GAMSAT Chemistry – How to Score Well in the Organic Chemistry Section
The Reasoning in Biological and Physical Sciences section contains questions on Biology, Chemistry and Physics. Equal weightage is given to Biology and Chemistry as each of them comprise of 40% of GAMSAT Section III. Questions on Physical Sciences comprise of only 20% of this section. Thus, to get the qualifying marks in GAMSAT, aspirants not only have to answer the chemistry questions, but also have to answer them correctly.
Organic chemistry, contrary to belief, is nothing to be scared of. If an aspirant studies the concepts carefully and applies them analytically to answer the questions, then nothing can prevent him from getting a good score in GAMSAT Chemistry section. The GAMSAT chemistry section consists of about 50% organic chemistry questions. So scoring well in this section will ensure qualifying marks in GAMSAT Section III.
But how much do you need to study to cross the GAMSAT hurdle? Well, as per the requirements of GAMSAT chemistry questions, you will need to have first year university level knowledge. The trick to score well in GAMSAT is that you may not study each and everything, but you should study intelligently. Now, what is intelligent studying? Intelligent study includes selection of most probable topics and practising them rigorously. Any kind of mugging of topics and books is useless in the case of GAMSAT, so simply avoid it.
A thorough knowledge of the following chapters is required to attempt the GAMSAT chemistry questions:
1. Nomenclature of Organic Compounds You will have to be thorough with this chapter and have a clear understanding of the concepts involved in this chapter. You should be able to name all the simple organic compounds like the hydrocarbons, halogen derivatives, compounds containing oxygen, nitrogen and sulphur and the aromatic compounds. You just need to know the basic and the simple organic compounds. For example, you should know the structure of ethyl amine, butanone or p-chloroaniline. You must be comfortable with nomenclature because it is an important component of all the GAMSAT chemistry questions based on Organic Chemistry. This chapter should be on your must-do list.
2. Basic Concepts of Organic Chemistry and Reaction Mechanism You need to know all about the basic concepts. You should have a detailed knowledge on the topics like electrophiles and nucleophiles, inductive effect, mesomeric effect and resonance effect. You should also lay stress on the different types of reactions and get a good grasp on the basics. This chapter is integral to your understanding of all the other topics under Organic Chemistry.
3. Isomerism of Organic Compounds Get a hang of the different the types of isomerism. Understand the spatial relationship well. The D-L and R-S nomenclature are also important.
4. Hydrocarbons Learn about alkane, alkenes, alkynes and aromatic hydrocarbons. All the information about their general properties and important chemical reactions must be at your finger tips. Give stress on the important physical properties of the hydrocarbons and the reactions of alkenes.
The GAMSAT Chemistry questions are nothing to be scared of. Its just that you have to practise a lot to get a hang of the basic concepts. But a lot depends on the final day too. Just relax and choose your questions carefully. Know your concepts, practice well, use your common sense and apply your knowledge on the final day. If you can do these successfully, no one can prevent you from getting that coveted seat.
GAMSAT Deadset: Whether You Think You Can or Think You Can’t, You’re Right
Thinking is being. It is difficult to imagine a moment when one is not thinking. To not think is to be asleep or be dead, both literally as well as figuratively. It is a unique exercise to try and stop thinking, about anything at all. While it may seem as if you have achieved it for a few blank seconds, but those blank moments are simply moments of thinking about not trying to think!
All great achievements be it the discovery of gravity or the invention of a light bulb, or the idea of you getting through GAMSAT, began with a thought. You may have seen a person being reprimanded by a teacher in a classroom or being mocked at by friends for being lost in thoughts. Well, if an apple falling to the ground did not make Newton wonder, we would not have known of the phenomenal force that binds us to the earth. Therefore, it is not too bad to ponder over things; it is what makes us humans. GAMSAT is aced easily by those who do not refrain from thinking in a novel way. This is not just thinking out-of-the-box just for the sake of sounding new and interesting but offering new solutions to an existing problem.
You are only as big as you feel. I once read this line in a delightful book called Stuart Little. It is needless to question the validity of this statement. Great success and happiness in life can be achieved by managing ones thoughts. Thoughts are like waves, an incessant stream of good and bad notions that flood the mind. Meditation, an in thing these days, is a process of controlling the quality of thoughts, to be at peace with oneself. This leads to a more aware personality, more adept at handling everyday situations. If you think you will not be able to pass GAMSAT, you have probably already spelt out your fate. Therefore, the magic wand to control your destiny lies in your own hands. Events in life are nothing but a materialisation of thoughts. To be a doctor, you have to first learn to think like one. The more you hold on to a thought, the more power you invest in it. Positive thoughts energise you whereas negative thoughts drain you of your strength. A medical career is bound to be filled with anxious, disturbing and high-pressure situations. Therefore, it is imperative to replace negative thoughts with more positive ones.
