Introduction

GAMSAT Section 2 (S2) is called Written Communication, because that's what it's atest of.

You put words on a page and your value as a med school candidate isdetermined by how the examiner feels after reading them. For many this is the moststressful aspect of the exam. Others love it. The opportunity to communicate with themarking machine and influence him directly is exciting to the student confident in hiswritten expression.

On Sections 1 and 3 of the exam there is no room for flexibility or creativity.Your answers are unambiguously right or wrong. But in S2 the only limits are whatyou can do with a pen and paper. You may use any means you can muster to persuadethe reader to give you more marks than your competitors. And they are yourcompetitors.

Essays are not graded in isolation, they are marked on a curve by comparisonto one another. S2 has a very wide marking curve. That is to say the difference inquality between the best essays and the worst ones is massive. And the mean is low.

It is a very small minority who deviate from the mean and move beyond it.Without proper preparation it's unlikely that any given student will do exceptionallywell on Section 2, but for the same reasons a little effort expended in the rightdirection can go a long way towards raising your overall GAMSAT result.

The process of producing a winning GAMSAT essay is entirely different to how youcomplete Sections 1 and 3. Strict analytical processes and templates can be applied tosolving the problems of the other sections, and while demand by students has resulted

in the commercial production of many such 'templates' for producing GAMSATessays, the best students always develop their own.

Although general rules may emerge based on what successful people havedone in the past, the best communicators do not adhere to any particular structure.They start by openly asking the question 'What do I want my reader to understand?'and from there they solve for the most effective and efficient method to communicateit.

If you want to be in the top percentage of GAMSAT applicants you need to getinto the habit of thinking for yourself, and expressing those experiences in a way thatcreates empathy and understanding with your readers. The purpose of this book is notto inject your brain with the ability to produce outstanding works of literature. It is tohelp you recognise that you already have the ability to do this. You don't need tospend years in university studying communication to master it. All you need is a littleself awareness, courage and, of course, practice.

The contents of this book are based on the author's own experience of writingand successfully sitting the GAMSAT. I scored an 88 on S2 when I sat the exam in2012, and have since reviewed and corrected hundreds of essays working withgraduate entry medical school applicants from all over the world. I have a greatrecord of predicting how a student will fare on the written portion of the exam onceI've seen their work and regularly speak with new medical students who have beenthrough the GAMSAT to confirm that ACER have not suddenly changed the waythey mark their papers.

The aim of this book is to help you get clear on what you need to accomplishwhen you undertake GAMSAT Section 2. It contains a series of tips and instructionsto help you avoid common pitfalls and mistakes in your written communication, andto dispel any false rumors you may have heard about how this part of the exam needsto be done.

It is my genuine hope that through reading this book and adopting some of itsvalues you will become more comfortable and confident in expressing yourselfprecisely, honestly and effectively.

Devin Anderson

www.gamsatsampleessays.co.ukwww.gamsatsamplequestions.co.uk

Copyright 2016

Table Of Contents

Instructions and Objectives 5Technical Details 10

Which Quote To PickPreparing For Unexpected TopicsTask A vs Task BDepth of Thought And How To Disect Any ArgumentHow Misunderstandings HappenHaving A Big VocabularyWriting From Your Own PerspectiveWhen To Use QuotesWord CountReading AroundDealing With Time PressuresGood and BadMaking GeneralisationsCatching The Reader's AttentionHandwriting

Exercises 25FreewritingDescribingExplainingTranscribingEditing

General Tips 28Sample Essays 30