Politics A2 - 16th June 2011 - Consititution, Congress, Judiciary, President

I have English Lit Thursday morning, and that's what I'm planning to study at uni, so my revision has been focused heavily on that in the past few days. Tonight and tomorrow I'm going to do hardcore politics revision. This thread came up pretty late, especially compared to the English Lit thread!!

Anyways, I think the president will be a 45 marker. Hopefully there will be a 15 on the Senate or HoR. Maybe also on the composition of the Supreme Court, that would be dandy. I don't know what I would prefer to have as 45 markers.

I did the pgs, parties, race and ethnics ... exam in january - got my B!! So far over the course I've got 3 'B's!!

How is everyone else feeling??

I also have an English Lit exam on Thursday morning xP But in my opinion, English Lit is more laid back as it relies a lot more on your natural ability to write than govt & pol does so I'm focussing more of my revision on the latter subject. I'm just reading through a lot of texts and memorising quotes etc for English though :biggrin:

Realllyyy? But the President has come up three times as 45 markers in a row whereas the Constitution has come up twice (and not in the latest exam), Supreme Court has come up twice and Congress has come up twice. I have a feeling that Constitution, Congress and Supreme Court will come up as 45 markers :biggrin:

I'm hoping so anyway xP

I hope that the amendment process comes up as a 15 mark question :biggrin:

I've had that memorised in my head for ages! The composition of the Supreme Court? How would you answer that? D:

Reply 21

Hollypops

Original post by Shkilla

I also have an English Lit exam on Thursday morning xP But in my opinion, English Lit is more laid back as it relies a lot more on your natural ability to write than govt & pol does so I'm focussing more of my revision on the latter subject. I'm just reading through a lot of texts and memorising quotes etc for English though :biggrin:

Realllyyy? But the President has come up three times as 45 markers in a row whereas the Constitution has come up twice (and not in the latest exam), Supreme Court has come up twice and Congress has come up twice. I have a feeling that Constitution, Congress and Supreme Court will come up as 45 markers :biggrin:

I'm hoping so anyway xP

I hope that the amendment process comes up as a 15 mark question :biggrin:

I've had that memorised in my head for ages! The composition of the Supreme Court? How would you answer that? D:

I just think they won't leave out the President :/ I don't know why, I just think that with changes to Congress and with such polarity between Bush and Obama, there might be a question about him.

I need to revise the amendment process :/ such effort!!! and composition? Race, age, gender, geography. How Obama's appointments have changed the court balance ... usual business!!

Reply 22

Shkilla

Original post by Hollypops

I just think they won't leave out the President :/ I don't know why, I just think that with changes to Congress and with such polarity between Bush and Obama, there might be a question about him.

I need to revise the amendment process :/ such effort!!! and composition? Race, age, gender, geography. How Obama's appointments have changed the court balance ... usual business!!

Oh...Oh yeah xP Thank you! I freaked out for a second there, then I realised that I've answered that question before xP

Do you need help with the amendment process and why it is so difficult to amend the constitution? I answered this as a timed essay and got 15/15...My plan was like this:

1. Deliberately difficult (super majorities needed + two stages)
2. Deliberately vague (e.g. Congress's job to "provide for the common defence and general welfare" of the US...Could mean anything)
3. Judicial Review (essentially Supreme Court can interpret and update constitution, so no need for amendments e.g. constitution forbids "cruel and unusual punishments"- Supreme Court decides what that means in today's society)
4. Cautious Americans (Americans hold constitution in veneration/see it as, as sacred as the Bible= cautious of any tampering of it)
5. Other reasons (issues that divide, e.g. same-sex unions, are unlikely to be passed, some parts of constitution are clear so it's hard to amend, e.g. right to bear arms)

Hope that helped...If you needed help lol xP even if you didn't, it helped me :biggrin:

Reply 23

Hollypops

Original post by Shkilla

Oh...Oh yeah xP Thank you! I freaked out for a second there, then I realised that I've answered that question before xP

Do you need help with the amendment process and why it is so difficult to amend the constitution? I answered this as a timed essay and got 15/15...My plan was like this:

1. Deliberately difficult (super majorities needed + two stages)
2. Deliberately vague (e.g. Congress's job to "provide for the common defence and general welfare" of the US...Could mean anything)
3. Judicial Review (essentially Supreme Court can interpret and update constitution, so no need for amendments e.g. constitution forbids "cruel and unusual punishments"- Supreme Court decides what that means in today's society)
4. Cautious Americans (Americans hold constitution in veneration/see it as, as sacred as the Bible= cautious of any tampering of it)
5. Other reasons (issues that divide, e.g. same-sex unions, are unlikely to be passed, some parts of constitution are clear so it's hard to amend, e.g. right to bear arms)

Hope that helped...If you needed help lol xP even if you didn't, it helped me :biggrin:

You are inadvertently very helpful! Or selfless!! Thank you so much for your plan, and congratulations on the success you had with it!! I'd love 10/15 on each 15 marker!! that would be snazzy!!