But, how do we control our thoughts? How do we separate the chaff from the grain? It is important to analyse our response to situations, words spoken by others, or simply our notion of others and our self. We must learn to ask questions. Were my thoughts positive? Was it essential? What purpose do they serve? People may say, you will not be able to pass GAMSAT. The question is will you accept this idea.
If you have decided upon a medical career and get through GAMSAT, then first build a firm belief in yourself. The idea that you can become a doctor is waiting to become a reality. And as the popular commercial tagline goes, an idea can change your life, it truly can.
GAMSAT – The De Facto Requisite For Australian Medical Entrance
The University of Sydney, Deakin University, The University of Melbourne. Have you always dreamed of getting admitted in one such prestigious university? Have you wanted to become a doctor ever since you first played with your toy-doctor kit? If the answer to these questions is an assertive YES, then your first step would be to crack GAMSAT. The Graduate Australian Medical School Admission Test, more popularly known as GAMSAT is a common medical entrance test developed by the Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER) in conjunction with the Consortium of Graduate Medical Schools. It helps in scanning students who will gain a passport into the graduate-entry medical, dentistry and pharmacy programs. Following is an exhaustive list of Australian universities that participate in this program:
- Australian National University
- Deakin University
- Flinders University
- Griffith University
- Monash University, Gippsland
- The University of Melbourne
- The University of Notre Dame Australia, Fremantle
- The University of Notre Dame Australia, Sydney
- The University of Queensland
- The University of Sydney
- The University of Western Australia
- The University of Wollongong
GAMSAT tests the tenacity of students who would have a long and demanding course that requires both physical as well as mental strength once they get through the test and the interview. GAMSAT Australia is offered only once in a year. The registration process is a simple one and can be done online. GAMSAT tests the analytical faculties of the candidate. When you become a doctor, you are not simply faced with easy choices between GOOD and BAD. Sometimes you have to weigh your options and choose the lesser of two evils and this requires sharp analytical abilities.
As a doctor you will have to interact with people from various walks of life. Your prospective patient may be a babbling toddler or a cynical wizened adult. A doctor has to bridge the gaps and communicate with his patients on a personal level in order to understand their medical condition more accurately. There has to be a level of comfort for the patient to confide in the doctor. Hence, communication is an essential tool. GAMSAT is a test of your communication skills and your ability to express your thoughts in a concise form.
The question papers for GAMSAT are prepared keeping a strict professional standard in mind. Questions are framed and developed by a team of ACER writers who are experts in their specific field of knowledge, in consultation with university faculty members. These questions are then trial- tested and reviewed before being finally approved. Issues of race, gender, religion are kept in mind while formatting the questions and every effort is made to minimize biased notions. The GAMSAT Policy Committee has even established an Ethics Committee to examine and report on any controversial issues relating to the content and conduct of GAMSAT.
A good, grounded knowledge of bare facts coupled with sharp reasoning skills will equip you to face the challenge more effectively. Equip yourself with the right set of tools available and give it a balanced approach and then nothing will be able to come between you and your dream medical college.
GAMSAT Essay: The art of writing a good introduction-IV
For some time now, we have been sharing with you some of the techniques of writing a good introduction for your GAMSAT essay. Today we will tell you how facts/statistics can be a great way to begin your GAMSAT essay. As you must be aware already, GAMSAT Section II has 2 writing tasks, each of which is a set of five quotations. One of these sets is often centered on some broad socio-economic theme. One of the best ways to begin such an essay is to use relevant facts or statistics as a hook. If the hook is a startling fact, it is bound to catch the readers attention. But then there is a flip side to it: you cannot possibly make up/invent facts and statistics, and so if you intend to make use of these, you must, must, must be well read and also remember to quote the source from which you are using the fact/statistics. Being up to date with newspapers and journals will be of great help in this regard.
