Ensuring Rigour

Many students are not able to score an A in their O level Social Studies paper is mainly due to 2 reasons:

  1. A lack of rigour in their answers
  2. A lack of consistency in their answers

Here are the tips that I give to my students to ensure rigour in their answer. Generally, in every paragraph that a student writes, each paragraph should have 3 elements (PEE). They are:

  1. Point: Answer the question i.e. phrase the question into a statement and write out your point i.e inference/message; for example:  if the question is a close-ended question i.e. the issue is already defined such as:  how useful is the source as evidence about the response of individuals to globalisation?
  • then stick to the issue and answer the question. For e.g. the source is useful as evidence about individuals being critical in their response towards globalisation
  • If the question is open-ended such as “how useful is the source?” For such questions,  u can define the inference/message/issue
  • a good tip is to link the issue to the topical question/ assertion statement
  1. Evidence: quote from the source. For example, the source is useful as evidence about individuals being critical in their response towards globalisation. This is seen in the source where “………”. Try to at least take about 2 phrases or 1 full line for the evidence. The key is to quote enough evidence to let the marker know u arrive at your inference without letting the marker needing to go back to the SBQ

3. Explain your evidence: For example, the source is useful as evidence about individuals being critical in their response towards globalisation. This is seen in the source where “………”. This implies……  Do note that the explanation of evidence is actually is very similar to the points. 2 tips to explain your evidence are (1) Paraphrase your evidence i.e. use similar phrases (2) Link your paraphrasing to the point

Here is a video commentary to better explain how to ensuring rigour, hope it helps you to score that A in O level Social Studies!