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Top 10 Tips for GP Essay – 2020
To aid revision efforts, I have compiled the Top 10 Tips that we absolutely must know. These are carefully selected from the entire list of tips that we had for the year from our Telegram group. You may join the group here if you haven’t already done so!
I have classified the Tips based on the various components in Essay. These are the top Tips that we must remember to prepare for the A Levels, but be sure to check out the rest of the Tips. Remember that they are classified into hashtags in the Telegram group and we can use that for easy access: #Essay #Compre #Content #General
Tips for GP Essay
Planning
Tip 1: Planning is very crucial to write a good essay because it gives a clear direction and prevents excessive cancellation. A lot of students only spend less than 5 mins on planning and rush into the writing. It’s actually recommended for you to take the time to plan (15-20 mins) and be very certain what your arguments are before you begin writing. This clarity will make your essay much more coherent
Scope
Tip 2: Keep in mind the scope of the topic and ensure that your examples come from a wide range to address this scope. When you mentally put all your examples together, they should have thoroughly engaged with the question. For e.g, if the question looks at Tech, you should ensure you have examples pertaining to different kinds of tech; you shouldn’t only talk about transport or medical. You can look at agricultural, communications, environmental and many more. The point is to cover enough ground and give breadth to your writing
Brainstorming
Tip 3: When we are stuck during our brainstorming for points, we can rely on examples. We can think of examples that intuitively appear in our minds and use those as a starting point to derive the argument. For instance, the question looks at whether music has any value in our lives. We can begin thinking about examples of music in our lives and consider how they add value to our lives, or the different functions that music could have for us. Thinking about specific songs could really help crystallise some of the points. That being said, be sure to focus on deriving the argument instead of simply making our paragraph example-driven
Intro
Tip 4: When it comes to writing the Hook in your intro, ensure that it has two traits: 1) It’s interesting/unique (it can be a quote, a question, some kind of commentary, or even an example) | 2) It’s relevant to the question, you have to consciously explain why the Hook is significant for the given topic rather than assume your reader will automatically get it. Many students write the Hook but do not go on to explain it, be sure you explicitly highlight how it is relevant to the question
Tip 5: A thesis statement has two functions. Firstly, it expresses your stand. Secondly, it provides a reason for this stand. The reason, of course, comprises your arguments since they support your stand. But the way you express these arguments has some variation. You may either choose to list your arguments, or you can condense them into a single compelling idea. The latter is harder to do, but shows more critical thinking, and gives a degree of personal voice
Topic Sentence/Point
Tip 6: A topic sentence is not merely one single sentence. It should be 2-3 sentences because it gives an idea of what argument is being made in the rest of the paragraph. It has to provide a clear overview of the paragraph’s direction and unpack some ideas that you have introduced in the very first sentence of the paragraph
Arguments/Elaboration
Tip 7: Good arguments have a logical flow to them, where one idea builds on another. This logical flow needs to be carefully constructed. Many students just write what comes to mind without much thought on how it adds to the central argument of the paragraph, and it starts to feel random and incoherent. The most effective way is to plan out this logical flow before you even begin writing. For each body paragraph, think about this: what is the logic of my argument?
Examples
Tip 8: When it comes to writing examples, the key is to show the significance of your examples. You can think of it as: What is the larger argument made by this example? This is the critical difference between writing a descriptive example and one that is argumentative. Descriptive examples simply provide facts that can be interpreted in any way, but argumentative examples would explain why these facts matter and how they link to the question
Links
Tip 9: Having a strong link in your paragraph means that you explicitly tie your point back to what the question is asking. Many students often forget to do this. An explicit link can go a long way in enhancing the clarity of your writing, especially when you directly address terms in the question. Always check to see whether you have made the link
Answer the Question (ATQ)
Take note that ATQ needs to be in every part of the paragraph, NOT just at the end with the link!
Tip 10: We can use the word ‘because’ when trying to check whether we have answered the question (ATQ). In essays, we can repeat the question with the word because, and then mentally fit our point into the sentence to see if it makes logical sense. For example, ‘Tech has made society more dangerous because it replaces jobs’ would not ATQ. ‘Tech has made society more dangerous because it can result in crimes with an unprecedented level of destruction’ would ATQ. In compre, we can also do this for summary and AQ. Check for ATQ before even writing out the rest of the paragraph
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You can do it!!
It’s a few days before the A Levels! The last lap can be nerve-wrecking but it can also be game-changing! I have seen many students make tremendous and miraculous improvements in the final lap. Study smart and pay attentions to all the skills in GP. Skills mean the difference between knowing how to consciously meet the requirements of GP and simply depending on luck.
That being said, good luck for the upcoming exams. Take care of yourself, be sure not to burn out in this period. Stay tune for the 2020 A Levels Questions Analysis, I will share it as soon as I can 😃
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If you found this helpful, do check out our new GP Tips & Resources Telegram Channel! Click here to join. This channel is meant to act as a GP companion to share knowledge and help all students, regardless of whether they are a part of ZAscension. Everyday there will be Tips of the Day, Answers to FAQs, Articles and many more. So if you enjoyed this article, this channel will definitely be useful for you 😃
Do share this article and also the Telegram channel with everyone you know who is also studying for GP, let’s share the good stuff so that we may all learn 🙂
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