The Student Room Group

AS AQA Government and Politics

Hi! :smile:

Okay, so I'm currently studying AS AQA Government and Politics (kinda obvious from the post title but oh well) and honestly, I'm terrible at it. Don't get me wrong, I love reading, I love writing, but for some reason, I can't seem to hack politics. I don't really know how to start studying it from a beginning point, since I don't know if there IS a beginning point, and we kinda launched into it in class…

I guess what I'm trying to say is, if anyone is studying/has studied the same course, could you please offer some helpful tips please? Any suggestion - big or small makes a difference :smile:

Thank you! (And good luck with your other courses too hehe) xx
Hi there,

While you're waiting for an answer, did you know we have 300,000 study resources that could answer your question in TSR's Learn together section?

We have everything from Teacher Marked Essays to Mindmaps and Quizzes to help you with your work. Take a look around.

If you're stuck on how to get started, try creating some resources. It's free to do and can help breakdown tough topics into manageable chunks. Get creating now.

Thanks!

Not sure what all of this is about? Head here to find out more.
Reply 2
Avatar for Automaton
Automaton
15
My advice would be to look at the big concepts and then look for specific and related facts (as modern/contemporary as possible). For instance, you're learning about the role of Parliament? Well, that's a big concept, so you can layer that down into smaller things like "Parliamentary Sovereignty" etc. Then you can think "what sort of facts might be useful in talking about Parliamentary Sovereignty?" Well, you could look up things like the power that the EU has over it, or the idea of oligarchy and the cabinet having power over it (and then contrast that with the idea that the cabinet cannot have power over parliament because it's a part of it).

Of course, that is much easier when you're given facts and sources and materials by your teacher etc. It's also easier if you look at specifications and see what the main topics are and what they break down into. But, overall, my point is that, for me at least, it helped to think of each topic from a top-down perspective. So I would think of a topic, then think of what concepts that topic was comprised of, then think of which facts and points could be used to support those sub-topics. Having some sort of argument one way or the other is usually a good thing too, though not necessary. I find that essays are easier to write if you have something to argue, rather than just an equal evaluation of both sides of the argument (though, of course, you must provide both sides to some extent). It might also help to keep a lot of facts in one place (a ring binder or something) under different headings, throughout both years. For example, remembering how many backbencher MP's revolted against the invasion of Iraq could come in useful in many topics (discussing parliamentary sovereignty, the power of the cabinet, the power of the PM, the importance of public opinion, the relation between party-line and personal ideology, or the relation between international law and national law, etc. etc.)

Quick Reply

Related discussions

Latest

Trending

Trending

Articles for you