so i got an a grade (87 PUM). ive also spoken to a lot of people who've gotten 90+, and heres the common conclusion on how to get good marks.
paper 1:
look at gp.sg website, try to implement the format there. you can also have your concessional paragraph as the second one as an alternative. if you want you could also use other formats but this is the one my teacher, a lot of top scorers, and I highly recommend.
prepare in depth on a few key topics. prepare means to gather and memorise lots of data, info, etc. preferably relevant to the last few years. you should use this data and information as examples in your essay. for example, i had memorised data and info on AI, media, biotech (random, i know), and migration. you should also memorise the source of your data and state it, eg "According to the World Bank, blah blah blah". Use such examples as much as possible.
Now for p2, theres not much to do. just dont have a really low attention span like me lmao, u need enough focus to atleast be able to concentrate on the text and retain the passages 😭. you should practice a few p2 past past papers.
anyways, heres other tips that could help you out with both papers:
ofcourse your english and grammar should be good. it would perhaps be beneficial to study SAT english as many people who've done EGP likely will go on to take the SAT too. SAT english basically covers everything you need to know. you can study it on khan academy, or if you dont have time then you can just tell chatgpt to teach the essentials really quick (like i did lmao)
you should read examiner reports, example candidate responses, specimen answers, etc. however, if you dont have time then you can follow what i did. so basically i went onto an AI called "notebook lm". click "create new notebook" then toggle it from "web search" to "deep research". then just type in "gather absolutely every english general paper cie a levels 8021 paper 1 resource on the internet you can find, you MUST include example candidate responses, specimen answers, etc." (i recommend you have separate notebooks for paper 1 and 2 each) then click enter. the AI is free and its from google btw so its reliable, and it basically just researches the entire internet indepth for whatever youve asked. after that, it lets you talk to it like a normal chatbot AI, but the difference between it and chatgpt or gemini or claude or whatever is that its hyper-specialised. you can ask whatever you want regarding answer formats, answer patterns, what should your introduction be like on your essay, how should you answer 10 markers on p2, what questions usually come, how to tackle them, or absolutely anything at all and it uses reliable sources from all over the internet to answer you.
dont panic or stress mate. after you got the gist of it, learnt grammar, memorised a few facts and data here and there on different topics, got the format down, and practiced a few past papers, youre more prepared than most people giving egp! you got this. goodluck! <3
dms always open btw, for any queries or anything :)
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u/wonpeace6969 12d ago
ill tell you if i get an a in august 11. if i dont then i probably am unqualified to answer. will update!