All About A Levels

[TheGPTutor]

GP Issues Book 1

Prelaunch price:$10
Retail price will be: $15.90
Sample pages can be viewed through this dropbox link: https://www.dropbox.com/s/zdkirszmglq1j3u/Pages%20from%20Gp%20book%20PG%20FA-1.pdf?dl=0
If interested please PM for details on how to purchase a copy.
Thank you.
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[grownupbaby]

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[paranoidgirl]

Hi everyone! I got my O level results yesterday and my L1R5 is 9 raw, 7 nett.


My dream school was always NYJC (science) but I didn’t make the cut. AJC is very convenient to my house (a direct bus ride of 15 mins) and I do meet the cut-off. I do have a direct bus to NY too, but the bus stop is a few minutes walk from the school.

I’m not sure if I should put NY as my first choice or AJ. If I put NY as first and AJ as second, and if both reject me, logically I’d appeal to AJ as the new cut would definitely be nearer. But I’m afraid that they would not consider my appeal, as they give priority to those who placed the school as their first choice.

But if I put AJ as first choice and if NY really drops to 7 points I’ll hate myself forever lol. Highly unlikely though. I spoke to a NY tutor just now and she said last year they had 5,000 applicants to NY and they only accepted 600. And I’m sure there’ll be more this year with all the hype and advertising done for the sch

So pls do give me your advice/what you’d do if you were in my predicament!!! And perhaps let me know a little more about the culture of the sch/performance at A levels?

I know AJ is very run down but that doesn’t bother me. We go to school to study anyway, not for aesthetics.

Thank you in advance!!

[mindays]

Hello, congratulations on your superb results and I am sorry if this has been a late reply. Having a 7 nett IMO will be safe for AJC’s Science. Though it is tough to get into NY’s Science, you stand a chance if you put NY (science) as the first choice. There’s no harm, because 7 nett can easily get yourself a place in AJC. All the best!

[precioustime96]

GP A Level questions are getting more eccentric by the year…difficult to prepare for.

[CatMoon]

precioustime96:

GP A Level questions are getting more eccentric by the year....difficult to prepare for.

Do GP questions follow a certain type of themes? E.g. community, social?
If so, what type of themes should we look out for?

[D3-n]

CatMoon:

Do GP questions follow a certain type of themes? E.g. community, social?
If so, what type of themes should we look out for?

Yes, there are 12 questions and they cover a wide range of topics.
My advice to my students is to focus well on about 6 major topics, especially topics that interest them.
Some areas you can look into
Environment (natural resources, natural disasters, global warming)
Economy (international trade, income gap)
Education (paper qualification, competition, unemployment, key to success)
Technology (includes New Media)
Social Issues (marriage, immigration, globalisation, acceptance)
Science
Mathematics
Crime
History
Arts/Music/TV/Movies/Literature
And of course there can be some random question about the importance of humour/manners etc

Hope this helps

[CatMoon]

D3@n:

CatMoon:

Do GP questions follow a certain type of themes? E.g. community, social?
If so, what type of themes should we look out for?

Yes, there are 12 questions and they cover a wide range of topics.
My advice to my students is to focus well on about 6 major topics, especially topics that interest them.
Some areas you can look into
Environment (natural resources, natural disasters, global warming)
Economy (international trade, income gap)
Education (paper qualification, competition, unemployment, key to success)
Technology (includes New Media)
Social Issues (marriage, immigration, globalisation, acceptance)
Science
Mathematics
Crime
History
Arts/Music/TV/Movies/Literature
And of course there can be some random question about the importance of humour/manners etc

Hope this helps

:thankyou:

Do the essays follow a particular format? E.g. PEEL like in SS and History?
If so, how many points is the student expected to write?

Thanks, D3@n

[D3-n]

CatMoon:

:thankyou:

Do the essays follow a particular format? E.g. PEEL like in SS and History?
If so, how many points is the student expected to write?

Thanks, D3@n

It does help if your essay is well-structured.
Besides your introduction and conclusion, you need to have a minimum of three points for your essay. For each point, you can adopt the PEEL. You need a topic sentence, elaboration/explanation/evaluation, examples (where relevant) and then the link back to your essay topic.
However, for each point you bring up, you have to bring up a counter-argument that detractors may use against you. Evaluate this counter-argument and counter-argue against it to further strengthen your point. (eg, this counter-argument is an anomaly/exception or this counter-argument can be resolved). The weakness of the counter-arguments will of course vary, so you need to organise them accordingly and indicate your awareness of their different degrees of impact.
This is now the favoured approach in A Levels writing as opposed to the previous advantages vs disadvantages/pros vs cons style.
Markers want to see a more dynamic and fluid approach to your argument/train of thought.

Hope this helps

[CatMoon]

D3@n:

CatMoon:

:thankyou:

Do the essays follow a particular format? E.g. PEEL like in SS and History?
If so, how many points is the student expected to write?

Thanks, D3@n

It does help if your essay is well-structured.
Besides your introduction and conclusion, you need to have a minimum of three points for your essay. For each point, you can adopt the PEEL. You need a topic sentence, elaboration/explanation/evaluation, examples (where relevant) and then the link back to your essay topic.
However, for each point you bring up, you have to bring up a counter-argument that detractors may use against you. Evaluate this counter-argument and counter-argue against it to further strengthen your point. (eg, this counter-argument is an anomaly/exception or this counter-argument can be resolved). The weakness of the counter-arguments will of course vary, so you need to organise them accordingly and indicate your awareness of their different degrees of impact.
This is now the favoured approach in A Levels writing as opposed to the previous advantages vs disadvantages/pros vs cons style.
Markers want to see a more dynamic and fluid approach to your argument/train of thought.

Hope this helps

Wow, this is very insightful! I'm very appreciative, thanks D3@n!
:thankyou: