5 min read

GAMSAT Section 1: Cartoon Questions

Published on

July 22, 2024

Author

Meghana Kandlakunta

Chief of Staff and Head of Operations

Content

Cartoon Questions

GAMSAT texts can be thought of as existing on a spectrum. On the one hand, ACER GAMSAT papers employ technical texts which are to be read literally. On the other hand, Section 1 questions based on poetry stems are almost entirely figurative. Political cartoon questions, as well as addressing broader social themes, bridge figurative and literal modes of interpretation. This is to say that cartoons have both a literal and a metaphorical meaning. In more practical terms, any cartoon contains a simple image, as well as a brief associated comment or statement – both of these are to be understood literally, but together they serve to demonstrate the cartoonist’s opinion.

Cartoon questions tend to occur less frequently in the GAMSAT exam – there is usually no more than two cartoon stems, with a total of up to three associated Section 1 questions. While these numbers appear relatively small, a strong GAMSAT candidate will do well to remember that the bell curve for Section 1 performance is very clustered around the mean, much more so than in Section 3. This means that scores in this section tend to be less spread out, and every single question will significantly impact a student’s capacity to achieve a high GAMSAT score.

In terms of Section 1 GAMSAT timing – cartoon stems are incredibly compact. Very little time is required to analyse a cartoon question relative to a technical or prose text. Therefore, despite their relative rarity, these GAMSAT questions are actually deceptively valuable. Answering a few political cartoon questions correctly will not only put an examinee ahead of the clock, but will also place a candidate ahead of their competition.

To help GAMSAT students prepare these questions, Fraser’s has put together the following ‘analysing cartoons’ worksheet. By approaching this category of stems with the systematic (rather than a haphazard) strategy, candidates will find their cartoon accuracy improving in no time!

How To Approach Analysing Cartoons In GAMSAT Section 1

Fraser’s test taking techniques for cartoons can be summarised in three steps. The following is a systematic section on how to interpret cartoons:

Step 1: The Three C’s

The first and most important step in the analysis of cartoon GAMSAT questions is ensuring that all elements of the cartoon have been addressed. The Three C’s approach requires the student to identify and consider the value of three individual aspects of the GAMSAT cartoon question:

Characters:

How many characters are there in the cartoon?
Who are each of these characters?
What unusual features of behaviour or dress do they feature?

Context:

What location is the setting of the scene in the cartoon?
What elements of furniture or architecture are present in the background?
Do the features of the background indicate how the environment might impact the characters? For example – are the characters caught under sweltering heat?

Conversation:

Who is the voice of the text associated with the cartoon – is it the cartoon artist or one of the characters?
What tone would this dialogue have if it were spoken aloud?

This first step in cartoon analysis is critically important to your Section 1 score. The reasons for its importance is that GAMSAT questions often attempt to provide multiple answer options that are generally true, only one of which is specifically correct. For example, an answer option as vague as “Cartoon X is humorous” may be true, however given that this is also likely true for many cartoons, it is not specific enough to be the correct answer for any given GAMSAT stem. Relating this idea to GAMSAT political cartoons – often students select answer options that overlook a character, or an aspect of the context present in a cartoon stem. Analysing a cartoon through the Three C’s eliminates this type of error.

Another important tool for making sure your response to a GAMSAT cartoon question is correct is using your hand to cover up various elements of a cartoon. If you can cover up a character, aspect of context, or line of conversation, and your interpretation of the cartoon still makes sense despite the absence of the covered element – this means your interpretation is likely to be incomplete or incorrect. After all, why would an artist include a redundant element into their cartoon – it would simply take more time to draw the cartoon for no good reason!

Step 2: What’s My Gut Feeling?

Now that all of the key ingredients of the GAMSAT cartoon have been identified, it is time to analyse the stem. When it comes to cartoon analysis, the greatest GAMSAT Section 1 resources are a student’s gut feelings. It is important to immediately state the caveat that gut feelings are not the solution to the problem of ‘how to answer GAMSAT Section 1’ questions. However, what we are saying is that these gut feelings are an important intermediate step in GAMSAT cartoon analysis.

The reason that your initial emotional response to a cartoon is important is because of the cartoon’s intended audience. Political cartoons, such as those found in the exam, are often published in newspapers and magazines for the general public. One does not have to be a professor of international politics to understand the basic appeals to common sense found in these images. This means that if you laughed after seeing a GAMSAT cartoon question, it is almost certainly because the cartoon artists intended you to laugh at the absurd scenario that they have created.

Step 3: Why Did I Experience This Emotion?

The final step in cartoon analysis involves combining the natural emotional response to the cartoon with the careful analysis of the first step in this schema. In other words, a GAMSAT candidate should ask themselves – why did these characters, in this environment, speaking these lines, make me laugh? Often comedy is derived from an unexpected subversion of expectations. Continue this line of questioning by asking whether the scenario in the cartoon is ‘normal’ and isolating the aspects which appear strange.

To conclude the work of GAMSAT cartoon interpretation, a student should consider formulating their view of the stem in a single sentence. This statement should have the following structure:

In this cartoon, we see X – this is funny because of Y.

How To Prepare For Section 1 GAMSAT – Cartoons:

Given that the answer to the question ‘Is the GAMSAT difficult’ is a resounding YES, the best GAMSAT practice for this section is achieved by reviewing GAMSAT cartoon questions. It is only by repeatedly employing the framework provided above that a candidate can gain confidence and proficiency in the challenging task of cartoon analysis. Unfortunately, there is a limited supply of ACER GAMSAT cartoon questions. At Fraser’s, our Section 1 question syllabus is updated every single season to ensure that students have access to a large number of political cartoon questions and answers.

Candidates can also find GAMSAT cartoon questions online. While they are in very short supply, the Victorian General Achievement Test (GAT) exams usually contain at least a single cartoon question every year – while this yields no more than a dozen questions in total, this is a good place to begin your GAMSAT preparation. Unlike GAMSAT past papers, previous iterations of the GAT exam can be located online on the VCAA website. Further, GAMSAT Section 1 help can be found by looking through the archives of the New Yorker Magazine. This newspaper has a long history of political cartoon publication. The only drawback to searching through these cartoons in Google Images is the lack of associated GAMSAT cartoon questions. When browsing New Yorker Magazine material, candidates must follow through with the aforementioned three step analysis without a final question for GAMSAT practice.