It is impossible to predict what will appear in the essay section. However, certain topics have come up more than once since the new course began in 2000.
- CHANGING THE WORLD / THE FUTURE X 7
- TEENAGERS (responsibilities / stress / culture of youth) x 4
- EDUCATION X 4
- NATIONAL IDENTITY X 4
- THE PAST X 5 (memory was the theme in 2012)
- SCIENCE X 2
- HEROES X 2 + Debate: we live in an “unheroic” era
- CELEBRITY X 2
- CONSUMERISM X 2
- FUN / HAPPINESS X 2
- ROMANCE / RELATIONSHIPS X 2
- BOOKS/LITERATURE x 2
- TRUTH / LIES x 2
- CLOTHES x 2 (how they reveal your personality)
- MUSIC x 2
- COMMUNITY / NEIGHBOURS x 2
- THE PRESENT x 2
Other topics that have only appeared once include tv & radio, celebrating ordinary people, tourist attractions, urban vs rural lifestyles, family, sport, performance, travel, laws, gossip, discrimination, smoking ban, mobile phones, technology, time, marvels in the world today, glimpsed moments.
Feelings come up almost every year but they always name a specific one – so far they’ve included: freedom, indecision, daydreams, imagination, hope, wonder and the ones that came up twice listed above (happiness, love, truth).
Some topics that haven’t appeared yet but that MIGHT come up (& I’m just guessing here!) include:
RECESSION
INTERNET / SOCIAL NETWORKING
THE PRESENT (the importance of living in the moment) – *I WAS RIGHT!!! This came up in 2012! (Write about having “all the time in the world”) & 2013 (“the everyday treadmill & the gilded promises of life”).
INJUSTICE
Some feelings that haven’t appeared yet but that MIGHT come up (& again I’m just guessing here!) include:
FEAR
SADNESS
PRIDE
You could collect ideas for topics without having to write the entire essay. See below!
TOPIC: _________________
LIST:
RHETORICAL QUESTIONS:
QUOTES:
STATISTICS / FACTS:
JOKE:
VIVID IMAGERY: Picture the scene….
ANECDOTE: (don’t forget the hyperbole)
