GAMSAT Guide Section I - Reasoning in Humanities and Social Sciences Section

Many people who plan to sit the Graduate Australian Medical School Admission Test (GAMSAT) come from science backgrounds and are hence very worried about what will come up in the humanities section of the Australian GAMSAT test. This article will explore the sort of questions that tend to come up in the humanities section and give a few insights into how to prepare for them. This guide is not meant to deliver a perfect way of studying for the GAMSAT or all the knowledge and skills needed to pass it, but it is designed to give a few ideas of what to expect.

GAMSAT Reasoning in Humanities: What Is The Format?

The format of the Reasoning in Humanities and Social Sciences section of the GAMSAT is multiple choice questions, with four possible answers listed A, B, C, D. There are 75 multiple-choice questions to be answered in 100 minutes, with 10 minutes of perusal time before the test. This section is worth one fourth of the total GAMSAT grade.

GAMSAT Reasoning in Humanities: What To Study?

Figuring out what to study for the GAMSAT humanities section can be very difficult, as the humanities tend to have a very general and broad focus in comparison to science. As a general rule a few common questions come up in the Reasoning in Humanities and Social Sciences Section.

One type of question that often comes up is a question related to a cartoon or comic image. This type of question generally asks about where the image derives its humour or meaning, as well as what public issue is being discussed. These images are generally the sort of political satire cartoons that appear in the daily paper. As such, reading the paper or even reading through a Gary Larson book of comic sketches might be all that can possibly be done to gather skill in this ability. Another potential way of studying for this is to study major events in Australian and world political history.

Another form of question that is common on the GAMSAT humanities section is a question relating to a piece of poetry or prose, sometimes a short story as well. These questions generally relate to the meaning of the piece of literature or why the author wrote it. These questions are quite problematic, as literature at university tends to be more open to different interpretations. Subsequently, preparing for these questions can be very hard as studying literature may actually work against you. One trick is to view the questions as science questions, rather than humanities questions. Imagine someone who does not really understand the humanities is creating humanities questions, and then answer accordingly.

The third question type that is almost always on the GAMSAT is questions relating to a flow chart or graph. These appear on both the humanities and science section, so learning to quickly interpret graphs is of great assistance. The way to prepare for this is to dive into any practice question that you can find which refers to graphs or a visual map. Examples of these types of question coming up on the GAMSAT humanities section range from energy flow charts related to the Inuit people of Alaska to economic tables related to average food costs.

The last type of question that is nearly always present in the GAMSAT humanities section is a question related to a piece of humanities theory. Michel Foucault or similar often always appear lately on the GAMSAT. As such, reading about topics such as post-modernism, structuralism and other general philosophical issues is probably the best way to prepare for these sorts of questions. Unfortunately, this tends to take a lot of time compared to studying for extra science grades.