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1. GAMSAT PRACTICE TEST
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2. GAMSAT Practice Test
Edited and maintained by the users of PagingDr Forum.
Special acknowledgment to Blaine. Blaine originally started this project with the aim of producing a
free GAMSAT practice test.
Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 2.5 Australia
Front Cover: Studying by Scui3asteveo (Flickr)
Version: v0.15 or Preview 7 reloaded
Other Acknowledgments
Kimmy
2

3. Introduction
Prepared with the help of the community at pagingdr.proboards61.com If you find this sample test
useful please consider helping out in refining or extending this test. Visit pagingdr.proboards.com for
more information.
This GAMSAT Practice Test contains materials and questions equivalent to the full annual Graduate
Australian Medical School Admissions Test and will take approximately five and a half hours to
complete if worked through under test conditions.
The questions contained in the Practice Test are grouped, as in the live test, into three sections:
Section I: Reasoning in Humanities and Social Sciences
Section II: Written Communication
Section III: Reasoning in Biological and Physical Sciences
As in the live test, the timing of each section is as follows
Section I: 75 questions 100 minutes
Section II: 2 questions 60 minutes
Section III: 110 questions 170 minutes
Note: This preview version:
Section I: 8 questions 10.5 minutes
Section II: 2 questions 60 minutes
Section III: 17 questions 26 minutes
You are encouraged, if possible, to devote an entire day to the completion of the Practice Test,
taking a break of 20 minutes between Sections I and II and a one hour break before commencing
Section III.
You are strongly advised not to check your answers against the keys provided for Sections I and III
until you have completed all three sections of the test. In fact, it would probably be beneficial to
leave the scoring of your work and analysis of any errors until the following day.
By working through the Practice Test you will become familiar with the level of difficulty and the
kind of materials found in the live test. You will also accustom yourself to the number of questions it
is necessary to complete in the given time frame. These questions should enable you to gain useful
experience in the techniques of answering multiple choice questions.
The writing prompts provided for Section II give you an opportunity to practice writing two finished
essays in a limited time. Obviously, no solutions can be given, but notes on the assessment of
GAMSAT Written Communication are provided on page 11.
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4. Section I - Reasoning in Humanities and Social Sciences
Unit 1
According to Greek mythology Cronus overthrew his father, Uranus, as ruler of the Universe and
fathered six children with Rhea. The youngest three of the six were:
 Hera presided over the right arrangements of the marriage and is the archetype of the union
in the marriage bed, but she was not notable as a mother. The legitimate offspring of her
union with Zeus were Ares, Hebe, Eris and Eileithyia. Hera was jealous of Zeus' giving birth to
Athena without recourse to her (actually with Metis), so she gave birth to Hephaestus without
him.
 Poseidon was the god of the sea, as well as of horses and of earthquakes. Amongst his many
children he had two sons, Despoina and Arion, with his sister Demeter. In the myth, Demeter
was searching for her lost daughter Persephone when Poseidon saw and desired her. To
avoid him, she took the form of a mare, but he took the form of a stallion and forced his
attentions on her.
 Zeus was the king of the gods, the ruler of Mount Olympus, and the god of the sky and
thunder. His symbols were the thunderbolt, eagle, bull and the oak. Zeus was frequently
depicted by Greek artists in one of two poses: standing, striding forward, a thunderbolt leveled
in his raised right hand, or seated in majesty. According to the Iliad, he was the father of
Aphrodite by Dione.
1. How many children of Zeus are mentioned in the passage?
A. 1
B. 4
C. 7
D. 6
2. How many daughters of Cronus are mentioned in the passage?
A. none
B. 1
C. 2
D. 3
3. Which one of the following statements are true:
A. Demeter is older than Zeus
B. Rhea is younger than Arion
C. Zeus is older than Uranus
D. Rhea is roughly the same age as Athena
4. Who is the paternal grandfather and grandmother of Arion?
A. Uranus and Rhea
B. Cronus and Rhea
C. Poseidon and Demeter
D. Zeus and Hermes
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5. 5. In a modern Western society, which of the following would be considered to have been born out of
incest?
A. Zeus
B. Athena
C. Hephaestus
D. Despoina
Unit 2
Consider the following graph published by INET on the correlation between the average fertility rate
and infant mortality rate. The X-axis shows the number of infants that die before their first birthday
