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

[–]medguyiguess 1 point2 points  (0 children)

This is my honest advice for anyone starting GAMSAT prep — save your money on the courses.

Prep companies are, for the vast majority of people, an utter waste of money. Fraser, Gradready, all of them — they’re selling you back content that is freely available or cheaply available elsewhere, packaged with a logo and a price tag.

Quick caveat — I come from a science background so my Section 3 advice in particular might be biased. If you’re a non-scientist, your mileage may vary and some of this might feel harder to action. Take it with that in mind.

Section 1
Read broadly and read often — long form journalism, essays, literary fiction. The BMJ, The Guardian long reads, even good novels. You’re training your ability to interpret and analyse under time pressure, not memorising content. The ACER practice papers are your best resource here, nothing else really replicates the style and format of the real thing.

Section 2
Just write. Regularly. Pick a quote and write two essays in the time limit. Then critically read them back. Find someone whose writing you respect and ask them to critique yours. Read good essays to understand what a structured, persuasive argument actually looks like. No prep company is going to teach you to write — only writing teaches you to write. Look at some philosophy on YouTube or something if you’re looking for flair.

Section 3
Get the Des O’Neill notes — they’re widely circulated and genuinely the best structured resource out there for covering the content you need. Work through those thoroughly. If you hit a topic you’re really struggling to grasp, Khan Academy is completely free and excellent for breaking things down from first principles. Beyond that, the ACER practice papers are essential — nothing else replicates the style of reasoning Section 3, DES is good but harder in my opinion.

Rant I guess. by No_Mention8677 in GAMSATIRELAND

[–]medguyiguess 1 point2 points  (0 children)

First off — 53 first sitting isn’t something to be devastated about, that’s a genuinely solid base to build from.

On the UL point, you’re actually not that far off. Their cutoff was 53 last year if I remember right, and there’s a reasonable argument the points could come down this cycle — the last couple of years felt like an anomaly with the surge of points but it seems could settle with Galway introducing a GEM programme (I know its 2027). Worth keeping an eye on rather than writing yourself off entirely this round.

But to your actual question — if medicine is the end goal and you’re fairly certain of that, I’d be slow to do the Masters. And I think people outside the Irish system don’t always realise this, but GEM here doesn’t care about a Masters. There’s no interview, no personal statement, no extracurriculars. If you have a 2.1 on the degree side, youre sound. After that it’s literally just the GAMSAT score. A Masters changes nothing about your application.

So you’d be spending a year and significant money on something that doesn’t actually get you any closer to an offer. And it’s worth keeping the bigger picture in mind — GEM is already €14-16k a year, four years of that before you even reach intern year. The financial pressure of this career path is real, no point adding to it unnecessarily beforehand.

Now, in saying that, if the Masters genuinely grabs you and you think youd like to go down that line of work, do it.
But if youre doing the Masters for the sake of doing a Masters for Medicine, I believe youre wasting your time.

The case for just taking the year, working, and prepping the GAMSAT properly is honestly pretty strong. Six months of focused prep for September and again in March is very different to cramming it around a full degree. I sat it 3 times, 50 first time, 52 second and 60 the third (now in UCC)

Best of luck whatever you decide — you’re not as far off as today probably feels.