2025 RI Y6 GP TP P1 Suggested Points

Raffles Institution 2025 Y6 General Paper Timed Practice Paper 1 1 1. ‘Art is only worth what people will pay for it.’ Do you agree? Terms and Scope • Implied assumption made that the value of an artwork is solely encapsulated in its price tag or monetary value. Candidates should attempt to refute or question this absolute perspective. • ‘Art’: Includes suitable genres of the arts, such as paintings, photography, music/dance performance, theatre, literature and more (art that can be bought). For the purposes of this discussion, it is important to choose art genres wisely: choosing to discuss genres like pop music or movies as representation of ‘art’ shows a shallow understanding of the topic, and conveniently misses out the idea o f people being ‘willing to pay for such art’. Less clear -cut examples of art such as multimedia installations an d cultural performances can be accepted as long as the artistic qualities/elements of these examples are surfaced and properly discussed • ‘only’: Some engagement with the absolute term is required as the question is making an extreme claim about art, price and value. • ‘worth’: Refers to the larger value/significance of art, both tangibly (practical contributions to the society in the form of enhanced well -being and social cohesion) or intangibly (historical/cultural/artistic). • ‘what people are willing to pay for it’: Specifically, the price of a piece of art or its market value. The price of a piece of art though, may not always be the same as its economic value, because of its potential to influence trends and fuel industry growth. Band 4 & above Band 3 • Addresses ‘only’ through explaining why this view fails to recognise other forms of value that art has or why it does not acknowledge exceptions. • Addresses the relationship or contrast between different forms of value art has and how much people are willing to pay for it, perhaps through analysing the inability of the latter to fully express the worth of art. • Lists the general benefits/value of art or lack thereof without relating them to art’s price tag. • Valid perspectives but may be restricted/inconsistent in scope (for instance, definition of worth is limited to ways where art is personally valuable to individuals without a broader consideration of larger functions Low Band 3 • There could be poor awareness or unrealistic and even flawed ideas of what constitutes art or worth. • Response may be limited to anecdotal examples. Yes, the worth of art is derived from its price tag: 1. Art, being a highly subjective entity, has no intrinsic worth on its own and thus, its value is necessarily assigned by its viewer/audience and how much they are willing to pay for it. Art auctions operate with that concept in mind, and often these auctions set new standards and benchmarks for what constitutes ‘worthy’ or fine art of that time; without the price tag to serve as an indicator of