TMJC 8881 GP Paper 2 Skills Guide 2023

1 TMJC General Paper 8881 Paper 2 Skills Guide Contents Part 1: Grounding Critical Reading (Mentor Text: 8881 Specimen Paper) Introduction to Critical Reading and Close Reading .......................................................................................... 2 Summary Question: Paraphrasing Big Ideas APT-ly ...................................................................................... 10 Application Question: Evaluation Strategies and Structure of the AQ Response ........................................... 17 New Item Type Question: Connecting Ideas across Passages………………………………............................25 Part 2: Strengthening Short-Answer Questions (SAQs): Approaches and Practices Section A: Paraphrasing Skills ........................................................................................................................ 36 1) Direct Paraphrasing Questions ............................................................................................................... 36 2) Comparison Questions ............................................................................................................................ 38 Comparative: Similarities Comparative: Differences Section B: Inferential / Interpretive Skills ......................................................................................................... 40 3) Use of Vocabulary ................................................................................................................................... 40 ‘Explain the Word’ Questions (Including Qualifiers and Intensifiers) ‘Explain the Phrase / Expression’ Questions 4) Use of Linguistic Devices ........................................................................................................................ 42 (A) Use of Punctuation / Italics / Repetition ........................................................................................ 42 (B) Use of Illustrations ........................................................................................................................ 44 (C) Use of Figurative Language (Metaphor, Analogy, Paradox, Irony) .............................................. 46 5) Use of Stylistic Devices / Organisational Patterns in the Introduction and Conclusion………… ………..48 6) Author’s Attitude, Use of Language and Personal Pronouns……………………………………………50-52 Monitoring your Time in the Exam With only 90 minutes to complete the paper, managing one’s time is extremely important in the GP Exam. The recommended plan to manage your time effectively for the Comprehension Paper is: • Reading the passages – 10 minutes • Short-Answer and New Item Type Questions – 25 minutes • Summary Question – 25 minutes • Application Question – 25 minutes • Check – 5 minutes

2 Part 1: Grounding Critical Reading What is Critical Reading? Critical reading takes place when readers analyse the underlying meaning of a text, offer interpretive judgement, justify critical responses and evaluate authors’ intentions, assumptions and soundness of the argument in order to become discerning readers . Critical readers engage in dialogue with a text – listening to the perspectives within and responding to them, and also evaluating the accuracy and credibility of a text before formulating an opinion about it. Critical reading is not about: • Retaining information found in the text; • Accepting what one reads without questioning; or • Finding fault with the text. What is Close Reading? How is it linked to Critical Reading? To become critical readers, we would need to become proficient in close reading. Close reading involves investigating the author’s purpose for crafting the text, what it says, and how it does so. Through close reading, we will come to understand the text by making valid inferences of what the author’s claims are, his reasons, and the implications of his claims. Why does Critical and Close Reading matter in the comprehension of texts? Being a critical and close reader helps you to be more efficient in deciphering the author’s claims, his use of evidence, and the implications of his claims. As you read closely, pay attention to the relationships established across sentences and paragraphs. By tracing the development and shifts in the author’s claims, you will become more confident in analysing and understanding the passage. A strong foundation in critical and close reading helps us to comprehend the text effectively to answer the questions in the Comprehension paper. We will begin our journey first by understanding the 6 steps involved in the Critical Reading Routine: A critical reader examines a text by applying the 6 steps shown below:

3 How to Read the Passage Critically Key Questions to ask yourself every time you read a Passage: • What is the topic being discussed? • What is the author’s purpose for writing this text? • What is the author’s claim / point of view on the subject matter? • What are the reasons and evidence the author gives to support / justify his/her claim? • What assumptions has the author made in arriving at his/her claim? • What might be the conclusion / course of action that the author wants the reader to take? • What are the possible implications and/or consequences of the author’s claim? At the Paragraph level, look out for: • Main idea /topic sentence – Highlight or briefly write a summary sentence for the paragraph on the side; • Supporting ideas – Explanation/Elaboration; • Reasons and Evidence; • Organisation patterns (e.g. Cause-Effect/Consequence, Compare-Contrast, Use of signposting devices or discourse markers that signal the development of an argument). o How does this paragraph relate to the earlier paragraph and the next paragraph? o How does this paragraph support / provide an alternative perspective to the author’s stand? At the Sentence level, look out for the purpose/function of the sentence, and any relationships between sentences: Purpose: • Paraphrase/Explain – Use of vocabulary, phrases, linguistic and literary devices (metaphor, irony etc.) • Illustrate/Examples – Use of evidence (facts, surveys, statistics/data etc.) Relationships / Organisation patterns: • Cause-Effect/Consequence • Compare-Contrast • Counter-Rebuttal (OV/Rs and Concessions) To comprehend a text skilfully, it is important to understand the author’s use of linguistic features. • Discourse markers and signposts indicate the development of an argument in a given text. ✓ Emphasising a point : Importantly, Indeed, In fact, More importantly, Furthermore, Moreover, It is also important to highlight ✓ Differences/Shifts across ideas – Changing direction or making a c omparison: However, Rather, In contrast, Conversely, On the one hand, On the other hand, In comparison, Compared to, Another point to consider is ✓ Similarities/Continuity: Similarly, Likewise, Again, Also ✓ Summarising: Finally, In conclusion, To summarise, In summary, Overall ✓ Clarifying – Being more specific: In particular, In relation to, More specifically, With respect to, In terms of ✓ Nuancing/Qualification – Acknowledging a factor/condition before asserting claim: Although, Even though, Notwithstanding, Yet, Nevertheless ✓ Cause-Effect/Consequence reasoning : Therefore, Subsequently, Hence, Consequently, Accordingly, As a result, As a consequence, To this end ✓ Illustrating – Giving examples/evidence: For instance, For example, This can be illustrated by, Namely, such as • Punctuation – Use of inverted commas, parentheses, ellipsis, dashes etc. • Pronouns – The author may use the pronoun ‘we/us’ to include the reader, or ‘they/them’ to distance himself from a point.

4 Critical Reading of Specimen Paper Passage 1 We will now go through how to close read a given text by applying the steps in the Critical Reading Routine. Login to the SLS module to