Get Exam-ready with Gold Standard’s GAMSAT Practice Question of the Day
GAMSAT Question of the Day will focus on one practice question taken from a specific GAMSAT subject each day. If there is a diagram in the explanation which does not show in your browser, just click on the part that you can see, and it will become visible. Alternatively, you can refresh the page and wait for the image to load properly. Note: the real exam only has 4 options per question.
These GAMSAT practice questions are meant to build basic skills (verbal and geometric reasoning, graph/table interpretation, essay writing, dimensional analysis, etc.) that you are expected to have for the real exam. Keep in mind that most real GAMSAT questions are preceded by stimulus material (i.e. a passage; to sample our practice questions based on passages, click here: Free GAMSAT Practice Test). If you have not reviewed your sciences yet, consider watching one of our 300+ science review videos (there is a sample one at the bottom of this page) before trying to answer our science practice questions.
If you want to discuss today's sample question or any GAMSAT-related topic, please post below. To attend our next free problem-based webinar, click here: Free GAMSAT Webinar. Our current edition GAMSAT textbooks have been completely revised - covering all 3 test sections thoroughly - and are now available through our Gold Standard GAMSAT website or through your local uni bookshop. Gold Standard is the first company to have published 15 full-length GAMSAT Practice Tests. We hope that you will continue to find our content helpful. Good luck with your studies!
| Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | Friday | Saturday | Sunday |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Section 1 | Section 2 | Physics | General Chemistry | Organic Chemistry | Biology | Random Subject |
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Gold Standard 2023-2024 Edition: Clear Teaching with 3500+ GAMSAT Practice Questions
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Have you forgotten your basic Chemistry?
Or, ready to learn GAMSAT Chemistry for the first time?
Consider watching an introduction to stoichiometry below. Over the last few months, Gold Standard has added hours of new teaching videos - from very basic to advanced science topics - to our already extensive collection at www.gamsat-prep.com (currently we have an unrivalled 70+ hours of videos with helpful teaching). Many of our new videos also include GAMSAT practice questions. You can open a free GAMSAT practice test account to watch another hour of the videos of your choice, or join one of our GAMSAT courses to have unlimited access to our video library during your subscription period. Come learn from our experience.
Bonus GAMSAT Practice Question!
Most Section 3 GAMSAT questions on the real exam are based on graphs, tables and diagrams. This is why we always encourage students attending our courses to begin their Section 3 studies with Maths before attempting any of the other sciences. The Maths section in our new Gold Standard Masters Series book has expanded chapters teaching dimensional analysis (used to solve questions in all sciences) and GAMSAT graph analysis (including the GAMSAT-favorite ‘triangle’ or ternary graph).
Here is a typical graph analysis practice question we distributed to some ‘premed’ groups. Please try to answer before looking at the worked solution.
Rockets and satellites are used to measure multiple parameters in the Earth’s upper atmosphere (100 to 800 km above the surface of the Earth). Such parameters include fluctuations in temperature as well as total neutral density (i.e. uncharged species) and electron density. These 3 parameters fluctuate during the sun’s 11-year activity cycle which is illustrated in Figure 1.
Figure 1
Figure 1 can be used to determine the Fluctuation Factor (FF), as defined as the factor by which the lowest value of a parameter can be multiplied to get its highest value at a specific height. For example, if at a given height, the lowest value of a parameter is x and its highest value is 5x, then its FF is 5. According to Figure 1, which of the following parameters displays the greatest FF at any height in the upper atmosphere?
- A Total neutral density
- B Electron density
- C Temperature
- D Both B and C are approximately the highest
After you have considered your answer, proceed with the worked solution. It should be noted, however, if you have not reviewed logarithms and logarithmic scales (section/chapter GM 3.7, 3.8 in GS Book 2), then the worked solution may be challenging.
The difference in the temperature is easy because, along the bottom x-axis, we can see that it is a linear scale and the widest difference, at any given height goes from approx. just over 700 to just over 1400 for a FF of 2 (as defined in the preamble). If the purpose of the question is now more clear to you, you can go back and attempt the solution.
Now we can examine ‘Electron density’ being careful to compare the greatest width of Electron density with the x-axis which refers to it most closely: log Electron Number Density. Now we can see that the greatest width of that region of the graph is 1 unit but since the log of 10 is 1 then in terms of the actual values, the FF for Electron density is approximately 10.
And then finally, comparing the widest portion of Total neutral density at any given height, being approximately 2 units of a logarithmic value, where log 100 or log 10 to the power of 2 is the number 2, thus the FF must be 100 which declares that ‘A’ is the correct response as it has the greatest FF (note: just comparing the widths visually gives the wrong impression as to the actual changes in values from highest to lowest because of the use of log scales).
Understanding how to properly interpret graphs, tables and diagrams will benefit you greatly for GAMSAT success and one day, it will benefit your patients as you practice evidenced-based medicine and avoid being influenced by marketing reps for treatments that do not improve outcomes. Win-win!
