gamsat essay marking

GAMSAT Section 2: Written Communication

Section 2 of the GAMSAT is one-of-a-kind and stands in stark contrast to its counterparts!

Unlike GAMSAT Section 1 and Section 3 , the written communication section requires you to create a response to a quote set rather than answer specific questions. In the previous article in this series, we discussed the nature and purpose of Section 1 , stating that in order to achieve a high score in Section 1 of the GAMSAT, it is important to understand its purpose.

Specifically, the article mentioned that Section 1 tests a candidate’s ability to listen and comprehend a patient’s perspective. In this article about Section 2 preparation , we will continue to develop this analogy, commenting on the purpose of Section 2, and what this means for GAMSAT Section 2 essay preparation. 

What is GAMSAT Section 2?

The Written Communication segment assesses an individual's capacity to create and elaborate on ideas through writing. This segment comprises two 30-minute writing assignments. Each task presents four statements centered around a shared topic.

How is section 2 essay marked?

ACER in its booklets says that the Section 2 essays will be evaluated on the basis of:

•   Thought and Content (the quality of what is said) 
•  What is made of and developed from the task 
• The kinds of thoughts offered in response to the task 
• Organisation and Expression (the quality of the structure developed and language used) 
• The shape and form of the piece 
• The effectiveness and fluency of the language

What To Expect From GAMSAT Section 2?

As of the 2023 GAMSAT, Section 2 comprises two distinct writing tasks: Task A and Task B. Each of these tasks presents you with a set of four short quotes that revolve around a shared theme. Interestingly, the authors of these quotes are not disclosed, leaving you to grapple with the essence of the quotes without the influence of the author's reputation or background.

When considering how to distribute your time effectively, a frequently offered suggestion is as follows:

• Allocate 5 minutes for planning
• Dedicate 25 minutes for writing
• Reserve 5 minutes for reviewing

This time allocation is designed to align with the 65-minute total duration for Section 2. The remaining 5 minutes serve as a buffer, giving you some wiggle room should any of these tasks take longer than expected.

Planning is a critical element for achieving a high score, and while we generally recommend dedicating 5 minutes to it, this isn't a one-size-fits-all rule. If you find Task A more challenging than Task B, or vice versa, you might consider using some of your buffer time to extend your planning or writing phase for that particular task.

However, be cautious; time in this section is highly limited. Writing an essay in approximately 25 minutes is a significant challenge for most GAMSAT candidates and requires a focused, efficient approach.

What Is The Purpose Of GAMSAT Section 2?

In the previous article in this series, we mentioned that the medical journey begins at the patient’s bedside, where you listen to the story of their lifestyle and disease to draw critical diagnostic conclusions about their circumstances. We further mentioned that this is the skillset emulated, and tested by Section 1 of the GAMSAT exam .

Communication in Medical Practice:

Moving on to Section 2 - once you have listened to the patient’s concerns, the next step is communication. In the medical field, communication is everything! 

Often the situation that the patients find themselves in is complex and multifactorial - it is the medical staff’s job to empathise, and explain the technicalities of the illness, as well as the treatment, to the patient. This is a difficult task as doctors often have to reach a precarious compromise between the interests of various specialists, as well as respecting the patient’s lifestyle priorities.

GAMSAT Section 2 Essay Perspective:

This is exactly what Section 2 Task A and Task B are attempting to re-create. GAMSAT essays for Section 2 are written in response to Section 2 quote sets . These quotes represent various perspectives on a given theme. This will be the case in your future medical practice, where you must aim to consider all the opinions presented by the quote set, and reconcile them within the time limit, with as much clarity as possible. And this will be the case in your future medical practice, the choice of style and formatting, is left largely up to you. Having said this, however, here is a brief guide to Section 2 preparation .

How to Prepare for GAMSAT Section 2

Establishing a strong foundation.

Begin your GAMSAT Section 2 preparation by diving headfirst into essay practice. The sooner you start, the more strategic advantage you'll gain. 

Instead of sticking to what you already know, broaden your intellectual horizons by exploring a diverse range of subjects. This will not only enrich your perspective but also ignite a creative spark that will prove invaluable for generating unique and compelling essay ideas.

Enhancing the Writing Process and Feedback Loop

Once you've laid a strong foundation, the next step is to optimize your writing process. Create a systematic approach that ensures each essay is well-structured and coherently developed. 

But don't stop there—actively seek out feedback from those around you, be it peers, family, or even professionals in the field. Take constructive criticism to heart; it's an invaluable tool for refining your skills and producing essays that not only meet but exceed the GAMSAT Section 2 requirements.

To give you a practical sense of what high-scoring essays look like, we've gathered a collection of sample essays with scores ranging from 50 to 80+ .

Practical Simulation for Exam Success

As the exam date approaches, practice under timed conditions to replicate real testing scenarios. This is a pivotal element for achieving success and should not be overlooked.

For those looking for a more structured approach to preparing for Section 2, including tips on theme identification, research, and writing style, check out our comprehensive resource: GAMSAT Section 2 Study | Where & How to Begin .

What Are The Common GAMSAT Section 2 Themes?

ACER has explicitly stated that both Task A and Task B in GAMSAT Section 2 revolve around overarching themes. According to Fraser’s GAMSAT analysis, Task A mainly zeroes in on socio-cultural issues, often navigating the 'inter-personal' realm—this includes laws, religions, economics, and social narratives. Conversely, Task B skews more towards the 'intra-personal,' emphasizing individual aspects like emotions, cognitive states, and the lived experience.

Balancing Quotes and Themes

Many GAMSAT candidates tunnel-vision on the individual quotes, neglecting the overarching theme, or vice versa. Striking a balance between these two aspects is crucial, as GAMSAT Section 2 marking rewards essays that describe the complexity expressed by the individual quotes, within the context of the overall theme.

Recommended Steps for Preparation

A good first step in your Section 2 preparation is to have a look at Fraser’s GAMSAT Section 2: Frequently Asked Questions . This article focuses on clearing the air of confusion for a lot of students who are sitting the GAMSAT and additionally, comprises a range of useful tips to approach the GAMSAT Section 2 Essay. We also strongly recommend you to take a look at our Section 2 quote generator as a resource for GAMSAT Section 2 practice questions - that is, attempt to interpret the quote sets prior to clicking to reveal the theme.

Following your interpretation, set the timer and write a GAMSAT essay style guide for GAMSAT Section 2 . Make sure to review your work with your fellow exam candidates after you have completed the piece - the review process is the most important step in improving your essay!

Choosing the Right Writing Style for GAMSAT Section 2

Ultimately, it is up to the candidate as to how to format their GAMSAT Section 2 essay . It is important to bear in mind that the marking criteria and purpose of a GAMSAT Section 2 essay remain consistent regardless of the style of writing a candidate chooses to pursue. Returning once more to our medical analogue - as a medical student, you would not try to communicate with a patient through the medium of a poem, or a creative story.

This is why we advocate for an argumentative/analytical/expository style of writing, which is the safest and most reliable method of Section 2 communication. 

