What's new? Not that much actually.
Old/Current Syllabus (8807) | New Syllabus (8881) |
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There are lesser questions in the new syllabus (8 compared to 12 in the old one).
Questions that are not based on society-specific ("in your society") contexts remain "general".
Although historical and philosophical topics from the old/current syllabus may have been "eliminated" in the new syllabus, do not misinterpret these fields as irrelevant or unimportant. Ideas and contexts of history and philosophy are still important in analysing and answering some questions.
For instance,"To what extent is the progress of your society held captive by issues of the past?" (AWWL question) can be seen as a society/cultural and even political question, but requires historical background and knowledge.
Example 2: Let's consider this question from the 8881 sample paper. "‘Longer life expectancy creates more problems than benefits.’ Discuss." This question requires you to compare a past which had shorter life expectancy and present (or even future) where life expectancy is longer and likely will become longer. In this case, it will be useful to understand how people used to live in the past with a shorter life expectancy (in cultural and material terms), and how states/nations/societies functioned then, before being able to compare to how states in present function/operate with people who can live longer.
More specifically, you may even think of present contexts which may not have been prominent or even in existence back then, which then interact with the longer or shorter life expectancies we are examining. Could it be a prolonged span of working today as opposed to a shorter professional/working life in the past? Could it be lesser children/offspring, thus less fiscal support for elderly parents in developed countries today ?
Mathematical and geographical topics appear to have been eliminated. So mathematics itself as a topic of concern as in "'How reliable are statistics as a guide for planning the future?' How far do you agree?" (GCE A Level 2020) may not be tested explicitly, but we suspect it may be subsumed into "science and technology". After all, if we think about statistics and mathematics, it is part of everyday lives, used to predict and quantify human behaviour. So mathematics as a topic then is not so impossible again eh? Perhaps what may be truly eliminated could be the "philosophy of mathematics".
This brings us to the next point: Although the breadth of topics has been reduced, we suspect that it is closer to a tokenistic generalisation of topics and nothing much has really changed. Why? Although "topics of local interest and global concern"in the old syllabus have been eliminated, it is clear that "in your society questions" still exist.
For example: One of the 2022 A Level P1 Questions (8807/01) "Assess the extent to which different age groups in your society are valued equally." is clearly a topic of local interest, but can be classified as a "society and culture" question in the upcoming 8881 syllabus. More specifically, the concerns with ageism and the debates on the utility of people at different ages are evergreen in almost all societies.
That said, perhaps very specific/specialised fields of knowledge, such as zoos, may be tested less or phased out.
On writing style and quality/depth of ideas: There is perhaps a heightened, albeit continued, expectation for candidates to express themselves in a strong personal voice with informed and incisive insights, or even wisdom, to the issues/topics dealt with in the essay.
Conclusion:
Not much has really changed in the upcoming GP syllabus, it is mostly a pruning of the amount of questions. Whilst the questions that were once deeply specialised/specific may have been phased out, the general breadth of knowledge of the world across time and space is still expected of all candidates. It is important to continue maintaining an unquenchable thirst for knowledge, intellectual curiosity and flexibility of mind!
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