This is the fifth in the Subject Guides series, which gives detailed advice on how to study and score well for specific subjects. It incorporates some ideas from Chapter 4 of the book “How I Study”.
This is such a niche topic. I’m not actually sure what is the proportion of JC students that take CSC across the whole nation. I would place a guess at less than 0.05 percent.
However, quite a few people have asked me about this. And I’ve decided it’s high time I shared some of the proven strategies that I (and other top scorers) swear by. (I really wish I had known some of these when I first started—it would have made every single study session so much more effective.)
So You Want (Have No Choice But) To Take CSC
Before I begin, I would like to say that if you’re a sane person who hopes to score well in the A Levels, you probably wouldn’t (shouldn’t) choose to take CSC. You’d be much better off taking Econs—like over 80 percent of your peers—or Translation—which boasts astounding A rates (unlike, cough, CSC).
Not forgetting the fact that you’re signing yourself up for a six-month Independent Study (独立研习论文, or simply, 论文) which, as Paper 3, constitutes 30% of your A-Level CSC grade. 4000 words of original, quality work. In Chinese. They say it’s six months, but it will probably end up swallowing close to half of your JC life (unless you decide to be among the select few who rush it out in the last three days/overnight).
I’m also not sure why I just wrote the above paragraphs, because given the fact that you’re reading this article, you’ve most likely already bound yourself to this (terrible) fate.
Personally, though, I found it amazing—most of the time. It wasn’t just about China, it was about the running of a country, and also the greater trends on the global arena. CSC was amazing when I didn’t have to think about 论文 deadlines, or the high-stakes A-Level papers during which my fingers would inevitably cramp as I tried desperately to write faster but still legibly. CSC was amazing when I wasn’t drumming 114 different statistics into my mind, accurate to 2 decimal places and accompanied by the exact Chinese terminology.
That being said, you’re on this path—whether by choice or not. So might as well work towards getting that A.
This article gives you three top hacks (plus a bonus one) for nailing CSC. I will not go into the minutiae of the essay structure (立场分析, 平衡分析 etc) or anything of the sort, for if you are indeed a CSC student, these should have been taught to you in lengthy lectures by your teachers. (Or will be, if you are a prospective CSC student.) Without frills, I show you exactly how to study most effectively for CSC in order to secure that A.
(1) Seek to Understand the Concepts First
When you just start out with CSC, lessons can go by in a blur. You’ve barely figured out what 政治协商制度 is when the whole world has moved on to 政权的合法性. Tests start coming before you even know what the arcane terms in your notes mean.
I myself didn’t understand everything thoroughly in the beginning. Especially when it came to 政治 and 经济, the new terms made the readings look like chunks of text in a foreign language (i.e. it felt like I suddenly couldn’t read Chinese).
Looking back, I think one of the most important starting points is to really make sense of the concepts. Each topic and its subtopics are really not that difficult to understand, just that when you first approach them, any semblance of meaning is veiled by abstruse Chinese terms.
Listen in Class (Try Your Best Not to Doze Off)
Listening attentively during lessons is therefore crucial. My go-to note-taking method for CSC is the ultra-simple Highlight and Annotate. (For more on note-taking during lessons and making effective study notes, read Chapter 3 of this book.)
I never copy down information that’s already in the handouts or materials given. Instead, I take down only additional bits of information or questions that I may have. I highlight key phrases and important points.
Doing this will allow us to devote much more of our attention to actually listening to the teacher and understanding the content rather than racing to transcribe every word.
Don’t Stop Until You Get It
This is important. You may think that you can get away with a half-understanding of a few concepts, but it simply doesn’t work that way.
In CSC, everything is interrelated. Ultimately, you have to consider China as a whole—including its place on the world stage—and not just Chinese society, Chinese politics, and so on as if these were disjointed entities. Not to mention the fact that 跨课题 (linking to other Core Ideas) is now a requirement in the essay.
For me, I would often search up more on the topic myself if I fail to understand it fully. Sometimes simpler explanations can be found online. You could even search it up in English, if that enhances your understanding. Other times, additional information elucidates the concepts. Relating the abstract ideas to real-world events also helps me immensely in making sense of them.
