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GENERAL PAPER PROGRAMME

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If you are a JC student struggling with GP, would you like an experienced university professor to coach you towards Distinction in your GP exam?

Dr Daniel Chua earned a PhD in History from a top Australian university and has been teaching in a local university since 2014. He has designed a GP programme that sharpens critical thinking skills and is rooted in practical exam techniques.

Excellent strategies requires excellent execution

Our team of experienced teachers and English specialists are well-versed in the CRW Strategy and are fully dedicated to help your child grow and improve.

Dr Daniel Chua​

Founder and Director
Our GP students are guided closely by Dr Daniel Chua, a former MOE teacher and HOD, who is committed to helping students excel in their General Paper. He was a former Assistant Professor of History at RSIS, NTU and had received a US Fulbright Research Award for research excellence. He is an expert in teaching high-ability students and currently lecturing History and Academic Writing at NTU.

Our Strategy

Using strategies taught to students in the Gifted Education Programme (GEP), our GP programme is built upon years of experience teaching, designing curriculum, marking exams and designing assessment modes. We can’t wait to share them with you!

Credits: This framework is an adaptation and synthesis of Paul and Elder’s theory on Critical Thinking, and books on Critical Reading and Critical Writing.

Critical Reading and Writing principles used in MOE’s Gifted Education Programme form the basis of Cognitus Academy’s English programmes.

Don’t worry. Although these strategies are taught to gifted students, our programmes are DOWN-TO-EARTH techniques that have helped students of all abilities improve and excel.

4 Levels of Critical Reading

In the 4 levels of Critical Reading, paraphrasing and identifying main ideas are foundational skills for doing well in General Paper exams.

The deeper levels of critical reading (analysing text logic, evaluating text logic and understanding the writer’s intent) set Cognitus’ students apart from all others in the A Level GP exams.

8 Elements of Thought

Students are taught to dissect essay questions and analyse texts through the 8 Elements of Thought.

Credits: This diagram is taken from Paul and Elder’s theory on Critical Thinking.

✔ Purpose: What are the objectives of this text/essay/image?
✔ Question at issue: What is the issue of contention involved?
✔ Information: What type of data do I need to answer the question?
✔ Interpretation and Inference: How can the information be applied to the question?
✔ Concepts: What are the theories and concepts that I need to know?
✔ Assumptions: What are the underlying beliefs and assumptions of the question/text?
✔ Implications and Consequences: What will happen if my answer/proposal is implemented?
✔ Point-of-view: What are the different points-of-view relevant to this text/question?

Writing persuasive GP essays

A convincing GP essay requires strong content and clear structure.

Strong Content

Apart from writing strategies, our GP programme also provides
content lectures delivered by Dr Daniel Chua and other guest lecturers.

These lectures cover the most pertinent issues students will encounter
in their GP exams, including topics such as:
✔ History ✔ Politics ✔ Technology ✔ Human Rights
✔ Economics ✔ Social, Gender, Culture ✔ Education
✔ Media ✔ Law and Justice ✔ Environment ✔ War and Conflicts

Clear Structure

Clear thinking begets clear writing. Our GP sessions equips students with
➡️ Tools for developing strong analytical thinking
➡️ Strategies for essay writing
➡️ Weekly discussions about current issues and trends
➡️ Termly assessment designed to stretch students’ abilities
➡️ Customised revision plans to prepare students for GP exams
➡️ Personalised feedback for individual improvement

Scoring Distinction for Paper 2

To ace Short-Answer Questions (SAQ), Summary and Application Questions (AQ), our GP programme covers

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✅ Reading comprehension texts for critical understanding
✅ Weekly discussions about current issues and trends
✅ Termly assessment designed to stretch students’ abilities
✅ Customized revision plans to prepare students for GP exams

Hear What Some Our Students Have To Say

Don’t just take it from us!

