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AS Sociology Unit 2 Education exam tomorrow

What do you think will come up? Do you think they'll make it harder considering what we had for the family paper?

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Reply 1
I don't know but I've only got today to revise as have been focusing on families before and now I'm panicking because there is so much to revise and learn. ... ..
Reply 2
Gender was in the Jan 2011 paper, so I'm guessing not that. I haven't looked at Sociology at all, too many other exams this week. Now starting to worry a little.
Reply 3
I heard marxism came up too so that perhaps wont. I'm just trying to remind myself of gender, class, and ethnicity in application to education.
And then I keep coming across 'meritocracy' and 'interactionist' and thinking what the hec were those again?
Sigh. -.-
Original post by akemikat
I heard marxism came up too so that perhaps wont. I'm just trying to remind myself of gender, class, and ethnicity in application to education.
And then I keep coming across 'meritocracy' and 'interactionist' and thinking what the hec were those again?
Sigh. -.-


meritocracy is achieving on the basis of your own merit (ability), instead of achieving or not achieving due to other factors such as social classes, gender etc...

Interactionism is the same as Interprevism- but don't count me on it, as i need to revise it.

What theories do we need to know? obviously i know marxism and functionalism like crazy, but in my revision books there is only like a sentence on feminism (not great for a 20 mark question) as well as interactionism and the social democratic perspective???? any ideas on how much we need to know for those or where to get the information from? thanks!

Also, any tips for the methods questions- as they are what i'm most worried about, especially as i have barely been taught them, and they are actually worth quite a few marks!

Thanks, and good luck everyone!
Reply 5
Original post by perrobarrioajeno
meritocracy is achieving on the basis of your own merit (ability), instead of achieving or not achieving due to other factors such as social classes, gender etc...

Interactionism is the same as Interprevism- but don't count me on it, as i need to revise it.

What theories do we need to know? obviously i know marxism and functionalism like crazy, but in my revision books there is only like a sentence on feminism (not great for a 20 mark question) as well as interactionism and the social democratic perspective???? any ideas on how much we need to know for those or where to get the information from? thanks!

Also, any tips for the methods questions- as they are what i'm most worried about, especially as i have barely been taught them, and they are actually worth quite a few marks!

Thanks, and good luck everyone!


Thanks I think the meritocracy is becoming slightly clearer now.

I'm in a right panic now, have been revising since like 10am but it's not enough. I don't even really know marxist or functionalist perspectives that welll. I can't even think of a feminist one? Oh my word. I'm so going to mess up tomorrow, I can't believe I thought 1.5 days was enough revision but could hardly revise for this before what with the other exams....

Just came to this question in my practice paper " outline some of the policies introduced by governments to create an education market in the UK"... I couldn't think of a WORD to write. Oh my word....... :frown: :frown: :frown: :frown:
I have my Statistics exam on the same day... So my Sociology exam has been moved to the morning at 08:40 - that is before anyone else does the Sociology exam. Families and Households was better than I imagined, Education and Research Methods has SOOO much to remember, I'm panicking because I'm revising for both...
Reply 7
For those struggling with feminists, there is only really 3 things they say about the roles of education:

- The education system is patriarchal
- Girls outperform boys but boys still demand more attention and get more attention
- Men dominate the top positions at school (head teacher etc)

There will never be an essay question on just feminists, but you will be expected to bring their views in when evaluating marxist/functionalist views.
Reply 8
what do people think will come up because i havent started revising and think i should start now but only got enough time to revise like a few things so whats likely to come up?
Original post by daniel_94
For those struggling with feminists, there is only really 3 things they say about the roles of education:

- The education system is patriarchal
- Girls outperform boys but boys still demand more attention and get more attention
- Men dominate the top positions at school (head teacher etc)

There will never be an essay question on just feminists, but you will be expected to bring their views in when evaluating marxist/functionalist views.


okay, thankyou!! so theory question wise, will there only be a question on either the functionalist or marxist perspective, in which you have to use the other theories ie; feminism, social democratic, interactionism.... to evaluate? ?
Original post by georginap
what do people think will come up because i havent started revising and think i should start now but only got enough time to revise like a few things so whats likely to come up?


i dont know why, but everyone is saying ethnicity and education!
then just cover reasons you can apply to ethnicty, social class and gender underachievement like labelling, self fufilling prophecy etc....

Then look at policy (because if you dont know anything on that and it came up you would be pretty screwed) but maybe just focus on the 1944 act and the 1988 one as they're the main one, and just make sure you know what comprehensives and new vocationalism are

then make sure you know functionalism and marxism (as i thinkkkkkkk they are the main theories) and then obviously research methods put i think if you mainly focus on the advantages and disadvantages on qualitative and quantitative methods you can apply then to different methods (hopefully)

but obviously try and cover everything if you can! Good luck
Reply 11
I got a feeling social policy and gender will come up.
Everything my teacher said that should come up on Families unit came up, which included Feminism, Divorce etc.
My teacher thinks that labelling and subcultures should come up, but this is a very big unit to predict, unlike Families..
Reply 12
Functionalists' believe that the education system is meritocratic. This means that every pupil has an equal chance of obtaining maximum grades, and job opportunities. Unlike the Marxists, who believe that the education system favours the middle class, as well as being using an ethnocentric curriculum. (Which favours the typically, white middle class pupil)

Hope that helps =]

I got a feeling social policy is going to come up in relation to education, as it has not come up for January 2011 or June 2010 exams. Gender came up in January, but it also came up a year before that, so It might be a topic that repetitively comes up??

