Resources
Resources
Resources
Starter Kit II
Starter Kit II
Starter Kit II
Advice for the Essay Writer
Advice for the Essay Writer
Advice for the Essay Writer
Revision Tips
Revision Tips
Revision Tips
Starter Kit II
Starter Kit II
Starter Kit II
Welcome back, fellow voyagers! In this article, we'll go through some must-know tips and tricks for writing the GP Essay — in terms of Structure, Content, Language, as well as Revision. To start things off, we recommend that you take a look at the first piece of the Newsletter and the Essays. Both of these works will be free forever, and we'll be referring to both of these pieces in this article too.
Let's get into it.
Hi, fellow voyagers! In this article, we'll go through some must-know tips and tricks for writing the GP Essay — in terms of Structure, Content, Language, as well as Revision. To start things off, we recommend that you take a look at the first piece of the Newsletter and the Essays. Both of these works will be free forever, and we'll be referring to both of these pieces in this article too.
Let's get into it.
Hi, fellow voyagers! In this article, we'll go through some must-know tips and tricks for writing the GP Essay — in terms of Structure, Content, Language, as well as Revision. To start things off, we recommend that you take a look at the first piece of the Newsletter and the Essays. Both of these works will be free forever, and we'll be referring to both of these pieces in this article too.
Let's get into it.
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Starter Kit II — Advice for the Essay Writer.
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Essay Structure
Essay Structure
Essay Structure
By now, you should know that the GP essay consists of an introduction, body paragraphs and a conclusion. Since the essay is argumentative in nature, one of these body paragraphs needs to be a counterargument — presenting the view of an opponent or critic — to show balance.
To clarify things once and for all, here are some of the most common essay structures (CA: Counterargument, BP: Body Paragraph).
[Recommended] CA + Rebuttal + 2 BP
You present an opponent's view, rebut it in the next paragraph, and continue with 2 more paragraphs supporting your own stance. There is no "correct" order of these paragraphs other than the fact that the Rebuttal comes after the CA — however, I prefer to have the CA + Rebuttal come first, right after the introduction, to get it out of the way before going on to argue purely for my stance.
CA + 3 BP
You present an opponent's view, don't rebut it directly, but instead continue with 3 paragraphs supporting your own stance. To ensure persuasiveness, you should never end off with the CA because you'll leave the examiner with the impression that the critic might be right and you did nothing to defend your position. In any case, this approach may cause your persuasiveness to suffer a little because you're not addressing the CA directly in your essay, but rather are implicitly arguing from a "Points For > Points Against" approach.
CA + Rebuttal + BP / CA + 2 BP
These structures should be a last resort if you really can't come up with another point to support your thesis. In this case, you must ensure that your BP is noticeably longer and more developed than both the CA and Rebuttal paragraphs — since you'll also have much more time to spare.
The Importance of a Conclusion
The conclusion is absolutely essential to the completeness of your essay as a whole. Without it, the reader is left without a sense of closure and a convincing ending to wrap everything up. For this reason, you're automatically barred from hitting the upper Content bands if you don't have a conclusion. Did you know that?
By now, you should know that the GP essay consists of an introduction, body paragraphs and a conclusion. Since the essay is argumentative in nature, one of these body paragraphs needs to be a counterargument — presenting the view of an opponent or critic — to show balance.
To clarify things once and for all, here are some of the most common essay structures (CA: Counterargument, BP: Body Paragraph).
[Recommended] CA + Rebuttal + 2 BP
You present an opponent's view, rebut it in the next paragraph, and continue with 2 more paragraphs supporting your own stance. There is no "correct" order of these paragraphs other than the fact that the Rebuttal comes after the CA — however, I prefer to have the CA + Rebuttal come first, right after the introduction, to get it out of the way before going on to argue purely for my stance.
