GAMSAT Private 1-on-1 Tutoring

PRAVIND

Hi there, I’m Pravind, though everyone calls me Prav. I am currently a fourth-year medical student at the University of Sydney; however, I am a proud Melbournian at heart. Before commencing my current degree, I was a Biomedical sciences student at Monash University. 

The way I teach section 1 is all about approach-ability and personalisation. I hope to ensure that my students can confidently approach any type of S1 question and have a range of strategies to work through them. There is no one correct way to do/study for the GAMSAT (and in extension approach the whole medical school application cycle). I hope to be able to share my own experience and the experience of many others to help my students to discover their own personal way of approaching Section 1 and approaching their GAMSAT study more broadly.

AMLAN

Hi everyone, my name is Amlan and am currently in 2nd year of my postgrad MD at Sydney. 

I am one of the Section 2 tutors and MMI markers at Halad and thoroughly enjoy my role in tutoring and helping aspiring medical and dental students achieve their goal. Having been fortunate to score in the 90th percentile for Section 2, I realise you cannot write something thoughtful if you haven’t thought about it before. Therefore, the way I teach section 2 is all about playing to your strengths and approaching essay writing in a systematic way using topics that you are passionate about. I will help you address common misconceptions and mistakes about Section 2, provide high scoring examples and live feedback for improvement. What I enjoy about Section 2 is that it is the easiest section 2 to improve as students notice the rapid improvement within a very short time.

GRACE

Hi, I’m Grace! I’m currently a third-year medical student at the University of Sydney, and I honestly have to pinch myself sometimes to remind myself I’m here. Although I am a Melbournian, I moved to Sydney in December 2020 and have loved every minute of it.

Part of what makes Section 2 so challenging is that you’re choosing something of yourself to put out there on paper. That can feel really difficult and can make you feel so vulnerable. I want everyone to be able to bring that same confidence to the table, with it will come your passion and a certain eagerness and the structure and cohesion is a simple flow on from there. 

It might be controversial, and it might not work for everyone — but I’m here to tell you that you don’t necessarily need to be writing an essay a day leading up to the GAMSAT to do well. That is some people’s journey, but it wasn’t mine. I know what it’s like to feel shameful that it doesn’t look like you’re putting in as much effort as the person next to you, but everyone is on their own journey. Having tried out a couple of different techniques, I’m keen to work with my students on an individual level to find something that will enable their own personal active engagement. Work to your own schedule and strengths and you will be proud of the outcome.

MARK

Hey! I’m Mark. I am currently in my 4th year of Medicine at University of Melbourne. 

Coming from a Biomed background and having been stronger at maths, chemistry, and physics than languages and humanities in school I felt far more comfortable with Section 3 than 1 or 2 initially. By having background knowledge such that I was not overwhelmed by long stems or complicated graphs, I came to realise that section 3 is primarily testing pattern & graph recognition, problem-solving, and numeracy ability rather than testing whether you know all the elements on the periodic table. I feel like many students fail to get past this intimidation factor which I believe holds back a lot of people from reaching their S3 potential and becoming mentally defeated by the exam in general. I hope to instill in my students an understanding of how to most efficiently approach Section 3 on exam day to give themselves the best chance of a score that exceeds their best expectations. If I can show my students alternative ways to think about problems or a more time-effective approach to questions… then that would be a very gratifying outcome.

KEELEY

Hey my name is Keeley and I tutor everything section 3 in the GAMSAT. I am currently a 4th year med student at Unimelb, and have an absolute love for the sciences (especially chemistry). 

I had a pretty typical pathway into medicine (high school —> biomed —> GAMSAT x 2 —> med), however my passion for the sciences really stemmed from my chemistry major and all the research and contextual skills I developed. I sat the GAMSAT in 2018 and 2019, and despite excelling in section 3, I was (terrified) convinced that I had no chance of getting into medicine, a fear most experienced during this time of uncertainty. 

When it comes to the GAMSAT, I believe the best way to study is to always practice skills and content within the context of answering practice questions, especially as section 3 has largely moved away from requiring pre-existing knowledge. The biggest piece of advice I like to instil in students is don’t freak out when first looking at a stem/question, you know so much more than you think and staying calm is the best way to harness and utilise these skills to get the answer 🙂