Section 2 of the GAMSAT exam is all about written communication. On the exam day you’ll be presented with 2 sets of 5 quotes and you’ll be required to write a response to each set and demonstrate your ability to interpret the ideas and themes and then respond in a cohesive and engaging manner. With just 60 minutes on the clock for 2 essays, you’ll be under the pump to produce the best work possible to get yourself a great score. You might be asking however, what does essay writing have to do with getting into medical school? Communication is an invaluable skill as a healthcare professional, and you need to be able to communicate effectively with both patients and other health professionals. You need to also be able to communicate effectively – Imagine a late night phone call to a specialist where you need to get advice on how to manage a specific medical issue. Finally you also need to be able to communicate empathetically and talk through complex ideas – Imagine talking a patient through all the options for the treatment of a cancer and what each may mean for them.
In the GAMSAT exam, the essay answers you provide in section 2 will be based on the themes discussed in the quotes, and then you’ll need to reconcile them in a specific amount of time. Your answers will have to be stated clearly, just as you speak to a patient. The essay part of the exam will demonstrate your ability to say things clearly after having read different viewpoints.
How to Study for the Essay Questions
You need to start planning early to do well in this section of the GAMSAT exam – Essay writing is a skill that takes time to hone and develop, it’s not something that you can cram in over the space of a few weeks. You’ll have a very limited amount of time in the exam to formulate your essays and type a response , so you’ll need to understand what sort of styles of response suit you best and test out a few different approaches well beforehand. Many people that have taken the exam say that this is the most challenging part of it.
You’ll have to interpret the overall theme of the topics provided while considering the different opinions presented. Therefore, it’s important to prepare for the essay questions by learning how to format them in the best way possible. This is best done by taking a GAMSAT course and getting access to GAMSAT preparation materials and then practicing writing effectively repeatedly before the exam. This way, you’ll be able to form your writing style, get consistent feedback, and know how to put your thoughts together logically and concisely.
You’ll be surprised at the quality of the essays you write at the beginning versus the quality of the papers you write after some practice. Keep some of your early pieces so that you can make a comparison to see just how far you have advanced once you have formulated a style of your own and have had a lot of practice. You’ll know that you will have adopted a way to provide an analytical argument and a friendly approach to essay writing that you didn’t have at the start.