CA + 3 BP
You present an opponent's view, don't rebut it directly, but instead continue with 3 paragraphs supporting your own stance. To ensure persuasiveness, you should never end off with the CA because you'll leave the examiner with the impression that the critic might be right and you did nothing to defend your position. In any case, this approach may cause your persuasiveness to suffer a little because you're not addressing the CA directly in your essay, but rather are implicitly arguing from a "Points For > Points Against" approach.
CA + Rebuttal + BP / CA + 2 BP
These structures should be a last resort if you really can't come up with another point to support your thesis. In this case, you must ensure that your BP is noticeably longer and more developed than both the CA and Rebuttal paragraphs — since you'll also have much more time to spare.
The Importance of a Conclusion
The conclusion is absolutely essential to the completeness of your essay as a whole. Without it, the reader is left without a sense of closure and a convincing ending to wrap everything up. For this reason, you're automatically barred from hitting the upper Content bands if you don't have a conclusion. Did you know that?
By now, you should know that the GP essay consists of an introduction, body paragraphs and a conclusion. Since the essay is argumentative in nature, one of these body paragraphs needs to be a counterargument — presenting the view of an opponent or critic — to show balance.
To clarify things once and for all, here are some of the most common essay structures (CA: Counterargument, BP: Body Paragraph).
[Recommended] CA + Rebuttal + 2 BP
You present an opponent's view, rebut it in the next paragraph, and continue with 2 more paragraphs supporting your own stance. There is no "correct" order of these paragraphs other than the fact that the Rebuttal comes after the CA — however, I prefer to have the CA + Rebuttal come first, right after the introduction, to get it out of the way before going on to argue purely for my stance.
CA + 3 BP
You present an opponent's view, don't rebut it directly, but instead continue with 3 paragraphs supporting your own stance. To ensure persuasiveness, you should never end off with the CA because you'll leave the examiner with the impression that the critic might be right and you did nothing to defend your position. In any case, this approach may cause your persuasiveness to suffer a little because you're not addressing the CA directly in your essay, but rather are implicitly arguing from a "Points For > Points Against" approach.
CA + Rebuttal + BP / CA + 2 BP
These structures should be a last resort if you really can't come up with another point to support your thesis. In this case, you must ensure that your BP is noticeably longer and more developed than both the CA and Rebuttal paragraphs — since you'll also have much more time to spare.
The Importance of a Conclusion
The conclusion is absolutely essential to the completeness of your essay as a whole. Without it, the reader is left without a sense of closure and a convincing ending to wrap everything up. For this reason, you're automatically barred from hitting the upper Content bands if you don't have a conclusion. Did you know that?
The GP Rubric, Explained
The GP Rubric, Explained
The GP Rubric, Explained
Everybody in Singapore taking A-Levels is graded using the same GP rubric. Although if you've read it before, some of its requirements are not exactly clear, and don't really tell you to how to improve.
We begin with the Content rubric first — here's what you should aim for, in concrete terms.
Your essay — particularly each topic sentence — reflects that you understand what the keywords in the question mean.
You also stay within the constraints given in the question stem (E.g. not raising an example from the 1900s when the question says ‘today’, or talking about another type of tech when the question explicitly says ‘waste disposal’.)
You present a counterargument that’s logical, and doesn’t carry highly obvious flaws (for you to attack).
Otherwise, you're guilty of constructing what's called a "strawman" argument to try and make your essay sound more persuasive. Here's an example:
Essay question: The benefits of artificial intelligence outweigh its risks." How far do you agree?
Your stance: Disagree — the risks outweigh the benefits.
The strawman you construct in your CA: Critics may argue that the benefits of AI outweigh its risks because its sheer power will usher in a utopia for humanity where disease is eliminated and human welfare is maximised.
This is clearly a strawman because of how easy it is to rebut (in this case, due to how extreme the claim is). There's already so much evidence today of how AI causes the reverse of each of these goals, from its capacity to engineer novel viruses, to its mass displacement of livelihoods, use in warfare etc.
“Nuance” and “Subtlety”. What does this mean? In short, your paragraphs — particularly your evaluations — show that your take on this topic is not shallow.
