Resources For Gamsat Section 1
This article sets out a list of free resources for Gamsat section 1. If you're preparing for Gamsat check out our list of resources to improve your section 1 performance.
Section 1 can be one of the hardest parts of the test to prepare for, especially for non-arts students who have not built up a high standard of reading comprehension skills. These types of skills can be time consuming to acquire.
The resources presented here will help you take a short cut and accelerate the process making your Gamsat revision more productive and effective.
Newsela
The concept Newsela is constructed on is uncomplicated yet potent, it can precipitate large repercussions in the evolution of reading comprehension in a broad range of students. In summary it is a website which publishes new articles every day based on current events and around an assortment of issues and themes relevant to the majority of school subjects. All the articles have are produced in 5 different versions, which are designed for students at varying different levels of reading skills. Once the student has read the version which is appropriate to his or her level of ability, they are given the option to attempt questions to test their knowledge.
Vocabulary.com
This is a fun way to learn new vocabulary. Once you've created a free account with Vocabulary.com you can upload a list of words or up to 10 pages of text from any source. The website then creates fun games to help you memorize the meaning of the words.
It has a machine learning algorithm to understand when you have learned a word and hence to show it to you less often and when you don't understand in which case it continues to show it to you in the context of different ways of using it.
Poetic Forms and Devices
A great website for learning devices and forms used in poetry is Poetryline. Just choose a device from the list and you'll be given a definition and also an example of the device in use. It then also gives a list of several examples of poems where the device is used.
Recognising and understanding these devices is crucial to answering questions on poems in section 1.
Critical Reading
In general terms Gamsat section 1 reading comprehension questions are not like most reading comprehension tests where you can read the question and then quickly scan the text for the answer.
Instead, in Gamsat you'll probably have to understand the detailed argument the author is making which requires critical reading skills.
One of the best resources I've found for this is the website criticalreading.com which shows you how to critically read a text and choose the right answer in your Gamsat multiple choice questions.
Interpreting Cartoons
A problem I found when looking for cartoons to practice interpreting as part of my Gamsat preparation was that most cartoons or cartoon sites are based on politics.
While this type of cartoon could come up in Gamsat it's more probable that they'll choose a cartoon on a neutral topic as Gamsat tends to avoid controversial political or religious topics.
A good site for many different types of cartoons is cartoonstock.com which has more than 500,000 cartoons on all types of topics.
For more resources and strategies for section 1 please see my other article here - Gamsat Section 1
Further Resources
For more help with Section 1 please also see Griffiths Gamsat Review which has a more detailed analysis of all the different question types which can appear in GAMSAT with detailed strategies for answering them.
