Following the craziness of two COVID affected years, which have thrown traditional VCE assessment timelines out of the window, we now have a new GAT being sat on a new date with new groups of students being assessed. If you’re mind is awash with the upcoming study design change for English and all of the other challenges of readying a group of young people who completed most of their schooling from home for the past two years for the upcoming exam, you are definitely not alone!
Here’s a simple guide as to what we know so far about the ‘new’ GAT in regards to reading and writing and what will be expected of students.
One of the first changes that we as teachers will need to familiarise ourselves with is the splitting of the assessment into two sections.
Section A will be focused on literacy and numeracy skills. This is where the biggest changes will be seen. The sample material provided indicates that the reading questions will have much more of a ‘real world’ flavour to them, with students needing to make sense of realistic scenarios such as hotel reviews, online forum posts and work emails. Multiple choice questions will test a student’s ability to glean important information and sort what is relevant from what is not.
The sample writing tasks provided by the VCAA prompt students to write a recommendation to school council regarding the allotment of funds, before writing a report on how the funds were spent, presuming the recommendation was successful. What’s interesting about this task is that it is split into two and that the criteria are as follows: audience, ideas, structure and cohesion, vocabulary, grammar, punctuation and spelling.
The more technical aspects of clear written communication seem to be what’s assessed here, which falls in line with the ‘real world’ angle of the reading assessment. Early indications are that this task will be less about the actual content and ideas, and more about the coherence and purpose of a piece of writing; ensuring that students can write clearly and effectively with a stated purpose.
Section B will seemingly look and feel like GATs of the past, with “an increased focus on critical and creative thinking skills”. The VCAA have indicated that this section will also contain a writing section and that it will be similar to Writing Task 2 of previous GATs.
So, when we boil it all down, the changes seem manageable and clear. Two sections, one which will be similar to what we’re already familiar with and one which will have a ‘real world’ focus as a test of a student’s literacy and numeracy skills. I’ve summarised the changes in a graphic below which you’re welcome to screenshot and save. I’ve also answered some of the anticipated questions that teachers may have.
The English Lab will be running GAT preparation sessions in schools and online. Feel free to get in contact with us to organise a session!
When is the GAT in 2022? There’s a new date: Wednesday September 7th
Who sits the GAT? “All students enrolled in one or more VCE or scored VCE VET Unit 3 –4 sequence will be required to sit Sections A and B. Senior VCAL students will sit Section A”
All information for this post has been sourced from the VCAA’s information pages, which can be found here.The sample GAT page can be found here.
Hi Ben! There's been some discussion around the suggested time spent for Part A of the GAT at my school. One argument is that the suggested time for the multiple choice Qs is longer than needed, so students should do them first to get them out of the way and then spend more time on the writing tasks. What are your thoughts on VCAA's suggested timing, particularly for Part A?