Today is the last day of May, 2011.

So, today is the last day of May this year. As expected, it has been quite an eventful month. I'm happy with the results, and I've applied to medical school.

The next month will also be quite critical, with uni exams. So I must study haha. After that, I'll try to prepare for interviews.

That's all for now. I may not have many interesting updates for a while, although perhaps none of my updates or issues raised were particularly interesting. I do contend that a medsci/biomed background person hoping to go into medicine is pretty ordinary.

[update] Cram period (aka swotvac) has begun!

With the last class at uni for the semester yesterday, today is now the start of the cram period. I've decided to take the first day as a resting day, but after this there will be quite a lot of revision done.

Right now though, apart from the exams I'm getting a bit worried about the USyd interviews. They are in just over a month, from 4-8 July. I'm going to "cram" in a bit of ethics after the exam period to prepare for it. But for now, I guess the uni exams are first...

[update] Last week of semester one.

This week will be the last week of semester one. After that will be swotvac (I call it "cram week" sometimes) then I have exams on the next two weeks.

As for that midsemester test almost two weeks ago, I did get over 80% for that too. However, the class average was very high too. I have a feeling that the exam will probably be much harder.

By the way, I noticed quite a huge spike in the page views on the GAMSAT result release day (17 May) with 151 views. The following two days were also very high, with 104 and 92 views respectively. Not totally unexpected I guess, but interesting to see.

That's all for now.

[update] GAMSAT results are released!

Today the GAMSAT results, which we have been waiting so long for, have been released. I am quite pleased with them. I managed to get over 80 overall this time, and my science section score did not decrease! I did get a bit lucky in section 2 though with the topics (as discussed earlier on my blog), and my section 1 didn't increase by a lot but section 2 did.

Anyway, that means I'll be applying to unis tonight with this year's score.

I hope all of you have received scores which are competitive enough.


In other news, I am still waiting for midsemester test results from last week's test. The test was OK.

Note: Results statement picture was added in later.

[update] GMAC admission guide released!

Today the GMAC admission guide was released this afternoon. http://gamsat.acer.edu.au/images/documents/gmac_guide2012.pdf

As expected, domestic applicants are allowed to put six preferences on their list and do not need to supply transcripts if they completed everything in Australia. There are no major changes in GPA calculations, although a few universities have changed their methodology which may affect a minority of people.

However, the "issue" with UQ's offer timeline, in which the offers are much earlier than other unis so people have almost no chance of being passed down from other unis, is not addressed.

Anyway, that's all really I have to comment about the guide. Otherwise, you can probably read it yourself :). However, I guess the guide does mean that GAMSAT results are going to be released soon!

[update] Semester one exam timetable released

I just got my exam timetable, and it says I have two exams on one day! Ah well, I guess there's nothing I can do to change that, so I will just have to perform as best as I can under those conditions.
Three of my exams are at the end of the first week of the exam period, while one is at the end of the second week. Looking at the exams in isolation it would have been nice if they were more spread out and later (none are on the third week), but the good thing about no exam in the third week (first time that has happened to me) is that there is more time to prepare for the interviews.


Still waiting for GAMSAT results...

[update] One week left? Or two weeks?

It seems like there will be either one or two weeks left until the results release. One week would be quite an optimistic prediction, given that the test was six days later this year compared to last year. Furthermore, although I don't know if the GMAC admission guide release and result release are dependent somehow or not, historically the GMAC admission guide was released one week before the GAMSAT results.

Last year, the admission guide was released on Thursday May 6th I think, and this year they have not even been released on Friday May 6th. If they are not released on Monday, and if the two events are dependent somehow, then that would be likely for results to come after Friday 13 May. However, there is a new admission system brought in this year too, so that would complicate any "analysis" of release dates. Of course though, a few days here and there doesn't change anything in the long run anyway as long as final offers are out before class starts, although earlier releases mean less stress time. So arguably there is no real issue if ACER releases earlier or later, but I do prefer if they release the results earlier. I've got my preference list in my mind ready to go as soon as the admission system opens and results come out! For now though... still got one substantial (20%) midsemester test for one subject and a 10% prac assessment for another before results come out.

[update] The month of May has arrived!

The fifth month of the year has finally arrived. It will be a very busy and eventful month indeed. We will receive GAMSAT results in the middle of the month, and apply to medical school too.

With respect to the results release, by looking at historical release dates (and a standard definition of "mid-May"), it seems like Friday 13 May (ooh scary) is a good guess for an early release. However, given that this year's GAMSAT was late, Friday 20 May seems to be a good bet by looking at historical differences between results release and test dates. I do wish it comes sooner rather than later though.

As for university, there is also another midsemester test in one of my subjects after the break worth 20%. Furthermore, in another of my subjects, there are practicals totaling 20% of my overall mark to be completed! It will certainly be quite a busy and eventful month ahead.