Reply 24

SergioMZ

12

Don't be misguided by what has come up in the last exams. For Unit 3, race relations came up as 45-markers on the three papers that have been done until now.
Yesterday, it didn't. :frown:

(Which was fine because even if I was more prepared for race relations, I was quite prepared for pressure groups too, and I had seen that both came always up, so it was unlikely that either would come up.)
But this is a very risky strategy.

Reply 25

Zionic

12

I'm so screwed for this exam.

I can't remember any of it, and worst of all... our teacher didn't teach us Congress!! :frown:

Can I learn it all in a day? There's only one way to find out...

Reply 26

ccmk

OP

waahhhhh... i'm soo worried :frown:

Feel so not prepared and its TOMORROW :'(

Reply 27

crawleytown

Original post by ccmk

If supreme court and congress both come up, i would laugh XD... but the chance is very low
Even though presidet has come up twice, I really think president is going to come up, especially of the current moves such as libya, gridlock since 2010 midterm, and bin laden etc.

but im not going to do the presidency question anyway :tongue:

, so i'm forcusing totally on consituion, sc and congress.
What possible congress essay quesiton is there if it comes up, do u think?

The exam almost certianly would have been written long before Lybia, Bin Laden etc.

Reply 28

crawleytown

Original post by ccmk

If they are going to ask a essay question on federalism, well... the only question they've put it on essay is "‘Federal government increasingly dominates state governments in the USA.’ Discuss.", so i believe is about how federalism developed. My guess anyway :biggrin:

Btw.... i'm doing edexcel so not sure for other exam board :tongue:

Dang that is actually quite a tough question.

Anyone be so kind as to provide a brief, potential plan? :colondollar:

Edit: Found one online:

Candidates should demonstrate awareness that developments since the New Deal in the 1930’s
has led to the increasing dominance of the federal government, peaking in the 1960’s with
President Johnson’s Great Society programme. They should also be aware that New Federalism,
in various guises, has tended to reverse this trend since the presidency of Richard Nixon.
Central to this question, however, have been the developments since George W Bush took office
and the events of 9/11. He came to power committed to a fiscal conservative agenda, believing
that if taxes were cut the national government would be forced to do less and people would
increasingly rely on their personal resources and local government, which understood their
needs. However, as a result of 9/11, the national government has spent billions of dollars on
reconstruction in New York City, military interventions in Afghanistan and Iraq and the
development of new weapons to fight a different kind of conflict in which the enemy is not a
conventional army. Instead of the government becoming less intrusive, a new government
department for Homeland Security has been set up which can direct State and City governments
to provide protection against potential terrorist attacks.
Candidates should be aware that reductions of the powers of the States may not be linked to the
‘war on terror’. One of the most significant measures of President George W Bush’s first term
was the passage of the No Child Left Behind Act, not only increased spending by the national
government but extended control over an area of policy that was traditionally the responsibility
of the States. In return for additional federal funding, the States were required to introduce a
federal system of accountability which meant that unless schools met specified targets students
would be allowed to transfer to other schools which were meeting the targets.
Despite the apparent tide of power flowing in the direction of the national government, the
States have demonstrated a willingness to assert themselves whenever the opportunity arises.
For example, with the President refusing to sign international agreements on measures to tackle
climate change, eleven States have (or plan to) introduced air quality regulations which are
much more strict than the federal government’s. With these States, including California and
New York, accounting for about one third of auto sales they may create a situation in which it
becomes uneconomic for car companies to produce two varieties of each of their models and
simply build cars with lower emissions.
In making judgements, consider the following:
• Evaluation which weighs up reductions and assertions of power of the States (AO2)
• Analytical argument developed throughout the essay (AO2)
• Relevant examples and illustrations (AO1)

(edited 12 years ago)

Reply 29

Adam1502

Hey guys. Got this exam tomorrow like the rest of you.

I am not looking forward to it... :/ - Most important thing; does anyone have any really recent exmples?
I know the big ones like Libya, Bin Laden and have picked up on Alabama's new (harsh and racist) immigration policy as well as a few others. Any stories out there that we can include?

Reply 30

sam693

Original post by Adam1502

Hey guys. Got this exam tomorrow like the rest of you.

I am not looking forward to it... :/ - Most important thing; does anyone have any really recent exmples?
I know the big ones like Libya, Bin Laden and have picked up on Alabama's new (harsh and racist) immigration policy as well as a few others. Any stories out there that we can include?

They're the main recent ones I've got too.

http://edition.cnn.com/2011/POLITICS/06/15/war.powers.libya/index.html

Interesting story today, Obama being sued by a bipartisan group of congressmen for 'unconstitutional' involvement in Libya. Should be able to get that in somewhere..

Reply 31

carbondummy

10

Anyone doing AQA? I can't seem to find any resources for the AQA one...

Reply 32

Zionic

12

Original post by sam693

They're the main recent ones I've got too.

http://edition.cnn.com/2011/POLITICS/06/15/war.powers.libya/index.html

Interesting story today, Obama being sued by a bipartisan group of congressmen for 'unconstitutional' involvement in Libya. Should be able to get that in somewhere..