Of course, you shouldn’t be afraid of asking your teachers for consultations. This is particularly so if having someone explain concepts to you makes much more sense than if you were to try reading about them on your own. (Alternatively, get friendly with the CSC top scorer in your class.)
(2) Model Essays Are Your Lifeline
This is probably the best piece of advice I can give for CSC.
Having a good understanding of the concepts doesn’t mean that you can reproduce well-phrased answers when it comes to writing three essays in 2 h 15 min. As with all Humanities subjects, there is a certain, defined format by which we are expected to write for the exam. And the model essays give you exactly that.
I myself didn’t follow this strategy in the beginning, having never believed in ‘rote learning’ and figuring I could craft my own essay. In hindsight, I really wish I had. With less than 45 minutes to write each essay? You barelyhave time to think, much less come up with a well-thought-out, comprehensive analysis from scratch.
Consume model essays. I would never attempt to memorise them whole—only the key points (i.e. the topic sentences to each paragraph). I would also familiarise with good paragraphs and examples.
When faced with the exam question, then, it becomes a simple act of sifting through this ‘infobank’ in your head and fitting the best points and evidence together to piece together your brilliant (A-grade) essay. (Note: Your ‘infobank’ should not be bogged down with excessive details. This will inevitably predispose it to frequent crashes at the most inopportune moments—such as when you’re sitting for the CSC exam.)
(3) Memorise Important Examples and Statistics
This is an extension of the previous point. Particularly in Paper 2 (问答题), you are expected to substantiate all your points with convincing evidence. This “evidence” can come in two forms:
- Examples: events, facts e.g. 中国政府网发起2019“我向总理说句话”网民建言征集活动，听取网民对政府工作的意见建议 (something the Chinese government did)
- Statistics: numbers, data e.g. 自习近平掀起反腐运动以来，共有130多万名不同级别的干部落马 (a quantitative measure of efforts by the Chinese government)
Ideally, your essay should contain both, although they don’t always have to come under the same point.
Knowing that these are essential, you should then put some work into memorising both important examples and statistics that you can use in your essays.
I wrote in the introduction to this article that I was “drumming 114 different statistics into my mind”. 114 wasn’t a random number I came up with—that was the exact number of points I had compiled in my statistics document for the A Levels, after the second round of cutting down. (V2.0 contained 144. V1.0? I’m not sure you want to know.)
While that may be a bit extreme, you have to at least know the important statistics, prime among them GDP, 人均GDP, 城镇化率, and admittedly, many others. And I would actually caution against going over 114 because you will not be able to remember them all accurately, and you need your brain space for more important things (like your Bio exam which is very helpfully scheduled on the same day as CSC!—those in my batch would know).
As for examples, I never thought of memorising them until I realised that I could never finish writing all I wanted to write for each essay in 45 minutes if I still had to think of how to phrase a particular sentence. I don’t really memorise whole paragraphs, but more like sentences and good expressions, a way to write about a certain example (learnt from model answers) that saves me that wasteful thinking-and-organising-language time during the actual paper.
Bonus: Broaden Your Knowledge
CSC teachers may encourage you to read current affairs beyond the syllabus. I would say that it’s optional. A firm grasp of the key concepts is crucial. So the content in your notes (and those from model essays) should always be a priority.
But I do think that reading news articles and opinion pieces can complement the concepts you’re learning about. I grew tired of using the same ‘stock’ examples all the time like everyone else. I decided to search up interesting articles myself, and compiled my own statistics.
I read up more because I genuinely found it intriguing. This is what is happening in China and the world right now. This is where the concepts I’m learning about come into play. (In the year of my A Levels, the US-China trade war was all the rage.)
If you’re unsure where to start, I recommend 郑永年’s articles (you’ve probably heard of him). Although he’s this really eminent professor and dubbed the modern China encyclopaedia, I find his articles easy to understand, and very incisive—hitting all the main points.
Of course, there are also tons of other great resources out there for you to discover.
To end off, I would like to wish you all the best on this not-so-easy (extremely demanding) CSC journey. I didn’t mean it when I said it’s a terrible fate. It can also be a pretty amazing one.
Have a question? Leave a comment below or drop me a message anytime. Don’t forget to check out the other articles in the Subject Guides series too.