while the Y-axis show the average number of live births per woman.
6. Which country had the highest infant mortality rate in the period 2000-2004?
A. Niger
B. Reunion
C. Sierra Leone
D. Liberia
7. What is the best estimate of the fertility rate in Sao Tome
A. A 3 Live births per woman
B. B 4 Live births per woman
C. C 5 Live births per woman
D. D 6 Live births per woman
8. Which sub-region, as a whole, did the best to combat infant mortality?
A. A West Africa
B. B Central Africa
C. C East Africa
D. D Southern Africa
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6. Section 2 - Written Communication (essay)
Writing Task 1
Consider the following comments and develop a piece of writing in response to one or more of them.
Your writing will be judged on the quality of your response to the theme; how well you organise and
present your point of view; and how effectively your express yourself. You will not be judged on the
view or attributes you express.
1. Sex education may be a good idea in the schools, but I don't believe the kids should be given
homework. Bill Cosby
2. Sex education classes are like in home sales parties for abortions. Phyllis Schlafly
3. The best sex education for kids is when Daddy pats Mommy on the fanny when he comes
home from work. Dr. William H. Masters
4. Sex education classes in our public schools are promoting incest. Jimmy Swaggart
5. Before the child ever gets to school it will have received crucial, almost irrevocable sex
education and this will have been taught by the parents, who are not aware of what they are
doing. Dr Mary S Calderone
Writing Task 2
Consider the following comments and develop a piece of writing in response to one or more of them.
Your writing will be judged on the quality of your response to the theme; how well you organise and
present your point of view; and how effectively your express yourself. You will not be judged on the
view or attributes you express.
1. Creativity is allowing yourself to make mistakes. Art is knowing which ones to keep.
Scott Adams
2. Good art is not what it looks like, but what it does to us.
Roy Adzak
3. It's not a matter of painting life, it's a matter of giving life to painting.
Pierre Bonnard
4. What a society deems important is enshrined in its art.
Harry Broudy
5. Art must be an expression of love or it is nothing.
Marc Chagall
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7. Section III - Reasoning in Biological and Physical Sciences
Unit 1
Consider the following circuit diagram:
A 9V cell is connected to a circuit as shown. The ammeter and voltmeter are connected as shown in
the diagram. Two identical light bulbs with a resistance of 3ohm each are paced in the circuit. Three
switches marked with the numbers 1 through 3 are inserted as shown. Assume that the internal
resistance of the cell as well as the conductors are negligible.
1. The light bulbs will be the brightest when:
A. all the switches are open
B. only switch 2 is closed
C. only switches 1 and 3 are closed
D. all the switches are closed
2. What will the reading on the ammeter be if switch 2 is closed?
A. 1 Ampere
B. 1.3 Ampere
C. 1.5 Ampere
D. 1.6 Ampere
3. What will the reading on the voltmeter be if switches 1 and 3 are closed?
A. 12V
B. 9V
C. 6V
D. 3V
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8. 4. If the positions of the ammeter and voltmeter are swapped, which one of the following
statements are true:
A. The ammeter will read 6A if all the switches are open
B. The light bulbs will burn brighter than before
C. The voltmeter will read 9V if all the switches are open
D. The voltmeter acts as a very large resistor
5. One of the light bulbs are replaced with another light bulb with an unknown resistance. Is it
possible to determine the resistance of the new light bulb by using different combinations of open
or closed switches and reading the measurements on the voltmeter and ammeter?
A. Yes
B. No
C. Only if the new light bulb has a bigger resistance
D. Only if the bulb at the bottom of the diagram is replaced
Unit 2
A bullet is fired from a gun with a barrel of 50cm, towards a target exactly 100m away. To fire a
bullet, gunpowder is ignited and the expanding gasses that result from the burning gunpowder
applies a constant force to the bullet while it travels down the barrel of the gun. The force that is
applied to the bullet is 100N, for each cm2 of surface area of the bullet, per gram of gunpowder
used. The bullet is 9mm in diameter and has a mass of 5g. The bullet leaves the gun at a velocity of
500m/s and experiences negligible air friction.
6. How much gunpowder, rounded to the nearest gram, was used to fire the bullet?
A. 20g
B. 10g
C. 5g
D. 1g
7. How far does the bullet fall towards the ground by the time it reaches the target?
A. 0.02m
B. 0.05m
C. 0.1m
D. 0.2m
8. The bullet penetrates the target to a depth of 10cm before it comes to a complete stop. What is
the average force that the bullet applies to the target?
A. 62500N
B. 6250N
C. 620N
D. 62N
8