For example, social media addiction is a thing because we just lack self-control. This would be a “simplistic” take.
Our Newsletter already covers strategies to do this: Appearance vs. Reality, Irony, Paradox, Comparison (then vs. now, group A vs. B), just to name a few.
Basically, nuance/subtlety is telling the examiner, things are not as simple as they seem. Or even better, things are not what they seem.
Your examples and evidence are diverse — i.e. falling into different types or categories.
For example, raising examples of different nations in a global question, or discussing different categories of art when the question is on the arts.
Keyword: different categories.
Your analysis and evaluation are “developed”. Again, what is “developed”? You can think about it as, what you can add to make your point more detailed and more persuasive.
If you remember the annotations in Essay 1, it could be telling the reader what’s at stake (”who?”), the effect of something (”what” ), adding nuance (see above), analysing a cause (“why?”), outlining a mechanism (”how”), introducing another branch to support the same topic sentence (”furthermore…”), etc.
More on this in upcoming articles.
You have a conclusion that’s not just a summary (i.e. a shortened version of your thesis).
Again, more on this in upcoming articles.
Everybody in Singapore taking A-Levels is graded using the same GP rubric. Although if you've read it before, some of its requirements are not exactly clear, and don't really tell you to how to improve.
We begin with the Content rubric first — here's what you should aim for, in concrete terms.
Your essay — particularly each topic sentence — reflects that you understand what the keywords in the question mean.
You also stay within the constraints given in the question stem (E.g. not raising an example from the 1900s when the question says ‘today’, or talking about another type of tech when the question explicitly says ‘waste disposal’.)
You present a counterargument that’s logical, and doesn’t carry highly obvious flaws (for you to attack).
Otherwise, you're guilty of constructing what's called a "strawman" argument to try and make your essay sound more persuasive. Here's an example:
Essay question: The benefits of artificial intelligence outweigh its risks." How far do you agree?
Your stance: Disagree — the risks outweigh the benefits.
The strawman you construct in your CA: Critics may argue that the benefits of AI outweigh its risks because its sheer power will usher in a utopia for humanity where disease is eliminated and human welfare is maximised.
This is clearly a strawman because of how easy it is to rebut (in this case, due to how extreme the claim is). There's already so much evidence today of how AI causes the reverse of each of these goals, from its capacity to engineer novel viruses, to its mass displacement of livelihoods, use in warfare etc.
“Nuance” and “Subtlety”. What does this mean? In short, your paragraphs — particularly your evaluations — show that your take on this topic is not shallow.
For example, social media addiction is a thing because we just lack self-control. This would be a “simplistic” take.
Our Newsletter already covers strategies to do this: Appearance vs. Reality, Irony, Paradox, Comparison (then vs. now, group A vs. B), just to name a few.
Basically, nuance/subtlety is telling the examiner, things are not as simple as they seem. Or even better, things are not what they seem.
Your examples and evidence are diverse — i.e. falling into different types or categories.
For example, raising examples of different nations in a global question, or discussing different categories of art when the question is on the arts.
Keyword: different categories.
Your analysis and evaluation are “developed”. Again, what is “developed”? You can think about it as, what you can add to make your point more detailed and more persuasive.
If you remember the annotations in Essay 1, it could be telling the reader what’s at stake (”who?”), the effect of something (”what” ), adding nuance (see above), analysing a cause (“why?”), outlining a mechanism (”how”), introducing another branch to support the same topic sentence (”furthermore…”), etc.
More on this in upcoming articles.
You have a conclusion that’s not just a summary (i.e. a shortened version of your thesis).
Again, more on this in upcoming articles.
Everybody in Singapore taking A-Levels is graded using the same GP rubric. Although if you've read it before, some of its requirements are not exactly clear, and don't really tell you to how to improve.
We begin with the Content rubric first — here's what you should aim for, in concrete terms.
Your essay — particularly each topic sentence — reflects that you understand what the keywords in the question mean.
