Sometimes people draw similarities between the GAMSAT and interview. After all, they are both high stakes hurdles where performance is measured in order to get into medical school. They both involve thinking very quickly to come up with the right answer (or a right answer in the interview or GAMSAT section 2 where there is more than one possible acceptable response).
However, there are a few serious differences. For instance, the GAMSAT is highly standardized while the interview is not so repeatable even under an MMI format of eight stations (although it is a great improvement over a panel interview where most of the variation of scores is due to the bias of interviewers to interviewees rather than actual ability). And of course, they test very different types of thinking, and there is little correlation between GAMSAT and MMI performance, although USyd found a positive correlation between the interview and GAMSAT sections one (humanities) or two (writing), and a slightly negative correlation between MMI and GAMSAT section three (science) performance.
As for another difference, despite both requiring quick thinking, there is another crucial difference in preparation. For the GAMSAT, I tried to come in as comfortable clothes as possible, so that I would not be hindered by my clothes while trying to write or think. I wore a polo shirt and tracksuit pants inside some windcheaters and sports jackets. I wore runners for footwear.
On the other hand, for the interview, in order to create a good impression, I wore a white shirt and a tie, trousers, leather shoes and a suit. Very different indeed. That said, I don't really hate wearing those interview type of clothes, although they are not the most comfortable things to wear. I don't wear them very often though. I actually don't think that GAMSAT scores would be affected that much by having more comfortable clothes though, although any suspected difference is useful. It would seem more likely that the GAMSAT performance would be better with more comfortable clothes than with less comfortable ones though, although I do not know of any such study demonstrating anything.
I wouldn't be surprised if a really big sample size was required to see any effect, and then it would also could not be a double-blind study either, as it's pretty obvious to yourself what clothes you are wearing. At best, the only thing that could happen was that the participants not know the actual objective of the study (that is, comparing comfortable with not so comfortable clothes, even if the clothes are supplied by the study designers for randomization etc purposes) and that they just took intelligence tests without knowing the actual study purpose. Anyway, I guess that's overthinking it a bit.
Saturday, July 9, 2011
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I think the clothes can DEFINITELY make a difference. If you are wearing something that is chafing or uncomfortable that will break your concentration, any lapse in concentration with will cost you time, and make it more likely for you to make little mistakes!
ReplyDeleteI hope your USyd interview went well! I couldn't be bothered applying there, hopefully that laziness doesn't blow up in my face :)
I do wear comfortable clothes to my uni exams too. The same type that I wear to the GAMSAT.
ReplyDeleteThanks for that hope about the USyd interview, Yavinah. I guess I'll learn about the outcome in about a month. From your scores not getting a place in Melbourne would seem unlikely, especially because they don't have a minimum interview score (not implying anything about your interview performance of course, although it is another variable), but I guess you never really know. Probably the only uni which you can predict getting in with reasonable accuracy is UQ due to their lack of interview.
*Yahvinah (oops, spelt your name wrong)
ReplyDeleteand even with UQ there is a lot of speculation about the lack of CSPs!
ReplyDeleteAh yeah that lack of CSPs. It seems like a stuff up that they did with the provisional intake, which they seem to be hiding by not saying the number of places they expect to be taken up by them.
ReplyDeleteA rough calculation I did puts the cut-off at 74 or 75, but without taking into account Sydney pulling out of the consortium. Initially the cut-off may be higher than this, but as people decline a spot for USyd, theoretically the cutoff should fall. (Anecdotally there have been at least two people last year where they preferred to go to USyd, and had >75 GAMSAT scores, but didn't want to take the risk of an interview and put UQ first. In the current situation they would instead have a likely offer at USyd and go there instead of UQ)
Then again, if they really wanted to resolve what I call the "UQ (lower preference) issue", then they might reserve some of their offers for those unsuccessful at other unis' interviews but with high GAMSAT scores which seems to be consistent with what their website says (potentially people like me haha) then that might cause the cutoff to rise.