So you might have heard that if you are taking a Unit 3&4 sequence this year that you will be required to sit the GAT exam. With a total exam time of four hours and with over 100 multiple-choice questions, many of you will be sad to hear that this is, in fact, true. You also have to write three small essays. However, it doesn't have to be as terrifying and frustrating as it seems.

The good news is that you don’t need to study for it! There are many tips and tricks that will be shared in this article to help you ace the GAT without spending hours on revising. 

Although the GAT exam doesn’t seem very useful, it is important that you do the very best that you can in it (I know, it’s tempting to spend the time shading in random boxes), but it can actually be used later to help with your overall marks after your final exams! 

Before you dive into these tips and tricks, check out this article for more information about the GAT's structure.

SECTION A

Writing Task (10 + 20 minutes)

For this first writing task, you will be presented with some information (an image or text) and be asked to complete two short writing tasks based on it. 

You will have to write two pieces based on the scenario, a short piece (10 minutes) and a longer one (20 minutes). A lot of the time, the piece of writing will be similar to those you need to write in real-life situations, like letters, emails, and articles. 

Your writing will be marked based on: 

• Audience: does your writing have a clear target audience, and does your writing style cater to them? Most of the time, the audience you are writing towards will be given to you in the background information. 
• Grammar, punctuation, and spelling: make sure you are doing your best to ensure your writing is free of errors.
• Structure: does your piece have a clear beginning, middle, and end? If you are writing an email or letter, have you signed it off appropriately? It is very important that you consider the type of text you are writing. 
• Ideas: have you thought of a unique idea? Does your idea fit with the prompt?

It is important that you read the background information and address as many points as you can from it. If you’ve been presented with images, it is good to refer to them in your writing as well. 

Numeracy Multiple-Choice Questions (45 minutes)

In this section, you will be given some numeracy MCQs. These questions will likely be based on real-life scenarios as well, and you will be tested on the maths skills that you would have learnt throughout school. 

If you are keen to prepare for this section, you can review things like: 

• Working with basic operations (addition, subtraction, multiplication, division)
• Operations with fractions 
• Statistics (finding means, medians, etc.)
• Working with money
• Reading graphs/timetables
• Measurement and geometry concepts (area, volume, units, etc.)

You don’t get a lot of time to work out each question (it averages out to less than a minute per question!) so you need to be fast. A calculator is permitted in this section so use it to your advantage. 

One key tip for this section is to stick with what you know – there’s no point in spending 5 minutes staring at a question on the area of a circle if you can’t remember the formula. The questions will not be trying to trick you – most of the time you will be solving direct maths sums/reading graphs. Additionally, make sure you read the units given in the question; the options for the multiple-choice questions may not have the same units so be aware!  

Literacy Multiple-Choice Questions (45 minutes)

In this part, you will be presented with a series of texts or statements, and will have to answer questions based on them. Most of the time, the texts will be those you encounter in everyday life, such as recipes, letters, advertisements, etc. 

When doing these questions, you should work with a process of elimination. A lot of the time, there will be answers that are more obvious than others, so you can go ahead and eliminate the wrong ones. You can also have a glance at the questions before you look over the text, as you will then know what to look out for while you read. 

SECTION B

Writing Task (30 minutes)

In this section, you will be given some phrases, that are all based on a certain topic, and you will be asked to present your point of view on them. For example: 

• "The secret to happiness is to be grateful"
• "Happiness comes from within"
• "There is no such thing as being happy"
• "Everyone’s idea of happiness is different" 

As you can see, each of these phrases is based on the theme of "happiness," but they all have a different perspective on it.

When you write your piece, you don’t need to mention all the given statements, it also doesn’t have to be word-for-word. You will be marked on giving a clear and effective argument, so have a think about the way you use the statements. You can technically argue both sides of the issue, but make sure your transitions between the arguments are clear. 

It is a good idea to consider the techniques that you have learnt in your studies of persuasive texts. Since you don’t really have access to factual information and evidence, some things that are good to include are:

• Anecdotes and personal stories. Why do you think what you think?
• Analogies that relate the topic to something else
• Metaphors
• Imagery 
• Rhetorical questions

There is also no formal structure that you must adopt – you can get creative with this piece by creating a narrative or taking on a persona! Additionally, it is important that you have a flow to your writing, so you should try to have an introduction, middle section, and conclusion. 

Science and Technology Multiple-Choice Questions (30 minutes)

Unlike the maths questions in Section A, the ones in this section are more ‘logic’ based. They will require a bit more thinking – you won’t always be solving a direct maths sum. Oh, and not all the scenarios will be maths based – science and design questions will also feature. 

In this section, you will see many questions involving patterns and lots of variables. A key tip for this section is to read the background information carefully. Most of the time, the information given will be required to solve multiple questions, so it is important that you develop a good understanding of the overall scenario. 

For each lot of information given, there will always be questions that are easy, and more difficult. Therefore, rather than skipping the entire Unit, you should try the easier questions. 

Arts and Humanities Multiple-Choice Questions (30 minutes)

Here, you will be given short texts/visual material to answer MCQ questions on. The texts that you get can vary from essays to poems and can get quite confusing. You may also see some vocab-based questions. 

Most of the time, you will encounter words that you’ve never seen before. Don’t fear! You will have your dictionary on you that you can use in these cases. 

The GAT can be tricky in this section and will give you MCQ options that read very similarly. It is not easy to distinguish whether a person is disappointed or dissatisfied! The best thing to do here is to use hints in the other questions, and just go with the answer you feel most fits. 

General Tips

• Be very conscious that you shade the correct bubble on your MCQ answer sheet. It is very easy to lose track of where you are up to!
• Brainstorm your responses to the writing tasks during reading time – that way, you can start writing straightway.
• Read the questions carefully and pay attention to key phrases like ‘odd one out,’ ‘most correct,’ ‘not correct.’  
• Keep your eye on the clock – there’s a lot to get done in the time. Make sure you think about exactly how you want to approach the exam to make the most of the time before the day comes. For example, you might know that maths is easy for you but essays are your weak point. You can factor this in to help structure your reading time and also your working time to maximise the marks you get in those sections. 
• Complete the writing tasks first – it is much easier to shade in some random bubbles if you run out of time, rather than rushing an essay. 
• Just guess the questions that you cannot do (don’t leave anything blank!).

And that brings us to the end of this (long) article – hopefully you found these tips useful. At the end of the day, the GAT is not something that you need to stress about or study extensively for, but it is a good way to practise your exam skills. All the best! 

Ranithri is the author of several ATAR Notes books and is currently doing a Science degree at the University of Melbourne. When not studying, you can find her reading, creating art, or spending time with her cat.