Open Essay Prompt: Reminiscing College Essay Questions

Feel free to respond to any of these A-Level prompts!

It’s been 4 years since I’ve graduated from college. One of the most memorable subjects — I’ve to painfully admit — was General Paper. It was a dreaded subject all college students needed to take. And it’s a paper that (sort of) determines your fate for university. (Ask yesnodunno, she knows.)

General paper is a subject as vague as its name implies. Even now, I can’t really describe what it is or what it’s supposed to be. Different people give different answers. But, as a philosophy student, I can’t help but see General Paper as a portal to philosophical thinking. In fact, it got me into philosophy in the first place.

General paper consists of an essay question (where teenagers are expected to engage in borderline scholarly discourse) and a comprehension paper (where we get most of our marks from). And it’s the only subject I’ve never gotten anything more than a C until my actual A-Levels.

Nevertheless, it’s one of the very few subjects in school that ages well with time. I remember most of us hated the subject when we were edgy teenagers. Mostly because it’s very difficult to get a passing grade. But more so because the “global” and “general” topics we discussed in class were, honestly, far too complicated for us young minds to comprehend.

The subject changes and matures as we change and mature. It’s like fine wine. As such…