GSA - HR - Content

Critical Thinking

In the GSA, students are asked to comprehend, analyse and evaluate statements and passages that present viewpoints of the kind they would come across in the real world. Materials used in the GSA tend to be generally accessible.

The material in GSA Critical Thinking can be categorised as follows:

Comprehension in order to identify explicit and implicit meaning
Analysis in order to identify elements such as definitions being applied, claims being made, points of view, key issues, lines of reasoning, evidence, conclusions, arguments, assumptions, logical flaws, logical implications; missing information, rhetorical devices, ambiguity, inappropriate analogies, etc
Evaluation in order to judge aspects such as the strength and credibility of evidence and validity of lines of reasoning, conclusion and arguments, etc.

Problem Solving

There is an enormous range of problem types and approaches. The GSA approach has been to focus on generally applicable and accessible everyday problems that vary in complexity.

The following aspects of Problem Solving are addressed:

Identify, comprehend, restate a problem
Identify and analyse information relevant to a problem
Translate and represent features of a problem
Identify, synthesise and apply information relevant to a problem
Conceptualise/ generate/ identify problem solution
Evaluate solution strategies and their outcomes

Interpersonal Understandings

Interpersonal Understandings material in the GSA focuses on the ability of students to:

Show insight into the feelings, motivation and behaviour of other people, and into issues related to helping or working with others.
Recognise how such insight may be applied in order to effectively help or work with others, including effective feedback, listening. Communication, team work and leadership.

Written Communication

The Written Communication dimension of the GSA offers two components - a reporting task and an argument task.

The reporting task requires candidates to write in the genre of a report. Data in the form of graphs, tables and charts are provided as the stimulus for the task.

The argument task provides four different viewpoints on an issue. Candidates are required to take a position and justify their answer using one or more of the viewpoints provided.

Each task is assessed on each of the following criteria:

Language and expression ( e.g. control of language conventions, clarity and effectiveness of expression)
Organisation and structure (e.g. effectiveness and purposefulness of organisation)

Thought and ideas (e.g. depth of analysis of issues or information, regardless of the position taken)

Graduate Selection Assessment

Content