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GAMSAT syllabus

The GAMSAT syllabus, section by section

GAMSAT is a reasoning test with a science vocabulary, not a knowledge exam. This page sets out what each section actually asks of you, the question types that recur, the timing you will face on the day, and the official ACER sources to check every claim against.

Test at a glance

Total working time
5 hours 15 minutes
Multiple-choice questions
137
Score scale
Typically 50–100

The overall score is a weighted combination of the three sections, with Section III carrying double weight at most Australian institutions (1:1:2). Confirm the weighting used by each university you apply to — it varies.

Section I — Reasoning in Humanities and Social Sciences

62 questions · 100 minutes working time · 8 minutes reading time

Stimulus-based multiple choice built on prose, poetry, cartoons, tables and graphs. Nothing is recall: every answer must be defensible from the stimulus in front of you.

Question types

  • Interpretation of argument: identify the claim, the warrant and the unstated assumption
  • Tone, attitude and register in prose and poetry
  • Inference within scope — the strongest supported reading, not the most attractive one
  • Visual and cartoon interpretation, including irony and juxtaposition
  • Data-in-prose: tables, charts and simple quantitative comparisons
  • Ethical and social reasoning across competing viewpoints

Section II — Written Communication

2 tasks · 30 minutes each · 5 minutes reading time · 65 minutes total

Two sets of quotations on a common theme. Task A is socio-cultural, Task B is personal and reflective. Markers score thought and content, organisation and expression, and linguistic control.

Question types

  • Task A: argumentative or expository response to a socio-cultural theme
  • Task B: reflective, narrative or personal response to an interior theme
  • Thesis construction and controlled development of a single line of thought
  • Use of evidence, example and counter-argument under time pressure
  • Register, cohesion and sentence-level control

Section III — Reasoning in Biological and Physical Sciences

75 questions · 150 minutes working time · 10 minutes reading time

Approximately 40% biology, 40% chemistry and 20% physics. Assumed knowledge is first-year-university biology and chemistry and Year 12 physics — but the marks come from reasoning on unfamiliar data.

Question types

  • Biology: cell biology, genetics, physiology, homeostasis, ecology and experimental design
  • Chemistry: organic reaction logic, stereochemistry, equilibria, acids and bases, thermodynamics
  • Physics: mechanics, energy, waves, electricity, radioactivity and unit reasoning
  • Graph and figure interpretation, including trend extrapolation and outlier handling
  • Experimental reasoning: controls, confounders, validity and the limits of a conclusion
  • Quantitative estimation and proportional reasoning without a calculator

How to study this syllabus

Coverage is not the problem — most candidates already know the content. Marks are lost to a small set of repeatable reasoning faults: drifting beyond the scope of the stimulus, substituting plausible knowledge for stated evidence, and mis-reading the direction of a trend. Gamsat Prep names the fault behind each wrong answer and drills it until it stops recurring.

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Official sources

GAMSAT is owned and administered by ACER. Where anything here differs from ACER, ACER is correct.