GAT General study guide
GAT General · Work through your exam, one topic at a time.
The Graduate Assessment Test (General) - usually called GAT General - is a multiple-choice reasoning test administered in Pakistan and used mainly by universities as part of admission to MS/MPhil and other postgraduate programmes. Some employers and scholarship schemes also accept it as evidence of general academic aptitude. It is not a subject test: it does not ask you to recall a specific syllabus. Instead it samples verbal reasoning, quantitative reasoning and analytical reasoning, with verbal and quantitative portions carrying the larger share. Topics on this exam: Verbal Reasoning, Quantitative Reasoning, and Analytical Reasoning. The GAT General study guide has 3 sections and about 1,000 words.
01Verbal Reasoning: Precision with Words and Arguments
Verbal Reasoning tests five overlapping skills: vocabulary in context, analogies, sentence completion, reading comprehension, and short critical-reasoning arguments. For analogies, build a precise bridge sentence ("A is a person who creates B") and test it against every option. For sentence completion, find the signal word - although , because , despite , therefore - because it tells you whether the blank agrees or contrasts with the rest of the sentence. For passages, separate the main idea from supporting detail; for arguments, identify the conclusion and the unstated assumption that links evidence to it.
353 words, about 2 min02Quantitative Reasoning: Setup Before Arithmetic
Quantitative Reasoning covers arithmetic (fractions, percentages, ratios, averages), algebra (linear equations, inequalities, substitution), geometry (perimeter, area, angles, similar triangles), rates and work, and data interpretation from tables and charts. You also need number properties: factors, multiples, divisibility, remainders, and parity. Unit mismatches - minutes versus hours, centimetres versus metres - cause more errors than any other single issue. Percent language is another: a 20% increase followed by a 20% decrease does not return to the original value, and "percent more than" differs from "percent of".
298 words, about 1 min03Analytical Reasoning: Rules, Diagrams, and Valid Deduction
Analytical Reasoning presents a set of entities, a fixed number of slots or groups, and conditional rules. You must determine what must be true, what could be true, and what cannot be true. The essential tools are a compact diagram (an ordered line for sequencing, a table for grouping), symbolic notation for rules (A → not B), and the contrapositive (B → not A). Know the difference between sufficient and necessary conditions: "if A then B" does not license "if B then A".
349 words, about 2 min