9. Unit 3
Consider the following statistics on aids in adult males that was collected by the United States'
Centre for Disease Control and Prevention.
9. Among the AIDS cases in the graph, what is the percentage of male Hispanic correspondents?
A. 13%
B. 21%
C. 45%
D. 73%
10. Patients who receive infected blood via a blood transfusion stand a very chance of contracting
AIDS. How frequently did infection via blood transfusion occur in the population as a whole?
A. less than 5%
B. 20%
C. 40%
D. more than 60%
11. What is the best estimate for the total number of AIDS cases in White (non Hispanic) and Black
(non Hispanic) due to male to male sexual contact, excluding any IDU contact?
A. 32,000
B. 46,000
C. 53,000
D. 64,000
9

10. Unit 4
The oxygen-haemoglobin dissociation curve plots the relationship between percent oxygen
saturation of haemoglobin (the oxygen carrying protein in red blood cells) and the partial pressure of
oxygen.
12. Venous blood is normally 70% saturated with oxygen. The venous partial pressure of O2 is
therefore closest to:
A. 60mmHg
B. 100mmHg
C. 90mmHg
D. 40mmHg
13. The normal position of the oxygen-haemoglobin dissociation curve depends on the
concentration of a metabolite; 2,3-diphosphoglycerate (2,3-DPG). Increased levels of 2,3-DPG result
in haemoglobin having a lower affinity for oxygen. In such a situation, the oxygen-haemoglobin
curve would:
A. Shift to the left
B. Shift to the right
C. Be unchanged
D. Shift upwards
10

11. Unit 5
Meiosis is composed of two sequential nuclear divisions (Fig. 1) designed to produce a
spermatozoon in the male or an ovum in the female. The first nuclear division separates homologous
chromosome pairs, whereas the second division separates sister chromatids of a replicated
chromosome. Uneven separation of nuclear material or non-disjunction is a rare event that usually
results in the destruction of the affected cells. Some chromosomal abnormalities, however, are able
to survive through the process of fertilisation (combination of male and female sex cells to form a
zygote), development and after birth.
Schematic representation demonstrating the separation of sex chromosomes during meiosis in the male.
14. When combined with a normal ovum, which cell could produce a genetically normal male?
A. A
B. C
C. E
D. F
15. In which cell is non-disjunction likely to have occurred if cell E (Fig. 1) contains no sex
chromosomes?
A. A
B. C
C. E
D. F
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12. 16. In which cell is non-disjunction most likely to have occurred if the new zygote is a cell containing
the chromosomes: XXX?
A. A
B. B
C. C
D. D
17. In which cell is non-disjunction most likely to have occurred if the new zygote is a cell containing
the homologous pair (sex chromosomes) chromosomes: XXY?
A. A
B. B
C. C
D. D
12

13. Answers
Reasoning in Humanities and Social Sciences
1D 4B 7B
2C 5D 8D
3A 6C
Written Communication
Some general criteria which your essay can be judged by;
1. Content: Is what is being said relevant?
a. How does the essay relate to the overarching theme of the comments?
b. Expression of a viewpoint.
c. Sufficient evidence to support that viewpoint.
2. Organisation and Cohesion: Is the essay constructed in a well thought-out manner?
a. Paragraph Construction
b. Cohesiveness between paragraphs
c. Is excessive narration used?
3. Communicative Competence: Is the language conveyed with effectiveness and fluency?
a. Appropriate Vocabulary Use.
b. Sentence and grammatical structures.
c. Spelling and punctuation
Reasoning in Biological and Physical Sciences
1C 7D 13 B
2C 8B 14 D
3B 9B 15 A
4D 10 A 16 B
5A 11 D 17 A
6A 12 D
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