An argumentative essay consists of contention, two to three body paragraphs (each with individual arguments) and a conclusion that directs the reader to the ultimate implication of your written work. This isn’t to say that writing an argumentative-style essay is gospel and thus gives you a high GAMSAT score . Instead, this format is for everyone to have experience writing. Ultimately, it is important to explore and write about ideas that you understand, in a communication style with which you have confidence.

The Dangers of Misaligned Style and Content

It is very obvious to a GAMSAT essay marker when a student attempts to discuss a theme they do not fully comprehend or replicate a prescribed style they have not mastered. This category of GAMSAT students is heavily penalised. 

Nevertheless, it is not impossible to achieve top marks with written pieces exploring unorthodox formats. If you have extensive experience in the creative writing field, try experimenting with monologues, narratives or even poetry (ensuring that you complement it with a thorough discussion of your point or argument – not to be confused with an analysis of the poem you wrote ) .

If any of these styles permit a clear, and sophisticated discussion of themes and perspectives, then Section 2 essay marking will reward you with a high GAMSAT score . 

Importance of Projecting Positive Values in your Essay

Regardless of which writing style you employ, you should endeavour to explore positive values (such as fairness, equality or hopefulness) of the future, especially if you’re discussing the bleaker aspects of humanity. Essentially, having polarity within your argument conveys a worldly perspective and in some ways adds depth and character to your essay.

To this end, Matt Keyter, a lead GAMSAT humanities tutor at Fraser’s advises that “Being bleak about the human species and misanthropic about the future doesn’t bode well in any essay rhetoric.” After all, the GAMSAT essay markers are selecting the next generation of doctors, so consider which values you wish to convey to your audience!

In order for candidates to get a better understanding of the style, and substance of GAMSAT Section 2, Fraser’s GAMSAT has put together a set of GAMSAT Section 2 example essays , demonstrating the standard of writing to achieve a range of Section 2 scores. 

Where To From Here? 

If you are interested in further improving section 2, check out these free resources, how to structure a section 2 essay.

Perfecting a Section 2 Essay Introduction

Section 2 Essay - Style Guide

Section 2 FAQ

Check out the next articles in this series!

GAMSAT Section 1 Vocabulary Tool

GAMSAT Section 3 Question Log

For general GAMSAT news and updates, check out the articles below!

What is the GAMSAT?

How Hard is the GAMSAT?

Related posts

Read more articles from our team

What will the September 2024 GAMSAT Look Like?

GAMSAT Biology for Section 3

GAMSAT 2022 March: What Did it Look Like?

GAMSAT & GPA Average Score Cutoffs

Guides & Info

The Ultimate Guide to GAMSAT Section 2

Please note that GAMSAT ‘Section II: Written Communication’ has been renamed to ‘Written Communication Section’. To ensure this article is easy to follow, we’ll refer to this section as ‘Section 2’ throughout. Read about the latest changes to the GAMSAT .

In our GAMSAT Section 2 guide, we’ll walk you through what to expect in Section 2 and how best to prepare for it. We’ll also go through a free example Section 2 task with expert guidance on how to structure this essay.

Just starting GAMSAT revision? We recommend building your GAMSAT knowledge by going through GAMSAT preparation material, such as:

• GAMSAT FAQ – view 30+ GAMSAT questions, including which dental/medical schools require the GAMSAT
• GAMSAT preparation tips – find out how to get the most from your revision
• GAMSAT preparation mistakes – explore common pitfalls to avoid while preparing
• GAMSAT timing – learn how to overcome GAMSAT time pressure

Once you’ve finished going through this article, we recommend reading the ultimate guide to GAMSAT Section 3 , to give you a comprehensive overview of the entire GAMSAT exam. If you missed the first article in this series, make sure you check out our ultimate guide to GAMSAT Section 1 too.

Table of contents

Gamsat section 2 structure, what does gamsat section 2 test, how should i approach preparation for gamsat section 2, free example task for gamsat section 2.

GAMSAT section

Number of GAMSAT questions

Section time

Time per question

Written Communication

Approximately 30 minutes

For GAMSAT 2024 testing, Section 2 will now be delivered via remote proctoring and will take place approximately two weeks before Section 1 and 3 (these sections will take place at a test centre as normal). Remote proctoring is a form of online remote test delivery which includes being supervised by a remote proctor via screen sharing and webcam monitoring. Learn more about how remote proctoring will work including top tips for ensuring it goes smoothly.

The purpose of GAMSAT Section 2 is to test your ability to effectively and logically express your thoughts. Essays marked will be judged on quality of thinking and how well you articulate this thinking through written language. In order to do this, you must identify the common theme running through the presented comments, and plan and structure your essay before you begin writing.

This section is split into two writing tasks: Task A and Task B. In each GAMSAT Section 2 task, you will read four or five comments on a common theme and must write an essay that responds to one or more of them.

• Task A tends to focus on socio-cultural issues, such as law, religion and economic narratives. It’s best suited to an argumentative essay style. 
• Task B tends to focus more on personal and social issues, such as emotions, feelings and the lived experience. Therefore, a creative or reflective essay could be the best option if you feel comfortable writing in this style.

For those with a pure science background, Section 2 can be the most daunting part of the GAMSAT exam. Not only this, the digital exam format means you’ll need to type out your responses (with no automatic spelling and grammar checks). If this is something you struggle with, we advise improving your typing speed and accuracy before sitting the GAMSAT.

For GAMSAT Section 2 preparation, we recommend that you break down the steps and timing for each task as follows:

• Assess the task (2 minutes)
• Brainstorm your response (4 minutes)
• Outline your essay (4 minutes)
• Write your essay (17–18 minutes)
• Review your essay (2–3 minutes)

As you can see, you should spend just over a third of the time limit planning and reviewing your essay, and allocate the rest to writing time.

According to the ACER GAMSAT Information Booklet , you’ll be assessed on ‘the quality of the thinking about a topic’ and ‘the way in which ideas are integrated into a thoughtful response to the task’. This means you should concentrate more on the depth and organisation of ideas, rather than breadth. A sensible guideline to follow for a non-creative essay is an introduction, a few body paragraphs, and a conclusion.

To perform well in this section, it’s critical that you demonstrate that you have correctly understood the theme, thought through different angles on the issue or topic, and taken a clear stance in relation to it. This can be achieved through analysing the task and brainstorming carefully.

In GAMSAT Section 2 essays, it’s a good idea to write about a few concepts that you understand, and communicate these in a logical and coherent way, rather than to present too many ideas in an unstructured manner. Also, some students can focus too heavily on individual quotes and end up missing the overall theme, or fixate too much on the theme and neglect the variety of opinions on a topic. Success in GAMSAT Section 2 requires a careful balance between the two.

Task A example essay question

Consider the following comments and develop a piece of writing in response to one or more of them.

Your writing will be judged on the quality of your response to the theme, how well you organise and present your point of view, and how effectively you express yourself.

Comment 1 The internet is an elite organisation. Most of the population of the world has never even made a phone call. Noam Chomsky

Comment 2 The internet is forever demanding that the real world be redefined to suit its whims. Terry Pratchett

Comment 3 The Web is a tremendous grassroots revolution. Tim Berners-Lee

Comment 4 The internet’s primary function is to allow people to hear what they want to hear.

