Research

The General Achievement Test (GAT) is administered to all students undertaking Victorian Certificate of Education (VCE) studies at the end of secondary education. The GAT is designed to assess the cross-curricular skills that underpin VCE studies and the Victorian Essential Learning outcomes.  GAT scores are used in studies where, by including them, a better match with schools’ assessments throughout the State is achieved.
The Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority (VCAA) uses GAT scores as a basis for:
• contributing to statistical moderation of School-assessed Coursework;
• reviewing school assessments in School-assessed Tasks;
• special provision and derived examination scores; and
• checking the accuracy of exam marking.

ACER develops the assessment instruments for the three components of the GAT: a multiple choice test of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences; a multiple-choice test of and Mathematics, Science and Technology; and a test of Writing.