GAMSAT Section III – Striking A Correct Balance With The Questions

One of the most frequent questions asked in a GAMSAT forum is about the marking structure in GAMSAT. Although ACER hasn’t stated anything regarding the marks distribution system in a GAMSAT questionnaire, yet many speculations are made in this context. In a GAMSAT questionnaire, some questions could be answered by a majority of the GAMSAT candidates while a few questions could be cracked only by a handful of candidates. Now the big question is, do both the types contain equal marks distribution, or does the relative percentage of correct answering play a significant role in marks distribution?

According to some statisticians, equal marks distribution to both hard and easy questions is not a correct approach to evaluate individual student’s performance. This could lead to an error in the results of competitive examinations like GAMSAT. Many academicians nowadays favour frequency-distribution curves while evaluating the performance of candidates in competitive examinations. In this approach, marks distribution is based on relative grading which belongs to an academic environment that has a dynamic system where questions and correct attempts by the candidates keep changing. The least answered questions in an examination are given more emphasis over the relatively easier ones which were attempted by more students. Hence, it signifies that one can score much more in GAMSAT by successfully attempting the relatively hard questions, though less in number. GAMSAT aspirants should concentrate on an ideal combination of relatively easy and hard questions while taking care of the time-constraint.

In GAMSAT Section III, it is believed that questions based on physics are the least answered ones, since GAMSAT is a medical entrance examination. Well, to some extent this view is true because most of the GAMSAT candidates give more emphasis on Biology and Chemistry during their preparation for the exam. But it is also a fact that ACER maintains that the GAMSAT question paper comprises of 40% Biology, 40% Chemistry and 20% Physics. However, if you make an effort to study the questions of the previous GAMSAT papers, you will see that a majority of the questions are neither based on hardcore Biology nor on Physics, rather they are mostly based on organic and physical chemistry. And the irony lies in the fact that we always think that concentrating more on Biology will help us  get through the GAMSAT. Similarly, we also devote more time on Physics thinking that physics-related questions are the toughest and thus carry more marks. Most of us fail to understand that, it is organic chemistry which frames the Biology based questions and in the same way physical chemistry governs the Physics-related questions. Both of these two subjects are quite complex, and a candidate should spend more time in them while preparing for GAMSAT. The relatively hard questions are mostly based on these two topics, so having some background concept in these topics will render the candidate an extra edge over others.