GAMSAT Maths

1. GAMSAT Maths

2. Overview • The maths involved in GAMSAT is really quite simple. The challenge lies in figuring out how to use it effectively to solve problems. • Broadly speaking, the skills needed can be divided up under the following headings: • Basic calculations • Converting between different units • Estimation and rounding • Basic trigonometry

3. Basic Calculations • Obviously, if you’re applying for medicine, you should know how to add, subtract, multiply, and divide. • Two more good additions (pun not intended) to your repertoire are exponentiation (i.e. taking a number to the power of another number) and logarithms (the opposite of exponentiation), as these concepts come up fairly regularly as well. • You should also be very comfortable with manipulating and rearranging equations to make them easier to work with or so you can find what you need to know. • Be familiar with what would happen if a numerator was to get bigger or smaller, versus what would happen if a denominator was to get bigger or smaller. • You should also be comfortable with substituting in numbers to test hypotheses.

4. Conversions • You should also be familiar with simple conversions in the metric system (don’t worry, there’s no need for imperial-to-metric or metric-to-imperial shenanigans)! Specifically, you should know that a milli-something is one-thousandth, a micro-something is one-thousandth of that, and a nano-something is one-thousandth of that again. • Going in the other direction, you should know that a kilo-something is a thousand times, a mega-something is a thousand times that, and a giga-something is a thousand times that. • You should then be able to convert between different units. • Scientific notation is commonly used in the GAMSAT, so be sure to be familiar with how it works. For the uninitiated, scientific notation is a way to avoid having to type lots of zeros when writing very big or very small numbers. For example, you could have 3.6 * 10^12, which is a lot easier to read and type than 3 600 000 000 000.

5. Estimation and Rounding • Knowing how to manage time in the GAMSAT exam is of the essence! Therefore, knowing how to work through questions quickly is important. Estimation is a tool for helping you do this. • If you round numbers to easy-to-work-with numbers, such as multiples of 10, you will be able to work through questions much more quickly. • The good thing about GAMSAT being a multiple-choice exam is that the answer has to be one of the given options, and the answer options are generally spaced apart enough for this to be a viable tactic.

6. Basic Trigonometry • Occasionally some basic trigonometry is required to fully interpret graphs and other figures. Rest assured that by basic trigonometry, I really do mean basic, i.e. working with right-angled triangles. Familiarise yourself with the mnemonic “SOH CAH TOA”: • The Sine is equal to the length of the Opposite side divided by the Hypotenuse (longest side of the right-angled triangle) • The Cosine is equal to Adjacent over Hypotenuse • The Tangent is equal to Opposite over Adjacent

7. Further Materials • How to Prepare for the GAMSAT • Free GAMSAT Preparation Materials • GAMSAT Biology: How to prepare • GAMSAT Chemistry: How to Prepare • GAMSAT Physics: How to Prepare • Don’t forget to sign up for our GAMSAT Free Trial, which includes 50 MCQs from our Intelligent MCQ Bank, access to our week-by-week study guide for each section, and a wealth of our GAMSAT resources: https://gradready.com.au/gamsat-preparation-courses/free-gamsat-trial