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Australia · Admissions test

GAMSAT Section 2: Written Communication

You write two essays in 65 minutes, online at home with a remote proctor, about three weeks before the test centre sitting. The Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER) names this part Written Communication; GAMSAT Section 2 is the number GradReady and other prep providers give it. Each task gives you four statements on a common theme: the first on socio-cultural issues, the second on more personal and social ones.

  • 2Writing tasks
  • 65 minutesTime for both tasks
  • 3Times each essay is scored
Where to study

Updated October 2026 · Written from official sources, listed at the bottom of this page

How is GAMSAT Section 2 marked?

On two broad criteria: the quality of your thinking about the topic, and your control of language in getting that thinking across. Grammar and expression count only as far as they make the response work. You aren’t marked on whether your ideas or attitudes are ‘correct’, and spelling and punctuation errors don’t affect your score. Each essay is scored independently three times. If English isn’t your first language, you can use the same printed bilingual dictionary allowed in Humanities, and show it to your proctor before you start.

ACER says markers ask these questions:

  • What kinds of ideas have you developed in response to the prompt?
  • How far, and how well, have you explored its ideas and issues?
  • Is the writing structured and organised?
  • Is it clear and fluent?
  • Is the language precise and right for the topic?

Length matters much less than quality, ACER says, and the markers know what can be written in 30 minutes.

Plagiarism, AI and memorised essays

Every response is checked for plagiarism, including the use of artificial intelligence (AI), and compared with earlier GAMSAT responses. An essay only counts as original if it’s written to that day’s topics. Text borrowed from pre-prepared essays, often supplied by prep providers, can be flagged as plagiarism even if you never saw the source. ACER says memorised essays generally score poorly, and pre-prepared or off-topic responses get a low score.

Is there an official GAMSAT quote generator?

ACER’s version is the Online Test Generator. It has 16 task themes from the September 2020 test, 8 for Task A and 8 for Task B, which make up to 64 combinations. You write two responses and get an automatic score range, such as 56 to 60, and a percentile band. There’s no written feedback.

The timed version gives you 65 minutes and turns off copy and paste, like the remote sitting. The untimed one lets you write over several days. Each version you buy can be submitted once, within 12 months.

ACER practice materials and prices →

Practising GAMSAT essay topics

  1. Take sample prompts from ACER’s e-books or the Online Test Generator.
  2. Write both essays in one hour, under test conditions.
  3. Score them with the generator, or ask someone to read them and suggest other approaches.
  4. Put them away for a few days, then reread them to see what you’d change.

You don’t have to agree with the prompts. The test day setup for the remote sitting, from ProctorU to the equipment you need, is on the test centres page.

Remote proctoring and test day →Section 1: Humanities →Section 3: Sciences →All sections and timing →
Sources: ACER · GradReady and 1 more. Checked October 2026.

Rules and fees can change, so check the official site before your test.

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