I am soooo screwed for the research methods though! But I know you will get marks if you state the advantages/disadvantages of research methods, so that's better than nothing!

Did anyone think that the Family paper was relatively easier than previous years? Do you think tomorrow's exam might compensate for a straight forward question on Wednesday...
Reply 13
can someone breifly explain social policies?
Reply 14
Original post by akemikat
Thanks I think the meritocracy is becoming slightly clearer now.

I'm in a right panic now, have been revising since like 10am but it's not enough. I don't even really know marxist or functionalist perspectives that welll. I can't even think of a feminist one? Oh my word. I'm so going to mess up tomorrow, I can't believe I thought 1.5 days was enough revision but could hardly revise for this before what with the other exams....

Just came to this question in my practice paper " outline some of the policies introduced by governments to create an education market in the UK"... I couldn't think of a WORD to write. Oh my word....... :frown: :frown: :frown: :frown:


Education Market is basically how there competition has been created within education.

You would include:

Public schools/grammar schools vs state schools
11+
League tables
Other policies which the tories under Thatcher introduced (I can't remember if there is more to it but I remember being told Tories/Thatcher is linked to it.)

I HATE research methods :/ And with education, I feel like I know stuff but I find it hard to explain in detail, using the correct terms etc.

O btw, I find looking at mark schemes helpful when revising - it helps you figure out what kind of answer the examiner is looking for, what to include etc. :smile:

I really should revise, wasted practically the whole day :/ and couldn't do any revision before cuz I had other exams.

Did anyone else do the families exam yesterday? I hated the feminist Q!
(edited 12 years ago)
Reply 15
I did the education paper last year, and am re-taking this year to try and get an extra few points to try and boost my grade. Last year was quite a hard paper, so hopefully this summer's one will be better. Ethnicity hasn't come up at all really in any of the past papers, or at least not as part of one of the main questions, so there is probably quite a good chance that may come up?
And good luck to everyone doing the exam tomorrow!
Reply 16
Original post by perrobarrioajeno

Original post by perrobarrioajeno
okay, thankyou!! so theory question wise, will there only be a question on either the functionalist or marxist perspective, in which you have to use the other theories ie; feminism, social democratic, interactionism.... to evaluate? ?


You could also bring Marxist, liberal and radical feminism into the equation. Marxist feminists would argue that the present curriculum ideologically oppresses females and not just the working class. Liberal feminists would argue that changes to the law would help raise girls aspirations and expectations. Radical feminists would argue that single sex schools are the only solution to the oppression of females in the education system.
Reply 17
Original post by perrobarrioajeno

Original post by perrobarrioajeno
i dont know why, but everyone is saying ethnicity and education!
then just cover reasons you can apply to ethnicty, social class and gender underachievement like labelling, self fufilling prophecy etc....

Then look at policy (because if you dont know anything on that and it came up you would be pretty screwed) but maybe just focus on the 1944 act and the 1988 one as they're the main one, and just make sure you know what comprehensives and new vocationalism are

then make sure you know functionalism and marxism (as i thinkkkkkkk they are the main theories) and then obviously research methods put i think if you mainly focus on the advantages and disadvantages on qualitative and quantitative methods you can apply then to different methods (hopefully)

but obviously try and cover everything if you can! Good luck


Hi thanks so much. btw when you say "focus on the 1944 act and the 1988 one as they're the main one, and just make sure you know what comprehensives and new vocationalism" what does this mean, im not dumb btw just have a really bad teacher and havent revised 4 soci as iv prioritised other subjects.
Original post by Tpos
Did anyone else do the families exam yesterday? I hated the feminist Q!


You're joking right! The feminist Q was a dream :biggrin: The divorce one not so much eurgh couldnt think of that much to write for it.... anyway I'm dreading tomorrow's exam. I know its in the afternoon and you can cram but I think theyre going to make it harder cos families was a breeze compared to others practice papers I've done.
Reply 19
Original post by nealam
I got a feeling social policy and gender will come up.
Everything my teacher said that should come up on Families unit came up, which included Feminism, Divorce etc.
My teacher thinks that labelling and subcultures should come up, but this is a very big unit to predict, unlike Families..


I think the same too as they've never had a 20 mark essay question on labelling or any other inside school processes. I'm not going to revise much for ethnicity. My predictions for the paper will be elements of class and inside school processes.

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