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GAMSAT Section 1 Practice Questions

This will be updated throughout the year! 🙂

Cartoons

Q1/4 – The cartoon explores
A. that a walk in the park is not always very enjoyable
Try again, consider what the ‘human condition’ encompasses – experiences of joy, grief and sadness and how we realise more of this as we grow older.
B. the growing pains associated with the transition from childhood to adulthood
Ludwig uses multiple visual techniques to show the growing pains associated with transitioning from childhood to adulthood. First, a monochromatic colour scheme portrays the loss of innocence and a sense of negativity. This is juxtaposed against the colourful scheme that is often used for cartoons. A garden is also associated with peace yet the brawls occurring within suggest an irony associated with growing up – that it is not blissful and instead violent.
C. the human condition and its unexpected joys
The human condition involves more than just unexpected joys, but also experiences of grief and a realisation that life is not all about sunshine and roses.
D. that when we are young, the world seems chaotic
Try again, consider what the ‘human condition’ encompasses – experiences of joy, grief and sadness and how we realise more of this as we grow older.
Q2/4 – The young individual in this cartoon is experiencing
A. unwanted surprises beyond his years
Try again, consider what the ‘human condition’ encompasses – experiences of joy, grief and sadness and how we realise more of this as we grow older.
B. a desire to understand the human condition
This is unrelated to the main idea of this cartoon which revolves more about his realisation about the stark realities of life
C. a loss of innocence
Here, a garden is also associated with peace yet the brawls occurring within suggest an irony associated with growing up – that it is not blissful and instead violent. The young figure in this cartoon is experiencing a loss of innocence.
D. fear when walking through the park
This is unrelated to the main idea of this cartoon which revolves more about his realisation about the stark realities of life
Q3/4 – Which technique is used to illustrate the main point about the garden?
A. visual imagery
Try again! You need to identify the main idea of this cartoon.
B. ironic juxtaposition
Ironic juxtaposition as a garden is also associated with peace and beauty, yet the cartoonist has drawn figures that appear to experience grief, sorrow and violence. (Look carefully at the figures crying, hanging on the tree, brawling). These violent acts is juxtaposed against the gardens which is not what it seems (irony).
C. labelling of the ‘Gardens of the Human Condition’
Try again! You need to identify the main idea of this cartoon.
D. the downcast facial expression of the two figures in the cartoon
Try again! You need to identify the main idea of this cartoon.
Q4/4 – What is this cartoon conveying about ‘gardens of the human condition?’
A. is full of surprises
Try again! You need to identify the main idea of this cartoon.
B. is often responsible for creating conflict
Try again! You need to identify the main idea of this cartoon.
C. that it is often difficult and involves a realisation about the true realities of the world
Ludwig’s depiction of multiple instances of conflict within the garden, coupled with the monochromatic colour scheme suggests a loss of innocence. It also reveals that humans can be violent (as seen by the brawls) and that the world is not as blissful as once thought.
D. can be a difficult experience for all those involved
Try again! You need to identify the main idea of this cartoon.
Q1/2 – The cartoon largely explores
A. poet’s view that our concerns about the modern world are trivial
Try again buddy!
B. that we often want what we don’t have
Correct, but not the most correct! This suggests that we are impulsive in what we want, yet the figure appears anxious and sad here!
C. the cartoonist’s optimism that life can change
Try again buddy!
D. anxiety and uncertainty experienced with living a mundane life
The dark walls to the left and right of the figure help to create a sense of anxiety as the figure is unable to lead the life they could have led. The area under the sign ‘the life you lead’ is covered is also under the cover of darkness. The figure’s sad facial expression suggests a sense of regret for what could have been and the dismay of living their current life.
Q2/2 – The figure in the cartoon can be best be described as
A. indecisive
Try again buddy!
B. forlorn
The sad facial expression of the figure as well as the dark lighting depicted in the ‘the life you lead’ sign suggest that he is forlorn (pitifully sad). The sign that he is working towards suggests that his life is pitiful, and this is emphasised through the juxtaposition of the sign in the bright lighting ‘the life you could have led’.
C. nolstagic
Try again, the figure is not thinking about the past
D. socially awkward
Irrelevant answer, try again!

Poetry

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Unit 1

Questions 1-3 are based on the poem ‘Harlem’ the following poem by Langston Hughes.

What happens to a dream deferred?
Does it dry up
Like a raisin in the sun?
Or fester like a sore –
And then run?
Does it stink like rotten meat?
Or crust and sugar over –
Like syrupy sweet?

Maybe it just sags
Like a heavy load.

Or does it explode?

Unit 2

Questions 1-5 are based on ‘Ozymandias’ by Percy Bysshe Shelley.

I met a traveller from an antique land,
Who said—“Two vast and trunkless legs of stone
Stand in the desert. . . . Near them, on the sand,
Half sunk a shattered visage lies, whose frown,
And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command,
Tell that its sculptor well those passions read
Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things,
The hand that mocked them, and the heart that fed;
And on the pedestal, these words appear:
My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings;
Look on my Works, ye Mighty, and despair!
Nothing beside remains. Round the decay
Of that colossal Wreck, boundless and bare
The lone and level sands stretch far away.”

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