Non-fiction sets
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Non-fiction passages account for approximately 35% of sets and nearly 45% of questions in the official GAMSAT practice materials. They are the most common passage type in Section I.
Most Non-fiction sets contain a single passage, although some sets include two or more passages.
Passages range in length from around 80 to nearly 600 words, with most falling between 200 and 400 words.
Non-fiction passages may be drawn from virtually any topic in Humanities or Social Sciences. Many passages come from essays written in the 19th or 20th century.
You may also encounter more recent texts, such as:
- journal abstracts
- newspaper articles
- book reviews
The prose style tends to be syntactically complex, with long sentences and protracted phrasing.
You do not need to know anything about the broader topic of the passage — you can answer entirely based on the contents of the text.
You do not need to identify the specific topic or whether it is Humanities or Social Sciences. However, if a topic feels very unfamiliar or you struggle with a passage, you might want to skip it and come back to it later in the section, after you have locked in marks on simpler, more straightforward passages.
Occasionally, the GAMSAT will include passages that appear to be from scientific texts. For example, you might see a passage from one of Darwin’s works, or something from a medical journal. Don’t worry about categorising the passage topic, or trying to make it ‘fit in’ as Humanities or Social Sciences. Use your Non-fiction skills to make quick, effective work of any passage.
Non-fiction passages typically present an argument or line of reasoning. The author may:
- advance a position.
- critique an existing idea.
- explore a concept.
Non-fiction passages might include unfamiliar expressions. Watch out for:
- Archaic language: Non-fiction passages are often drawn from 19th and early 20th century texts. Vocabulary and sentence structure may feel dated.
- Abstract concepts: Often, the passage will clarify what the author means by a particular term, either through explicit definition or through the context in which it’s used.
Non-fiction passages may be accompanied by footnotes to explain unfamiliar words. These might include:
- expressions from other languages
- discipline-specific vocabulary
- details about people who are mentioned by name
Your goal is not to define every word in the passage. Focus on understanding components of the passage that are relevant to the questions and that help you identify support for the correct answer.
You can use three reading strategies for Non-fiction passages. Try each approach during your GAMSAT revision to see which works best for you:
- Study the passage: Allow 2 minutes to read for main points and key details. Read the first question stem before starting, then move to the questions once your time is up.
- Skim the passage: Give yourself 1 minute to read quickly through the passage, targeting main ideas and skipping lengthy examples or supporting details.
- Don’t read the passage: Skip the passage entirely and go straight to the first question, using question stems to guide your exploration of the text.
Support for the correct answer often comes in the sentence immediately before or after the highlighted text.
Sometimes you may need to read further: the support may come later in the same paragraph or near the end of the previous paragraph.
Master the logic of correct and incorrect answers to improve your performance.
Correct answers are correct for objective, categorical reasons.
This is true in every question. Even when a question uses words like ‘suggests’ or ‘most likely’:
- one answer is absolutely correct.
- the other three answers are definitively wrong.
Correct answers in Non-fiction sets frequently express the ideas of the passage in different, often more abstract terms.
The passage may discuss a concrete example or use particular terminology, but the correct answer will express the underlying principle from a different angle. For example, you might find the same idea in very different words and sentence structures.
This is why Non-fiction questions can feel challenging even when you understand the passage. The correct answer may approach the same idea from a different conceptual level or viewpoint, making it hard to recognise it as the same idea.
Train yourself to shift perspective and ask:
Does this answer express the same fundamental idea as the passage, just viewed from a different angle or level of abstraction?
Answer choices in Non-fiction questions are often remarkably brief. A correct answer may be just two or three words.
This brevity is deliberate. The challenge isn’t parsing complex statements but recognising when a concise phrase captures the passage’s idea at a different level of abstraction.
Some questions restate surface-level details from the passage.
These questions ask you to identify what the passage directly states, although the correct answer will still paraphrase or summarise it, rather than quoting it verbatim.
You must recognise the correct answer when it uses different vocabulary and syntax from the passage.
Train yourself to look past wording variations and ask:
Does this answer choice match the same fundamental idea as the passage?
Question walkthrough
Matching a restated detail to the passage
Let's practise recognising an answer that restates a detail from the passage.
The correct answers to most questions in Non-fiction sets are based on inferences. An inference is something that must be true based on what the passage says, even though it is not directly stated.
Valid inferences stay very close to the passage’s meaning but require you to read between the lines.
In Non-fiction passages, some questions ask about the entire passage rather than specific details. These can often be answered efficiently using the passage’s focus or main idea. Note what the passage is fundamentally about as you work through other questions in the set. This will frequently give you enough information to identify the correct answer to questions about the passage as a whole.
Questions about the entire passage may also ask about the author’s stance — whether the author is critical, supportive or presenting information objectively. Identify this stance to eliminate wrong answers that mischaracterise the author’s position.
Another variation traces the development of an idea or concept through the entire passage. The correct answer may describe how the author’s argument unfolds across multiple paragraphs, or how a concept is progressively refined from the opening through to the conclusion.
Inference questions test whether you can move from what is said to what follows. This requires careful reasoning.
The correct answer must be logically grounded in the passage.
Some Non-fiction questions ask about the function of a particular phrase, sentence or example. These questions focus on how or why the passage uses certain expressions or ideas to develop its argument.
