The secret ‘Between Two Ferns’ GAMSAT lessons

Ever seen the web-series “Between Two Ferns”?

He asks the most random, awkward questions, makes his guests super uncomfortable… and it is…

The one with Zack Galifianakis interviewing celebrities and insulting the hell out of them?

Absolutely HILARIOUS.

Apparently, it’s been around for a while!

I only really discovered it a few weeks ago when I saw the Netflix movie about it. Then I went digging and binged all the episodes.

I couldn’t get enough.

My favourite has to be Brad Pitt – the interview was done back when Pitt was married to Angelina Jolie. 

Zack asked Pitt what it was like to first meet Angelina; Was it like one of those classic TV moments when Ross met Rachel on Friends.

(Pitt was previously married to the actress that played Rachel).

I think my head almost exploded with that one – I was laughing so hard.

And you know what, there are some traits about this awkwardly terrible host, Zack Galifianakis, that apply really well to the GAMSAT.

In fact, there are lots of lessons Zack from “Between Two Ferns” can teach us:

1. Don’t follow the crowd

Zack doesn’t suck up to celebrities like everyone else does in their interviews. We’ve all seen those boring suck up interviews for years and years and no one cares anymore.

Zack does it his own way and it’s amazing.

You have to do the same with the GAMSAT. 

If you follow the crowd you’ll end up in the 88% of people doing the GAMSAT who don’t get in. They’re all studying the same way – learning the content and doing practice questions or just doing practice questions. It doesn’t work.

You need to be different. Study in a way that actually addresses what this exam is testing. Be different, like Zack, and get amazing results.

2. Never give up

With the amount of people who walked out, insulted him, spat on him, and hit him you’d think Zack would stop. He didn’t. He kept asking questions and being crazy.

The GAMSAT will knock you down, punch you in the guts, tear your heart out. So what. Welcome to the club. Don’t stop.

3. Ask the cutting, deeper questions

Zack doesn’t just accept the surface level stuff. And neither should you. Ask the deeper questions about what this exam is about and how to actually study for it.

4. Everyone’s in on it.

All the celebrities know the game. They know what’s going to happen. 

The writers of the GAMSAT know the games they’re playing. They know what they’re testing. You need to be in on it too.

You need to be in on what’s actually happening and what this test is really about. (Hint: it’s not about your knowledge of the sciences, or applied knowledge, or even problem solving)

5. Be uncomfortably honest

I don’t know if there’s a better way to describe Zack’s interviews than ‘uncomfortable honest.’ And it’s amazing.

You need to be uncomfortably honest with yourself – why do you want to be a doctor? What is really holding you back? What are you really struggling with?

Only that way can you know what to address to get a high score.

I could keep going all day. But I think you get the point.

[The Point]

Watch Between Two Ferns, if you haven’t before.

Then talk to us about how to apply these 5 lessons to your GAMSAT preparation so that you become a doctor ASAP.

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