From: AceGAMSAT
Re: How long to prepare for GAMSAT?
Are you wondering “how long to prepare for GAMSAT?”
Well, firstly… there is no single correct approach to preparing for the Gamsat. Some people find that they feel adequately prepared after two to three months of study, whilst others may feel that they need six months or more to feel equipped to tackle the exam. The time needed for study really depends on the individual and how they like to learn and what their strengths and weaknesses are. The following guide is simply an approach to ensuring that however you learn and however much time you have available, you will be able to put together a timetable for your study that reduces your stress levels and allows you to study systematically.
Step 1: Register as soon as possible and commit
Many people often use up valuable study time by being indecisive as to whether they will actually sit the exam. The saying ‘the best practice for the Gamsat is doing the Gamsat’ is probably quite true in many ways. This isn’t to say that adequate preparation is not highly beneficial, but try to avoid delaying the decision to register out of fear that you will not have enough time to prepare. The minimum time that you should leave yourself to study depends on your own personal schedule, and what other commitments you have in your life including family, study, employment etc.
From experience, most people usually allow themselves at least 3 months to prepare, but if you are able to focus all of your attention on the exam, you could probably feel quite adequately prepared in only two months. That being said, if you are a person that would like to revise extensively for section III (which can be very time-consuming as it covers so much information), you might want to consider more time to cover everything. Either way, the sooner you register and commit to sitting the exam, the sooner you can start preparing! You can download our free Gamsat Practice Test for Section III to get an idea of the structure and layout of questions in the GAMSAT.
Step 2: Work out how much time you would like to spend on each section
According to your strengths and weaknesses, sketch out a percentage of time that you would like to spend on each section of the exam. If you have five months to prepare, a reasonable target for total study hours per week might be 10 hours. You might then decide that you will break this up into three sessions of 2 hours spent on section III, a two-hour session on section I and a two-hour session on section II. You can also edit this study plan if you feel that you are not achieving your goals, or are finding that a particular section is especially time-consuming.
Step 3: Make a master timetable with goals
Once you have worked out how much time you want to study per week, and how you will distribute this time between the sections of the exam, the next step is to make a large timetable and assign goals to each chunk of time. For example, in the first week of study, your aim for section I might be to compose a list of text types and a folder on your computer with examples of each, for section II to read examples of good Gamsat essays and develop an essay structure for yourself to use, and for section III to cover organic chemistry nomenclature and ten practice questions on this topic. Stick to your timetable week by week and congratulate yourself for meeting your goals!
Hopefully, this advice helps in terms of calculating how long to prepare for GAMSAT.
Good luck.
Before you go, don’t forget to get your free Section 3 Gamsat Practice Test.
