Science Section: The Difference Between Knowledge And Reasoning

If you’ve seen anything that we do at PassGAMSAT, you’ll know how passionate we are about understanding the difference between knowledge and reasoning, especially in the science section.

That’s because the GAMSAT and the science section are not a test of how much science you’ve learnt from a textbook, or how many formulas you know, or how many concepts you’ve learnt.

University science students have spent 3 years in their degree learning all this – all the formulas, concepts, equations, definitions, and non-the-less they still fail the science section.

Every year they come to me and say,

“It’s Ironic, I’m a science student but I failed the science section. It was my worst section.”

That’s because they’re not testing your science knowledge.

They’re not even testing your ability to ‘apply’ the knowledge – so doing a bunch of practice questions it’s enough.

They are testing something different – and they give you a clue in the title of the science section:

Reasoning in Biological and Physical Sciences

Note the word, ‘reasoning.’

Not knowledge. Not memorisation of science.

So they’re testing reasoning.

Great!

Now what?

How is reasoning different from knowledge or application of knowledge?

And if doing practice questions isn’t enough, how do you study for it?

Well I’m glad you asked 🙂

Because understanding the difference AND knowling how to study for it is literally the difference between failing (and

The key is in how you think what you look at the stimulus material and questions.

What do you ask yourself what you read over it?

What do you look for?

How do you decide what’s important and what’s not?

How do you refine this process so that you can do it extremely well on the day of the exam?

Well I’d love to tell you here in the blog. However, it depends on your personal weaknesses, situation and background.

There is no one-size-fits-all approach.

It’s a process you refine and change depending on you and what works for you.

That’s why so many people struggle with their GAMSAT preparation. They think they can get the answer from a textbook or 2 day course.

No.

It requires a personalised approach because you’re different from the next person. So your process will also be different.

If you want a free assessment of this, a 3 step process to identify where you’re up to and how you can work on all these skills, then talk to our team.

Have a chat about you and your situation, if you’re suitable, we’ll talk about how we can help further. If not, then you can take what you learnt on the call and apply it yourself.

But only if you’re 100% serious about becoming a doctor ASAP. This is not for you if you’re not sure about it yet. If my team are going to give up their time, I want to make sure that you will go and apply everything you’ve spoken about, otherwise it’s wasted time. That’s why you need to be serious about this when you ask for our call.