To answer Function questions, consider the context:
- What comes before and after the highlighted text?
- How does this particular element fit into the overall argument?
Your task is to identify the author’s purpose. The author may be:
- introducing a contrast
- providing evidence
- anticipating an objection
- making a concession
Trace the element’s role in context: what does it contribute to the author’s broader reasoning?
Question walkthrough
Identifying the author's purpose in a Function question
Let's practise determining why the writer uses a particular word or phrase.
Wrong answers are categorically incorrect. They cannot be supported by the passage, and they cannot be partially correct.
Wrong answers will distort the passage in specific ways.
Learn to recognise these distortions. This will help you eliminate incorrect choices efficiently.
One common distortion in wrong answers is a logical error in a cause-and-effect relationship.
Another common distortion in wrong answers involves taking words out of context. A wrong answer may use terminology from the passage but apply it in a way that doesn’t match the passage’s meaning.
- Answers that play off one definition of a word from the passage, but in context, the word is used with a different meaning.
- A phrase in the passage has a very specific meaning in context, but an answer misinterprets it in a significantly different way that contradicts or doesn’t match the passage.
- An answer breaks down the meanings of individual words in a phrase from the passage but combines them in a way that does not match the passage’s meaning.
Question walkthrough
Spotting words taken out of context
Let’s practise identifying answer traps that take words out of context.
Wrong answers may contradict the passage while echoing some of its words. These can be tempting because they sound familiar. However, careful reading will reveal that they say the opposite of what the passage claims.
Take care to consider the totality of the idea in each answer. Wrong answers may repeat a word from the passage, but in ways that from a contrary idea.
The presence of words from the passage doesn’t guarantee the answer is correct. What matters is whether the concept matches, not whether the vocabulary overlaps.
Some wrong answers introduce ideas that are external to the passage. These may be generally true statements or plausible-sounding claims, but if the passage doesn’t address them, they cannot be correct.
These wrong answers invite you to use outside knowledge to make what feels like a valid inference, however it cannot be correct because it goes beyond the passage to justify an answer.
Question walkthrough
Identifying answers not supported by the passage
Let’s practise identifying answer traps that are not grounded in the passage.
Some Non-fiction sets present two passages. The passages may appear in separate tabs or could be clearly labelled as distinct passages in a single tab. These passages typically address related themes from different perspectives.
Questions will ask you to understand each passage individually as well as compare or contrast them.
Consider the relationship between the passages before tackling the questions:
- Are the authors discussing the same phenomenon in different disciplines?
- Do they share assumptions or challenge each other?
A quick mental note of how the passages relate will help you answer Comparison questions efficiently.
It’s easy to conflate ideas from paired passages. When a question asks about one specific passage, base your answer solely on that passage’s claims, even if the other passage addresses similar themes.
Watch for answer choices that attribute claims from one passage to the other.
Comparison questions require you to synthesise information from both passages. To understand the relationship between the ideas in the passages, you should identify:
- shared assumptions or conclusions that both authors would endorse, even if they express them differently.
- where the passages diverge in focus, argument or implication.
Watch out for instances in which the passages discuss similar concepts but emphasise different aspects. Correct answers to Comparison questions often capture this distinction precisely.
Wrong answers may oversimplify or mischaracterise the relationship, claiming the passages contradict each other when they actually address different facets of the same issue.
Some questions ask you to take a framework or concept introduced in one passage and apply it to the subject matter of the other.
To answer these, ensure you understand the concept thoroughly in its original context before considering how it maps onto the other passage’s examples or arguments.
The correct answer will demonstrate a precise fit between the concept and its new application.
Be wary of answers that sound sophisticated but lack textual support. Non-fiction passages often deal with complex ideas, and some wrong answers will use impressive-sounding language that doesn’t match what the passage actually says.
If an answer sounds sophisticated but you can’t trace its meaning back to a specific claim in the passage, it’s likely a trap designed to exploit your recognition of key terms.
If you find yourself inventing justifications for an answer, stop and reconsider. The correct answer should fit naturally with the passage, even if it expresses the idea in different terms.
Mental gymnastics to defend an answer usually indicate it’s wrong.
Outside knowledge can mislead you if it doesn’t match the particular claims the author is making in this specific text.
Don’t overthink simple questions. Some questions have straightforward answers that restate what the passage says in slightly different terms. If an answer clearly matches the passage, click it and move on.
The challenge in Non-fiction sets is recognising how correct answers restate ideas: they use synonyms, broader terms or more abstract language without adding complexity to the passage’s argument.
Once you see how an answer connects to the passage, trust your judgement. Click it and move on.
Question walkthrough
Recognising a paraphrased answer
Let's practise identifying an answer that restates what the passage says in different words.
Non-fiction sets can be challenging, especially when they feature dense academic prose or abstract answer choices.
Elimination is a powerful strategy for Non-fiction sets with challenging passages. You may not recognise how the correct answer relates to the passage, but if you can eliminate the other three, you know it must be right.
Don’t spend minutes trying to justify a correct answer if you have proved that the others are wrong. Sometimes, it will be much faster to eliminate three wrong answers and click the remaining one, even if you have no idea why specifically it is correct — it must be, since all the others are wrong.
Remember that each question is worth one mark regardless of difficulty. Save your time and effort for other questions.