The GAT.

[nickalaz]

The GAT, gat, good ole GAT

Hard? Easy? Funny? Happened on your birthday? () Discuss here

+1

[ausyid]

i did well last year by pretty much writing an informative piece on the ice station.

i prefer to work on instincts in the writing pieces. whatever comes to me in the GAT is what i will write.

[ElephantStew]

I wrote an imaginative story for my first piece. The info they gave us was about this ice station, so I set it 30 years into the future and incorporating almost all of the features from the info given I wrote a 10-paged short story thriller. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, the plot was that global warming was so severe that all of the world was pretty much flooded. Only those in Antarctica were safe and not for much longer. In the research institute there they were coming up with a new chemical to deliver as a payload into the atmosphere to rebuild the ozone layer and rectify the situation. They JUST launched the rocket with the payload as the waves crashed into their station.

AWESOME, YOU THINK!?! I incorporated EVERY LAST detail into it about how it was set up etc. and do you know what i got for written communication? 32. The bastards.

hahah lol, i did something similar to that... but mine was a cheesy rip off of Matthew Reilly's Ice Station

[JL_91]

LOL ...I was a bit more conservative than you two..I just described the ice station in an 'interesting-sounding' way, sort of like a magazine article about it...they gave me 45 for written communication

[costargh]

What time is the GAT on? and till when?

[JL_91]

What time is the GAT on? and till when?

10-1.15, including reading time. 3 hours of excruciating pain!

[costargh]

Thats too early! Geez

[chubz90]

LOL  i did the GAT last year. I was so nervous as it was my first official anything. The thing was i didnt bring a watch with me and the only clock there was like a 5 cm wall clock about 20m from my desk, lol. I was worried about not finishing, especially after i began to see people walking out around half an hour into it. I rushed as quick as i could and finished the GAT like an hour early  As a result i got a border line average for pretty much the whole GAT. Hope to do better this year though.

[extra-UNcool]

monash have that new system where they can give you an extra 5 aggregate points if you're applying for their courses and you're gat score was higher than the minimum enter required for the course. sounds pretty good, esp. if you JUST missed out. i think it's worth just doing what you can in the gat.

[elaine]

just wondering if anybody has any interesting or creative ways of doing the first writing thingo...please share

The whole point of the first task is to see if you can organise the material into some coherent structure. So here are some ideas:
- feature article
- television commercial or those 'info breaks' you see on EVERY morning talk show...
- some sort of ad
- magazine column
- proposal/design brief
- talk show
- tourist guide talk

But remember don't get too stuck with these 'text types'. It's how you put all the info together so don't add too much irrelevant details...ie no story line, no plot, just basic info. Here's a random example of the 2007 GAT ( I think)


Members of the Board,
Today I present you a proposal that will revolutionise...situated close to 30'45 N [add details of place] with spacious dormitories which are fully equipped...[add details about place]

All meals will be cooked inhouse and all foods grown in a specially developed hydroponics plant....

...specially designed to withstand.[..temperature statistics, graphs and climate numbers...]

etc...

our school always taught us to write a standard informative essay, just the boring old details.
i didn't know there was such creative freedom. hmm might consider that for tommorow

where did you get the sample response from?

[amyminchin]

Yeah same ^ (obviously). I might just stick with a newspaper article... I'm not confident enough to do an imaginative piece when this is first I've heard of beign allowed to do so. Not that I don't trust you guys or anything... just... you know.

[ice_blockie]

our school always taught us to write a standard informative essay, just the boring old details.
i didn't know there was such creative freedom. hmm might consider that for tommorow
where did you get the sample response from?

I briefly summarised the key points from something I read. I'll flesh out the first paragraph because I feel like it....

"Esteemed members of the board, I come before you today with a proposal that will revolutionise Antarctic research. Proposed to be situated 75'37'S, 26'06'W, the Halley VI Antarctic Station will be fully self-sufficient, accomodating up to fifty two in summer and sixteen in winter. This station has been designed with full considerations of the harsh surrounding environment and also improving the working and living conditions of the personnel.

...There's my GAT study...lol

[cathtacular]

good luck everybody


i just cant wait

lol

[Fyrefly]

LOL ...I was a bit more conservative than you two..I just described the ice station in an 'interesting-sounding' way, sort of like a magazine article about it...they gave me 45 for written communication

Me 2... I just made my writing colourful and interesting. Got similar score 2 u 4 both years. Last year was the ice station, year b4 was something about chocolate.
I took the GAT *relatively* seriously.
I think the students that take it most seriously are those doing IB.

[/0]

Lol today is Friday the 13th, just noticed