I don’t have time for the UCAT during year 13, should I do the GAMSAT instead?
4 years ago by Robert
The blog below discusses the two clearly defined pathways to study medicine in Australia.
A lot of people think because their final year of school is such a busy one, they should forget about doing the UCAT and focus on their studies instead. Some say, “Don’t worry if you are not sitting the UCAT, you can always just sit the GAMSAT during Uni and get into Medicine that way”. Whilst this is true, the graduate entry route is no doubt harder. You compete with a far wider range of test takers. The percentage of students who actually get into Graduate Medicine is also far lower than the UCAT percentage intake.
The decision to sit either the UCAT or GAMSAT is your choice. Below is a table comparing the Undergraduate and Graduate route into medicine to help you decide. For more in depth information about medicine at certain universities, please see our earlier articles comparing Medicine at Melbourne or Monash and Medicine at USyd or UNSW.
Undergraduate Route v Postgraduate Route
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Undergraduate entry into medicine – UCAT | Graduate entry into medicine – GAMSAT |
| Total test duration | 2 hours | 6.5 hours |
| Test type | Multiple choice | Multiple choice and extended response |
| Essay questions | None | Yes |
| Assumed knowledge | None | Yes. You are expected to know about: Humanities Social sciences Biology Physics |
| Number of sections | Five subtests | Three separate sections |
| Constructs tested |
|
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| When does the test take place? | You can only sit the UCAT in you FINAL YEAR of secondary schooling or higher. Students in year 12 or lower are NOT eligible to sit the UCAT even if they are undertaking year 13 subjects | You can sit the GAMSAT if you have completed a bachelor degree, or will be in your second last year/final year of study in a bachelor degree at the time of sitting the GAMSAT |
| Criteria for entry |
Entry into undergraduate medicine has three usually equally weighted factors:
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Entry into graduate medical and dental program is based on these three criteria:
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| Median age of test-takers | UCAT – 18 years (Usually school-leavers) | GAMSAT – 25 years (from a wide range of backgrounds, lawyers, engineers, scientists, accountants, etc) |
So should I do the UCAT instead?
If you are still undecided, consider these points:
- GAMSAT is almost twice the length of UCAT
- GAMSAT has both multiple choice questions AND essay writing. The UCAT is entirely multiple choice.
- UCAT has no assumed knowledge. (It is an aptitude test) The GAMSAT assumes previous knowledge in several areas of sciences. (Physics, Chemistry, Biology, etc)
- In order to be able to sit the GAMSAT, you have to spend about 3 more years at University studying a Bachelor degree that may not help you in your medical career.
- By sitting the UCAT, you can start studying what you want straight away. Year 13 is already stressful enough, the last thing you would want is to continue studying at that same pace to achieve a high GPA/WAM in your bachelor degree so you can have the chance to gain entry into graduate medicine.
For more information about the UCAT preparation packages MedEntry offers, please click here.