How I Survived A Level General Paper
Written by Jo Ee (NUS FASS Geography, Class of 2023)
How I Survived A Level General Paper
Want to ace General Paper? Read on.
It had been a quiet Monday morning when my GP teacher walked in, heels clacking against the floor with a beige tote bag in hand. After a cursory self-introduction, she whipped out her laptop and flashed her set of slides on the screen, going through the GP curriculum.
While it was admittedly her cool, no-nonsense demeanour that made an impression, what truly stuck with me - even to this day - was what she had shared in that lesson. It was this sharing that not only reminded me of the reality that I was a JC student who had to sit for the Cambridge Advanced Level Examinations (A-Levels) in a matter of months, but also opened my eyes to the fascinating world of GP.
One of the most memorable things she had said that day was also one of the hardest to swallow. “GP is nothing like what you have learnt in Secondary 4 English,” she had advised as she paced around the classroom, watching us scribble notes in our exercise books. “If you want to do well, having good language abilities is not enough.”
While I remember thinking “why are you making us feel demoralised?”, it is in hindsight that I realised this was perhaps one of the most accurate pieces of advice I had ever gotten in my GP journey, and something I wished many of my juniors would know. Many of them - like me in my early JC days - seemed to have the impression that doing well in Secondary 4 English would equate to doing well in GP. The truth, however, was that surviving GP actually involved consistent and wide reading, thinking out of the box, and perhaps most importantly, building strong support systems with both peers and teachers.
Reading widely is half the battle won
“The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places that you’ll go,” acclaimed children’s author Dr Seuss had once said, and rightly so. Reading widely - and regularly - was something many of my peers and I found helpful in surviving GP, especially for our essays and application questions (AQ).
While some of you might now be thinking “duh, obviously reading is useful”, I cannot emphasise how overlooked this practice of reading is. Amidst hectic JC life where many of us spend our time attending lessons and revising for tests, it is difficult to dedicate remaining bursts of energy towards reading up on GP topics. It is in fact tempting to just forget about it altogether.
But doing well in GP is not simply a game of luck and excellent language abilities, as my GP teacher had stressed. It instead requires discipline in starting and maintaining one’s reading habits, as well as ‘investing’ in the right topics.
Reading widely and wisely is integral to acing GP. (Photo credits: Gaelle Marcel via Unsplash)
As the famous adage goes, “Small choices become actions, actions become habits, and habits become our way of life.” It might be helpful to simply set aside 10 to 15 minutes each day - before bedtime - to browse through trustworthy news websites to see if there are any relevant current affairs happenings worth noting. While this might seem insignificant in the wider scheme of things, small steps sometimes make the biggest impact, and reading a little each day can create the momentum for one to eventually maintain their reading habits. More importantly, one can slowly but surely build their bank of general knowledge examples which they can easily use in their essays when the opportunity arises.
Personally, I had the habit of browsing through Buzzfeed entertainment articles, and could often spend up to an hour catching up on juicy celebrity gossip. But I made an effort to drag myself to the ‘world’ and ‘inequality’ tabs - sections which I felt would provide me valuable insight into the environment and education GP topics I was more interested in. Soon, I found myself reading the newspapers during breakfast on weekend mornings, and progressing to sites like The Guardian.
Reading the news soon became part of my everyday routine. (Photo credits: Mattias Diesel via Unsplash)
Another form of print media which I consumed less of but was widely extolled by my GP teacher was magazines. They were excellent sources of current affairs, much like newspapers, but with the added benefit of offering different perspectives on certain topics. This is highly useful for students’ essays, as they can adopt these possibly unique perspectives in their arguments and impress the examiners with their unconventional but coherent ideas.
An excellent magazine to read would be TIME, which showcases opinion columns and feature articles on relevant trending topics in current affairs. In fact, some GP essay questions have shared a significant similarity to the topics discussed in TIME issues, such as the 2018 question ‘To what extent is sporting achievement given adequate recognition in your society?’. While the athletes featured may not be from Singapore, making it impossible to list them as essay examples, the perspectives they offer nonetheless provide valuable insight for the students attempting the question, who can then analyse if their arguments hold true in Singapore’s sporting world.
The TIME magazine is a useful reading resource for GP students. (Photo credits: Writer’s own)
Another useful magazine which some of my classmates read was The Economist, a magazine featuring the latest news in economics and occasionally, politics. While some might argue that this magazine is less relevant to the subject of GP, I would think otherwise - the topic of economics is nonetheless tested in GP, and is also related to other topics like the environment or politics. Topics should not always be thought of in silo - rather, they are relational.