You also stay within the constraints given in the question stem (E.g. not raising an example from the 1900s when the question says ‘today’, or talking about another type of tech when the question explicitly says ‘waste disposal’.)
You present a counterargument that’s logical, and doesn’t carry highly obvious flaws (for you to attack).
Otherwise, you're guilty of constructing what's called a "strawman" argument to try and make your essay sound more persuasive. Here's an example:
Essay question: The benefits of artificial intelligence outweigh its risks." How far do you agree?
Your stance: Disagree — the risks outweigh the benefits.
The strawman you construct in your CA: Critics may argue that the benefits of AI outweigh its risks because its sheer power will usher in a utopia for humanity where disease is eliminated and human welfare is maximised.
This is clearly a strawman because of how easy it is to rebut (in this case, due to how extreme the claim is). There's already so much evidence today of how AI causes the reverse of each of these goals, from its capacity to engineer novel viruses, to its mass displacement of livelihoods, use in warfare etc.
“Nuance” and “Subtlety”. What does this mean? In short, your paragraphs — particularly your evaluations — show that your take on this topic is not shallow.
For example, social media addiction is a thing because we just lack self-control. This would be a “simplistic” take.
Our Newsletter already covers strategies to do this: Appearance vs. Reality, Irony, Paradox, Comparison (then vs. now, group A vs. B), just to name a few.
Basically, nuance/subtlety is telling the examiner, things are not as simple as they seem. Or even better, things are not what they seem.
Your examples and evidence are diverse — i.e. falling into different types or categories.
For example, raising examples of different nations in a global question, or discussing different categories of art when the question is on the arts.
Keyword: different categories.
Your analysis and evaluation are “developed”. Again, what is “developed”? You can think about it as, what you can add to make your point more detailed and more persuasive.
If you remember the annotations in Essay 1, it could be telling the reader what’s at stake (”who?”), the effect of something (”what” ), adding nuance (see above), analysing a cause (“why?”), outlining a mechanism (”how”), introducing another branch to support the same topic sentence (”furthermore…”), etc.
More on this in upcoming articles.
You have a conclusion that’s not just a summary (i.e. a shortened version of your thesis).
Again, more on this in upcoming articles.
The GP Rubric, Explained
The GP Rubric, Explained
The GP Rubric, Explained
Now, onto the Language rubric first — here's what you should aim for, in concrete terms.
Few mistakes in spelling and grammar.
Your sentences have variety in structure.
A counterexample of this is using “This is because XXX.” and “Hence YYY.” every time you talk about a cause and an effect respectively.
However, you can avoid this naturally with a range of linking or sequencing devices (see below).
You use a range of vocabulary.
In Starter Kit I we emphasised the reason for complex language: to convey meaning with more detail and precision, while making our tone more convincing.
Here’s an example sentence from Newsletter Issue 1: these corporations are structurally insulated from the consequences of their environmental negligence.
Compare this with: companies don’t need to take responsibility for their pollution.
Do you see the difference?
That said, the wrong thing to do is spending excessive time thinking of another word to use to “sound fancy”. You shouldn’t be spending more than 2-3 seconds to think of one replacement — better words will come to you faster as you accumulate more vocabulary.
You use a range of linking and sequencing devices.
Basically, these are words or phrases that allow you transition 1) between paragraphs, and 2) between components within a paragraph — topic sentence, explanation(s), elaboration(s), example(s), evaluation(s).
We don’t believe in assigning formulas for this, but the full-length Essay pieces such as Essay 1 explicitly demonstrate how this can be done.
You actually encounter many of these transitory phrases without knowing it: “can therefore..”, “as such..”, “given that..”, “this exemplifies..”, “XXX, then, …”, “Moreover..”, “In fact…”, “it was only recently that..”, “we see how..”, “worse, ..”, “not only.., but also..”, “XXX sheds light on..”, and so on. The possibilities are endless, literally.
We also cover more on this in Starter Kit III.
Now, onto the Language rubric first — here's what you should aim for, in concrete terms.