Following the pattern of GAMSAT Written Communication writing tasks, lets suppose that you are asked to frame an essay in response to one or more of the following set of quotations:
- Wealth consists not in having great possessions, but in having few wants. (Epictetus)
- He who knows how to be poor knows everything. (Jules Michelet)
- Poverty is the worst form of violence. (Mahatma Gandhi)
- It is not the creation of wealth that is wrong, but the love of money for its own sake. (Margaret Thatcher)
- It is poverty to decide that a child must die so that you may live as you wish. (Mother Teresa)
Lets assume that you want to frame your essay around the quotations of Mahatma Gandhi and Mother Teresa. Now, both these quotes bring out the brutality of poverty as it affects real people. These quotes do not idealise/romanticise poverty, they expose its harshness. If you are to focus your essay on these, you need to have a rather forceful beginning for your essay.
Thus, instead of beginning your essay with some vague generalisations, why not get real with some hard-hitting facts? Nothing can beat the straightforwardness of bare facts, stated in a no-nonsense manner. Given below is a sample introductory paragraph that begins with a fact as the hook sentence, and then moves on through the transition to the thesis-statement.
UNICEF records state that 25,000 children die every day due to poverty. Irrespective of whether they inhabit a remote village or some busy city, invisibly tucked away from the glitz and glamour of the rich, and so also from their conscience, these dying multitudes remain as uncared for and as anonymous in their death as in their life. Mahatma Gandhi was indeed right in saying that no form of violence can be worse than poverty. But the alarming concern about poverty in today’s world has more to do with the disquieting reality that one man’s poverty comes at the cost of another man’s greed. Mother Teresa’s brilliant expression, “It is poverty to decide that a child must die so that you may live as you wish,” turns the concept of poverty on its head, insisting that poverty is a state of mind, not the lack of material things or possessions. Yet, it also highlights the brutal reality that the poverty of one man is often the consequence of the avarice of another.
GAMSAT Essay- A Tutorial On Easily Confused Words
GAMSAT Essay- A tutorial on easily confused words
Writing an essay is no mean task. One of the basics is that your language should be neat. Neat and free from common errors that can mar even a beautifully thought-out and well planned essay. Read on to find a very useful tutorial on common lexical errors in English. This should come in handy in your preparation for GAMSAT section two- Written Communication (GAMSAT Essay).
Certain words in the English language are very commonly confused. These are usually different parts of speech that are mistakenly used because they sound/ look. Given below is a list that, though not exhaustive, is a fairly comprehensive record of the same. Examples are given that differentiate the usage of these words:
| Accept (verb)
I would love to accept your gracious proposal. |
Except (preposition)
I go to school everyday except Sunday. |
| Affect (verb)
I was badly affected by her rude behaviour. |
Effect (noun)
The effect of medicines is evident from her improved health. |
| Its (possessive adjective)
The child was crying because it lost its toy. |
It’s (short form of it is)
It’s a privilege to be invited to your party. |
| Lose (verb)
I did not think I would lose your friendship so easily. |
Loose (adjective)
The shirt was too loose for him to fit in after he lost weight. |
| Loss (noun)
The loss of her mother was too hard for her to bear. |
Lost (verb; adjective)
She lost consciousness when she heard of her mother’s death. (verb) It’s a lost case. You can do nothing about it. (adjective) |
| Past (noun; adjective; preposition)
The past is hard to forget. (noun) Sales have been very good in the past one month. (adjective) She walked past me in a rather disdainful manner. (verb) |
Pass, Passed (verb)
I am sure that with a little hard work it’s not difficult to pass GAMSAT. (verb) Arthur passed GAMSAT last year. (verb)
|
| Than (comparative)
He works harder than his brother. |
Then (adverb)
It was then about five o’clock in his watch when he decided to watch the movie. |
| Whose (possessive adjective)
Let us seek clarification from the girl whose car was attacked. |
Who’s (Short form of ‘Who is’)
She is the girl who’s doing all the complaining. |
| Worse (comparative)
Samantha’s writing skills are worse than her sister’s. |
Worst (superlative)
Samantha’s writing skills can be said to be the worst in her class. |
| Your (possessive adjective)
You must do your share of hard work to succeed GAMSAT |
You’re (Short form of ‘you are’)
You’re sure to pass GAMSAT if you take up a well-planned approach to this examination. |
The above table should clarify your doubts about the use of some of the most commonly misused/ misconstrued words in the language. You should try to write five sentences with each of these words and get them evaluated by your teacher or somebody in your study-group who is strong in English. Once you master the use of these commonly misused words, your language will improve greatly and that will be a great boost in writing your GAMSAT essay.