
through the MMI interviews.
I am responsible for my own destiny and I will achieve my dream and become a Doctor.”
4. Visualisation (3 minutes)
Visualisation refers to the practice of seeking to generate positive results in your outer
world by using your imagination to create mental images of specific behaviours and
outcomes occurring in your life. It is the process of imagining exactly what you want to
achieve, and then mentally rehearsing what you’ll need to do to achieve it.
Spend 3 minutes listening to some relaxing music. Close your eyes, sit upright, and take
deeps breath in and out (holding each for 3 seconds). Visualise yourself preparing for the
GAMSAT for many hours each day. You are laser-focused and your number one priority is
to succeed in the exam.
Visualise yourself breezing through the questions in Section I and Section III, and writing
that perfect, flowing essay the markers are going to love to read. Visualise yourself
checking your GAMSAT results and receiving an amazing score.
Imagine yourself breezing through the medical school interviews and then imagine
yourself as a Doctor many years from now. What will you specialise in? Where would you
live? What will your day consist of? Will you have a loving wife… or husband, and many
children? Will you be one of the most influential Doctors in the world? How will your
parents feel about your success? How will you feel saving the lives of people in need? And
most of all, how will you feel when you look back at all the hard work you put in to achieve
this dream of becoming a Doctor?
Final thoughts
Over the last few pages I’ve included a wide variety of tips and tricks for the GAMSAT,
which I hope you’ll find useful. These are just some of the observations and concepts I’ve
gathered over the years, and it is by no means comprehensive. I truly hope, however, that
everyone finds a little part of it helpful.
I do understand that revising for the GAMSAT can be a confusing process for many. The
perfectionist in many of you may look at the list of advice I’ve compiled and think “how on
earth am I going to remember all of this for the exam?” The trick is that these are just a list
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The GAMSAT Bible 37
of common mistakes and tricks that can help you. You don’t need to go out there and
eliminate every single bad habit obsessively. Oftentimes just being aware of the potential
pitfalls is enough - now that you’ve heard of the dangers of say overcommitting to a difficult
question, you’ll be much less likely to actually make that mistake. By incorporating some of
these methods into your GAMSAT preparation over time, when the exam finally rolls
around, hopefully everything will be second nature, and you’ll be able to show off your true
potential.
The one thing I do know is that if you want to get into medicine, you will eventually
make it. It really is possible to make it through this challenging test regardless of your
background, be it science undergrad, post-grad or completely different career. Over the
years, I’ve read about and seen all sorts of styles of wildly different pathways that
eventually led to GAMSAT success.
It might not be when you hoped, but if medicine truly is your passion, it is something
you will achieve. There is a lot of work involved in getting into medicine, and a lot more
work to be had after. But if it is something that you want to do, I’m sure it will be all worth
it, and I wish you all the best for not only the GAMSAT but also the rest of your medical
career.
- Matthew
Please forward any enquiries to: contact@acegamsat.com
www.AceGAMSAT.com
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The GAMSAT Bible

The information contained in this guide is for informational purposes only.

GAMSAT: STRUCTURING YOUR STUDY 4

SECTION I: REASONING IN HUMANITIES 12

SECTION II: WRITTEN COMMUNICATION 15

SECTION III: REASONING IN BIOLOGICAL AND PHYSICAL SCIENCES 22

TIPS FOR GAMSAT 33

The GAMSAT Bible 1

Overview of the GAMSAT

The GAMSAT Bible 2

What Do I Need to Score in the GAMSAT?

The GAMSAT Bible 3

Which Universities Currently Use GAMSAT Scores?

The GAMSAT Bible 4

GAMSAT: Structuring your study

Overall Competency Study Time (for each section)

The GAMSAT Bible 5

6 months prior to the exam

The GAMSAT Bible 6

The GAMSAT Bible 7

quality practice questions in our study courses and packages.

3 months prior to the exam

It is extremely important to do a high volume of questions. It is the main way in which

2 weeks prior to the exam

The GAMSAT Bible 8

Example timetable for Non-Science background student:

The GAMSAT Bible 9

Week 1: Continue taking notes on

Monday: ACER blue paper On the review days (Tuesday, Thursday),

The GAMSAT Bible 10

paper all the sections on the same day)

Monday: review ACER green paper

1 Week Tuesday-Friday: finish reviewing

Help I’ve run out of time!

The GAMSAT Bible 11

The GAMSAT Bible 12

Section I: Reasoning in Humanities and Social Sciences

Section I of the GAMSAT consists of multiple-choice questions with 4 options.

The GAMSAT Bible 13

Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens

An excellent resource to improve vocabulary can be found at vocabulary.com. This

A free site that provides Section-I-like questions is readtheory.org. It will provide

The GAMSAT Bible 14

The GAMSAT Bible 15

Section II: Written Communication

The GAMSAT Bible 16

Friends are the family you choose.

The GAMSAT Bible 17

Task A Sample Planning - Basic

The GAMSAT Bible 18

Task B Sample Planning - Basic

The GAMSAT Bible 19

Task A Practice Quotes

The GAMSAT Bible 20

Task B Practice Quotes

The GAMSAT Bible 21

Suggested Readings For Section II

The GAMSAT Bible 22

Section III: Reasoning in Biological and Physical Sciences

Topic List for GAMSAT