Syllabus Content – What You Need to Know
This section gives you an outline of the syllabus content for this course.
The Cambridge International AS & A Level Thinking Skills syllabus is divided into two sets of skills: Problem
Solving and Critical Thinking. The skills within each of these sets is divided into four areas.
Paper 1: Problem Solving
Organise information
extract the information that is relevant to the problem, including from tables and simple
representation.
understand how the different pieces of information relate to each other.
Process information
perform the appropriate calculations with the data to solve the problem.
search through the possible options to meet critieria.
use the results of the calculations to draw conclusions from the data.
Analyse data
recognise alternative representations of data.
explain trends within sets of data.
Consider wider problems
consider similar problems to one that has been solved by changing some details of the
situation.
identify ways to model new features within a problem.
Evaluate and use evidence
assess how credible pieces of evidence are.
assess how representative evidence is.
provide explanations for evidence.
form judgements based on evidence.
Analyse reasoning
identify the key features of arguments (conclusions, reasons, etc.)
identify assumptions.
Evaluate reasoning
identify various types of flaw that could be present in reasoning.
identify any weaknesses in reasoning and assess how they impact the strength of the overall argument.
Construct reasoning
construct well-structured arguments.
How You Will be Assessed
For AS Level you will take Paper 1 and Paper 2.
Components at a glance
The table below gives you further information about the examination papers:
About each paper / component