A three-section exam that stretches for hours, and tests not just what you know but how you think. That’s the GAMSAT in plain words.
Many students approach it with stacks of notes, GAMSAT books, or endless practice questions, only to find out later that the materials they trusted didn’t match the reality of the test.
The right study resources should save you time plus help you shape how your mind tackles the questions on exam day.
How to test if a resource reflects ACER’s question design
The exam is built by ACER (Australian Council for Educational Research), and its style has a very clear fingerprint. Good resources imitate it, poor ones don’t. The difference lies in the type of reasoning required. If you find practice questions that feel like straight-from-the-textbook recall, you’re probably wasting your energy.
Real GAMSAT problems are layered: they make you interpret new data, connect ideas, or reason from context. When reviewing GAMSAT books or practice questions, ask: Does this push me to think the way ACER expects, or is it just recycling school-level drills?
Identifying material that trains application instead of memorisation
Many candidates cling to formula cheat sheets as if rote memorisation alone could win the exam. The truth is that memorising concepts in biology or formulas in physics won’t carry you far.
The GAMSAT asks you to apply knowledge, often in unfamiliar settings. Which means materials should force you to use information rather than repeat it. A good chemistry resource, for example, won’t just present equations; it will give you an experiment you’ve never seen before and ask you to reason through the outcome.
Selecting Section 2 resources that build interpretive precision
Section 2 tests how good you are at written communication. The right study materials don’t flood you with endless sample essays and comprehension passages but instead focus on actually improving your writing.
You need to practise by writing sample essays, coming up with compelling arguments to support your hypothesis, and finding your own writing voice. When choosing resources, avoid basic drills that could be found in high school exams. Look for sets that force you to up your writing game, and read widely.
High-quality Section II resources include worked examples, sample essays, and commentary on how to improve. Feedback is the real engine of progress here. Without it, you can churn out page after page of writing and still repeat the same mistakes.
Section III resources that mirror the exam’s problem-solving demands
For science-heavy Section III, the danger is spending all your time revising subject content. Of course, some review is necessary, but the materials you pick should mostly train reasoning with unfamiliar information.
Good GAMSAT books include questions built on graphs, experimental data, and unusual problem setups.
Importance of graded difficulty in practice material
Another mistake is starting with the hardest resources or staying forever with the easiest ones. Both stall progress. Materials should gradually increase in difficulty. Early practice should be gentle, helping you build confidence. But later resources must push into uncomfortable territory. If the level never changes, your preparation will plateau long before the exam.
Value of detailed solutions over simple answer keys
Answer-only resources are traps. They let you check if you’re right but teach you nothing if you’re wrong. Worked solutions are where the learning happens. They reveal not just what the correct answer is, but why, and how to think through the process.
When reviewing study materials, give preference to those that explain reasoning step by step. This builds a habit of structured problem-solving you can carry into the exam hall.
Conclusion
The right study material reshapes how you approach the exam. Poor resources encourage rote learning and false confidence.
Strong ones sharpen reasoning, adapt to exam standards, and reveal weaknesses to be fixed. For an exam as layered as the GAMSAT, the quality of what you practise with is more important than the number of hours you put in.