What Is A Good Gamsat Score?
Definition Of A Good Score
First all we need to know what a "good Gamsat score" means. There is no fixed pass mark in Gamsat in fact there is no pass mark at all. Gamsat simply ranks everyone who sits the test and assigns them a score which puts them into a percentile. So for example in the 2019 Gamsat a score of 59 put you into the 50th percentile.
This means that you did as well or better than 50% of the other candidates.
Every year the different universities and medical schools set a Gamsat score required to be called for interview (or in the case of Ireland to directly make offers of places). Each university chooses their own score with some requiring higher scores than others.
The universities usually interview a fixed number of students per place (usually a minimum of three candidates per place available). So they set the score they require so it selects the top slice (or percentile) which will yield the number of people they wish to interview.
So we will define a good score as - "A score in a high enough percentile to be called for interview."
What Is A Good Gamsat Score?
Using this definition a good Gamsat score is 63 which puts you in about the top 20% to 25% of all candidates or in the 75th to 80th percentile. In most years this score would guarantee an interview in nearly all Australian and UK universities or guarantee a place in any Irish university.
An average Gamsat score is 59 which would put you in approximately the 50th percentile.
An excellent score is anything over 70. Scores over 85 while possible are extremely rare.
How Are Gamsat Scores Calculated?
It should be noted that not all the universities calculate your score in the same way.
Most universities use the standard formula which is -
Overall Score = (1 x Section I + 1 x Section II + 2 x Section III) / 4
this formula gives a 50% weighting to section 3, the science section.
However some universities use an alternative formula which only gives section 3 a one third weighting -
Overall Score = (1 x Section I + 1 x Section II + 1 x Section III) / 3
These universities are:
Melbourne, Sydney and Queensland in Australia and St. George's, Nottingham and St. Andrews in the UK.
For a complete list and further details of all universities worldwide which use Gamsat as part of the selection process please see my other article - Gamsat Universities
You should note that many universities also require minimum individual section scores.
Who Scores Highly?
According to an analysis of 10 years of Gamsat results carried out jointly by the Australian Council for Educational Research and three universities and published in the journal BMC Medical Education higher scores are more likely for candidates who are native English speakers, male, less than 24 years of age, have an honours degree or doctorate and have a first degree which is not health related.
Candidates whose first degree was in the physical sciences (e.g physics or chemistry) perform the best in Gamsat.
Students with a first degree in biological sciences, biosciences and engineering also tend to score highly.
People with a first degree in health sciences and nursing perform below average.
Can You Improve Your Gamsat Score?
According to the research cited above approximately 45% of people taking Gamsat each year are repeat takers.
The statistics show that the average increase in score between the first and second attempts is only around 4 points and that there is little improvement in subsequent attempts