Task A example essay guidance

Here’s a step-by-step process of how to approach this task:

Step 1: Assess the task (2 minutes)

1. First, assess the task by reading through all the comments and identifying the overarching theme. In this initial stage, your focus should be on determining which comments you can thoughtfully explore in relation to the theme. This will guide the subsequent decisions you make when planning and writing your essay. As we know that Task A will generally be on a socio-cultural theme, this can help with the first step of identifying the theme in the task. 

Step 2: Brainstorm your response (4 minutes)

2. After identifying the core theme and comments you wish to use, you should think about some pros and cons, as well as your own opinion. In this brainstorming phase, you should reflect on both sides of the topic and note down a few succinct examples for each side. Try to pursue ideas that you find interesting or exciting, as this sense of authenticity can develop your ideas and improve your writing. 

You can use any method to capture your thoughts in response to the task, such as a spider diagram or a table with arguments ‘for’ and ‘against’ the statement. By the end of this step, you should have comprehensive notes on many relevant ideas and examples, ready for organising.

Step 3: Outline your essay (4 minutes)

3. Now it’s time to decide how you would like to present all of this thinking to the reader. You should carefully select ideas that will strengthen your essay, and disregard anything that doesn’t contribute to the overall argument. Make sure you decide on your conclusion before organising your chosen ideas into a logical and coherent structure as follows:

• Introduction: Identify the theme and define the key concepts (use relevant brainstorming notes).
• Two body paragraphs: Explore one side of the issue in the first paragraph and explore the other side of the issue in the second paragraph. Provide examples in both paragraphs and arrange all your notes on comments, pros and cons, and examples.
• Conclusion: This is where you should state your own opinion. A strong conclusion accounts for everything that has gone before it (both pros and cons), and makes a logical deduction from that.

Step 4: Write your essay (17–18 minutes)

4. After assessing and planning your essay, it’s time to start writing! 

• Introduction: The purpose of the introductory paragraph is to provide a clear indication of what’s to come. Identify the core theme, briefly define any key concepts within this theme, and then finish by indicating the other side of the theme.
• First body paragraph: Present the first side of the argument as clearly and convincingly as you can, and include one or two points with supporting examples which connect to one of the comments.
• Second body paragraph: Present the other side of the argument as clearly and convincingly as you can, and include one or two points with supporting examples which connect to one of the comments. The key difference between this and the first body paragraph is that you’ll need to show an awareness of the previous paragraph, such as through terminology like ‘however’. 
• Conclusion: In the final paragraph, you should assert your own opinion – this means you need to pick a side. You could start by directly stating your opinion, and then give reasons as to why you come down on that side. Alternatively, you could briefly summarise both sides, then move swiftly to your opinion. Whatever approach you take, try to end on a strong note to show that you’re in control of the logic presented in the essay.

Note that you can easily adapt this structure to write an essay with a different number of paragraphs. For example, if you want to write one paragraph for all three comments in a task, you would simply plan for three body paragraphs instead of two.

Step 5: Review your essay (2–3 minutes)

5. If you’ve successfully carried out the first four steps, then this step shouldn’t take too long. You can use this time to proofread your essay, which includes checking the grammar, spelling and punctuation. If you have time, you could even add a sentence or two throughout to strengthen the essay if needed. However, by this point, your essay should be close to perfect. This time would be best spent reviewing your work rather than making any major changes.

Succeed in the GAMSAT with Medify

Applying to graduate entry medicine or dentistry can be challenging. Throughout your admissions journey, you’ll need to show dental or medical schools why you deserve your spot. At Medify, we’re committed to making this journey a little easier.

If you’re looking for preparation material to boost your GAMSAT score, our GAMSAT Online Course can help. It provides:

• A robust Question Bank with 4,000+ original GAMSAT-style questions
• 7 realistic and unique GAMSAT mock exams designed to simulate the real test
• 50+ in-depth tutorials with guidance from GAMSAT experts
• Medify’s science syllabus with key topics for biology, chemistry, and physics

Don’t forget to check out our ultimate guide to GAMSAT Section 1 and GAMSAT Section 3 if you haven’t already!

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Want to take your GAMSAT Preparation to the next level? Here at GradReady we’ve put together the most comprehensive library of GAMSAT Study Materials available to help you get a head start on your GAMSAT Preparation today. Download our GAMSAT Study Planner, try some GAMSAT MCQs or read corrected GAMSAT essays all for free!

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Here at GradReady, we get it – studying for the GAMSAT ® is hard and it can be tough to get your hands on free GAMSAT ® resources & practice questions. That’s why we’ve worked hard to put together the most comprehensive set of Free GAMSAT ® Preparation Materials available on the market, to help give you a head start on your GAMSAT ® prep and give you an idea of the GradReady approach to studying for the GAMSAT ® Exam.

For those of you dipping into the world of GAMSAT ® preparation for the first time, it can be both daunting and bewildering, from understanding how your GAMSAT ® Scores are calculated to working out the best way to study for the GAMSAT ® exam. We’ve put together some additional free resources and advice below to help you make the right start to studying for the GAMSAT ® exam.

• The GAMSAT ® Exam: An Introduction
• Types of GAMSAT ® Study Material
• Free General GAMSAT ® Preparation Resources
• What is the Best GAMSAT ® Preparation Material?
• GAMSAT ® Section 1 Free Preparation Materials
• GAMSAT ® Section 2 Free Preparation Materials
• GAMSAT ® Section 3 Free Preparation Materials

Want to take your GAMSAT ® Preparation to the next level but not sure how? This page contains many resources to help consolidate your GAMSAT ® Prep, but we know it can be overwhelming and you might not know where to start. We’ve asked one of our expert tutors, Catarina, to briefly go through each of the GAMSAT ® Preparation resources available on this page to help you choose the best one for you. Check out Catarina’s Free GAMSAT ® Preparation Materials video guide below!

The GAMSAT Exam: An Introduction

The Graduate Medical School Admissions Test (GAMSAT ® ) is a standardised exam coordinated by the Australian Council for Education Research ( ACER ) designed to ‘assess the capacity to undertake high-level intellectual studies in the medical and health professional programs’. In essence, the GAMSAT ® exam is designed to assess your analytical and critical thinking skills as well as how you organise and communicate your ideas in order to select candidates for graduate level medical studies.

How do you study for the GAMSAT Exam?

The secret to GAMSAT ® preparation lies in the approach. Make no mistake, the GAMSAT ® exam is focused on examining your reasoning and problem solving skills rather than relying on your previous experiences or your ability to recall specific content. In this respect, it requires a different approach to preparation compared with a typical university assessment.

Preparing for the GAMSAT ® exam can be best summarised as the following:

• Build up solid foundational GAMSAT ® knowledge. This process can take various forms, for example, covering the foundational physics concepts required for the GAMSAT ® exam or building up a GAMSAT ® Section 2 Essay Idea Bank.
• Begin practicing, as early as possible, your application of this knowledge with GAMSAT ® -Style MCQs or practice essays, depending on the section you’re preparing for.
• As you become familiar with the style of MCQs, build up a GAMSAT ® As you become familiar with the style of MCQs, focus on developing a personalised GAMSAT ® MCQ strategy.
• If you’re writing essays, make sure to get constant feedback and criticism. You can ask your friends and family to review your essays, or you can get an expert tutor to review them, such as through GradReady’s GAMSAT ® essay marking service.
• Make sure to track your progress, paying attention to where your shortfalls may be as well as which concepts you may be struggling with and set them aside to review.
• Gradually build up to answering GAMSAT ® Style MCQs or typing Section 2 Essays under realistic conditions (i.e. time pressure)
• Regularly make necessary adjustments that are effective and beneficial for you, remember that it’s not just about how much you study but also how you study.
• Simulate sitting the GAMSAT ® exam under accurate conditions - an online exam sat under timed conditions.

GradReady’s GAMSAT ® Free Trial includes Online Exams which are integrated into the same intelligent MCQ system that tracks your performance across 43 subtopics - Take our Diagnostic Test and easily identify your strengths and weaknesses!

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Students often ask how much time they should spend studying for the GAMSAT ® exam but the quantitative ‘amount’ of preparation that any candidate should do is a complex question and is difficult to accurately answer.

However, in a practical sense, in trying to determine how much time you need to prepare for the GAMSAT ® exam, it is much more important that you study up to a point where you are able to answer GAMSAT ® -style questions quickly and accurately. It’s recommended that you start your GAMSAT ® preparation early in order to give you time to identify your weaknesses and make necessary adjustments. This subsequently means that you’ll have a considerable amount of time to improve, which is important especially if you’re a cautious candidate or if you are preparing for the GAMSAT ® from a non-science background.

Nevertheless, the GAMSAT ® exam is a diverse test, and even biomedical and science undergraduate students should start their GAMSAT ® preparation early, as even they may require tutelage in certain areas – especially the humanities, which is a general weak point for students with such a background.

Overall, we recommend that you start your GAMSAT ® preparation 6 months prior to sitting the exam – i.e in September if you are sitting the March GAMSAT ® exam. The reasoning is that you don’t know what you'll need to work on until you seriously start to plan your GAMSAT ® prep. It also gives you enough time to work on your weaknesses without suffering from preparation fatigue. Remember: Even starting with one or two hours a week early on can make a huge difference to your GAMSAT ® preparation later down the line as the exam draws nearer.

To make the most of your time when you study, set yourself goals and a schedule you can adhere to. Download our free GAMSAT ® Study Syllabus to start your preparation off on the right foot. Targeted and purposeful study is much more effective than just sampling questions in some dedicated time – you won’t progress if you’re not thinking about how you’re studying. Answering a few questions and then dedicating time to read the worked solutions and analyse your performance will be much more high yield than just flying through a lot of questions. When you talk with others about their preparation, do not be alarmed or assured so easily by what they say, effective preparation for the GAMSAT ® exam is highly dependent on your own ability and circumstances.

There is a misconception that the scoring for the GAMSAT ® exam is based on a percentile system due to the way scores are presented when results are released – In fact it is based on Item Response Theory (IRT) , which applies adjustments for each GAMSAT ® exam to standardise the student performance across different sittings. Be open to advice or guidance and feel free to discuss ideas and preparation material that you can integrate into your own approach, but the primary focus should be on yourself.

To help you with your preparation, download our free GAMSAT ® Study Schedule to help you plan out your GAMSAT ® preparation journey. If you’re looking for a more detailed week-by-week breakdown for each section, sign up for our free trial to access a week-by-week study guide for each GAMSAT ® Section.

Types of GAMSAT Study Material

• GAMSAT ® Textbooks
• GAMSAT ® Study Guides
• GAMSAT ® Practice Exams

GAMSAT Textbooks

GAMSAT ® textbooks are a traditional form of learning that presents information in a systematic way.

If you’re new to or unfamiliar with the content, they’re great for explaining basic concepts.

Helps you to understand basic concepts at a greater level of depth.

Working through chapters of a textbook can give you a framework of topics to study for the exam.

The GAMSAT ® exam does not assess a ‘syllabus’ of required knowledge. It assesses reasoning skills, and can use any type of content to assess this. Whilst some topics do come up frequently in the exam, there is no guarantee that specific topics that you study will appear in the exam.

ACER does not endorse any external resources or textbooks, so there is no definitive textbook that you can use to study from.

GAMSAT Study Guides

GAMSAT ® study guides allow you to plan your time from now until the exam in a way that allows you to cover content and work on your weaknesses. You can either find a study guide, or develop your own. Split your time up to make sure you cover all sections, and allow yourself 3 weeks or so before the exam to sit practice exams. GradReady has study guides of different lengths (3 months, 9 months, etc) according to how far away you are from your exam, and you can download it through the link above.

Allows you to plan and divide your time to cover enough content and GAMSAT ® practice questions for the exam.

Everyone has different schedules and different needs, so each study guide needs to be adapted to suit you.

GAMSAT Courses

GAMSAT ® courses are run by external companies to help students prepare for the exam. GradReady, for example, has a number of different courses.

There are also free online courses, but few of these are specific to the GAMSAT ® exam (for example, the Khan Academy videos). In order to make the best use of these free courses, you need to be a strong independent learner with a good idea of your own strengths and weaknesses.

Company-run courses give you a structured approach to your study

Many students in the past have used online and in-person company-run courses and achieved good results

Free courses give you flexibility to use whatever you need

Free courses and videos are ideal GAMSAT ® study materials for independent learners

Free courses may not have the same depth of resources or level of tutoring support that company-run courses do

Difficult to learn independently as it can be easy to get lost in the wealth of information

GAMSAT Practice Exams

There are many different practice exams - the exams that ACER themselves have, and then exams that are run by private companies, such as GradReady’s GAMSAT ® Practice Test which mimics ACER’s exam in detail to give students the chance to simulate actual exam conditions. However, it is important to note that only the ACER exams are endorsed by ACER.

These are the best way of assessing how prepared you are for the exam

Allow you to practise exam conditions, not just content

Sitting exams early, before you feel fully prepared, is also advantageous, as it allows you to efficiently identify your areas of weakness and work on them with plenty of time before the real exam

These are time-consuming, as in order to replicate the exam, you will need to give yourself the time allowed in the GAMSAT ® itself. Although, GradReady’s practice test comes with a Mock Exam mode that allows you to practice under real time pressure

The only practice exams endorsed by ACER are their own practice exams

Free General GAMSAT Preparation Resources

To help you get a better idea of how you can you plan and structure your GAMSAT ® preparation you can visit the free detailed GAMSAT ® guides below:

• GAMSAT ® 2023: Everything You Need to Know
• What is the GAMSAT ® Exam?
• The Definitive Guide to GAMSAT ® Scores
• How to Prepare for the GAMSAT ® Exam
• Australian Medical Schools Guide: Criteria & Cutoffs

Our tutors regularly share their GAMSAT ® advice and experiences in medical school at our GradReady GAMSAT ® Blog as well as our GAMSAT ® to Med School Podcast.

How Hard is the GAMSAT Exam?

Preparing for the GAMSAT with a Non-Science Background

How to Revise for the GAMSAT

Breaking Down GAMSAT Essay Questions

Balancing full-time work & studying for the GAMSAT

GAMSAT Exam - What to Do the Night Before

5 MMI Mistakes to Avoid

Free gamsat preparation material pdf.

• Free GAMSAT ® Study Schedule
• Free GAMSAT ® Study Syllabus
• Free GAMSAT ® Practice Questions

Sign up to test our industry-leading online learning technology for yourself:

GAMSAT Reddit: Best Threads for Your Exam Preparation

• r/GAMSAT is a specific online community for all things GAMSAT ® related. Here people will share their experiences sitting the GAMSAT ® , preparation tips and even results.
• r/australia is a news forum that will help you find GAMSAT ® essay inspiration.
• r/premed is a good place to mingle with like-minded individuals. Interacting with fellow medical school hopefuls will help boost your morale, although not all information in r/premed will be relevant to you since many students from the US gather there too.

It should be noted that as with all online forums, all posts and information should be taken with a pinch of salt. There are many reasons people may post false information and this should always be in the back of your mind when reviewing content. That said, with a discerning eye, Reddit can still be a useful resource for GAMSAT ® preparation.

What is the Best GAMSAT Preparation Material?

While there is no one ‘best’ GAMSAT ® preparation material, there are a number of resources that are quite helpful. What’s most important is finding what works best for you. This unfortunately can at times feel like a bit of a ‘trial and error’ process. This will be well worth it in the long run - remember it’s about studying smarter, not necessarily harder.

• ACER GAMSAT ® Preparation Materials

University Studies

• GAMSAT ® Free Online Resources

ACER GAMSAT Preparation Materials

ACER GAMSAT ® preparation materials are available for purchase (both online and e-books) and will allow candidates to practice questions from all 3 sections. These will closely resemble the types of questions encountered on the day.

It might seem too obvious to mention, but in the pursuit of the ideal GAMSAT ® resource, candidates (from science backgrounds) often forget that teaching from their own undergraduate degrees are great sources for the fundamentals. Review your notes from previous classes or make new ones!

On the other hand, if you have a low GPA, you may be wondering what this means for your medical school application. Find the answer in our blog article: What are My Options for Studying Medicine If I Have a Low GPA?

GAMSAT Free Online Resources

• Khan Academy
• GradReady GAMSAT ® Free Trial

If you do feel that you’re struggling to get some direction for your study or feel that you could benefit from guidance, we at GradReady are happy to help. We are experienced in assisting prospective students conquer the GAMSAT. ® In addition to the free resources listed on this page, we have different GAMSAT ® preparation courses that are suited to different learning requirements.

Section 1 – Free GAMSAT Preparation Materials

Section 1 of the GAMSAT ® Exam is also known as “Reasoning in Humanities and Social Sciences”. ACER uses this multi choice section to assess your interpretation of qualitative information as well as your reading comprehension. As a result, it could be considered the foil to GAMSAT ® Section 2, which is an assessment of your language production.

For a detailed breakdown of how to prepare for Section 1 visit our guide below:

• GAMSAT ® Section 1: How to Prepare

We’ve compiled a list of free GAMSAT ® preparation resources for Section 1 here:

• Poetry - Wikipedia
• Poetic Devices
• Narrative Paradigm - Wikipedia
• Narrative Theory
• List of Literary Devices
• The Week - Cartoons
• The Guardian - Cartoons
• US News - Cartoons

If you’re looking for a free GAMSAT ® Section 1 Reading List, the below may help:

• The Conversation
• The Economist
• The Guardian
• Australian Financial Review

Useful Authors for Books & Short Stories

• Oscar Wilde
• Ralph Waldo Emerson
• Noam Chomsky
• George Orwell
• Humanities Open Access Journal
• Arts and Letters Daily
• Australian Humanities Review
• How to read a poem
• List of Poems

Section 2 – Free GAMSAT Preparation Materials

Section 2 of the GAMSAT ® exam, also known as ‘Written Communication’, assesses your ability to express your thoughts in a logical and effective manner in response to two sets of stimuli. According to ACER , it is meant to be a reflection of your ability to produce and develop ideas in writing. As the only written section of the exam, Section 2 is more often than not the bane of most students sitting the exam, particularly those with a pure science-background.

For a more detailed breakdown of how to prepare for Section 2, visit our guide below:

• GAMSAT ® Section 2: How to Prepare

You can find some more free GAMSAT ® preparation materials here:

In addition to the Section 1 Reading List, you can add the following free GAMSAT ® resources that are geared towards helping with your GAMSAT ® preparation for Section 2:

• 150 Great Articles and Essays

The following books are not free but may be of value – If you’re lucky, you might be able to find them at your local uni library:

• Anthony Clifford Grayling - The Meaning of Things
• Ben Dupre – 50 Big Ideas

Section 3 – Free GAMSAT Preparation Materials

Section 3 of the GAMSAT ® exam, also known as ‘Reasoning in Biological and Physical Sciences’ is designed to test your reasoning and problem solving skills within a scientific context.

It is the only section for which ACER provides clear guidelines on expected prerequisite knowledge, and is therefore, for some, the easiest section to prepare for. GAMSAT ® Section 3 is also the longest section of the GAMSAT ® exam and is weighted accordingly, being usually worth double Section 1 or Section 2 (exceptions do apply - Make sure to check our Guide to GAMSAT ® Results to learn more).

For a detailed breakdown of how to prepare for Section 3 and individual topic lists for GAMSAT ® Biology, Chemistry and Physics, visit our guides:

• GAMSAT ® Section 3: How to Prepare
• How to Prepare for GAMSAT ® Biology
• How to Prepare for GAMSAT ® Chemistry
• How to Prepare for GAMSAT ® Physics
• How to Prepare for the GAMSAT ® with a non-science background

You can also have a look at the area specific free GAMSAT ® Preparation materials listed below.

Free GAMSAT Biology Preparation Materials

• Youtube - Armando Hasudungan
• Youtube - Osmosis
• Youtube - Crash Course
• Youtube - Speed Pharmacology
• Youtube - Anatomyzone

Free GAMSAT Chemistry Preparation Materials

• Youtube - Organic Chemistry Tutor
• Youtube - Elise Ashley
• Youtube - Leah4Sci

Free GAMSAT Physics Preparation Materials

• Physics Simulations (Get an intuitive feeling of physical systems)
• Feynman’s Lectures on Physics (A comprehensive series of lectures and notes for those who really enjoy their physics)

The following book is not free but is useful for those who did not study physics and who may want something more basic. It’s quite fun to read and very insightful – Again, if you’re lucky you might be able to get a free e-copy through your university library.

• Paul Hewitt – Conceptual Physics
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Not sure how to prepare for the medical interviews? Confused by the differences between each university?  Don’t miss GradReady’s Free Ace the Interview Webinar, which will be running this coming Monday 26th of August at 7pm Melbourne time . It will highlight the ins and outs of the interview process for medical schools across Australia (MMI vs Panel vs Group Interview), discuss the ideal candidate that medical schools are looking for, and outline the types of questions you can expect.  Their presenter is a current Med Student who has personally been through a medical school interview. This webinar will cover the interview process of medical schools in 5 states: VIC, NSW, QLD, WA & SA.

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by Michael Sunderland  

Task B Aesthetic in a 90+ GAMSAT Section 2 Essay

2  Comments

January 12, 2021 in  Task B

Task B Aesthetic

By Michael John Sunderland, S2- 91

So what is an ideal Task B response?

An ideal response is one that achieves its intended outcome in responding to the task in the way that ACER wants you to. The only indication of what ACER want comes from the ACER information book in which it is designated that the essential quality that is being provoked is the “quality of thoughts and ideas.” ACER, of course, indicate that “language and structure” is assessed but “only insofar as it contributes to the thoughts and ideas, not in isolation.” I interpret that to mean that they are not testing what you write, but where what you write comes from or, loosely, you. Your writing is a reflection of you, but it is the degree to which you are able to think in high-order and high quality ways (in the first instance) and then your ability to show that you are able to do so to ACER (in the second instance) that is the origin of a high score.

Now your thinking and communication may both be brilliant, but if you are not writing in a style that enables you to showcase the various faculties within your intelligence or thinking that make it high quality, you have necessarily limited yourself and the ceiling value of your mark in Section II. It seems prudent, then, to develop (or use) a structure that removes these limitations and allows you to show what you can do to the marker. This is what I did. I have written out how to do it below.

How does an ideal Task A and an ideal Task B response differ?

Well, on one hand they don’t necessarily differ at all. Plenty of people have written two argumentative essays and done well. I wanted to get 100, so I abandoned that early on and learned two styles so that I could be agile in how I was able to deal with a given prompt if I felt that a particular set would perform better in one style or the other.

If a 90+ Task A is a tour-de-force of high-order thinking, logical internal structure, and surgical delivery; a 90+ Task B is a panoramic micro- and macroscopic inspection of a prompted dimension of the human lived experience. It structurally facilitates an examination the interiority of human subjectivities to a given theme, in acknowledgement that peoples’ lived experiences frame their perspectives (true of both ourselves and others). Our reflections then get expanded from the level of individual, to the level of other, to the level of society, and then ideally to the level of history, philosophy, psychology, sociology; or some other epistemological framework that aids in our investigation of the theme.

A disclaimer

Before I get stuck into it I want to foreshadow a later acknowledgement in this blog of the complexity of the subject matter. I write blogs like this because I get asked day and night on Facebook about how to do x,y,z when it comes to Section II; and it’s easier to just write about it and post it than answer every message. Also I feel it’s incumbent on me to leave behind a paper trail of how I did what I did, and what I learned as it appears to be of unique value to the next generation of GAMSAT-sitters. Even so, as I have written in each of my books there is no one way . You don’t need to listen to me or do it this way to be successful. It’s just something that has worked well. If you do this as I did it, you can get a 91 – this is known. But take it with a grain of salt, and don’t be overwhelmed. I will take care to explain why it is the way it is, rather than just say what I did, so that you can incorporate it into your existing writing if you wish to do so. I hope you find something of use; but equally don’t worry if it doesn’t all make sense on the first pass; and focus on the basics of language and structure if you have not mastered them, before moving onto some of the higher order things. Ok, moving on.

The context for a high-level Task B response: How does our unique lived experience mediate the validity of our perspectives?

I’ve created a pretty picture and done it in neon so you don’t forget it. You can see at the bottom that your lived experience as an individual is couched in your experience of yourself in relation to; others (your mother, father, partner, children); your community (workplace, university, social groups); and nation (the country you live in, or used to).

You could, if you wished, take it up to ‘species – human’, ‘living entities.’ When you see your perspective, psychology and mind as a subjective expression of the collective human perspective/psyche/intelligence, you stop being so fixated on your view and acknowledge that all views are necessarily limited by their unique subjectivity. If the collective human consciousness could be contained in a four-walled room with windows, your subjective experience of that collective intelligence would be akin to standing for your whole like looking out of one window. It’s not to say that you are seeing anything incorrectly, you’re just too close to the situation as a byproduct of your upbringing, beliefs, gender, experiences that you can’t see the whole picture.

As an outcome of the universal limitation on human perception due to our varied lived experiences; all worldview therefore all valid (and make complete sense!) within their respective ontologies. Perspective then becomes more interesting. Instead of relating to views or prompts as existing on a binary spectrum of right-wrong, it becomes more three-dimensional and interesting.

To my son’s puppy toy on the left – the teapot in the middle clearly has a handle, and no spout. To his dinosaur, it has a spout, and no handle. Both of these toys will swear blind that the pot either has a handle and no spout; or a spout and no handle. It is a function of their position, experience, perspective. And in each of these subjectivities they are 100% correct. Now both perspectives face inward on an estimation, but not a clear read, on the objectivity of the situation. Understanding other people’s perspectives allows us to calibrate our own. The point here is, there are multiple perspectives that are worthwhile considering to get a panoramic and multi-dimensional read on a situation.

So what’s the process?

A very high-level (as in, brief) and structurally-focussed overview of an ideal Task B response is as follows:

Introduction:

If the teapot is the theme, we look at it first through our lived experience via figurative narration; painting a picture of a situation or experience from our personal experience which gives us insight into the theme. This is the most internal view of the theme. We often experience our memories as if through squinted eyes. Unnecessary detail beyond that which is relevant to our experience of the situation is often obfuscated by the passage of time. A narration, then, deals with only an intra-personal, interiorly broad-brush, reflection of the theme. It is one level. The first level. We don’t stop here.

As discussed in great depth in my blog on The Task B Hook, you want to avoid being bleak or misanthropic. Not to say don’t explore these motifs, but be positive, optimistic, hopeful, and upbeat about the future. Use humour and self-awareness to frankly acknowledge your own weaknesses or bad qualities. Get the reader to like you, by being likeable, self-effacing. You are skin and bone; I am skin and bone. We are not so very different, you and I.

Be sure to tie the significance of your narrative specifically to the theme. I promise you, the link is not as obvious as you think it is; and even if it were, it helps concision and clarity to make it explicit. I have discussed somewhere else, I can’t remember where now, the benefit in limiting the connotative space in your writing, and being more denotative. What is meant by this is, for example, becoming aware of how there is a space around the use of the word Elon Musk in the phrase “Elon Musk examples this spirit of creative industriousness perfectly” in that you, the writer, rely on a similarity between our interests, understanding, prior experiences in order for your point to be conveyed. This is a connotative space. It should be limited. Better is, “Elon Musk, CEO of electric car company Tesla, is a paragon of creative industriousness.” This is denoting.

Body paragraph 1, part one:

Reflection from the altitude of your growing maturity

Have you ever used Google Maps or, particularly, Google Earth? You can hit the slider and zoom out.. from the level of individual (your house), to your suburb, city, country, and then to the whole Earth. This is what we do in an ideal Task B. So after reflecting on our lived experience in light of the theme, the opportunity is ripe for broadening the intra-personal reflection we have done by inspecting it through the lens of our breadth of experiences and maturity which (we hope) has deepened or broadened since that time. I’m reminded of Diogenes, ancient Greek Cynic philosopher who lived in a ceramic jar on the streets of Athens in pursuit of eudaemonia (literally “freedom from smoke,” or ‘mental clarity’) through asceticism. The Cynics shirked worldly possessions to turn into introspection and reflection on self. I’m not saying live in a jar to smash Section II, but for a moment be an ancient Cynic (note: the word has since shifted in connotation – I am not saying be cynical). Just cultivate the quality of self-reflection and express it in your writing to show an ability to view your behaviour and actions objectively and with maturity.

It is beneficial to write from “what I didn’t see at the time was how *insert link to the theme*. Reflecting back now, I can see that *further commentary on the theme that this example has enabled you to explore*”.

Following an in-the-moment narration chosen to facilitate a multi-dimensional exploration of the theme, and a reflection from your growing maturity; it becomes time to leave the self, and explore others’ perspectives.

Before moving on, for a clarification of what is meant by ‘theme’ in a 90+ response, please see this blog on how to correctly interpret the quotes – the theme does not mean the one word that crops up in each prompt; this is reductive and the surest way to write a low-scoring essay.

Body paragraph 1, part two:

Reflection from others’ perspectives

We now examine the theme from the perspective of the antagonist in our narrative. How did others experience you? How might they have felt about the situation or you?

It becomes necessary, here, to sprinkle in a psychometric awareness of situadedness. That is, an awareness of how the fact that behaviour and perspectives arise out of unique sets of beliefs, experiences, socio-economic circumstances, genders, ethnicities etc; is a limit to your empathy, and also something necessitating your sympathy with others that you necessarily are unable to fully empathise with. You can suppose how others might have felt, and where their behaviour or response to you came from; but to explicitly state it as something that is known, no matter how obvious it might appear to you, is to disenfranchise the infinite preciousness of the uniqueness of that persona and their experience by imposing yours onto it. It is to conflate two world views which do not perfectly cohere, and therefore to have reduced the world around you; and that person’s perspective and subjectivity into your own.

If you would like to hear more on situatedness and an example is discussed in this podcast between myself and Fraser’s GAMSAT between minutes 33:52 and 35:48.

This brings us to the end of the first body paragraph, so far having examined the theme in light of your history and current understanding, as well as others’ perspectives of the same. Done correctly an idea or understanding about the theme should be beginning to develop/emerge.

These reflection have been necessary steps, but up until now we are too prominently situated in our own experience (in that the examination of others perspectives was still looking inward on an experience that was intimately related to you). We must now zoom further back.

Body Paragraph 2:

Tie to society more broadly

We now must tie our developing understanding and investigation into the theme, into contemporary affairs in light of sociology/philosophy/psychology (or another epistemological framework) ; including if possible a reference to history. We situate our ideas in their broader socio-economic, or geo-political, or historical contexts.

This paragraph essentiall yreads like a Task A body paragraph. You can find nearly a thesis worth of description on that in my books, but in particular “ How to Kick *ss in Task A. ” Alternatively, these two blogs are free chapter excerpts from the book and unpack this further:

The Ontology of Task A Structure – Logic (this was also explored in greater depth in on YouTube )

The Use of Evidence in an Ideal GAMSAT Section 2 Task A Response

Equally, my essays are available on the shop and I’ve posted one of my Task B essays free in my Facebook group where I work each day for free providing analysis to students’ essays and provoking deeper and more critical thinking into the world around us, so that it can be reflected in the quality of your writing.

So, the theme will have now been acknowledged, and explored at many levels – from the intra-personal lived experience, intra-personal reflection, inter-personal reflection, social reflection. We have scaled the series of consecutive circles mentioned at the beginning of the article from the bottom to the top and addressed each level in turn. Furthermore, we will have adroitly utilised a range of stylistic and intellectual devices: from figurative expression in the introduction, to an almost literary reflection in body paragraph 1, to logical critical analysis in body paragraph 2. This shows a panoramic view of your capabilities as a person and your understanding and integration of the world around you.

The conclusion

As far as the conclusion, I will leave that out of this piece lest it become unwieldy. For those familiar with my work, you can just do the conclusion as in the Task A style. There’s more about that in the aforementioned blog the ontology of task a structure.

Final comments – you can do it, too!

At this stage, if these ideas overwhelm you, I feel it is incumbent on me to relate to where those reading this may be at. There was a time in my GAMSAT preparation (in fact many times right up until I got my mark) where I was filled with doubt. Where it felt like success was reserved for a special elite who I could never academically look in the eye. The thoughts presented here are deep and complex, no doubt, but I am not a super nerd. I am just a normal dude . I’m a science student at Unimelb – I get good marks, sure, but that’s because I work hard. The point is I learnt this stuff during my preparation. I am now just giving it to you. There is nothing stopping you from using this as a light to guide you in a particular direction.

Whether you get to 90+ is not the point. For many, an extra five points would make all the difference. I also want to say again that there is no one way. You emphatically do not need to follow this aesthetic to be successful. In fact, you don’t even need to write a reflective or discursive essay. Two argumentative essays will do just fine. I know many people that score highly doing just that. I present this here principally because there are students in the group I run with the ability to integrate these ideas cohesively and improve their marks in doing so; not because I think this approach should be done by all people. My recommendation is to take it for what it is, but do not be moved by it unless it is constructive. The only relevant question is “what is the single thing that is currently holding my writing back the most, and how do I change it.” Address this in a vacuum as if nothing else existed. And then rinse and repeat. If you do this enough times, and take enough steps in a positive direction, you will be sure to do well.

Golly gosh, that was hectic to write.

I hope some of you find some benefit from it.

About the author 

Michael Sunderland

My name's Michael, I achieved 91 in Section II, and 82 overall, in the September '20 sitting. I'm here to show you how I did it. Let's get to work :)

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What a great read! Thank you for your effort, time, and commitment to helping those coming after you. I relate to your story quite a bit, so it’s inspiring to see how you have turned your life around. I am in the process of doing the same. I am sure your advice (if I manage to apply it well) will be immensely helpful in improving my SII score and general understanding of pieces of writing 🙂

Such amazing invaluable content, thank you so much!

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How would you like to receive professional GAMSAT essay marking and feedback so you can improve your Section 2 GAMSAT score as fast as possible?

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– War settles nothing. Dwight D. Eisenhower

– Those who expect to reap the blessings of freedom, must, like men, undergo the fatigues of supporting it. Thomas Jefferson

– The cost of liberty is less than the price of repression. W. E. B. Du Bois

– Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. Martin Luther King, Jr.

