VCE General Achievement Test flashcards
VCE General Achievement Test · Build recall with a focused review session.
32 cards. Read the term and the definition here. The deck at the top of this page is optional.
- Contention
- The central claim or point of view that a piece of writing argues and sustains throughout; it should be clear, specific, and debatable rather than a statement of fact.
- Topic sentence
- The first sentence of a paragraph that states the main idea the paragraph will develop and links it to the overall contention of the piece.
- Cohesion
- The way sentences and paragraphs are connected through reference words, repeated key terms, and connectives so the writing reads as a unified whole.
- Register
- The level of formality in language chosen to suit audience and purpose, ranging from formal analytical prose to direct persuasive address.
- Persuasive appeal
- A technique used to influence a reader, such as appeals to logic, credibility, or emotion; its effect depends on how it positions the audience.
- Integrated evidence
- Quotations or examples woven into a sentence and explained so that their relevance to the point being made is explicit, rather than listed without comment.
- Concession
- Acknowledging a counterargument or limitation before reinforcing the main contention; it can strengthen credibility when the concession is answered.
- Sentence variety
- Deliberate variation in sentence length and structure to control emphasis, rhythm, and clarity; short sentences can sharpen a key claim.
- Percentage change
- The change in a quantity expressed as a percentage of the original value: (new − original) ÷ original × 100. Increases and decreases of equal percentage do not cancel.
- Simple interest
- Interest calculated only on the original principal: I = P × r × t, where r is the rate per period and t is the number of periods.
- Compound interest
- Interest calculated on principal plus accumulated interest, giving A = P(1 + r)^n, where r is the rate per period and n is the number of periods.
- Scale factor
- The ratio between a drawn length and the actual length; areas scale by the square of the linear scale factor, not by the factor itself.
- Complementary probability
- The probability that an event does not occur, equal to 1 minus the probability that it does occur: P(not A) = 1 − P(A).
- Independent events
- Events where the occurrence of one does not affect the probability of the other; for such events, P(A and B) = P(A) × P(B).
- Mean
- A measure of centre found by adding all values and dividing by the number of values; it is affected by extreme values more than the median is.
- Median
- The middle value of a data set when values are arranged in order; for an even number of values it is the average of the two middle values.
- Gradient
- The steepness of a straight line, calculated as rise ÷ run; in y = mx + c, the gradient is m and the y-intercept is c.
- Ratio sharing
- Dividing a quantity in a given ratio by converting all parts to the same unit, adding the parts, and finding the value of one part.
- Unit conversion
- Changing a measurement from one unit to another by multiplying when converting to a smaller unit and dividing when converting to a larger unit.
- Valid deduction
- A conclusion that follows necessarily from the premises; for example, if all A are B and all B are C, then all A are C.
- Converse error
- Treating 'if P then Q' as equivalent to 'if Q then P'; the reversed conditional does not follow automatically and is a common reasoning flaw.
- Correlation and causation
- An association between two variables does not prove that one causes the other; a confounding variable may explain the observed relationship.
- Strengthening an argument
- Adding evidence or a premise that makes the conclusion more likely to be true, often by ruling out an alternative explanation.
- Weakening an argument
- Introducing evidence, a counterexample, or an alternative cause that makes the conclusion less likely to follow from the given premises.
- Necessary condition
- A condition that must be present for an outcome to occur; without it the outcome cannot happen, though it may not be enough on its own.
- Sufficient condition
- A condition whose presence guarantees the outcome, even though the outcome might also be produced by other conditions.
- Assumption
- An unstated premise that an argument relies on; identifying it helps evaluate whether the reasoning is sound, and the negation test can help.
- Confounding variable
- A third factor associated with both the supposed cause and the effect, which can create a misleading appearance of a direct relationship.
- Analogical reasoning
- Drawing a conclusion about one case based on similarity to another; the argument is stronger when the similarities are relevant to the conclusion.
- Data interpretation
- Reading graphs and tables accurately by checking axes, units, sample size, and whether percentages refer to the whole or to a subgroup.
- Counterexample
- A specific case that shows a general claim or rule to be false; it is a direct way to weaken a universal statement.
- Logical connective
- A word such as and, or, if, then, or not that joins statements and determines the logical conditions under which a compound statement is true.