Few mistakes in spelling and grammar.
Your sentences have variety in structure.
A counterexample of this is using “This is because XXX.” and “Hence YYY.” every time you talk about a cause and an effect respectively.
However, you can avoid this naturally with a range of linking or sequencing devices (see below).
You use a range of vocabulary.
In Starter Kit I we emphasised the reason for complex language: to convey meaning with more detail and precision, while making our tone more convincing.
Here’s an example sentence from Newsletter Issue 1: these corporations are structurally insulated from the consequences of their environmental negligence.
Compare this with: companies don’t need to take responsibility for their pollution.
Do you see the difference?
That said, the wrong thing to do is spending excessive time thinking of another word to use to “sound fancy”. You shouldn’t be spending more than 2-3 seconds to think of one replacement — better words will come to you faster as you accumulate more vocabulary.
You use a range of linking and sequencing devices.
Basically, these are words or phrases that allow you transition 1) between paragraphs, and 2) between components within a paragraph — topic sentence, explanation(s), elaboration(s), example(s), evaluation(s).
We don’t believe in assigning formulas for this, but the full-length Essay pieces such as Essay 1 explicitly demonstrate how this can be done.
You actually encounter many of these transitory phrases without knowing it: “can therefore..”, “as such..”, “given that..”, “this exemplifies..”, “XXX, then, …”, “Moreover..”, “In fact…”, “it was only recently that..”, “we see how..”, “worse, ..”, “not only.., but also..”, “XXX sheds light on..”, and so on. The possibilities are endless, literally.
We also cover more on this in Starter Kit III.
Now, onto the Language rubric first — here's what you should aim for, in concrete terms.
Few mistakes in spelling and grammar.
Your sentences have variety in structure.
A counterexample of this is using “This is because XXX.” and “Hence YYY.” every time you talk about a cause and an effect respectively.
However, you can avoid this naturally with a range of linking or sequencing devices (see below).
You use a range of vocabulary.
In Starter Kit I we emphasised the reason for complex language: to convey meaning with more detail and precision, while making our tone more convincing.
Here’s an example sentence from Newsletter Issue 1: these corporations are structurally insulated from the consequences of their environmental negligence.
Compare this with: companies don’t need to take responsibility for their pollution.
Do you see the difference?
That said, the wrong thing to do is spending excessive time thinking of another word to use to “sound fancy”. You shouldn’t be spending more than 2-3 seconds to think of one replacement — better words will come to you faster as you accumulate more vocabulary.
You use a range of linking and sequencing devices.
Basically, these are words or phrases that allow you transition 1) between paragraphs, and 2) between components within a paragraph — topic sentence, explanation(s), elaboration(s), example(s), evaluation(s).
We don’t believe in assigning formulas for this, but the full-length Essay pieces such as Essay 1 explicitly demonstrate how this can be done.
You actually encounter many of these transitory phrases without knowing it: “can therefore..”, “as such..”, “given that..”, “this exemplifies..”, “XXX, then, …”, “Moreover..”, “In fact…”, “it was only recently that..”, “we see how..”, “worse, ..”, “not only.., but also..”, “XXX sheds light on..”, and so on. The possibilities are endless, literally.
We also cover more on this in Starter Kit III.
General Revision Tips
General Revision Tips
General Revision Tips
Finally, here's some general advice for revising the GP Essay.
Change your Example Banks — Many students like to create their own example banks — this is definitely a strategy. However, we recommend including corresponding evaluations and insights alongside your examples to strengthen your mental link between examples and good evaluation points, which, in the actual exam, must come together in a short time.
Choose Your Battles — It is unrealistic to heavily mug every GP domain (sci & tech, media, arts & culture, politics, social issues, global issues, philosophy, etc). We recommend honing in on 2-3 domains which you’re more interested in or are more proficient at — the important thing is to study the intersections between these domains, because essay questions now seldom deal with only one domain. We cannot emphasise this enough.
