Two modules. The dMAT is a core module and a subject module. The core module measures general cognitive and analytical reasoning and is made of three subtests. The subject module for the APS route is the General Academic Module: it asks you to apply that same reasoning to academic problems, each task being a problem followed by several questions about it.
It is a transfer test, not a memory test. g.a.s.t. are explicit that the tasks need developed transfer and application skills rather than memorised factual knowledge. Nothing in it rewards having learnt a syllabus. That is good news and bad news: there is no book to finish, and there is no book to hide behind.
The shape of the sitting. Three and a half hours with a break between the modules. Every answer is single-choice. The test language is English. It is taken digitally in a licensed g.a.s.t. test centre, not at home.
The score is a position, not a percentage. Your certificate shows two things for each module:
- the dMAT score, a conversion of your correct answers onto a scale from 0 to 200 where the average is 100; and
- the percentile rank, which says what share of candidates scored the same or lower.
The total is the two module scores added. Because it is standardised, both numbers always refer to everyone who sat it, at every centre and on every date — so a good result is a good result relative to the cohort, and no amount of "I got 70%" means anything here.
A university may set a cut. The percentile is what makes that possible: a programme can decide to look at the top 10% and the percentile tells them who that is. Universities decide individually how they use the result, so the number your target programme cares about is on the programme's own page.
The certificate does not expire. Once issued it is valid indefinitely, and it is referenced on your APS certificate. That is unusual and worth knowing: unlike a language test, this is not a clock you have to restart.