2025 Prelims SAJC P2 Ans

1 SAJC 2025 JC2 Preliminary Exam P2 – Suggested Answers SAQS (11m) Q1: In paragraph 1, explain why the author uses the term ‘ideological straitjacket’ (line 3) to describe woke culture. [2] From the passage Suggested Answers Yet, in its extreme form, it has become something else entirely: an ideological straitjacket that stifles debate, demands ideological purity, and thrives on public shaming rather than meaningful change. The author uses the term ‘ideological straitjacket’ to... A [Reason / Purpose]: make a comparison / draw an analogy OR show that just as how a straitjacket constricts / constrains / traps us, OR employ imagery / metaphor of the ideological straitjacket B [Context]: woke culture constrains / constricts our imagination / logical deductions / ability to think Q2: In paragraph 2, how does the author support his view that “woke culture obsessively cleanses the past” (lines 11 – 12)? [2] From the passage Suggested Answers Since the police killing of George Floyd erupted into the Black Lives Matter protests in 2020, woke protesters have defaced and destroyed colonial statues around the world. Race campaigners have also branded the decision not to remove Cecil Rhode’s (a British imperialist linked to the slave trade) statue in Oxford University as an act of institutional racism, ignoring the opportunity to learn from its history and contextualisation. The author cites A [Technique]: the example(s) of how… B [Context]: woke activists damaged / ruined / dismantled / took down colonial statues during the Black Lives Matter BLM protests; OR race campaigners condemned the keeping of Cecil Rhode’s statue—an emblem of British imperialism—at Oxford University as a manifestation of systemic racism.

2 Q3: In paragraph 3, what are the three reasons why woke culture fails to “deal with the complexity of the world” (line 21)? [3m] From the passage Suggested Answers Woke culture also fails to deal with the complexity of the world by reducing individuals to groups based on race, gender and class . It turns complicated issues into simple clashes of good and evil, conferring a halo of virtue on those who pick the right side. In 2023, the Israel-Hamas war shattered this worldview that the powerless can do no wrong, unlike the powerful, and that nobody can be both. The polarised passions and viral slogans were worsened by the echo -chamber effect of social media, where many were transfixed by Hamas’s depredations or Gaza’s agony. This binary worldview is tailor -made for posturing, but it prohibits the nuanced judgments that complicated real-world issues demand. Woke culture A (reducing individuals to groups based on race, gender and class): simplistically / superficially classifies / categorises / characterises / segregates / sorts people by identity markers / by their ethnicity, sex, or wealth/income status, B (turns complicated issues into simple clashe