The Papers + Syllabus

English General Paper 8021 is an AS Level course meaning you typically only study it for one year. This means that you won't be able to get an A* in this subject and will only get half-credit if the university your applying to, accepts A Level credit. However, you give the GP exam after your second year in certain colleges/high schools like SXC. Mostly, you'd just give it at the end of your first year and be done with it. 

It is divided into two components. Paper 1 and 2 respectively. 

Paper 1 is an essay paper. It is of 30 marks and lasts for 1 hour 15 minutes. It occupies 50% of the weightage in the total score. There will be 10 topics and you must choose one to answer. The topics will come from three main areas as stated in the syllabus which will be listed further down below.

Paper 2 is a comprehension paper. It is of 50 marks and lasts for 1 hour 45 minutes. It occupies the other 50% of the weightage. There will be two sections to test your grasp of reading. Both will have you read passages and other materials to answer relevant questions. Kind of like the comprehension passages that came up in your English exam during SEE. A separate insert document will be provided to you for Paper 2 containing all the necessary reading material. 

The syllabus for General Paper is broad and the syllabus states that there are three main areas to explore which are;

1) Economic, historical, moral, political and social 

2) Science, including its history, philosophy, ethics, general principles and applications; environmental issues; technology and mathematics

3) Literature, language, the arts, crafts, and the media

These can further be divided into 7 areas of interest. You must go through them here. 

Paper 1 will test your knowledge and understanding of the topics alongside how well you can support your own arguments. 

These topics might come in handy for certain Paper 2 questions but mostly, the insert will take care of the materials needed to answer the questions. 

Now, the most important thing here is that while the syllabus does expect you to be knowledgeable on a wide variety of topics, it is better that you specialize in a few topics as far as possible when it comes to Paper 1. Try going through past paper questions or even better, try writing essays to answer them. This should give you a hint on what topics are your strong points and what topics you are weak at. The 7 areas should also hopefully give you an idea of what questions tend to be like in Paper 1. I will be expanding upon this in Paper 1 Prep.