– Ability is a poor man’s wealth. John Wooden

– The mother of revolution and crime is poverty. Aristotle

– Let us never negotiate out of fear. But never fear to negotiate. John F. Kennedy

– All diplomacy is a continuation of war by other means. Chou En-Lai

– That man is richest whose pleasures are the cheapest. Henry David Thoreau

– The technologies that have had the most profound effects on human life are usually simple. Freeman Dyson

– Nobody can make you feel inferior without your consent. Eleanor Roosevelt

– Music has the power to entertain, but seldom to educate

– Laughter is the shortest distance between two people. Victor Borge

– They can’t hurt you unless you let them. John C Maxwell

– There are three things extremely hard: Steel, a diamond, and to know one’s self. Benjamin Franklin

– You can’t get rid of poverty by giving people money. P.J. O’Rourke

– Youth is the best time to be rich, and the best time to be poor. Euripides

– Hatred is the coward’s revenge for being intimidated. George Bernard Shaw

– Conform and be dull. James Frank Dobie

– It is amazing how complete the delusion that beauty is goodness. Leo Tolstoy

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Gamsat Review Blog

Everything you need to know about GAMSAT by Dr Peter Griffiths

Past GAMSAT Essay Topics

Here is a list of some past Gamsat essay topics which have come up before in the test.

These previous Gamsat essay topics have been reported by actual candidates after past sittings of the test over several years so we know they are accurate.

If you'd like to download these as a PDF just click here > Gamsat Essay Topics

After the general previous Gamsat topics below I've also included some Gamsat style quotes you can use to practice writing your own essays. These are also included in the PDF above.

If you'd like to get a full length Section 3 Practice Test with worked answers and which also contains two more essay prompts for Section 2 then fill in the form to the left on this blog or click the link below.

https://www.gamsatreview.com/gamsat-practice-test

Past GAMSAT Essay Topics Task A

Equality/whether everyone has equal opportunities

Respect towards people of power/discipline/questioning people in power

Trust and respect in society

Over population

Taxation/welfare systems

Tolerance and prejudice

Affirmative action

Intelligence vs. knowledge

Relationship of past, present, future

Nature vs. nurture

Originality

Benefits of technology

Climate change

Past GAMSAT Essay Topics Task B

Whether the rich/poor are happier

Marriage and the idealism around it

Recreation and rest/we used to not have enough, now too much

How our habits define who we are

Celebrity and influence

Happiness/what defines a good life

Respect for age vs. pursuit of youth

Knowledge vs. Wisdom

Does pain make you appreciate joy?

Do looks matter?

Now you've read the list of some past Gamsat essay topics let me say something about them.

I've published them here to satisfy student demand, everyone asks about them. Maybe you arrived here yourself as a result of an internet search for this topic.

But they really won't help you that much...

At most these examples will give you some psychological comfort when you see that most of them aren't that difficult. They're the sort of typical bland, boring essay subjects that you would guess would come up if someone asked you to take a guess and make a list.

There's nothing surprising or mysterious here.

Now maybe you are one of those people who thinks that if you practice writing essays on a LOT of different prior topics, then maybe one of those same themes will come up in your actual test and so it will be that much easier for you.

But that is a fallacious idea.

First of all even if ACER does re-use topics (it has never been confirmed) the chances of one of them coming up in your particular sitting is miniscule. Add to that the fact that in recent years we are seeing that not everyone gets the same topics or sets of quotes for section 2 anyway. So even if they did happen to re-use a set of themes the chances of you getting them are even smaller.

It will be a much better use of your time to practice an ESSAY WRITING SYSTEM which can cope with turning ANY set of quotes into a high scoring essay.

That way you won't have to rely on luck or be at the mercy of any particular topic. A good essay writing method should enable you to deal with any subject or theme that the Gamsat throws at you.

The essay writing system inside the Gamsat Review Home Study Course for example is designed to do exactly that.

Tips To Improve Your GAMSAT Essays

1. Argue for both sides of an issue rather than just giving an opinion piece from one point of view. This will demonstrate thought and consideration and help you pick up the marks for quality of thinking.

2. Learn a variety of stock phrases for openers, closers, introducing your arguments and your conclusions. This will help you avoid repetition and also help give your essay structure.

3. Try to express ideas and reasoning rather than reproducing large chunks of memorized facts. The examiners want to assess your intellectual reasoning, not read a history book or a technical manual.

4. Develop your knowledge of history, philosophy, psychology and political thought. There is no short cut to this but you can get a head start by reading works designed to give a quick introduction to the main concepts and ideas. I recommend the book 50 Big Ideas You Really Need to Know by Ben Dupré which is an easy to read and quick guide to the main concepts of Western thought covering philosophy, religion, politics, economics, the arts and the sciences.

5. Practice writing your Gamsat essays under exam conditions. Sticking to the 30 minute time limit will focus your mind and develop the speed necessary for the real thing. It will also help develop your handwriting skills. Don't underestimate the difficulty of maintaining nice legible writing for the examiner to read after writing as quickly as possible for an hour straight. Especially if like most people you usually work on a computer.

6. Get your essays looked at by a qualified person after you've written them and ask for feedback. A qualified person probably isn't another Gamsat candidate in the same position as you that you met on a student forum or in a Gamsat Facebook group. Try and get one of your teachers or university lecturers to take a look or someone who has done Gamsat before and scored highly in section 2. Or, even better, you could get them marked by a professional Gamsat Essay Marking service.

7. Finally practice, practice, practice. Essay writing is a skill which must be developed. To help you, below are two essay tasks very similar to what you will find in the real test. Find a quiet place for 30 minutes and try and write two essays putting into practice all the advice given above.

Example Gamsat Essay Topics

Writing Task A

Consider the following comments and develop a piece of writing in response to one or more of them. Your writing will be judged on the quality of what you have to say in response to the theme, how well you organize and present your point of view, and how effectively you express yourself. You will not be judged on your views or attitudes.

The belief that all genuine education comes about through experience does not mean that all experiences are genuinely or equally educative.

                                                                                                               John Dewey

A human being is not attaining his full heights until he is educated.

                                                                                                               Horace Mann

Education is an admirable thing, but it is well to remember from time to time that nothing that is worth knowing can be taught.

                                                                                                               Oscar Wilde He who opens a school door, closes a prison.                                                                                   Victor Hugo

It is a thousand times better to have common sense without education than to have education without common sense.

                                                                                                        Robert Green Ingersoll

Writing Task B

Clothes make the man. Naked people have little or no influence on society.

                                                                                                                        Mark Twain

Humility and knowledge in poor clothes excel pride and ignorance in costly attire.

                                                                                                                        William Penn

Expensive clothes are a waste of money.

                                                                              Meryl Streep

I don’t design clothes; I design dreams.

                                                                             Ralph Lauren

It is interesting to question how far men would retain their relative rank if they were divested of their clothes.

                                                                                                      Henry David Thoreau

Further Resources

For more help with GAMSAT check out Griffiths Gamsat Review Home Study System which takes you step by step through all three sections with advanced strategies for each.

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Acer essay marking

I last minutedly submitted two essays on the online essay marking thing they provide and it came back as "either one or both of your responses could not be marked". Does anyone know what could have caused this?

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