vcaa gat logoThe GAT is an essential part of the VCE assessment procedures. All students enrolled in one or more VCE or scored VCE VET Unit 3 and 4 sequences must sit the GAT. Although GAT results do not count directly towards a student’s VCE results, they play an important role in checking that school-based assessments and examinations have been accurately assessed, and in calculating Derived Examination Scores. So it is important to sit the GAT and do as well as possible on all parts of it.
The GAT is used in these ways because achievement on the GAT is a good predictor of achievement on other assessments. If students have done well on the GAT, then their achievements are likely to be high on their school-based assessments and examinations.
Clearly, some GAT questions relate more closely to achievement in particular studies. The VCAA takes this into account when it calculates students’ expected achievements in each study for each school. For example, GAT results in mathematics, science and technology play only a minor part in calculating students’ expected achievements in humanities studies.