GAMSAT Essay Writing Tips

Rather than approaching this section in the traditional for and against manner, this section requires an approach that will consider a number of different angles throughout. I achieved a score of 70 for my essay section and I’m going to share the tips and tricks that I used.

One easy way to do this is to dissect every single word of the quotation. I have posted an example below, though this would be a very initial plan and it would need expanding upon.

We now have some ideas to work on, for example, we can pull in the idea of evolution when we talk about organisation and the chaos that has involved, and later talk about it in the definition of success ie if it was planned by a divine creator is it a success considering its so wasteful, it’s almost more of a success if it wasn’t planned or organised.

This can get very convoluted but the intention is to take quite a simple quote and give more than just a two dimensional for and against argument. The marks are awarded for analysis of the question.

I highly recommend instead of practicing essays to practice plans. Give yourself no more than five minutes to write the plan and start off by unpicking every word first.

Other general tips for this section include:
– The introduction only needs to be two sentences.
– Try to brush up on vocabulary, you can practice this by paraphrasing text which will also ensure you are able to make your points in stronger, more powerful sentences (time isn’t on your side for these essays!).
– Only read synopses for books – don’t waste time reading the whole text!
– Titles can boost your score.
– It can get you marks to identify and address an underlying theme that unites all the quotes (you can write a general essay on this theme and reference the quotes instead).

Part B – the emotional essay. This centres on emotional intelligence and it’s recommended that you give a personal account for this section. Often candidates will give anecdotal evidence to support their arguments, showing rationale and understanding.