Writing Task B of the GAMSAT Section II
Section Two Task B typically centres on personal themes and thus lends itself to a reflective piece of writing. For those of us who are used to academic writing this may be a style of writing you haven’t had much experience with. But don’t worry with the tips in this blog and a bit of practice you can get the hang of it! Before you get started on Task B it helps to make sure you’ve got good exam technique for the whole of section II. Make sure you’ve got a plan on how to tackle the time pressure and are aware of the marking criteria. With that in mind you’re ready to dive into preparing for Task B.
The first task in approaching the reflective essay is to determine the theme from the quotes. Read each quote and look for common words or ideas. Some previously used themes in Task B include; friendship, love, beauty, and conformity. If one quote strongly resonates with you then you can directly respond to it. Or alternatively you can use the ideas from a few of the quotes to draw on for inspiration. Once you’ve worked out what the theme is you need to spend approximately 5 minutes planning your response. Do not skip the planning phase! Having a clear plan is essential to ensuring you can complete the task within the tight 30 minute timeframe. One of the biggest ways people become unstuck in Section II is wasting time waffling so that they run out of time to complete the task.
The use of specific examples to reflect on general phenomena is an important aspect of reflective writing. One of the traps of Task B is that people will write an interesting account of a personal story but fail to reflect on what the story says more broadly about the world or humanity. This is the main point of reflective writing; to use your experience to learn something significant about the world. In order to ensure you are considering the anecdote from a globally relevant perspective you can ask yourself some of the following questions:
What does this story say about my place in the world?
Can I interpret this story from a broader lens e.g. feminist, Marxist, race relations?
Is this story unique to this period of time? Could this story be set at another point in history and would that change it?
Can I relate this story to any academic studies or knowledge I have?
So when you have a broad idea of how to respond to the theme try and think of a personal example or an example from history or current affairs and then reflect on what it says more broader about the theme.
Now that you know the main aims of a reflective essay, your job now is to start practicing writing them! Practicing is the best way to get confident and comfortable with Task B. Aim to do at least one reflective essay per day under timed conditions (ideally spend an hour doing both an argumentative essay and a reflective essay). It is also helpful to read examples of reflective writing. Newspapers such as the Guardian and the New York Times have great reflective pieces (for example the pieces by oncologist Ranjana Srivastava in the Guardian are great). By familiarising yourself with the reflective style, using the tips in this blog, and doing lots of practice, you’ll be in a good position to tackle Task B of Section II. Good luck!
