GAT Questions and Discussion

[Joseph41]

Hello

I'm in year 11 and am doing a 3/4 subject (legal studies). I did the gat exam today and am very worried about my results as I don't think I did too well on it.  How much does this gat exam actually effect my atar?

Thanks

Hey Karapl13!

Well done for getting through the GAT. It's definitely a different sort of exam, isn't it? Very difficult.

I wouldn't worry yourself too much, if I were you. The reality is that the GAT is very likely to have no impact whatsoever on your ATAR. The only things that contribute directly to your study score for Legal this year (and, therefore, toward your ATAR more broadly) are your SACs and the exam - not the GAT.

The GAT becomes useful in certain circumstances. For example, if you happen to be really sick on the day of the Legal exam and can't sit it, you might apply for what's called a "derived study score". Basically, VCAA looks at a bunch of factors - one of which is your GAT performance - to determine what study score you likely would have achieved.

The likelihood of this is very small. I guess what I'm trying to say is: don't worry - it's unlikely to have any influence.

P.S. I'm just going to merge this thread with the existing GAT thread. Great question, though - I think a lot of people would have similar queries!

[xboxer]

I just did the GAT today and I was wondering what the word limit was for task 1 and 2?

[Aaron]

I just did the GAT today and I was wondering what the word limit was for task 1 and 2?

None. As long as you used the suggested time given for each writing task as a guide. Most important thing was submitting a completed piece, that is presented in a logical and structured way.

Edit: Does anyone remember the writing tasks? If so, please share! If you have any thoughts about the GAT this year, feel free to post as well

[xboxer]

Thanks!

[patriciarose]

Edit: Does anyone remember what the writing tasks involved? If so, please share! If you have any thoughts about the GAT this year, feel free to post as well

like, the ones we did today? (: first one was an infographic about coffee – biggest exporting/importing countries, what caffeine is, how the market for coffee had grown over the years. second one was to do with communication – is communication mostly meaningless nowadays?, are humans more developed than animals because we can communicate more in depth ideas?, we're fortunate to have so many ways to communicate (ie. technology -> hello, gatchphrase), and meaningful communication allows us to achieve a better quality of life. they weren't phrased as questions, but that's how i'm remembering the first two, oops. the gist is the same though! i just talked about communication heaps, was pretty easy tbh (:

(if that wasn't what you were asking, um, sorry for the infodump haha.)

[Aaron]

like, the ones we did today? (: first one was an infographic about coffee – biggest exporting/importing countries, what caffeine is, how the market for coffee had grown over the years. second one was to do with communication – is communication mostly meaningless nowadays?, are humans more developed than animals because we can communicate more in depth ideas?, we're fortunate to have so many ways to communicate (ie. technology -> hello, gatchphrase), and meaningful communication allows us to achieve a better quality of life. they weren't phrased as questions, but that's how i'm remembering the first two, oops. the gist is the same though! i just talked about communication heaps, was pretty easy tbh (:

(if that wasn't what you were asking, um, sorry for the infodump haha.)

Yep, the ones you did today Thanks for the share patriciarose.

[exit]

I spent a lot of time doing the maths questions so i had to skip like 8 humanities questions...am i ok?

[xboxer]

I heard that humanities was the main part rather than the maths

[Joseph41]

like, the ones we did today? (: first one was an infographic about coffee – biggest exporting/importing countries, what caffeine is, how the market for coffee had grown over the years. second one was to do with communication – is communication mostly meaningless nowadays?, are humans more developed than animals because we can communicate more in depth ideas?, we're fortunate to have so many ways to communicate (ie. technology -> hello, gatchphrase), and meaningful communication allows us to achieve a better quality of life. they weren't phrased as questions, but that's how i'm remembering the first two, oops. the gist is the same though! i just talked about communication heaps, was pretty easy tbh (:

(if that wasn't what you were asking, um, sorry for the infodump haha.)

I swear they've had something about coffee before - possibly in 2011/12?

How did you incorporate Club Penguin? Haha.

I spent a lot of time doing the maths questions so i had to skip like 8 humanities questions...am i ok?

How many humanities questions were there overall?

But yeah, you'll be fine.

[Triple choc fudge]

If u didn't end up doing an exam at the end of the year would they use ur whole GAT or just the questions relating to that subject?? 

[clarke54321]

How many humanities questions were there overall?

I just did a rough count. Counted 26 humanities questions. For me, the paper felt very maths and science heavy. But that could just be because I'm only doing one math subject this year........

But I really enjoyed both writing tasks. They were very accessible and easy to manipulate into a short, written piece! It's surprising how quickly 3 hours goes when you're so absorbed in questions and writing. I'm sure English will go as fast, if not even faster!

[zhen]

Is it weird to feel like I did better in the essays in the GAT last year than this year. But I felt like I did much better in the multichoice.

[patriciarose]

I swear they've had something about coffee before - possibly in 2011/12?

How did you incorporate Club Penguin? Haha.

maybe! i guess they assume nobody can be bothered checking that far back haha. i just went back as far as 2007 and it's not in any of those, but i'm sure they could've partially reused a super old one (: it's not like it really matters if you've seen the information before, because they're marking your synthesis skills, not recall (:

ahaha um i talked about the importance of technology in enhancing modern communication, because it can benefit all facets of society, and extends impartially to all age groups, including children, who are able to interact in a safe environment on online communities such as the recently deceased club penguin, may it rest in peace. except in slightly more english-y language haha. 

How many humanities questions were there overall?

NOT ENOUGH. :/ actually, tbh there were probably more than it felt like, but it definitely felt skewed towards maths and science. (also, did anyone else die over the art questions on the last page? i wouldn't have even known domesticity was an issue if they hadn't put it in the answers lmao.)

If u didn't end up doing an exam at the end of the year would they use ur whole GAT or just the questions relating to that subject?? 

i don't think they've ever expressly answered this, because it's vcaa and they don't answer much ever, but you'd have to assume it'd only be the related section/s, otherwise there'd be no need for them to break multiple choice results down into humanities and science, they'd just give you one whole score. but i don't know how specific they get with that so it's a good idea to do well on everything just in case! also, sometimes it's hard to tell what category a subject fits under. but yeah, i think they just look at the specific section relating to the subject.

I just did a rough count. Counted 26 humanities questions. For me, the paper felt very maths and science heavy. But that could just be because I'm only doing one math subject this year........

But I really enjoyed both writing tasks. They were very accessible and easy to manipulate into a short, written piece! It's surprising how quickly 3 hours goes when you're so absorbed in questions and writing. I'm sure English will go as fast, if not even faster!

no, i got this too. it felt like there were about 20 marks in the middle that were pure maths/science questions, which isn't super reassuring :/ but the english prompts were super good so i guess that balances it out! (:

[Joseph41]

Is it weird to feel like I did better in the essays in the GAT last year than this year. But I felt like I did much better in the multichoice.

Nah, not really - I think I did way better in Year 11 than Year 12 for some reason.

[patriciarose]

Is it weird to feel like I did better in the essays in the GAT last year than this year. But I felt like I did much better in the multichoice.

maybe it depends on the question breakdown? for me the multiple choice felt worse this time around, but i think there were more maths/science questions than last year and those aren't my forte, so maybe if you're better at those, you'll feel more confident? idk tbh. i think it makes sense for your essays to improve because you have an extra whole year of work! but i'm sure it went fine either way (: