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St Anne’s College

GAT Briefing 2023

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Nothing without joy: Loris Malaguzzi

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Chris Segrave

VCE Coordinator

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GAT Briefing 2023

General Achievement Test (GAT)

• Assesses your skills in mathematics, science, technology, the arts and humanities.
• Assesses your skills against new literacy and numeracy standards, which were introduced in 2022.
• An opportunity to demonstrate your literacy and numeracy skills – essential skills that show you’re ready to move on to further study, training or employment.

GAT Briefing 2023

General Achievement Test (GAT)

• Will give you confidence that your skills are at the right level to support you, whatever you choose to do after school.
• No special study is needed. Past study of subjects like English, Mathematics, Science and History prepares students for the GAT by building their general knowledge and skills in writing, numeracy and reasoning.

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���The GAT will take place on Thursday 15 June in Studio 11�

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• Students should arrive outside Studio 11 by 8.30am, as we will ask students to enter the GAT room at 8.50am.
• There will be a seating plan displayed outside Studio 11 with student numbers allocated to a seat.
• We will provide you with your student number before the GAT
• Students are to enter the room in silence and are to follow all instructions from the Chief Supervisor
• Students with special provisions will be roomed separately where required and will receive a student copy of their special exam arrangements advice slip.

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���The GAT will take place on Thursday 15 June in Studio 11�

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C. ** *. v

GAT Briefing 2023

• The GAT is structured into Section A and Section B, with a range of question difficulties
• Marks are not deducted for incorrect answers.
• Time allocations are provided for each component to make sure students attempt all sections of the GAT. Even if one section is not completed within the suggested time allocation, students should move on to attempt the next section. Students can return to any incomplete questions at the end of the test.

GAT Briefing 2023

Section A: Literacy and numeracy skills

Section A is a literacy and numeracy assessment comprised of:

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• a 2-part writing task – 30 minutes
• 50 numeracy multiple-choice questions – 45 minutes
• 50 reading multiple-choice questions – 45 minutes

= 2 hrs (Plus 15 Mins reading time)

GAT Briefing 2023

Section A: Literacy and numeracy skills

Writing task

Students are presented with a stimulus (for example an image or text) and asked to respond to 2 prompts.

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The first part is a short-answer type (10 minutes). The second part (20 minutes) allows for a more detailed response.

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Students are assessed on the effectiveness of the writing for the audience and purpose, ideas, and structure and cohesion. In addition, mechanical aspects of writing, including grammar, punctuation and spelling, are assessed.

GAT Briefing 2023

Section A: Literacy and numeracy skills

Multiple-choice questions

The multiple-choice questions cover numeracy and literacy (reading). Questions are based on a range of contexts including those you may encounter in daily life. Each part is allocated 45 minutes.

GAT Briefing 2023

Section B: General knowledge and skills

Section B is comprised of:

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• an extended writing task – 30 minutes
• 25 mathematics, science and technology multiple-choice questions – 30 minutes
• 25 arts and humanities multiple-choice questions – 30 minutes

= 1.5 hrs (Plus 15 Mins reading time)

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GAT Briefing 2023

Section B: General knowledge and skills

Writing task

Students develop a piece of writing presenting a point of view in response to several prompts. In addition to the information provided, students can draw on their own ideas to communicate clearly and effectively to the reader.

Multiple-choice questions

The multiple-choice questions cover mathematics, science, technology, humanities, the arts and social sciences. This section consists of groups of questions or units. Each unit offers one or more pieces of information with several questions relating to that information.

GAT Briefing 2023

Studying for the GAT?

Students do not have to study for the GAT. The questions are based on things students will already know or have learnt throughout school, or things they may have experienced in life.

• Past VCAA GAT question books and answers can be accessed here – the page contains past GAT questions and answers to the multiple-choice questions.
• Practice GAT resource – GAT Resources 2023 – this folder contains a Practice GAT resource

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GAT Briefing 2023

Key points:

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What students can bring into the GAT

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• The GAT is a pen and paper test. Students can bring pens, pencils, and an eraser in a clear pencil case. A clear plastic water bottle and an analogue watch are allowed.
• Students can bring in a scientific calculator and an English and/or bilingual printed (not electronic) dictionary into both sections of the GAT. They are not allowed to bring a thesaurus or combined thesaurus-dictionary, or CAS calculator.

GAT Briefing 2023

GAT Rules

• Supervisors are issued with directions for the administration of the GAT and are required to report all alleged breaches of rules to the VCAA.
• Supervisors have the right to check any materials that are taken into an examination room.

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GAT Rules

You are required to observe the following VCAA examination rules for the conduct of the GAT, in addition to the day-to-day rules of St Anne’s College:

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GAT Rules

You are required to observe the following VCAA examination rules for the conduct of the GAT, in addition to the day-to-day rules of St Anne’s College:

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GAT Rules

You are required to observe the following VCAA examination rules for the conduct of the GAT, in addition to the day-to-day rules of St Anne’s College:

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GAT Rules

You are required to observe the following VCAA examination rules for the conduct of the GAT, in addition to the day-to-day rules of St Anne’s College:

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GAT Briefing 2023

Why is the GAT important?

1. The GAT could help if you’re sick

• The GAT is an insurance policy for the end of the year. If you fall seriously ill on the day of your exam (e.g. you trip and break your wrist), VCAA (who run the exams) will use your GAT to calculate a Derived Examination Score (DES). A DES is used when students are ill or affected by other personal circumstances at the time of a VCE exam. This doesn’t mean you can get out of doing your exam (VCAA will probably organise an assessor to be a scribe for you) – you will receive either the predicted DES or your actual exam score, whichever is higher.

2. The GAT may be used to scale your SACs

• Not all SACs are created equally across all schools, so VCAA need to statistically moderate your raw SAC scores. The only common scales that VCAA can use to moderate your SACs are the end-of-year exam and the GAT. Basically, if everyone at your school does really well on the end-of-year exam and GAT, your raw SAC score will be adjusted to match these high scores.

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Reference: ACEDVCE.Com/4 reasons why the gat is important

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GAT Briefing 2023

Why is the GAT important?

3. The GAT is used to double-check your exam scores

• The GAT is a highly effective predictor of student exam performance. If your GAT predicts that you should have received a significantly higher score on your end-of-year exam than what you ended up with, the Chief Assessor will go back and re-mark your exam (remember that all exams are marked by at least two different assessors already!). Your exam score may go up, or stay the same, but it cannot go down as a result of this remarking.

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4. Universities may offer places based on the GAT

• For e.g. Monash University may consider your GAT scores if you don’t quite have the ATAR required to enter the course. According to Monash, the GAT “can be used as a supplementary measure of applicants’ aptitude for the course, in conjunction with any other course admission requirements”.

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Reference: ACEDVCE.Com/4 reasons why the gat is important

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GAT Briefing 2023

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Thanks for your attention!

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Do you have any queries at all?

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csegrave@sackialla.catholic.edu.au

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Please email or call the school of you have any further queries at all.

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Chris Segrave

VCE Coordinator

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