GAMSAT Test 2026: Dates, UK Fee, Sections and Scores

What is the GAMSAT test?

The Graduate Medical School Admissions Test (GAMSAT) is developed by the Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER) to help select students for graduate-entry medicine and health courses. In the UK it is used mainly for graduate-entry medicine, but ACER's UK list also includes Plymouth's dentistry course and UEA's Physician Associate MSc, and some five-year medicine courses use it for graduates or applicants without the usual A levels. Our guide to GAMSAT UK medical schools lists every school and what it asks for.

You don't need a science degree to sit it. ACER says universities encourage applications from people with academic excellence in other fields, but also warns that success will be difficult without a good knowledge of the biological and physical sciences. There is no limit on how many times you can sit GAMSAT, but you must be a genuine prospective applicant to a course that requires it.

Most UK school-leaver medicine courses use the UCAT instead. If you are weighing up both routes, see our UCAT overview and try the free UCAT practice test to compare the style of questions. A short summary of GAMSAT is also on our GAMSAT overview page.

GAMSAT sections and format

GAMSAT is split across two test windows. Written Communication is taken first, by remote proctoring for all test takers. About three weeks later, you sit the two reasoning sections in person at a test centre (ACER allows remote sittings for these only in limited cases, such as living more than three hours' drive from a centre).

• Written Communication: two 30-minute writing tasks (65 minutes in total), each offering four statements on a common theme. The first deals with socio-cultural issues, the second with more personal and social issues. Each response is scored independently three times, on the quality of your thinking and your control of language.
• Humanities and Social Sciences: tests your interpretation and understanding of ideas in social and cultural contexts.
• Biological and Physical Sciences: multiple-choice questions with four options, mixing biology, chemistry and physics. Besides reasoning, it examines recall and understanding of basic science concepts.

The two test-centre sections add up to 4 hours and 10 minutes of test time, with a short break between them (ACER's sample timetable shows 30 minutes). ACER's test day page advises planning to be at the centre for about 6 hours. There are morning and afternoon sessions. ACER's UK venues for September 2026 were Birmingham, Cardiff, Derry/Londonderry, Edinburgh, Liverpool, London, Newcastle, Norwich, Plymouth and Sheffield; March 2026 also used Bristol and Leeds (ACER registration). Venues can change between sittings.

GAMSAT dates 2026 and 2027

GAMSAT runs twice a year. ACER says the March test suits Australian and Irish admissions, while the September test is timed to meet the UK admissions cycle. You can use results from either sitting to apply in any of the three countries.

Both 2026 sittings have now taken place. ACER's registration page says the next sitting is March 2027, with registrations opening in November 2026. ACER had not yet listed the March 2027 deadlines or test windows when we checked, so watch the registration page. Reasonable adjustment requests close on the standard registration deadline.

How to register for GAMSAT in the UK and what it costs

1. Create an ACER account.
2. Register for your chosen sitting and pick your test centre city, date and session.
3. Pay online by credit card (Mastercard or Visa). Payment is due in full when you register.
4. Apply for any reasonable adjustments straight after registering, before the standard deadline.

ACER's booklet says you have 14 days from registering to get a full refund. Otherwise you can cancel for a refund up to the refund deadline (13 July 2026 for September 2026), less the £51 administration fee. You can also defer once, to the following March or September sitting. The registration fee is the same £296 on ACER's main page, and UK test takers pay in pounds.

If you are applying to UK medical schools, you must also tell ACER. For 2027 entry, ACER says you must tick "UK" on your registration and give your UCAS Personal ID and course choices by midnight GMT on 31 October 2026 so your results are sent to the universities. ACER says it contacts test takers in mid-October when this form opens in their account.

GAMSAT score range and how scores are calculated

You get a score for each of the three sections and an overall score. Each of the four scores is on a scale of 0 to 100, and ACER stresses that these are not percentage marks. Scores are scaled so that results from different test versions and sittings are directly comparable.

The overall score is a weighted average that counts the science section twice (ACER):

• Overall score = (1 × Humanities and Social Sciences + 1 × Written Communication + 2 × Biological and Physical Sciences) ÷ 4

ACER calculates the overall score before rounding the section scores, so you can't always reproduce it exactly from the rounded numbers on your statement. Your results also include a chart showing your approximate percentile for the overall score, compared with people in the same sitting. However, ACER says universities consider your section and overall scores, not your percentile, and set their own cut-offs each year.

ACER does not publish a pass mark or an average. For what UK schools have actually asked for, including published cut-offs, see GAMSAT UK medical schools and cut-off scores.

GAMSAT results: timing and validity

• When: March 2026 results came out in late May 2026; September 2026 results are due in mid November 2026. You are emailed when they are ready in your ACER account.
• Validity: results can be used for two consecutive years in the UK and Ireland (four in Australia). Ulster University accepts four years.
• Which results count for 2027 UK entry: March 2025, September 2025, March 2026 and September 2026 (ACER).
• More than one score: unless you say otherwise, universities automatically use your highest-performing score set.
• Remarks: ACER does not offer remarks for any section, including Written Communication.

For 2027 entry, UCAS applications to the GAMSAT-using programmes are due by 15 October 2026, with interviews from December 2026 to April 2027 and offers from March to June 2027.

How to prepare for GAMSAT

ACER sells official e-books and online practice tests, and the registration fee includes the Practice Test A e-book. Its booklet also notes that commercial GAMSAT courses are unregulated, and that you should judge for yourself whether any provider can show it improves scores.

1. Check which schools you are aiming for, and whether they set section minimums as well as an overall score.
2. Revise the science. ACER says the science section assumes first-year university biology and chemistry and A level physics, and it counts double in the overall score.
3. Practise reading varied texts (personal, imaginative, expository and argumentative writing) plus some visual and tabular material, as used in the humanities section.
4. Write timed essays: two 30-minute responses to a set of quotes, without pre-prepared material.
5. Sit an official ACER practice test under timed conditions, then review every wrong answer.

Review technique matters as much as the number of questions you do; our guide to reviewing a practice test shows a simple method. If you are still choosing between graduate entry and a standard five-year course, read what's on the UCAT to compare.

Frequently asked questions

Sources

Every source below was accessed on the listed date. Pages — especially department admissions pages — change without notice; the links go to the live versions.

1. Graduate Medical School Admissions Test (GAMSAT) — ACER. Accessed 2026-10-01.
2. GAMSAT Registration — ACER. Accessed 2026-10-01.
3. GAMSAT Results — ACER. Accessed 2026-10-01.
4. GAMSAT Test day — ACER. Accessed 2026-10-01.
5. GAMSAT Admission UK — ACER. Accessed 2026-10-01.
6. GAMSAT Information Booklet 2026 — ACER. Accessed 2026-10-01.

Related guides

• GAMSAT UK Medical Schools: Which Use It and Cut-offs
• TMUA, ESAT and TARA Dates 2026–27: Deadlines and Fees
• TMUA vs ESAT vs TARA: Which UAT-UK Test Do You Need?
• TMUA Score Explained: Scale, Averages and Good Scores