Doing Government and Politics AS and A2 in one year.

Is that all you need?
You don't need any other materials...
Some people i know have been using this book....

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Edexcel-Government-Politics-AS-As/dp/1444178806/ref=sr_1_8?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1370384870&sr=1-8&keywords=as+edexcel+politics
Do you know much about that text book

Well those are the only books I personally needed to use. Looking at past papers, mark-schemes and examiners' reports is essential. Reading a decent paper and watching political programmes is also very important.
I haven't looked at that book, but the author wrote the unit guide for Unit 2 (revision guide) which was quite good for revision notes.

How does that work?
Does your college do intensive alevel or something?

No, the timetable just allows me to do both A2 politics and AS politics and my history teacher teaches politics and thinks I would be capable of doing it in a year.

I think so, I'm fairly confident with my results in History and Geography but I want 3 A's and I don't think I'll get that in Biology due to the exam board. Government and Politics complements my other subjects well too.

Yeah my friends who have done politics have stressed the same about keeping up to date with the news.....
Is that Essential Politics book good though? Do you recommend it? Cos i am only going to buy one book, either your one or the Mc Naughton

It is a good textbook, there are two volumes. I have the second one which was published just after the coalition was formed so it's up-to-date. It doesn't contain every little thing and has some stuff you don't really need to know, but using it with other resources shows you what is required. It does a good job of explaining the concepts. Why not go into a bookshop or library and have a look at the two books, see which style you prefer? Their content probably won't vary much. Which does the teacher recommend?

I am gonna self teach politics but a teacher has offered me to help me with some things, plus my sister did a politics degree so i should be okay-ish/ TBH i don't really wanna go to classes on my gap year. Would rather work in my own pace and Politics seems like a subject that i may be able to do without being in class. I have done english and sociology this year so essay writing is something im used to!

Regarding the text book, thats what i find hard to choose. People at my college who were doing Politics were using the same book as you, whilst my friends at another college were using that white McNaughton one (the one i posted the link above).

Politics is definitely one you can self-study. Just pick the book you prefer the structure of, the content won't vary much.

hmmm maybe your right

did you find the text book you used very helpful?

Bit late to the game here but I have literally just completed, through self-teaching, my A2 exams for G&P after doing my AS in January so I have done exactly what you would like to do OP. I think its perfectly doable, having achieved an A in the AS exams in January.

I used the textbooks by McNaughton, Heywood's Political Ideologies book and the revision guides published by Phillip Alan. The revision guides contain example answers of both A grade and C grade papers and therefore are optimum in learning how to structure and how much info to include. Yes there is a fair amount of information to learn but nothing unmanageable. With self teaching and careful motivation, you can achieve high grades I'm sure.

I'm happy to help with any questions or assistance you may want in the future as well

Good luck!

Did you get anybody to mark your essays? Like how did you revise? Just going through the text book and making notes?
Also when did you start revision for both the AS and the A2

I personally didn't get anybody to mark my essays. I used the mark schemes found online through the exam board.
To revise I made mass notes of everything and then made spider diagrams, cue cards and loads of essay plans.
To be honest I started revising roughly 2-3 weeks before my AS and 3-4 weeks before my A2.

As someone who has done AS and A2 (I finished today) I hope my answer may aid your decision.
I do edexcel politics (which I believe most colleges do) and got a B at AS level and am aiming/hoping to get an A in august. Of all my chosen subjects politics has been the most interesting and I truly believe that it has extended my thoughts, opinions and ability to right well reasoned arguments (useful as I wish to study law) So in terms of enjoyment I think that most people including yourself would enjoy the course as it really does extend your mindset and opens your eyes to the world around you (plus you understand the importance of voting which many young people don't).
However I would also make a case not to take the full A level in a year due to the fact that in my opinion it has been the most demanding of my subjects (I do english lit, history, sociology and general studies at A level as well) as although the content in the first year is fairly easy to grasp the way in which you are expected to write and analyse information and arguments is incredibly difficult. The grade boundries are relativley low for a reason, because it by no means a 'soft subject' and particularly the content in the second year is not only tricky at times to understand but there is so much of it to remember that the exams themselves have been very demanding.
Also if you do few essay subjects getting used to and practicing essays can be difficult as shown by some of my classmates. In addition to this I have found that many people doing politics are highly intelligent (I am by no means saying that those in other classes are not) and are interested in politics and the world around them (therefore you would need to be reading a newspaper on a frequent basis)
Nevertheless having stated all these negatives about trying to complete the subject in a year I believe it you are prepared for the workload and the difficulties it would be most beneficial and really enjoyable.
If you have any Q's feel free to ask and sorry if I've rambled on (I tend to do that...a lot )
Good luck in whatever you decide!

wow your clever

and you got an A
where did you sit your exams....? As a private candidate?

Ahahah thanks that is just revising though! It took about a month for me to learn the AS and the A2 before starting revising.

I sat all my exams as a private candidate: my AS ones at an exam centre and my A2 ones at my previous school (which is also an exam centre).

Oh

So for A2 there are 3 15 mark questions and 1 45 marker question

How many topics do you need to learn as for AS you only need learn 2 for Paper 1 although teachers advice learning 3

Also Political ideologies seems hard just by browsing through the text book!