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Issue forecasts

What an examiner would be thinking about now

Thirty issues an examiner setting a contemporary A-Level GP paper would have front of mind, read from the last decade of real questions and the news of mid-2026. Each one is foresight, an honest reading of what is in the air, not a leaked or predicted question. Every post tells you the year the issue last appeared, what an essay on it would test, two ways to argue it, and the facts and examples to use. Browse by theme below.

30 issues11 overdue or contrarian8 themes, balanced

How we forecast →   Honesty scorecard →

Society & Culture

5 posts
Ageing society and generational fairnessA super-aged Singapore is demographically overdue as a question. Who pays, and is the deal between young and old fair?Last set at A-Level: 2022 · overdue/contrarianCrime: rehabilitation versus deterrenceA justice question appears most cycles. What punishment is for, and whether offenders keep their rights.Last set at A-Level: 2024Mental health and wellbeingAn emerging angle with almost no exam history. Is the wellbeing crisis real, and whose job is it to fix?Last set at A-Level: 2024 · overdue/contrarianMeritocracy and social mobilityThe current channel for the old equality theme. Is opportunity equal, or does meritocracy entrench the advantages it claims to ignore?Last set at A-Level: 2023Social media and the cost to friendshipOne of the fastest-recurring clusters in the bank. Does constant connection deepen friendship or hollow it out?Last set at A-Level: 2023

Science & Technology

5 posts
AI and the future of workThe most forecastable technology question in the bank. Will automation take the jobs, and what is a society meant to do when it does?Last set at A-Level: 2019Genetic engineering and biotech ethicsOverdue as biotech accelerates. How far should we go in editing life, and where is the real line?Last set at A-Level: 2012 · overdue/contrarianThe responsibility of the scientistA recurring values question with a 2026 edge. Is science value-neutral, or does the scientist own the uses of the work?Last set at A-Level: 2020Surveillance, privacy and dataOver a decade cold at A-Level, dominant in the news. Have we traded privacy for convenience and safety without ever deciding to?Last set at A-Level: 2009 · overdue/contrarianTrust in science, statistics and dataA data-driven society has to ask a harder question. The numbers run everything, so can we still trust them?Last set at A-Level: 2020 · overdue/contrarian

Arts & Humanities

3 posts
AI and creativityA new angle on the bank's steadiest theme. When a machine can generate a song or a painting, is the result art, and does it matter who made it?Last set at A-Level: a new angle on a recurring themeArts funding: luxury or necessityAn arts question lands in roughly two of every three papers. When the budget is tight, should public money still pay for art?Last set at A-Level: 2024History, memory and reputationA quietly recurring strand few students prepare. How reputations are made, revised and toppled, and whether we can judge the past by the present's standards.Last set at A-Level: 2022 · overdue/contrarian

Politics & Governance

4 posts
Free speech in the online ageAn old principle under new pressure. Where the line sits between free expression and online harm.Last set at A-Level: 2020Globalisation in retreatThe open order under strain. Is globalisation unwinding, and should a small trade-dependent state mind?Last set at A-Level: 2019What makes good leadershipA recurring stem on power and judgement. Should a leader follow conviction or the popular viewpoint?Last set at A-Level: 2020War, the arms trade and securityA sleeper last set in 2020, now loud again. In a rearming world, can the weapons business ever be justified?Last set at A-Level: 2020 · overdue/contrarian

Economy & Work

4 posts
Consumerism and targeted advertisingA fast-recurring Economy strand. Do we still choose what we buy, or does the algorithm decide for us?Last set at A-Level: 2024Is endless economic growth desirableA contrarian Economy question with almost no recent exam history. Is growth still the goal, or should wellbeing within planetary limits replace it?Last set at A-Level: 2018 · overdue/contrarianThe future of work and the gig economyThe job-for-life is gone. Is portfolio, platform work freedom and opportunity, or risk quietly shifted onto the worker?Last set at A-Level: 2018Inequality, wages and cost of livingA bread-and-butter Economy question that recurs in different clothes. Is the gap closing, or does the squeezed middle still have a case?Last set at A-Level: 2023

Ethics & Philosophy

2 posts
The abstract values questionThe reflective stem that defeats topic-spotting. It is on every paper, in some form, and you cannot revise your way around it.Last set at A-Level: Every paper, by typeAnimal ethics and our duties to non-humansA cold slot at the A-Level, but the real-world ground has shifted fast. What we owe animals, and how far those duties run.Last set at A-Level: 2017 · overdue/contrarian

Media & Communication

3 posts
Attention and the decline of deep readingIs short-form video rewiring how we read, think and remember, or is reading just changing form? A fresh angle on a recurring media theme.Last set at A-Level: 2023Censorship and content moderationWho decides what can be said, shown or seen? An old free-expression question reframed for the age of platforms and moderation.Last set at A-Level: 2023Misinformation and AI-generated contentWhen anything can be faked cheaply, how do we know what is true? A media question that has only sharpened since it last appeared.Last set at A-Level: 2021

Environment

4 posts
Biodiversity and extinctionA rarely written, contrarian slot. Around a million species are at risk. The real question is not whether they are dying, but why we should care.Last set at A-Level: 2022 · overdue/contrarianClimate justiceThe countries that emitted the most are rarely the ones drowning first. Do the historic emitters owe a debt, or does demanding payment just stall the work?Last set at A-Level: 2025The energy transitionRenewables have just overtaken coal in the global power mix for the first time in a century. Is the shift now unstoppable, or still too slow where it counts?Last set at A-Level: 2023Waste and the throwaway societyA sparse, contrarian slot at A-Level. Can technology and recycling manage the waste mountain, or does only consuming less actually work?Last set at A-Level: 2024 · overdue/contrarian
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