How now, brown cow- I mean Gamsters.

If I asked you to start prepping for Section 3 from scratch, what would you do?

Would you start with Biology, because it seems like the widest and most scattered subject – and thus needs the most time, and because B comes before C and P in the alphabet?

Would you start with Chemistry, because it’s actually two subjects – so best to start ASAP, and there’s more of a straightforward structure to the syllabus?

Or would you start with Physics, because it seems the most self-contained subject, and frankly it freaks you out – so you might as well have more time for it?

Now, I would like to politely suggest that, for the huge portion of you, there is a hidden, 4th Section 3 subject that you not only can’t ignore – but should actually do before anything else.

And that subject is Maths.

Why Maths is Important

You did not seriously just ask the question “Why is Maths important?”

I mean, even if we weren’t talking about the GAMSAT, Maths is still important – it’s one of the basic “how to adult¹” skills.

For example, it’s kind of helpful to tell that:

• You should practice delayed gratification and save up and buy a phone outright, rather than jump on the phone on its release date because you can only afford the monthly payment on the bundle plan
• If you really want to buy a car brand-new, then you better be prepared to pay through the nose for the privilege (though for some of you, your parents get to do it)
• 20% off isn’t a good deal if the prices are marked-up before applying the discount
• PPL who say “Rent money is dead money” are probably in some serious-ass debt, since they can’t seem to perceive paying nearly the same amount as the house in interest payments as a bad thing
• If you do have a mortgage, then you can potentially save thousands by making a few phone calls
• When not in Asian countries, the only ppl visiting convenience stores are rich ppl, fugitives, and the financially challenged. Sometimes these things are not mutually exclusive.

Why Maths is Important For GAMSAT Prep

Ok ok fine, so Maths is actually important to Section 3, for the following reasons:

No Maths, No Science

If you can’t understand and apply certain Maths concepts, you literally won’t be able to understand science.

For example, if you don’t know algebra and trigonometry, you won’t be able learn mechanics, which is what most of Physics is based around. So, no algebra and trigonometry, no Physics.

As for Chemistry, there are lots of questions are about thermodynamics (algebra) and pH (logarithms).

And Biology, the least math-ish science? Genetics requires fractions and ratios to calculate inheritance, and a lot of “Biology” questions are actually about Chemistry or Physics (e.g. animal locomotion) or even just Maths (Noted later).

Maths is the fundamentals of science – and you’ll need your Maths grounding to stand a chance prepping for Section 3.

Some of Section 3 is Literally Just Maths

You’ve probably heard about the out-of-left-field questions GAMSAT likes to throw at Gamsters:

1. Flow charts you’re convinced depict Rube Goldberg mechanisms
2. Diagrams and charts that someone made while on LSD, that you’re sure contains extra dimensions
   

   

3. Tasks which aren’t of any topic you expected to have studied

Regarding the third point, there are tasks in Section 3 where exam writers have just taken a random concept, like hearing thresholds, or growth rates, or comparative size, and created questions around the numbers.

These are just Maths questions – and if you don’t know your Maths, then you can’t work these questions out.

No Calculators In Section 3

For a few years now, calculators have not been allowed.

That means that you need to be able to do calculations by hand.

Now, obviously there won’t be anything ridiculous in the context of the exam², but if you don’t know how to work with divisions, or decimals and fractions³, or order of operations, you are gonna get your ass repossessed when it comes to Section 3.

How Much Maths Do I Need?

The general understanding is that you need at least algebra and graphical analysis for all GAMSAT sciences, and also logarithms for Chemistry, and trigonometry for Physics.

But in reality, it’s not actually that simple.

The reason is, everyone’s level of Maths is different, and I don’t know what your knowledge gaps are.

For example, being Asian, we learnt our multiplication tables when we were little; and in primary school, learnt how to do addition/subtraction/multiplication/division by hand – and I still remember how to do these things. There are some things that I learned in high school, such as algebra and trig and log, that I’m rusty at due to lack of use during my humanities degree, and when going through GAMSAT prep, I noticed that I needed to brush up on fractions and rewriting equations and so on.

So, there’s probably a need for You the Gamster to revise – or learn properly for once – more than the minimum required Maths.

GAMSAT Maths Study Strategies

There are two general ways to check how much you need to learn – and that depends on your level of confidence with Maths.

