Coronavirus: Medical students in limbo over GAMSAT

Aspiring medical students are in limbo as they wait to see if the Graduate Medical School Admissions Test will take place.

Aspiring medical students don’t know when the next entrance exam will be held.

Thousands of aspiring medical students are in limbo as they wait for administrators to determine whether the cancelled Graduate Medical School Admissions Test (GAMSAT), originally due to be held on Saturday, will take place.

Students were informed on ­Friday that the exam would not proceed as scheduled due to coronavirus concerns.

In an email sent to registered students, the Australian Council for Educational Research, which runs the exam, said it was “reviewing possible alternatives”.

“It is apparent that it is not ­possible to proceed with the GAMSAT exam as currently scheduled,” the council said.

The delay leaves about 4000 medical students in the lurch. On Tuesday, the body that oversees applications for medical schools — the Graduate Entry Medical School Admissions System — said a final decision on alternatives to the cancelled March 21 exam would not be made until March 23.

Some of the contingency plans under consideration include re­sitting the examinations in several smaller venues or cancelling the March exam entirely, which would mean the GAMSAT current­ly scheduled for September would be the only one held this year. However, as Australia braces itself for widespread self-isolation, the former scenario appears unlikely.

As reported in The Australian, ACER flagged the possible cancellation two weeks ago, saying the decision could be made “at the last minute”.

Aspiring University of Notre Dame medical student Steph, 24, said she was devastated when she found out the exam had been ­cancelled and, although she said it was the correct decision, she felt ACER had become “desensitised” to the stress students experienced.

“For many applicants, this is their last shot at their dream career and they just want some clear guidance on how to proceed,” said the student, who was about to sit her third GAMSAT examination.

It is understood ACER has received a significant volume of inquiries from concerned students.

If September 9 emerges as the sole GAMSAT examination date this year, postgraduate medical school applications will be thrown into disarray, as results for the exam are not returned for months afterwards.

For example, the University of Melbourne sends applicants interview offers for its doctor of medicine degree about two weeks after the September exam.

A spokeswoman for the University of Melbourne said it was “working hard with the GAMSAT provider to ensure that there are alternative arrangements for the test to be administered in time for selection for 2021”.

A spokeswoman for the University­ of Sydney noted that ACER was reviewing alternatives for the test. “We’re waiting for more details to inform our decis­ions,” she said.

“We’ll aim to be as flexible as possible while retaining our academic requirements in order to ensure students seeking to apply to our postgraduate medical courses are impacted as little as possible; any changes will be communicated through our website.”

On the ACER website, administrators requested that students “not contact ACER or email the GAMSAT office in relation to the rescheduling arrangements”.

The cancellation of the March examination — held across 12 ­venues — will significantly affect regional students, as the September exam is only conducted in Australia’s four biggest cities. It exclude­s cities such as Adelaide, Dubbo, Hobart and Townsville.