The Economist is also useful for GP students wanting to learn more about the economy and politics. (Photo credits: Writer’s own)
While some might then ask if one should read about everything and anything just to ensure that no stone is left unturned, I would advise the contrary - to focus on a few topics that one might be more inclined to read up more on (and write about in their Paper 1 essays). Though it is important to read more, it is also crucial to read smart. Sometimes, reading too much might do more harm than good - one might end up with a superficial understanding of the examples being used, and find it challenging to substantiate them in their essays, let alone make links to the wider argument being made. Therefore, it appears that focusing on a few ‘pet topics’ and analysing the relevant examples in greater depth might bring higher yield. A note of caution, though - it is definitely not advisable for one to put all their eggs in one basket!
Thinking (and writing) out of the box
But as much as accumulating knowledge and essay or AQ examples is important, some tips and tricks are also needed for one to fully convince the examiner that their thinking is not only nuanced but also sound, thereby scoring well.
Perhaps the most useful tip I received from my GP teacher was to ‘think out of the box’. This did not simply pertain to the arguments I would put forth in my essays or AQs, but more fundamentally, the question posed in the examination itself. As my GP teacher had advised, it was useful to always examine if any underlying assumptions were present in the question, and if so, to raise them in one's essay.
Thinking out of the box is needed for one to examine underlying assumptions and create nuanced arguments. (Photo credits: Kaleidico via Unsplash)
While practising this habit of assumption finding was challenging and counterintuitive in a sense, I found that it did pay off in the GP examinations. This was especially so for my JC1 mid-year exam. The essay question went something along the lines of parents having to blame for students' poor behaviour, and though it would have been tempting to follow the common argument of 21st century parents spoiling their kids, I did not.
Instead, I decided to follow my teachers' advice and think further, would this statement always hold true? What if students spent more time in school and would be more likely influenced by their peers? Was the statement built on the assumption that students spent more time at home than anyone else? And thus guided my argument - to call out this problematic presupposition and argue that the statement's validity instead depended on where students spent their time at.
This might be a simple example, but it speaks volumes of the effectiveness of calling out assumptions and integrating this aspect into essay arguments. When one takes the first step of thinking out of the box, their writing, too, will stand out.
But how does one even identify assumptions to begin with? One thing I did was to play the devil's advocate, and ask if the statement would always be true. I would then think about why it might not be the case, and examine the factors that would influence the statement's validity. While this definitely is not a foolproof guide, it nonetheless sets the foundations for one to begin thinking (and writing) out of the box.
Finding Solace in one’s Surroundings
And the last piece of advice, as cliché as it sounds, is to seek comfort in the fact that in this exhausting two year run-up to the A-Levels, one is never alone, and should not feel afraid to reach out to their peers or teachers for help.
It is easy to feel demoralised amidst the trying A-Level journey, but one should feel assured that they always have strong support systems to fall back on. (Photo credits: Hannah Busing via Unsplash)
I still fondly recall how my JC classmates were always willing to help one another, even staying behind at the library on most days to practise questions together and sort confusing concepts out. While I did not stay back as I preferred revising at home, I often liked to think that such strong bonds of companionship worked in magical ways. The spirit of teamwork nurtured from these study sessions provided valuable opportunities for classmates to let their guard (or any competitive spirit whatsoever) down and share resources with one another, creating not only a conducive study environment but also a strong and dependable support system. And looking back, it was arguably these factors that provided my classmates the motivation they needed to pull through the A-Levels (and eventually emerge on top).
There is therefore no shame in approaching one’s friends, classmates, or teachers for advice or help when one needs it. As wisely written by poet John Donne, no man is an island, and more often than not, a little encouragement and extra push by others is needed for one to look ahead and move on in the tiring A-Levels journey. Only then will one be one step nearer to seeing the light at the end of the tunnel.
Stay safe this Covid-19 season and if you are taking your GP examinations soon, all the best!
Photo credits
Image by Gaelle Marcel (2020) via https://unsplash.com/photos/UQwLxRKr_5c
Image by Green Chameleon (2015) via https://unsplash.com/photos/s9CC2SKySJM
Image by Hannah Busing (2020) via https://unsplash.com/photos/Zyx1bK9mqmA
Image by Kaleidico (2018) via https://unsplash.com/photos/7lryofJ0H9s
Image by Mattias Diesel (2017) via https://unsplash.com/photos/3M2cqBRQmjA