[sachi]

(Original post by politics_student)
I thought so, thanks.

Even though I have good resources for statistical evidence (e.g. 2008 election etc) my textbook doesn't specify any specific theories like it did for AS; so hopefully I can find some on the internet.

You could probably apply some of the theories from AS, they are pretty much the same

[.gina]

(Original post by politics_student)
I thought so, thanks.

Even though I have good resources for statistical evidence (e.g. 2008 election etc) my textbook doesn't specify any specific theories like it did for AS; so hopefully I can find some on the internet.

I'm having the same problem as well :/

Also, does anyone know what they mean by "democratic overload"? I just looked at the specification and that comes up, we've never come across it :/

[.gina]

(Original post by sachi)
You could probably apply some of the theories from AS, they are pretty much the same

Looks like I'd better go over those then :P

[Bornblue]

(Original post by .gina)
I'm having the same problem as well :/

Also, does anyone know what they mean by "democratic overload"? I just looked at the specification and that comes up, we've never come across it :/

It means there's so many elections voters become bored.
They vote for their president, congressman, senator for the federal govt. But then they vote for their senator, congressman and governor for state govt. They also have local elections, mayoral elections, school board elections etc.

[politics_student]

(Original post by .gina)
I'm having the same problem as well :/

Also, does anyone know what they mean by "democratic overload"? I just looked at the specification and that comes up, we've never come across it :/

There was a question on it from the Specimen paper:

The majority of candidates will recognise that the term relates to the very lage number of elections in the US coonected to the working of the constitution itself with presidential elections every four years and mid-terms every two years. Well-informed candidates will recognise that this is because of federalism which means there are also elections at the state level for state legislatures and Governors at local level also. Americans are sometimes said to vote for everything from the 'president to the local dog-catcher' and it is the fact that this has led to the term 'democratic overload' and the related term 'voter fatigue'. Good candidates may suggest that this is one reason for the low turnouts of US elections. It may also be noted at the higher level of response that apart from the federal and state elections there are also the primary and caucus elections and increasingly voters are invited to vote on initiatives, propositions at local level and possibly in recall elections as that in California. This could be contrasted with other democracies, such as the UK, where the opportunities to vote are far more restricted.

(Mark scheme)

Hopefully that's helpful - I did a question on it and scored 9/10 by explaining that the number of elections (local officials, primaries, caucuses...) contribute to voter fatigue. One thing that I didn't do was specifically state it is because of federalism that there are so many local elections within the states.

[politics_student]

(Original post by sachi)
You could probably apply some of the theories from AS, they are pretty much the same

That's reassuring - they're quite easy to remember.

[.gina]

(Original post by Bornblue)
It means there's so many elections voters become bored.
They vote for their president, congressman, senator for the federal govt. But then they vote for their senator, congressman and governor for state govt. They also have local elections, mayoral elections, school board elections etc.

(Original post by politics_student)
There was a question on it from the Specimen paper:

The majority of candidates will recognise that the term relates to the very lage number of elections in the US coonected to the working of the constitution itself with presidential elections every four years and mid-terms every two years. Well-informed candidates will recognise that this is because of federalism which means there are also elections at the state level for state legislatures and Governors at local level also. Americans are sometimes said to vote for everything from the 'president to the local dog-catcher' and it is the fact that this has led to the term 'democratic overload' and the related term 'voter fatigue'. Good candidates may suggest that this is one reason for the low turnouts of US elections. It may also be noted at the higher level of response that apart from the federal and state elections there are also the primary and caucus elections and increasingly voters are invited to vote on initiatives, propositions at local level and possibly in recall elections as that in California. This could be contrasted with other democracies, such as the UK, where the opportunities to vote are far more restricted.

(Mark scheme)

Hopefully that's helpful - I did a question on it and scored 9/10 by explaining that the number of elections (local officials, primaries, caucuses...) contribute to voter fatigue. One thing that I didn't do was specifically state it is because of federalism that there are so many local elections within the states.

Brilliant, thank you! It turns out we did actually talk about it but my teacher never referred to it as democratic overload lol.

[YahRah]

The worst thing about gov & politics is that, despite being a moderate subject, you can shed marks so easily in exams. I got an A overall in AS and then in 3A in January I managed to get an E! I got back my exam paper and I got hardly any marks because, despite the countless examples and quotes and so on, I hadn't linked them back to the question. So the examiner basically ignored all of my knowledge and gave me an E because I didn't continuously write 'This shows that......'

