In 2026 the GAT will be held on Tuesday 16 June 2026.

Section A: Literacy (Reading and Writing) and Numeracy These are 2025 times -- 2026 times pending.
9:00–9:15 am Reading time
9:15–11:15 am Writing time to complete Section A, which has:

• one writing task with 2 parts
• 50 numeracy multiple-choice questions
• 50 reading multiple-choice questions

Break: 11:15 am–1:15 pm

Section B: General knowledge and skills These are 2025 times -- 2026 times pending.
1:15–1:30 pm Reading time
1:30–3:00 pm Writing time to complete Section B, which has:

• one extended writing task
  
• 25 mathematics, science and technology multiple-choice questions
  
• 25 arts and humanities multiple-choice questions

Source General Achievement Test 2025.  Information for students

The GAT is eligible (as are other forms of assessment) for Special Provision consideration.  See Special Provision for other circumstances within the VCAA administration pages.

What preparation should I do for the GAT?

The VCAA explains that "No special study is needed.  Past study of subjects like English, Mathematics, Science and History prepares students for the GAT by building their general knowledge and skills in writing, numeracy and reasoning".  Never-the-less the VCAA provides past GAT papers.  It would make sense to work through a couple of these to at least get familiar with the presentation format.  Note that the format of the GAT changed in 2023.

Answers

Answers to the tick-a-box GAT examination questions in a tidy PDF format are available: – 2024 – 2023 –  2022 – 2021 –  2020 – 2019 – 2018 – 2017

Past GAT papers.

Advice

Students need to take care as some of the questions are subjective.  There is no definitively correct answer to "What is your favourite colour?" different individuals will provide different answers and each answer is valid for that individual.  Likewise there is no 'correct' answer to "What does the colour green suggest to you?", yet consider this question from the 2020 GAT paper.

You might feel that the mother is none of the above, but is, for example, over-protective; then how do you answer the question?  Walk like an Egyptian, think like an examiner – I guess.

Question 30, section B "Bare Knuckles" of the 2024 paper is totally subjective and the answers will inevitably be related to the philosophy of the individual students,  The VCAA response will be of interest. The question reads

Now with less than a month to the 2025 GAT examination we have an answer sheet.  The "official" answer (provided without explanation) was B orderly.  I guess not a surprising choice from a board of VCAA examiners.

Will the GAT affect my ATAR?

Probably the most frequently asked question about the GAT is some variation of – "Will my GAT mark influence my marks in any unit?"

Fortunately the answer is straightforward – "definitely 'no' though possibly 'yes'. ;=)  In the general course of events your GAT result has no effect on your other marks, this condition is spelt out in VCAA documentation.  However, there are 2 conditions under which your GAT result may be used by examiners to adjust your marks.  (There are possibly other conditions that VCE-Circus is unaware of.)

1) Derived Examination Score (DES)

If for some unexpected reason a student cannot sit an examination then the VCAA system allocate the student a derived examination score.  The calculation of the DES may include the use of The student's GAT results. [1]
https://www.vcaa.vic.edu.au/administration/special-provision/Pages/DerivedExaminationScore.aspx

2) Anomalous Grades Check The VCE Administrative Hand Book[1] describes the function of the anomalous grades check is to highlight where the student’s examination outcome is substantially different from that predicted from one or more of the:

• school’s indicative grade
• student’s GAT component scores
• other examination assessment in the study for studies with more than one external assessment.

In each case, the differences must be statistically significant. If the VCAA determines that a grade is "anomalous" then it may choose to adjust that grade. [2]

[1} VCAA webpage Derived Examination Score (DES)
[2] VCAA assessment Identifying unexpected results

The VCAA GAT examiners occasionally stuff-up.

If 2023 was the year for examination stuff-ups, then the GAT was no exception. 

If we look at the official answers we find that there is not one correct answer for Section B Q7 but two (A and D), however the stuff-up award goes to Section B Q22 with all 4 answers accepted.  The failure of the examination panel to anticipate the ambiguity of question 7 shows that not one member of the panel spotted the not(not A) = A construct.  The action of the examination panel in feeding question 22 through the system indicates a loss of application or a lack of sufficient expertise.[1]

[1] To be fair there is a hell of a lot of work in preparing a GAT paper – I guess the odd mistake is inevitable.