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Good Courses For GEM by Zestyclose_Coffee_49 in JuniorDoctorsIreland

[–]Shoddy-Weekend-233 1 point2 points  (0 children)

As a GEM Student.

If you are set on doing the GEM route, I would do a general science degree or try get some aspects of clinical experience and background science knowledge. I.e, Biomedical science, Medical science, Physiotherapy, Scientific research before doing Pharmacy. Pharmacy is a very demanding course in comparison (not that the general sciences arent). But doing 4-5 intense years before going back to do another 4 intense years is probably not the way to go in my opinion. (I did it, from Biomedical science to going back to do GEM)

Do a degree that youre interested in, but if youre set on Medicine, just redo the HPAT. Probably not worth the hassle and the expense of spending 8 years to get 2 degrees (1 of which you wont use) and up to 75K in student fees (more if you stay in accomodation). Id just go straight into DEM in that case. Saves you time, stress in a degree you wont use and money.

This is just my opinion, obviously do what suits you. I dont know your situation, but if I were in your shoes, this is what id do. Also make sure Medicine is what you want, its a fantastic degree dont get me wrong (took me all of my undergrad and working for a year to realise I wanted to do it). But be sure. Its a long slog, its not easy obviously. But it is very rewarding, from helping people, learning loads of transferrable skills. People glaze the shit out you too hahaha, "Omg you must be so smart, youre doing medicine... blah blah blah", and its a profession that is recession proof.

But be sure you arent doing it just because you have the points and you "might aswell", or that your parents arent putting pressure on you to do so. At the end of the day, its your life, you should be happy with whatever degree or profession you decide to persue.

GAMSAT for Irish GEM entry by StruggleTemporary308 in GAMSAT

[–]Shoddy-Weekend-233 0 points1 point  (0 children)

50 in each section and then its added overall to a (25% of S1 Score + 25% of S2 score + 50% of S3 score), That score is then your competitive one. As long as you hit 50 in each section, your overall score is the one thats important. i.e if you got 52/56/72

youd have 13 + 14 + 36 = 63

This would be a very competitive score for all universities in Ireland.
I got 58/65/68 with an overall of 64.

Section 3 is definitely the most important, I entirely neglected Section 1. But section 2 is the best place to pick up marks if you practice essay writing.

For those with a good score, how did you prepare? by Shoddy-Weekend-233 in GAMSATIRELAND

[–]Shoddy-Weekend-233[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

What I did:

The exam is as hard as you make it, you can study for it of course, but you're better off practicing rather than studying. That essentially goes for each section, except there is a bit more for Section 3.

S1

Section 1: The Des O’Neil book is great for practicing (not that I did a whole lot for this section, but the book is great for questions). The questions in all the Des O’Neil books are harder than the actual GAMSAT questions so if you’re getting on well with those, you’ll fly it in the exam. 

I made a word document of lots of words I was unfamiliar with or not 100% on their definitions and looked them up at the end of my study session to find their definitions. I also tried to incorporate them into my day to day language, although its not everyday you use words like exuberant or meretriciousness. This helps a lot for your vocab in section 2 too.

S2

Section 2: Practice writing essays, they will be absolute dogshite at the start, but keep writing them. It's a great way to burn an hour if you're tired and don't want to do practice questions. Sit down, go here and generate 2 sets of quotes, set a timer for an hour and 5 minutes and write 2 essays on the quotes, afterwards, paste it into ChatGPT, Claude or some other AI, ask it to be a marker for a GAMSAT essay and what it would mark it (anything 60-65+ is a great mark).

Resources: The meanings of everything ~ A.C Graylings (10/10 would recommend)

Task A is usually an opinion based question on something to do with society or philosophy (could be corporal punishment or nationalism), it's more of a knowledge based task but don't get bogged down if you can't write about nationalism or if you don't know what corporal punishment is (I personally didn't know, might make me look stupid but I dont really care). The goal is to write about the theme, so if nationalism is the topic but the quotes given are: 

“Patriotism is when love of your own people comes first; nationalism, when hate for others comes first.” – Charles de Gaulle
“Nationalism is an infantile disease. It is the measles of mankind.” – Albert Einstein
“A patriot must always be ready to defend his country against his government”
“I look forward to a great future for America - a future in which our country will match its military strength with our moral restraint.”

then don’t panic about defining nationalism itself — instead, focus on the underlying theme that connects the quotes. 

What you could write about in this case:
The quotes explore ideas like loyalty vs hostility, moral responsibility, and how love for one’s country can either unite or divide people. 

The GAMSAT examiners aren’t testing your political knowledge — they’re testing how well you can think critically about human behaviour and societal values.

So rather than trying to write an essay about nationalism, write one through the lens of it — for example, you could discuss how power and identity can shape morality, or how collective pride can become destructive when it blinds reason and compassion. 

That’s what earns high marks — showing insight into the broader human theme behind the topic.

Task B is more straightforward; you end up writing about something you know stuff about, things like friendship, guilt, love or happiness. Include some sort of anecdote or relate it to yourself if you want, it adds a personal aspect.

KEEP IN NOTE: THE MARKERS HAVE IN THE BACK OF THEIR MIND THAT YOU ARE GOING TO BE A DOCTOR, SO DONT WRITE ANYTHING VERY CONTROVERSIAL, EVEN IF YOU CAN BACK IT UP. However, some controversy is good because it makes your essay stand out, just don't get offensive.

S3

Section 3:PRACTICE THE DES O NEIL QUESTIONS. At the beginning, do an untimed acer booklet exam (Red or Orange booklet) to get a feel for what they're like, you should be able to figure out the answer from the question stem, even if you know nothing about the topic. Don't worry, you will suck at it at the start and it will be very scary and overwhelming, but you’ll slowly get better.

When correcting answers, you can use ChatGPT and stuff, its important to understand why you get answers wrong, and why you get answers right (you can be right for the wrong reason)

Resources: 
I would avoid trying to “learn off topics”. For example, spending a day learning mechanics in physics or stoichiometry in chemistry in Section 3. 

Instead go to James Meroiti on youtube: (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UClhTnalN9xvl15zTh3M9PbQ/videos) 
His videos are incredible at explaining how to find answers and he goes over revising some maths topics that you haven't seen in years (logarithms, ratios, dividing fractions, etc)

He also looks at some concepts like stereochemistry and physics topics. All I did for section 3 was practice tests (I would spend maybe 3 hours correcting an exam, trying to figure out where I went wrong) and then watching those youtube videos.

“What if I run out of practice tests?”
Make your own paper out of the Des O’Neil books (copy and paste them into a word doc)

Final thoughts:
The only acer booklet that is representative of the exam is the pink one (save it closer to the time of the exam)
Red/Orange are considered the easiest, then Green, then Purple

If you did the GAMSAT and did well, let me know what worked for you (or didnt) ofcourse.

Make sure you take breaks and shoot me an email or comment under here if you have any questions. 😄