What is the GAT?

Updated 24th May 2023

Each year in Victoria, every student who is completing a Unit 3/4 subject needs to complete the GAT, or General Achievement Test. It’s split into 2 sections:

Literacy and numeracy
Mathematics, science, technology, the arts and humanities (focusing on critical and creative thinking skills)

Your results in themselves don’t form part of your ATAR, but if everyone has to sit it, it must be used for something.

So what’s the point of the GAT?

The most important thing to understand about the GAT is that it will only ever be used to benefit you.

There are 2 main things that the GAT is used for:

Check that you’ve been assessed correctly in your SACs and exams
Calculate a derived score if you need one

Checking your assessment

Your assessment in Year 12 is made up of SACs, which are written and marked by the teachers at your school, and exams, which are written and marked by external examiners. VCAA uses your result in each section of the GAT to get an idea of what sort of results you should get in each of your subjects. If your exam result is very different to what they expected, then they may organise for your exam to be marked again to triple check that it was marked correctly. If the spread of SAC results at your school is very different to the spread of GAT results for the relevant section, then they might adjust your SAC results slightly.

Calculating a derived score

If something happens to you that means that you can’t sit some of your SACs or exams, for example if you get sick or are in an accident, then your GAT result can be used to calculate a score for you. This score is called a derived score, and it’s only used if something happens at the very last minute to prevent you from doing the assessment yourself (otherwise you would sit the assessment and special provision would be applied instead).

Do I need to study for it?

It’s worth taking the GAT seriously in case your results are needed later, but all you can really do is your best on the day. It’s a general knowledge test, which means that there’s not a set curriculum that you can use to prepare for it. Your school might have organised for you sit a practise GAT, but that’s really to show you what it looks like and to practise doing a VCAA exam, particularly for students who haven’t sat one before. If you haven’t seen what the GAT looks like and want to have a look to help you feel more comfortable about it, VCAA have some from previous years on their website here.

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Kim Whitty - Career Counsellor for High School Students and Parents

AUTHOR: KIM WHITTY

Ready to create a plan for your future, no matter what ATAR you get? That’s what I’m here for! Grab these digital resources to get clear on what you want and what course and career options you have, or learn more about the personalised career counselling packages I offer. I spent 13 years working in schools as a VCE teacher and qualified careers counsellor before starting Roadmap Education. Learn more about me.