INSIGHTS TOWARDS O LEVEL 2016

For all Secondary Four Students, the imminent ordeal is coming on 20th this month (for most of you). Are you guys experiencing the stress that you are never able to finish everything on time? Let you give you some suggestions, which my friends and I used to overcome this major ordeal last year...

English
Many people taking O Level English think that it is very simple and easy to get the green light for a pass. That undoubtedly is a fact, but note the following:

1. If you start to forsake this key subject in your O Level Certificate, you will regret it if you do not even try to make time for it. Many people in my School have previously let go of the subject and ended up getting a C or D for the subject because they become complacent in the subject. English can be easily prepared for through the following recommended methods:

Paper 1
Please DO NOT memorise the entire essay and 'vomit' it out in the exam. 99% percent of the time, it ends up to be extremely bad and you will not score better and even score worse than a student with lots of grammatical mistakes. Cambridge has explicitly stated in the Examiner's Report that scripts with an essay that are good but out of place to the question would be heavily penalised due to its lack of originality.
  It is highly recommended that memorization is used but in a different way. Memorise the good vocabulary that teachers have given to you in your school. WORD FOR WORD. This helps to elevate the style of language used and give a better impression to the Cambridge Examiners. (If you don't have a list of good phrases or verbs, do contact me to get a recommended list for 1128 examination.)

  Situational Writing requires you to use visual text. Scripts not using visual text will not score higher than 6 for Task Fulfillment due to failure to use task requirements. Use 5 minutes to read the visual text and annotate the questions at hand.

  For Editing, please CIRCLE the incorrect words. Students not adhering to this instruction by Cambridge has been reported scoring zero for Editing.

Recommended Timing

Editing 7.5min
Situational Writing Visual Text Analysis and Question Analysis 10 minutes
Situational Writing Actual Writing 40 mins
Essay Question Analysis 5 mins
Essay Writing 40min
Checking of Grammar 7.5min

Paper 2

  The biggest sin that you can possibly make from this paper is to do the questions without reading the text, especially for NARRATIVE TEXT. Narrative Text requires the candidates to understand the flow of the story and the flow of feelings by the characters. Failure to read the text would result in candidates not understanding the actual flow of events and give invalid or vague answering, translating to no marks credited for that question.

  Though not recommended in GP Comprehension, O Level Comprehension provides a lot of time for candidates to read the text thoroughly to give insightful responses. Reading is MANDATORY in O Level English Comprehension!

Recommended flow

Visual Text Analysis 5 min
Visual Text Answering 10min
Narrative Text Analysis 30min
Narrative Text Answering 25 min
Non-Narrative Text Analysis 10 min
Non-Narrative 10m SAQ 10min
Summary 20min

Paper 3

IF YOU NEED THE RECORDING FOR THE 2014/2015 O LEVEL LC EXAMINATION OR THE QUESTION PAPER, please email me...

  As evident from last year's examination, the narrator for the Listening Comprehension Examination would be extremely fast, especially for the Note Taking component. Adding on to the only ability to listen to the recording only once, here is the method to tackle note taking:

For whatever text that is broadcast, there will be blanks for you to fill in. REMEMBER what is the phrase that is given and record on in short form on the answer booklet.

2015 paper

ancestors of modern Japanese robots

Short Form
ance. of now Jap bot

  During the 2 min buffer period at the end, change the short form to long form.

  PLEASE NOTE THAT CAMBRIDGE ONLY ACCEPT THE EXACT PHRASE AND NOT ANY OTHER OPTIONS.

Mathematics/ Additional Mathematics
With the recent increase in quality grades, Cambridge has revised the 4016 syllabi to 4048 syllabi for Mathematics. Now there is a mixture of both Basic and Applied Mathematics into the same paper. However, the need for accuracy and carelessness prevention is still of utmost importance in O Level Mathematics. When you finish the paper, check EVERY working and see whether it make sense.

  For additional Mathematics, there has been one form of question that Cambridge has emphasised greatly (Curve Sketching). They said that candidates are not drawing large enough graphs and cause them to lose marks of accuracy. Therefore, please draw a graph that is appropriate for the amount of marks awarded for that question.

Biology

  If you cannot finish remembering all of the facts, STOP now. The overarching ideas in Biology make it hard to cramp everything into your brain within such a short period of time.

  If you cannot finish, do the practice papers that are given to your teachers NOW. Get exposed to O Level Questions and know the type of answers that are given by the Answer Sheet to score decently for the examination.

Chemistry

  Chemistry has moved from a knowledge-based examination to application based subject. With the inevitable 3 pages situational question in Section B, it is important for candidates to be able to link all their understanding towards memorising and applying effectively to score well.
  Chemistry is easy to score, especially if you can understand the topics well. The common problem that students face from Chemistry is the inability to recognise the significance of trends. The atoms, molecules, structures and functions are all alive, even though the cell is the basic unit of life. You need to relate the attitudes of the different particles towards human in order to do well.
  Spend at least 45 mins on Section B, so that you can have sufficient time to read the three-page report and finish the EITHER/OR Question for that Examination.

Physics

  I'm not in the position to comment, as I have lost touch for about a year in this subject.

Combined Humanities
  Introduction

  This year is the last year of the outgoing syllabus 2204. It is noticeable of the great difference in assessment methods in Social Studies between 2204 and 2267, which is the new syllabus. People do cherish this last paper of the old syllabus, or else we will regret it.

 For SBCS, infer all the sources FIRST as specified by the question. This would help you gain the minimum mark to pass the SBCS, through mere uncritical acceptance of source.

Social Studies

Social Studies is going through a major change from next year onwards. With the change from Structured Essay Question to Structured Response Question in the new syllabus, the old syllabus is predicted to be leaning towards the style of the new syllabus. Therefore, don't think that spotting will help in this year's examination definitely. DO IT WISELY.
MERELY INFERENCE OF THE SOURCE FOR THAT QUESTION AND THE KEYWORD TO THE QUESTIONS WOULD AWARD YOU A PASS FOR THAT QUESTION.
Therefore, by merely inference of the sources in SBCS, would award you a pass for the section.
I have predicted the questions that will come out for the 2016 O Level Social Studies Paper. If you want the question, do email me, as I am not allowed to post it online.

Recommended Timing

Source Analysis 10 min
Inference of ALL sources as specified in question FIRST 15 min
In-depth analysis of question 30min
SEQ 50 min

Elective History

With reference to the Prelim Papers this year's Preliminary Examination, there is a large percentage of students betting on Cuban Missile Crisis to come out for the SBCS. I for one, believe that it will never come out this year. With CMC coming out for 2015 Pure History Case Study and with the constant pressure for CMC to come out for the O Level Examination, the more Cambridge will not come out for the examination.

MERELY INFERENCE OF THE SOURCE FOR THAT QUESTION AND THE KEYWORD TO THE QUESTIONS WOULD AWARD YOU A PASS FOR THAT QUESTION.

  The examination SEQ would be very unpredictable. However, I have spotted on three main topics that will come out for the examination. If you need it, please email me.

Source Analysis 5 min
Inference of ALL sources as specified in question (a) to (d) FIRST 10 min
Evaluation Question (USE ALL SOURCES, DON'T LEAVE A SINGLE SOURCE) 15 mins
In-depth analysis of question 20min
SEQ 50 min

All in all, good luck for your examination three weeks later! If you need any more advice or need FREE MARKING services by certified tutors (for example your essay or source based case studies, feel free to contact me at littlebunniehellokitty@gmail.com

My best wishes
Ordinary Student