YIJC 2026 Prelim P2

YISHUN INNOVA JUNIOR COLLEGE JC 2 PRELIMINARY EXAMINATION Higher 1 GENERAL PAPER Paper 2 INSERT 8881/02 19 August 2026 1 hour 30 minutes READ THESE INSTRUCTIONS FIRST This Insert contains the passages for comprehension. ______________________________________________________________________________ This document consists of 4 printed pages. [Turn over

2 Passage 1. An author writes about why global ageing is a crisis. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Global ageing is a crisis unfolding in plain sight. Across the world, its disruptive repercussions already manifest across societies through contracting labour forces, weakening economic growth, and mounting pressure on health care and social protection systems. Unlike many modern threats, this demographic crisis has a high degree of certainty because the forces behind it, especially falling fertility and longer life expectancy, are already in motion and are not easily reversed. A change of this scale ought to receive public attention. Yet global ageing remains in the shadow of climate change, migration, poverty reduction and other urgent concerns. One reason is that it lacks drama - it does not shout, does not explode, does not demand. Unlike disasters that erupt or conflicts that ignite, ageing emerges, almost unnoticed, like a slow-moving tide. To many people, ageing appears distant and abstract. As a result, this vast and growing issue is quietly sidelined, overshadowed by louder, more dramatic crises. The nature of the crisis also makes it difficult to rally around. Its effects are deep and widespread, but they are also dispersed across society. Unlike other challenges, it is not confined to a few industries or places, nor does it produce a single clear enemy. It grows out of millions of private decisions shaped by wider social and economic change. That makes it harder to explain in simple terms or to turn into a cause that can mobilise public opinion. Even discussion of its effects can be politically se nsitive, as questions about pension reform, healthcare costs or support for older citizens can be seen as placing the interests of one generation against those of another. Another obstacle lies in the difficulty of action. Many global problems offer discernible remedies, immediate instruments of intervention and established examples of effective action. Diseases may be treated, emissions curtailed, and poverty alleviated thr ough targeted programmes. Ageing and declining fertility are intractable. They are entangled with social and cultural forces that resist straightforward policy correction. Governments may recalibrate incentives or broaden support schemes, but they cannot instruct citizens to have more children or reverse shifts in attitudes, aspirations and lifestyles. Without a comparable record of success, the issue weakens political resolve and constrains public debate. It also exposes an uncomfortable truth: modern econ omies presume continued expansion, growing markets and demographic renewal. Ageing unsettles those assumptions. Although the issue affects almost every country, it remains largely a national policy matter. Some spillover effects exist, but efforts to manage the problem often become zero -sum, as countries compete for migrants and younger workers. The issue is further complicated by culture and values. The most direct response to demographic decline is to raise fertility, but low birth rates are tied to major features of modern life, including changing ideas of family, women’s education and careers, the cost of housing and child -rearing, media influences, and anxieties about the future. The debate therefore extends beyond economics into questions of identity, freedom and social priorities. There is, finally, an important difference between reducing fertility and increasing it. Policies that lowered fertility were relatively direct, relying on access to contraception and family planning. Policies meant to raise fertility demand something hard er: that people reorganise their lives in ways that may involve costs to career, finances and lifestyle. Any serious response therefore requires societies to reconsider social arrangements, question cultural expectations and risk clashing with hard-won rights and freedoms. Yet delay also carries dangers. Let us not ignore a crisis that is already visible because that will not merely be an oversight, but a choice that may leave future generations to bear the consequences of inaction that was entirely avoidable. 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45

3 Passage 2. An author writes about why ageism is a harm and argues that older people should not be viewed as a burden. 1 2 3 4 5 Ageism is often described as a socially acceptable prejudice because assumptions about growing old frequently pass without challenge. Once advancing age becomes the defining feature by which a person is judged, individual needs are easily overlooked allowi ng assumptions rather than evidence to shape decisions. Its effects become apparent in both the workplace and healthcare. Employers may value youth over experience, while older patients sometimes find that symptoms are attributed to "normal ageing" before being properly investigated. Repeated exposure to such attitudes can gradually alter how older people view themselves discouraging them from remaining socially engaged. The consequences are not confined to the individual. Families and communities that stop listening to older voices lose access to perspectives shaped by decades of experience. Retirement rarely marks the end of an individual's contribution to society, although this is often assumed. Many families continue to depend on older relatives in ways that are overlooked like caring for grandchildren. Their presence often enables younger adults to balance work and family responsibilities more effectively, while the traditions they pass on help preserve a sense of continuity between generations. Such forms of support may never appear in official economic figures, yet communities would be poorer without them. Nor do older people necessarily withdraw from public life. Many continue working, while others devote time to voluntary organisations, or mentoring younger colleagues. Their experience often allows them to recognise problems that less experienced individua ls might overlook. Even after retirement, their purchasing decisions continue to sustain demand for goods and services, generating economic activity that extends well beyond their own households. As increasing numbers embrace new technologies and lifelong learning, assumptions that age inevitably brings inflexibility become harder to justify. Many older adults experiment with generative AI, learn a new language, tak e up photography or music, or complet e courses that prepare them for a career change. To dismiss older people is therefore to measure their worth too narrowly. The opportunities enjoyed by younger generations frequently rest upon the labour and sacrifices of those who came before them, while every society eventually depends upon mutual care across different stages of life. 5 10 15 20 25 30 [Turn over

4 Passage 3. An author writes about how her mother navigates ageing. 1 2 3 4 Every few months, my mother, a 67-year-old kidney transplant patient who lives in a small town, embarks on a two-day journey to see her doctor.