[sachi]

(Original post by YahRah)
The worst thing about gov & politics is that, despite being a moderate subject, you can shed marks so easily in exams. I got an A overall in AS and then in 3A in January I managed to get an E! I got back my exam paper and I got hardly any marks because, despite the countless examples and quotes and so on, I hadn't linked them back to the question. So the examiner basically ignored all of my knowledge and gave me an E because I didn't continuously write 'This shows that......'

This. I still haven't got to grips with how to write a political essay because it contrasts so much with how to write an eng. lit. essay! Any tips from anyone would be great!

[.gina]

(Original post by sachi)
This. I still haven't got to grips with how to write a political essay because it contrasts so much with how to write an eng. lit. essay! Any tips from anyone would be great!

Agree with this so much! I got an A in my English Lit exam yet got a D in 3A.

[YahRah]

(Original post by sachi)
This. I still haven't got to grips with how to write a political essay because it contrasts so much with how to write an eng. lit. essay! Any tips from anyone would be great!

As painful as it may be, I think you just have to strip back to pre-GCSE essay techniques and writing in very simple terms, I'm so used to babbling and writing in depth and that seems to be my downfall in politics. In my mock exams I got A/Bs using this technique:

POINT - Caucuses are only used in a few states as they are deemed to be undemocratic.

EXPLAIN - The Mcgovern-Fraser reforms held that they lead to 'smoke-filled rooms' machine politics by strong party activists.

EVIDENCE - Herbert Humphreys won the 1956? primary campaign based entirely on caucuses, meaning that at no time did the general public have a chance to vote for him.

LINK - This shows how caucuses can result in primary elections becoming too undemocratic and not representative of wider opinions.

SYNOPTICITY (possibly) - Caucus elections can be compared to the election of the party leader in UK politics which is also criticized for being undemocratic as only party members can vote.

So yeah, basically I thought of about 5/6 of these when planning my 30 mark answer and just made them into paragraphs. Seems really elementary but seems to work for politics :/

[.gina]

My politics teacher says one of our main problems is we answer the question we want it to be, not the question that they actually ask us. When we actually answered the question that was written in front of us, rather than what we wanted it to be, we all got much better marks in the mocks. Highlighting the key words helps, but since they don't let you highlight in the exam I guess writing it in the answer book and underlining as part of your plan helps.

Also, something else I realised was that I try and get straight into the 10 mark questions - I spend 5 minutes out of 45 planning both the 10 and 30 mark questions and I've got much better marks in my mocks from thinking about it beforehand. I got 9/10 on a religious right question which I was quite pleased about

Also, on a different topic, has anyone got a simple definition of neoconservatism? I'm making mind-maps to stick on my wall and it needs to be something I can glance at and read quickly. Every definition I keep finding are a bit too wordy :P

[lionz24]

am freaking out so bad am planning to do political parties and voting behavior, can anyone share answered past paper questions my structure is dreadful. thanks

[don_lad_]

(Original post by sachi)
This. I still haven't got to grips with how to write a political essay because it contrasts so much with how to write an eng. lit. essay! Any tips from anyone would be great!

english lit rewards flair, govpol is basically throwing a ****load of factual knowledge at the wall and seeing what sticks then putting in links to the question and synoptic (UK) material for every point. like other people have said just do the basics of points with evidence and if your evidence is from the last 3 or 4 years then you'll get top marks most likely.

[blondie :)]

I'll be doing Constitution and Congress and The Executive as back up! Cannot stand the Supreme Court!

[Davey]

For GOV3A I'm doing Political Parties and Voting Behaviour. Does anyone have any idea of the likely topics for the 30 mark questions?

[JackDentist]

I've revised the Electoral Process and Pressure Groups for 3A with Voting Behaviour as back up.

Anybody's teachers attempted to question spot or have and idea of what could be asked?

[imasupercoolgeek]

y'all ready for tomorrow lol? im hoping to do pressure groups and voting behaviour with political parties as back up!!

[Andufus]

I seem to remember the 10 mark question for voting behaviour being 'explain why some voters choose to split their ticket' or something similar - I sat it in january and am resitting it tomorrow. Not entirely sure I'm going to improve on my grade though.

[.gina]

I think I'll cry if I don't improve my grade, I don't think I've ever done so much revision :|