Finding support in the passage
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In the article on Reaading th passage, we recommend three reading strategies for GAMSAT Section I:
- not reading the passage.
- skimming the passage.
- studying the passage.
Regardless of your reading strategy, you will need to go back to the passage to find support for each question.
It’s essential to consider what is involved in finding support and how you can move quickly and accurately between the question and the passage.
In some cases, it will be quicker to use the passage to eliminate all the incorrect answers. You may also notice that one or more answers are incorrect as you work towards the support for the correct answer.
Since there are only three incorrect answers in each question, you can see how eliminating the wrong answers can be a powerful approach.
Most Section I question stems include context clues. A context clue is any information that guides you to the relevant part of the passage. In most cases, the context clues are very straightforward.
Context clues in Section I question stems include:
- hyperlinked quotes.
- hyperlinked sentences or paragraphs.
- key words or phrases from the passage that aren’t hyperlinked.
Use the hyperlink to quickly find the quoted text in the passage. The support for the correct answer will be very close to the highlighted quote. Often, it will come in the sentence on either side of the highlighted quote. Sometimes, you may need to go a bit further away – the support may come a bit later in the same paragraph, or near the end of the previous paragraph.
Keep an eye out for anything in the passage that contradicts an answer choice or that seems radically different to an answer choice. You can often eliminate wrong answers based on the same portion of the passage that is near the highlighted text.
In GAMSAT Section I, sets that are not on the online platform – such as in the official PDF practice materials – may give you a line number instead of a hyperlink. The process works much the same, only you will have to spot the relevant words in the numbered line in the passage.
The highlighted text on Test Day will draw your eye right to the relevant line, so this will be a bit quicker and easier to work with.
You may need to read a little before or a little after the highlighted text to find support. This is especially likely to be the case if it is a sentence that is highlighted. The key support for the correct answer may be in a nearby sentence, rather than in the highlighted text itself.
Some question stems won’t include any hyperlinks, but you will notice distinctive words or phrases. Use these distinctive words or phrases as key words: scan the passage for key words or related words (such as synonyms or paraphrase), then look for support near the key words in the passage.
Key words can be almost any words or phrases that will help you ‘zero in’ on a particular part of the passage. They may be related to the passage’s topic, or to the specific details discussed in the passage.
A few common words and phrases will not be useful as key words, for the simple reason that these words could appear in almost any question stem, for example:
- the author.
- the writer.
- the passage.
Any words that are central to the passage’s topic may be less useful as key words. For instance, in a passage about government overrach, words such as ‘government’, ‘the state’, ‘authority’ or ‘presidential power’ may appear frequently in the passage – so they may be less helpful at narrowing your focus to a particular part of the passage.
Other words in the question stem, however, may be extremely useful as key words.
The phrase ‘the passage as a whole’ is a different type of key phrase. It does not indicate a specific part of the passage, but instead indicates that the question is a Global question. You will need to answer based on the totality of the passage.
Global questions are best saved for the end of the set. Even if you are not reading the passage, you may know enough about the passage after answering the other questions to select the correct answer to a Global question.
Some Section I questions will omit context clues. For example:
- The writer suggests that
- The passage implies that
- According to the author, some people
- The tone of the passage seems
Whilst these questions do not provide context clues, there is one key point to bear in mind: almost all questions with a text passage will be given in passage order.
Questions without context clues ask about the passage or the writer/author, but in quite an open and general way. Each answer choice will have specific claims, but only one of these will match the passage.
Wrong answers will contradict some part of the passage or include information that goes beyond the passage.
There is no distinction between ‘writer’ and ‘author’ – they are synonyms. Remember that the author will agree with anything that the passage says or implies.
Verbs like ‘suggests’ and ‘implies’ are common in GAMSAT Section I questions. They indicate Inference questions. An inference is something that must be true based on the passage.
The inference might restate information in the passage, or it might link ideas from two different sentences. Sometimes, an inference may summarise in general terms what the passage says or does.
Global questions ask about the passage as a whole, for example:
The tone of the passage seems
Save Global questions for last in the set – it will likely be easier to answer once you have found support for the other questions.
Having checked the passage several times, you should have a good general sense of its tone. This should be sufficient in most cases for answering a Global question about the passage’s tone.
You will need to vary your approach with image-based passages.
If the passage includes a diagram or visual data, the questions may appear in any order since there is not a full text passage.
Some questions in a Diagram set may ask about the diagram as a whole. You will likely need to eliminate the answers that are too broad or aggressive in describing the diagram.
Initially, all the answers may seem possible – or they may all seem bad. Start by singling out the worst or least likely options, then keep eliminating until you are left with the least bad or most probable answer.
Some questions in a Data set may identify a trend in the data and ask you which answer ‘if true’ is correct. Assume that all the answers could be true – your task is to figure out which one actually explains the trend in the data.
The wrong answers will either fail to explain the trend or will create a paradox, making the trend seem less likely or confusing.
If an image-based passage has a single question, read the question first. Then, take a moment to examine the image – such as a cartoon or diagram – knowing what you are looking for.
This approach allows you to target your work and should help to save time and keep you focused.