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Clear and Sufficient

“I started GP lessons with Dr Chua as I believed that his proposed way of teaching would help me in the areas that I knew I needed help with. Dr Chua was very patient and prompt in correcting all my linguistic errors and paragraph structuring. He was also willing to do detailed marking of multiple assignments I submitted during the short three months that I joined. Not only was he flexible, he was also generous in providing many useful resources that helped me score A in A Levels.”
Cognitus Student Br, Eunoia Junior College

General Paper

Frequently Asked Questions

How does your programme benefit my child?
After more than ten years of refinement, our Critical Reading & Writing (CRW) Strategy has helped hundreds of students improve their English results by at least one grade, with several achieving Distinction (A and A*) for PSLE, O Levels and A Levels. The CRW Strategy is adapted from the Critical Thinking framework that is being used to teach students in the Gifted Education Programme (GEP). We have infused the essence of the Critical Thinking approach and created the CRW Strategy that has an impact on students’ Comprehension Open-ended, Comprehension Cloze Passage, Comprehension Short Answer Questions (SAQ) and Summary. The CRW Strategy also develops students’ writing ability, helping them in their Continuous Writing and General paper essays. We are proud to share our students’ essays with you in our Blog. For more information about the CRW Strategy, you can see Our Strategy, Primary English Programme, Secondary English Programme and General Paper Programme.
How qualified are teachers at Cognitus Academy? Are they NIE-trained?
Cognitus Academy shares the same concern with the parents of all our students. We want the teachers teaching your child to be the best at what they do and demonstrate the professionalism befitting an educator. All Cognitus Academy teachers undergo a stringent interview process, rigorous training programme and aptitude tests before they are allowed to teach our students. All our teachers have completed university education with high achievements and have wealth of experience teaching English, including writing. Guided by Dr Daniel Chua, an NIE-trained ex-teacher and a former NIE lecturer himself, our teachers meet weekly for professional development and mentoring. 
 
Not all our teachers are former MOE teachers. While we believe that the training and experience of a former school teacher can be invaluable, our observation has been that students taught by former school teachers may not always do well when it matters. Otherwise, parents would have sought their children’s school teachers for guidance. Armed with our strategy and teacher development programme, we believe that our team of teachers will help your child improve and excel.
Do you offer a trial lesson for new students before they commit to termly lessons?
Yes, we offer a 120-minute immersion session for students who are new to Cognitus Academy. We understand that parents need to know that our programmes can meet the needs of their children before they commit the time and resources at our centre. Therefore, we will arrange for an immersion session in one of our available class slots for new students to try out the teaching approach, lesson material and classroom environment before joining us. The teacher will conduct a brief diagnostic session with the student 15 minutes before the lesson. After the lesson, the teacher will conduct a 15-minute feedback session with the parent. Please note that the teacher may conduct these sessions over a phone call due to the teacher’s lesson schedule.
Do you offer replacement lessons if my child misses a lesson?
To fully benefit from the programme, students are strongly encouraged to attend lessons consistently. In the event that students are unable to attend a class due to school events or medical leave, we offer replacement lessons to be scheduled within the same lesson week. Students are allowed to join an existing class of the same level if there are available seats. Should your child be unable to attend a replacement lesson during the week, lesson materials will be passed to him/her in his/her next lesson. While Cognitus Academy will try our best to schedule a replacement lesson for our students, we regret that replacements classes are not guaranteed. We also seek your understanding that fees collected are not refundable because resources have been committed to provide the lesson for your child on the scheduled time. 
Do you offer online lessons?
Yes, Cognitus Academy offers online lessons. You may refer to our class schedule here.
How many students are there in a class?
We keep our class sizes small for conducive learning. Our maximum capacity for a class is 8 students for both physical and online lessons.
What else is Cognitus Academy doing to enhance my child’s learning?
In addition to weekly lessons with our teachers, Cognitus Academy offers the following channels to help our students improve their English results.

 

– Our Blog pages feature study tips, exam techniques and model compositions to support our students and parents
– Our Parents’ Support Group on Facebook invites students and parents to ask challenging questions, which our teachers will reply
– Our teachers conduct weekly Cognitus Connect sessions online to meet with groups of students to answer their questions and revise strategies for comprehension and writing strategies.
– Our student online portal, Cognitus Online, provides supplementary materials, such as past exam papers, for students to practise before their exams.
– Free use of The Straits Times online account
– Our teachers hand-pick more than 200 titles for our Centre library, which exposes students to a range of genres and literature.

Still can't decide?

We understand that choosing the right GP programme is an important decision because we have worked with hundreds of parents who are just as concerned as you about your child's GP results.
If you would like to discuss your needs with one of our GP specialists, fill out the form below and we will be in touch with you.

Thanks for taking time to read about our GP programme.
These are the underlying principles behind some of the strategies taught to gifted kids.
We want mainstream students to also benefit from them because we have seen how powerful they can be.
If you want your child to try out our Critical Reading and Writing strategies,
sign up using the form below.