The Results Are In...

And (thankfully) they weren't (quite) as bad as I was expecting.

I wrote this ages ago, but I've only just got round to publishing it because I'm lazy....

I'd tried desperately to keep the thought of receiving my results right to that dark, murky bit right at the back of my head. I was doing quite well at that as well. That was until, on Tuesday morning, I awoke to find a email from GAMSAT with the subject reading:

'GAMSAT 2013 UK: Your Results Are Now Ready'

Cue lots of uncontrollable shaking and butterflies and everything else associated with acute-exam-result-related-nerves. It's safe to say I was a bit of a wreck. 

I'd also like to take this opportunity to thank ACER (the people who do GAMSAT) for telling me the results wouldn't be ready until LATE November, before releasing them on the 19th - Which still classes as Mid-November to me... I'd also like to thank them for giving me no prior warning and for emailing me at 5:53am, so that when I woke up just before 7am, I went into a tizz before I even got out of bed.

I opened the email on my iPad; clicked on the link and carefully entered my login details, whilst simultaneously trying not to drop said iPad through nerve-related shaking.

I then tentatively clicked on the 'Get Results' link before reading three little numbers which have given me a confidence-boost somewhat.

They're not great results, and, as I expected, I'll be doing the exam again next year. But, as someone who expected to be greeted with the dreaded:

'30. 30. 30...'

...Across the board, I'll take what I actually achieved (with very little in the way of revision) as not too bad indeed. For me...

49. 51. 42.

Average: 46.

GAMSAT IS OVER! (For now...)

It's been far too long since I've written anything on here; and I apologise for that.

It's just, you see, I've been a little busy with all the GAMSAT malarky. But it's over now! And I feel a bit strange... Relieved yet worried. 

I sat GAMSAT at Ponds Forge International Sports Centre in Sheffield. It's really near the train station; so my walk (which made me feel like a dead woman walking...) was relatively quick. My admission ticket said to be there for 8:15, and like the Square that I am, I got there at 8:14.

The queue to the Sports Hall was MASSIVE. I was quite surprised that there were so many people sitting the exam. The Sports Hall was full; and they had to put people in two separate meeting rooms in addition to this.

The Sports Hall at Ponds Forge

One thing I learned very quickly is that there's a lot of bureaucracy surrounding the exam. Lots of talking about rules etc. You also (and I didn't know this before) have to keep your admission ticket and ID on your desk throughout the exam.

And you get a rather nice stamp on your hand; which reads: 'Inspected'. Nice. It took thoroughly washing my hands sporadically throughout the day and having a bath before bed to just about get rid of it.

'Inspected'

I can't really tell you that much about the content of the exam because we were kind of sworn to secrecy... I can tell you though, that I had questions about medical ethics and organic chemistry in abundance.

As you probably already know, the exam is split into three different parts:

Section I - Reasoning in the Humanities and Social Sciences,

Section II - Written Communication,

Section III - Reasoning in the Biological and Physical Sciences.


Section I is an hour and a half, Section II an hour (You have to write two essays in that time frame) and Section III is a whopping three hours long!

You get an hour's lunch break between Sections II and III; and, like me, most people chose to go outside and get a little fresh air. In fact, one poor lady had what looked like a panic attack outside the doors because of the sheer strain of the exam.

This is not the aforementioned poor lady...

I was fine during Section I - which leads me to think I did quite badly. Usually the better I think I performed in an exam; the worse my grade ends up being.

I'll admit that I panicked quite a bit during Section II - I prepared for this section in the wrong way. I read lots of newspapers; books relating to Social Sciences and the like; but I didn't practice the writing side of things enough. So, my mind went a bit blank and I started to panic; but I recovered and rambled on about a load of rubbish; which also leads me to presume that I won't do all that well...

Section III on the other hand ended up being a bit of guesswork in parts. I did what Griffiths' GAMSAT Review suggests and guessed 'C' (apparently, there's ever so slightly more chance of guessing correctly if you choose the answer that's 'C'). There were things I recognized and a lot of things that threw me a little. I'm not holding my breath.

At the end of the day, all I did was my best. I was so nervous about Section III that I did consider scarpering during the lunch break; but I would have been so disappointed with myself if I had. It's not my style to abandon things before I succeed; I'm too stubborn like that.

Results are out at the 'end of November'. Oh I love how elusive ACER are.