Strategy For Lower Level of Confidence

Suitable for if:

• You weren’t good at Maths growing up
• Thinking about Maths gives you low self-esteem
• Your uni degree was in humanities

Steps:

1. Use a comprehensive resource like Khan Academy⁴
2. Start with the absolute basics – as in Early Maths basic⁵
3. Skip levels as required*

*If you notice the following:

• You’re getting really bored – and it’s the kind of boredom where you understand everything
  • Rather than the type where you’re bored, cos your attention has disengaged, because you can’t understand things anymore
• You can predict what’s going to come next, e.g.
  • What the text/lecture is going to say
  • What the working-out for the example question will be
• You can skip forward, and perfectly follow what’s going on
• You can go directly to the questions without finishing the learning material, and work out the answers immediately

If all of the above points hold true, they are signs that your knowledge is fully internalised at that level, and you can confidently move onto the next lesson.

This is the “spot-mopping” technique – you’re going through everything to make sure you don’t miss anything, and you’re spending time and effort where necessary – but you’re saving time on what doesn’t require your attention.

Strategy For Higher Level of Confidence

Suitable for if:

• You were good at Maths growing up
• Thinking about Maths gives you the warm fuzzies, or no significant feelings⁶
• Your uni degree was in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, or Maths)

Steps:

1. Use a comprehensive resource like Khan Academy
2. Start learning the science-prerequisite topics mentioned above (e.g. algebra, trig, logs, graphic analysis)
3. Or, if you’re already confident with the above, just start learning Bio/Chem/Phy as originally planned
4. If you have trouble with what you’re learning, identify the gap in your knowledge
5. Take a detour from your original progress, and learn that gap-topic
6. Go back to your original progress, and check that you understand things perfectly now
7. If you do, continue. If you don’t, repeat Steps 4 – 6

This way, you save the most amount of time and energy, while addressing gaps as relevant.

In Summary

So, regardless of your level of proficiency with Math already, you should aim to brush up on it.

Use Khan Academy as your catch-all Maths resource; and if you’re not confident, start at the beginning and skip forward as you run into things you’ve already learnt well; and if you’re confident, start learning the science prerequisites (algebra, trigonomics, logarithms, graphical analysis), or the sciences directly, and just go back to fill in knowledge-gaps as required.

So, Gamsters, the time of Maths is now – go forth and conquer!

P.S. – And by conquer, I mean learn – you warlord.

 

Want Loads More Tips and Strategies? Check out the FastGAMSAT ebook pack on the homepage! (Yes, that’s Snarksy on the cover) ( ^ΦдΦ^) Draw me like one of your French girls, Willeo.

 

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Footnotes

1. One of the goals of adulting, is to not go bankrupt living your life.

2. E.g. getting you to divide 5 digits by 20 digits, or find the 50th smallest prime number, or estimate the number of pinhead angels to the closest exponential.

3. E.g. Not using your calculators, what’s 0.3 x 0.4, and what’s ⅓ ÷ ⅖? It’s easy if you know how, and impossible if you don’t.

4. I chose Khan Academy, because everything is in one spot, and the content spans educational levels easily and seamlessly (since it’s the same person/brand developing all the material) – if you find that you have too many knowledge gaps in high school level Maths – and have to drop to middle school level, or you find you gave yourself too little credit – and need to skip a few years worth of syllabus, you don’t need to interrupt study to go look for the right textbook or course.

5. Please don’t feel offended like I just told you to go back to kindergarten when you’re trying to get into med school: If you have little confidence in your Maths abilities, chances are you struggled with it since the earliest days, meaning that there may be gaps all the way back – gaps that need to be filled before the GAMSAT.

And plus, Early Maths is designed to teach assuming absolutely no prior knowledge, and aims to build a foundation from nothing. In this context, the basic-level syllabus actually contains a lot of thinking skills and tips which are not only highly effective, but also easy to learn and implement (e.g. when doing additions like [37 + 45] in your head, it helps to shuffle the numbers around and turn one of the numbers into a multiple of ten [40 + 42], then suddenly it’s easier to work out). These are skills you can use with any GAMSAT problems containing Maths, and also in your everyday life. So no, it’s not all just going to be a huge waste of time learning from the beginning.

6. Because you take your aptitude for Maths mostly for granted – like if I asked you what you felt about being able to chew food, you’d probably shrug rather than swell with pride. Either that, or you’re all logic and no emotions.