Built a responsive GAMSAT preparation platform with structured practice tests and personalised feedback.
Industry
Education
Project
GAMSAT Preparation Platform
Job Title
Product UX/UI Lead
Company:
Medify is a leading UK-based edtech company focused on medical school preparation. They help aspiring doctors navigate the highly competitive admissions process by providing comprehensive preparation tools for key entrance exams including GAMSAT, UCAT, and BMAT. The platform serves thousands of students each year, offering structured practice tests, detailed feedback, personalised study plans, and interactive exercises to boost their chances of securing a place at medical school. Students can create accounts to track their progress, receive tailored recommendations, and access helpful resources including blog posts and video tutorials.
What I did:
I designed a responsive web app that helps students prepare for the GAMSAT exam. The app was built using ReactJS and AWS, and involved working closely with developers, CTOs, and product owners. The GAMSAT study app was offered to students across Australia, New Zealand, and the UK as a comprehensive preparation tool, helping students achieve higher scores through interactive exercises and self-assessment.
I led UX and UI from discovery to delivery, working day-to-day with engineering and content teams. I co-planned sprints with the product owner, aligned scope with the CTO, and wrote functional specifications that flowed directly into Jira. Throughout the process, I stayed close to implementation to ensure the shipped product matched the design intent.
The Challenge
The GAMSAT is one of the most demanding entrance exams for medical school. Students often feel lost, anxious, and overwhelmed before they even begin studying. They don't know how to plan their time, what to focus on, or whether their efforts are paying off.
Medify's goal was to offer a digital-first learning experience that gave students the structure, clarity, and confidence they were missing. The challenge was creating a responsive web app that could handle the complexity of exam preparation whilst maintaining simplicity and clarity for students who needed to focus on learning, not navigating the interface.
Business Goals
- •Launch a scalable GAMSAT product to reach new markets
- •Deliver a fully self guided learning experience
- •Improve session time and engagement across devices
- •Reduce dependency on support through better UX
User Goals
- •Understand how the GAMSAT works and how to approach it
- •Learn in manageable sections with built-in motivation
- •Track progress and performance over time
- •Access reliable study content quickly from anywhere
Approach
Research & Discovery
I began by researching the GAMSAT exam structure on acer.edu.au, which provides the official exam. This gave me a comprehensive understanding of how the exam is constructed and broken down into different sections, including what content is covered and examples of question types.
I also explored medstudentsonline.com.au, a forum where students discuss the exam and share preparation strategies. This research revealed common pain points and questions students had about approaching different sections and improving their performance.
Key Insight
Students didn't just want information – they needed structure, progress tracking, and motivation. Most were overwhelmed and didn't know where to begin or how to measure improvement.
Business Requirements & Stakeholder Management
To ensure the project started on solid ground, I began by gathering business requirements from stakeholders, including business analysts. The first step was creating a comprehensive backlog of user stories for product development.
I defined each user story as a specific feature needed by users, then organised these stories into sprints with clear development and implementation timelines. This structured approach helped maintain focus and ensure all critical features were prioritised appropriately.
Personas & Journey Mapping
I defined two primary personas that informed how I structured tutorial content, designed navigation, positioned encouragement and feedback, and created clear flows from onboarding through study review.
The Structured Planner
Goal-oriented & methodical
Characteristics:
- • Focused and organised approach
- • Wants control over study schedule
- • Seeks detailed progress tracking
- • Prefers systematic learning paths
Needs:
Clear milestones, comprehensive progress dashboards, and structured content organisation.
The Anxious Crammer
Time-pressed & overwhelmed
Characteristics:
- • Tends to procrastinate
- • Avoids difficult topics initially
- • Seeks quick wins and motivation
- • Needs confidence building
Needs:
Bite-sized content, immediate feedback, motivational elements, and easy entry points.
Learning Design Strategy
The tutorial section was a critical component of the app, containing over 75 tutorials and cheat sheets prepared by an experienced content team including teachers and scholars. My challenge was creating an effective and intuitive navigational system to help students access and engage with this extensive content library.
I researched how people learn most effectively, discovering that breaking information into digestible pieces and building knowledge progressively leads to better comprehension. This insight drove my approach to structuring tutorials into smaller, manageable sections that students could process more easily.
After analysing how users interact with apps, I focused on creating an intuitive navigation system that wouldn't require constant instructions or tooltips. The goal was to eliminate the common user problem of spending too much time figuring out how to use the interface instead of focusing on learning.
To achieve this, I designed a tab-based navigation system at the top of each page. This approach eliminated the need for users to scroll through entire pages to find what they needed, whilst enabling quick and easy movement between different tutorials. I ensured all signposting was clear and that important areas were accessible with just one click.
I also introduced a gamified progress tracker that provided students with visual indicators of completion and motivational nudges to continue their studies, helping users build momentum and maintain engagement.
Design Process
Design Thinking & Strategy
My design approach focused on helping users feel more in control through progressive disclosure, reducing friction, and making it easy to pick up where they left off. I used low-to-mid fidelity wireframes to explore and test key user flows including onboarding, tutorial navigation, progress feedback, and returning study sessions.
Tutorial Experience Design
I designed a responsive tutorial system that simplified content navigation. The tab-based navigation at the top of each tutorial eliminated endless scrolling, whilst every tutorial was broken into bite sized sections that could be read sequentially or accessed directly based on user needs.
I also integrated study tips within tutorial content – short, motivational snippets based on common user struggles, strategically placed at key moments to help students overcome doubt or procrastination and maintain their learning momentum.
Validation & Testing
I maintained tight iteration cycles and kept user feedback visible throughout the design process. I validated user flows through quick rounds of moderated usability sessions using prototypes, observing how students discovered tutorials, started mock exams, paused, and resumed their studies.
Key pain points identified during testing included hesitation about where to start studying and confusion about how to review mistakes effectively. These insights directly informed design improvements to the onboarding flow and feedback systems.
Accessibility & Responsiveness
From the beginning, I designed for accessibility and comfort during long study sessions. This included scalable typography and readable line lengths for sustained reading, a high-contrast colour palette that remained visually calm, and keyboard-friendly navigation with logical focus order.
These accessibility considerations ensured the platform was usable by students with diverse needs and provided a comfortable learning environment for extended study periods.
Engineering Collaboration
Functional Specifications
I created detailed functional specification documents that outlined how each feature would behave and integrate with the system. Working closely with the product owner, I translated design features into Jira tickets with clear acceptance criteria and development requirements.
Throughout the development process, I participated in daily stand-ups, reviewed development work, and used Figma and Storybook to ensure design consistency across all devices and screen sizes. This close collaboration ensured the final implementation matched the design intent.
Results
Tutorial Completion
Tutorial completion rate increased significantly with the new structured approach and gamified progress tracking.
Session Time
Average session time increased with improved navigation and bite sized content that kept students engaged longer.
Returning Users
Improvement in returning user rate with better progress tracking and confidence-building features.
Support Tickets
Helpdesk tickets related to tutorial navigation dropped significantly with improved UX and clarity.
User Confidence Impact
Self-reported user confidence improved significantly, with average rating jumping from 2.9 to 4.1 on a 5-point scale. Students felt more in control of their exam preparation and less overwhelmed by the study process.