Section 1: Reasoning in Humanities and Social Sciences
Understanding what's expected in the GAMSAT Section 1 exam
Overview
Section 1 of the GAMSAT assesses your ability to understand and interpret written material across a wide range of humanities and social science disciplines. You will encounter various text types and be required to demonstrate skills in comprehension, inference, analysis, and critical thinking.
Time Allocation
Total time: 100 minutes
Number of questions: 62 questions
Time per question: Approximately 1.6 minutes
Question Format
Multiple choice: All questions are multiple choice
No calculator: No calculator or reference materials allowed
Reasoning focus: Tests interpretation, not memorisation
Content Types
Section 1 includes a diverse range of text types from various disciplines:
1. Prose (Fiction and Nonfiction)
Literary fiction, modern fiction, memoirs, essays, and narrative nonfiction. These texts test your ability to understand narrative structure, character motivation, tone, and authorial intent.
Skills tested: inference, tone, author intent, contextual meaning
2. Humanities Essays and Commentary
Philosophy, ethics, sociology, cultural criticism, and political theory. These texts require you to understand complex arguments, identify assumptions, and evaluate claims.
Skills tested: comprehension of argument structure, evaluation of claims, identifying assumptions
3. Social-Science Materials
Psychology, economics, history, anthropology, and education studies. These texts test your ability to interpret theoretical explanations, understand causal relationships, and evaluate evidence.
Skills tested: interpretation of theoretical explanations, causal reasoning, evaluation of evidence
4. Newspaper and Journal Articles
Opinion pieces, editorials, and articles on contemporary issues. These texts require you to identify bias, analyse arguments, and distinguish between evidence and assertion.
Skills tested: bias detection, argument analysis, differentiating evidence from assertion
5. Visual and Multimodal Texts
Cartoons, illustrations, comic panels, infographics, and posters or advertisements. These require interpretation of visual cues, understanding of symbolism, irony, and multimodal messaging.
Skills tested: interpreting visual cues, symbolism, irony, and multimodal messaging
6. Poetry and Lyrical Passages
Classical poetry, modern free-verse, and song lyrics. These texts test your understanding of metaphor, symbolism, mood, and ambiguity.
Skills tested: metaphor, symbolism, mood, ambiguity
7. Dialogue and Interpersonal Excerpts
Dramatic dialogue, interview transcripts, and conversation snippets. These test your ability to make pragmatic inferences, understand emotional subtext, and interpret character motivation.
Skills tested: pragmatic inference, emotional subtext, character motivation
Key Skills Assessed
1. Reading Comprehension
Your ability to understand the literal meaning of texts, identify main ideas, and follow the development of arguments or narratives.
2. Inference and Interpretation
Drawing conclusions that are not explicitly stated, understanding implied meanings, and interpreting figurative language, symbolism, and subtext.
3. Text Analysis
Analysing tone, mood, style, literary devices, and rhetorical techniques. Understanding how authors use language to convey meaning and create effects.
4. Critical Thinking
Evaluating arguments, identifying assumptions, detecting bias, distinguishing between fact and opinion, and understanding logical relationships.
Tips for Success
Read actively and carefully
Pay attention to details, tone, and structure. Underline or mentally note key ideas, transitions, and important phrases as you read.
Manage your time effectively
With approximately 1.6 minutes per question, you need to read efficiently. Don't spend too long on any single question—if you're stuck, make your best guess and move on.
Look for evidence in the text
The correct answer is always supported by the passage. Avoid answers that rely on outside knowledge or assumptions not present in the text.
Understand context and tone
Pay attention to the author's tone, purpose, and perspective. These elements often provide crucial clues for answering questions about meaning and intent.
Practice diverse text types
Familiarise yourself with different genres and disciplines. The more varied your reading practice, the better prepared you'll be for the exam.
How to Practice
📚 Question Bank
Practice with our comprehensive bank of Section 1 questions covering all content types. Filter by specific types or practice across all categories.
Start Practising →🔍 Text Analysis
Develop your skills in analysing tone, theme, and literary devices with targeted practice questions.
Start Analysing →💭 Inference Practice
Practice drawing conclusions and making inferences from various text types.
Start Practising →Official Information
For the most up-to-date and official information about GAMSAT Section 1, please refer to the official ACER GAMSAT Information Booklet.
📄View Official GAMSAT Information Booklet↗