King Falcon,
I recommend you sit the exam tomorrow. Trust me, I'm in almost the same predicament as you but I'll take this chance.
P.S: I have no problem of age as I am 23 right now.
Reasons you should take this attempt are:
1. If the "even-years-easy-essay' hypothesis is true, you have better chances.
2. I feel that you are at home in English so you have potential.
3. This attempt could be extremely rewarding for risk-takers with skills besides rote learning (cramming is a necessary skill but must be complemented with a few others). For instance. if you are taking new science subjects (environment, town planning etc.) there may be higher chances of scoring better (less competition = greater chances of casting a good impression). Then, the precis paper is an entirely new ballgame. Who knows, 'grouping of words' or 'translation' or 'grammar' may just do the thing for you and you ace it easily?
4. I have a general feeling (which is entirely my
own) that as the complete syllabus has been revised, exam questions will be 1) from syllabus; and 2) easy.
5. For essay and precis, you can never prepare enough even if you take 10 years. So, if you are good at English, just go for it. You never know what better chances await you this year and you may not be able to take the exam if for instance, you get into international civil service (UN, ADB, WB) or a six-digit-salary MNC job. If you get what I mean...
Reasons for skipping this attempt:
1. One can get rid of discombobulation surrounding the general science paper, precis paper and new subjects.
2. 'Scoring trend', if there is such a thing in existence, will become clearer.
3. Optionals can be better prepared.
etc... etc...
My perception:
Take this attempt and then forget it. Its slightly wasteful to give three precious and complete years of life to something that is highly luck-dependent. Do the attempt and then go out and conquer the world. Hopefully in October 2016, you will be pleasantly surprised when you see your name on the list.
Good luck to all those taking the risk this time.