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How long should I study for GAMSAT?

The key with GAMSAT is to study smart rather than long. When you first look at the suggested level of knowledge from ACER (First Year College Level Biology and Chemistry) it can seem incredibly daunting. However, GAMSAT is really examining your ability to problem solve and reason at this level, rather than a complete examination of your detailed knowledge. As such your focus should always be on the core concepts and most importantly building these reasoning skills.

As such although it might take a good 12 months to ‘learn’ the correct information for the GAMSAT, it is possible to gain an understanding of the core principles in a much shorter period. Don’t think of GAMSAT as a traditional university exam, with a fixed syllabus to be learnt. Rather you should gradually develop your reasoning skills and data analysis skills based on these core concepts.

All of this of course focuses only on Section 3. In a way the hardest skills to develop are those required for Sections 1 and 2. The broad advice of becoming ‘better read’ and understanding a broad range of literature sources is in itself time consuming. There are certainly skills which can be learnt, but the ability to deal with complex passages at speed requires time and practice. As such we suggest you start your reading as soon as possible for these sections, and continue your verbal reasoning right up until the exam.

So how long should you study? In an ideal world you will have developed many of the skills GAMSAT requires during your university studies (it is after all a graduate test), but spending a good 6 months reading and practicing reflective writing pieces should be sufficient. As always more is better, but smart is better still!