For example, when I chose Sci & Tech, Arts and Politics as my three, that would mean also revising how tech and art could be related, how science affects political decisions, how politics shapes and controls art etc.
For the remaining domains, taking a bit of time to consolidate a few biggest topics, and their most famous examples, is enough.
This is why we also include interdisciplinary links in each issue of the Newsletter, as well as callbacks to what we have discussed in previous Issues.
Don't Forget AI — AI has, by no figure of speech, upended entire landscapes of technology and academia in 2026. 2027 is likely to be no different. This means it has a higher chance of appearing as an essay question compared to previous years — we recommend not giving up on science & tech, especially AI.
"Your Society" questions — Did you know that you don't necessarily have to talk about Singapore for such questions? Many examples you study will be international, and if you just so happen to have more examples on another country (e.g. China, India, UK, US), it's okay to switch national contexts too.
That's all for this article; all the best!
Finally, here's some general advice for revising the GP Essay.
Change your Example Banks — Many students like to create their own example banks — this is definitely a strategy. However, we recommend including corresponding evaluations and insights alongside your examples to strengthen your mental link between examples and good evaluation points, which, in the actual exam, must come together in a short time.
Choose Your Battles — It is unrealistic to heavily mug every GP domain (sci & tech, media, arts & culture, politics, social issues, global issues, philosophy, etc). We recommend honing in on 2-3 domains which you’re more interested in or are more proficient at — the important thing is to study the intersections between these domains, because essay questions now seldom deal with only one domain. We cannot emphasise this enough.
For example, when I chose Sci & Tech, Arts and Politics as my three, that would mean also revising how tech and art could be related, how science affects political decisions, how politics shapes and controls art etc.
For the remaining domains, taking a bit of time to consolidate a few biggest topics, and their most famous examples, is enough.
This is why we also include interdisciplinary links in each issue of the Newsletter, as well as callbacks to what we have discussed in previous Issues.
Don't Forget AI — AI has, by no figure of speech, upended entire landscapes of technology and academia in 2026. 2027 is likely to be no different. This means it has a higher chance of appearing as an essay question compared to previous years — we recommend not giving up on science & tech, especially AI.
"Your Society" questions — Did you know that you don't necessarily have to talk about Singapore for such questions? Many examples you study will be international, and if you just so happen to have more examples on another country (e.g. China, India, UK, US), it's okay to switch national contexts too.
That's all for this article; all the best!
Finally, here's some general advice for revising the GP Essay.
Change your Example Banks — Many students like to create their own example banks — this is definitely a strategy. However, we recommend including corresponding evaluations and insights alongside your examples to strengthen your mental link between examples and good evaluation points, which, in the actual exam, must come together in a short time.
Choose Your Battles — It is unrealistic to heavily mug every GP domain (sci & tech, media, arts & culture, politics, social issues, global issues, philosophy, etc). We recommend honing in on 2-3 domains which you’re more interested in or are more proficient at — the important thing is to study the intersections between these domains, because essay questions now seldom deal with only one domain. We cannot emphasise this enough.
For example, when I chose Sci & Tech, Arts and Politics as my three, that would mean also revising how tech and art could be related, how science affects political decisions, how politics shapes and controls art etc.
For the remaining domains, taking a bit of time to consolidate a few biggest topics, and their most famous examples, is enough.
This is why we also include interdisciplinary links in each issue of the Newsletter, as well as callbacks to what we have discussed in previous Issues.
Don't Forget AI — AI has, by no figure of speech, upended entire landscapes of technology and academia in 2026. 2027 is likely to be no different. This means it has a higher chance of appearing as an essay question compared to previous years — we recommend not giving up on science & tech, especially AI.
"Your Society" questions — Did you know that you don't necessarily have to talk about Singapore for such questions? Many examples you study will be international, and if you just so happen to have more examples on another country (e.g. China, India, UK, US), it's okay to switch national contexts too.
That's all for this article; all the best!
Best,
Jiarui
Best,
Jiarui
Best,
Jiarui