Edexcel 21/5 Unit 1: People and Politics Discussion

oh god. anyone who did the elections question, you know part c was 'make a case for the introduction of proportial representation for elections to the house of commons', well by pr does it mean proportional systems generally? because i was going on and on about ams, is that even proportional representation?!

The timing is just completely unfair - did everyone at your centre also have the same problem? Surely if it as widespread as it seems, they need to extend the time? But I suppose if most poeple have problems then it should pull the boundaries down.

I didn't mind that question too much. I talked about direct challenges to the democratic process through direct action and problems of transparency, bullet pointed a load more points and then wrote a conclusion (because supposedly you get marks for that!).

What did you put for the first part of pressure groups? I said about how they provide another channel for political participation, provide effecrive representation (eg. to environmentalist groups who are barely represented in the Commons) and that they provide knowledge and expertise to the government (and people).

I did that question too. I just talked about PR, its benefits, and how this would work for gernal elections.

I don't know if AMS counts as PR, but I guess it does have aspects of PR. The best thing to do is not to worry about it, there's nothing you can do about it apart from revise evn more for Unit 2!

I did Politics AS last year and the KEY to every single part C question is BALANCE.

If the question was give a case for the introduction of proportional representation, they expect you to give both the argument for it and against it.

But anyways, I hope everyone found it alright! Make sure in Unit 2 you give BALANCE.

i did elections and democracy - seriously what the HELL. the questions were actually quite good minus the 'what is legitimacy' question but they seriously need to give us more time.

I did the elections and Democracy Q. At least you can all retake - i'm doing A2 so was my last chance! All went well except the part C of the democracy Q.
If it's make a case for you should also write about arguements aginst but try and knock them down... e.g some people are against the introduction of PR for Westminster elections as it can weaken the constuency MP link. However STV can be said to strenghten this link as you are more likely to find a representative who represents your view and MP's are likely to place more importance on their constituents as they know they can lose out to another member of the same party. That sort of thing with examples if poss.
Also AMS is a form of PR but you should of written about more than just AMS, but i'm sure it should be ok if you made some good points.

The questions weren't bad at all.

I just don't think there's enough time... ended up having to skip the 5 mark questions =\

BUT BUT BUT

the 5 mark ones were good :/



saw elitism v pluralism and the legitimacy one and got a boner

I did the elections and Democracy Q. At least you can all retake - i'm doing A2 so was my last chance! All went well except the part C of the democracy Q.
If it's make a case for you should also write about arguements aginst but try and knock them down... e.g some people are against the introduction of PR for Westminster elections as it can weaken the constuency MP link. However STV can be said to strenghten this link as you are more likely to find a representative who represents your view and MP's are likely to place more importance on their constituents as they know they can lose out to another member of the same party. That sort of thing with examples if poss.
Also AMS is a form of PR but you should of written about more than just AMS, but i'm sure it should be ok if you made some good points.

Well, I'm screwed then cos I didn't make a case against :'( Gonna cry now.

I'm doing A2's as well. I can defo kiss my uni place goodbye, that exam was awful for me, I didn't finish. The strange thing is I got a B and A in the other units, but for this one I keep getting a high D? Oh well. Good luck with your results!

What are doing to for A2's btw? I find it easier than AS.

Yes haha. I was hoping to get this unit down so I wouldn't have to worry as much about the much more difficult Unit 2, but that's not gonna happen now. And I got screwed over for next week as well, gotta do Economics 1 on the same day :/

erm i dont think anyone at my center had timing difficulties and we all said the questions were easy. im curious though, how much does everyone generally write for the c) questions?

If the question was give a case for the introduction of proportional representation, they expect you to give both the argument for it and against it.

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