Got an A* in EPQ today, ask me any questions you want about EPQ.

OP

Original post by selenerrr__x

What was your dissertation about?

I did mine on Chinese history, my specific question was 'To What Extent Were the Opium Wars the Most Important Factor in Precipitating the Xinhai Revolution in China in 1911?'.

Reply 2

perflous

11

First of all - congratulations! That's a great achievement.

I'm currently doing my EPQ now (I'm in Year 13) and have left it a bit on the late side. How many hours of work did you put in each week, and for how many weeks? I'm doing the Edexcel exam board and I'm doing a social sciences dissertation. I've got a bit of the way through but still need to properly write the main body of the essay.

Do you have any general tips that helped you get your grade?

Reply 3

subjunctivehistorian

Original post by Alex347_

Hi, I got my EPQ result today and I got an A*. I'm not here to boast; I thought many of you might like to ask some questions about the qualification, since it is very different to most other high school qualifications and ultimately, it requires a lot of independence and is quite difficult, and so I'm sure there's a lot of you that may want advice. You can ask them here or PM me about it, I don't mind either way.

Thanks.

Hey, me too! I am so happy and shocked hahah :biggrin:

Reply 4

Lularose83

14

Woo well done! I'm predicted an a* in epq but I don't think I'll get it. Do you have any advice? Ie how did you structure your essay and how many sources did you use :smile:

Reply 5

Placeboo123

Original post by Alex347_

Hi, I got my EPQ result today and I got an A*. I'm not here to boast; I thought many of you might like to ask some questions about the qualification, since it is very different to most other high school qualifications and ultimately, it requires a lot of independence and is quite difficult, and so I'm sure there's a lot of you that may want advice. You can ask them here or PM me about it, I don't mind either way.

Thanks.

How can I relate an EPQ to a mathematics degree? I was thinking about doing one next year, but I don't know too much about it and especially not sure what it'd look like for maths?
What does it look like? So if I wanted to do something statistically related would I go research deeply into a very particular area, or just broad idea?
Also is there anything I could start this year to be ahead for year 13?
How do universities view EPQs?
You're fully done with it in January?

Reply 6

OP

Original post by perflous

First of all - congratulations! That's a great achievement.

I'm currently doing my EPQ now (I'm in Year 13) and have left it a bit on the late side. How many hours of work did you put in each week, and for how many weeks? I'm doing the Edexcel exam board and I'm doing a social sciences dissertation. I've got a bit of the way through but still need to properly write the main body of the essay.

Do you have any general tips that helped you get your grade?

Hi,

Thanks a lot!

Well quite a few of us in our class, including me had the same problem- other work just seemed to get in the way of EPQ a bit, especially since our school did not have timetabled lessons and my supervise literally lost interest in me after the first meeting! I just did a few hours when I could; it is reccommended that you spend 3 hours per week on the project, but that is unrealistic and rarely happens. I'd say I probably spend a few solid days on it and just edited it in frees and on the weekends. But the EPQ as you'll have realised is not an easy ride and so it does require a significant amount of time.

In terms of general advice, one thing I would definitely say is do not ignore the Production Record/Log! This is worth more than the essay itself, make it very detailed, make it very clear and just generally write it as if your examiner does not have a clue how you formulated your essay. Gloss yourself up, but also make sure you reognise and write about your weaknesses; they like you to show how you overcame challenges, they don't expect that a 5,000 word essay should have been an easy ride for a 16-18 year old. The second thing I'd say is definitely use notes. Do not do what I did and sit there, writing up your project with 10-15 books on the table- condense the quotes and important parts into notes. Also make sure to evaluate sources, I did mine in the footnotes with some reference to validity in the main body. Again, go into a lot of detail with source analysis. A related point is to use many sources- if you think you don't have enough sources, just find the smallest point in another source and reference it.

If you have any more questions please ask.

Reply 7

OP

Original post by Lularose83

Woo well done! I'm predicted an a* in epq but I don't think I'll get it. Do you have any advice? Ie how did you structure your essay and how many sources did you use :smile:

Is the prediction based upon submitted drafts or based on GCSE/AS data? You'll get it so long as you work hard enough :biggrin:

... And be prepared to work, because at times, it was well... Quite easy to give up on, because it got stressful haha.

Well in terms of structure, that depends on your question. Do you have a question in mind? Also I used 17 in the end, use as many as possible!

Reply 8

danniegee

8

Well done Alex347_! :smile:

I got an A* today too for my EPQ on Shakespeare and Film, so feel free to ask questions if you're interested in a Literature-based project/want general advice :wink:

Reply 9

Helloworld_95

It's really not that difficult, if it takes you more than a couple of weeks of actual work (So total of 25-30 hours I'd say) then you've probably chosen a bad topic. The most difficult part is probably the citations, and the only difficult part about that is finding a reasonable source if your first one is kinda dodgy.

Reply 10

OP

Original post by Placeboo123

How can I relate an EPQ to a mathematics degree? I was thinking about doing one next year, but I don't know too much about it and especially not sure what it'd look like for maths?
What does it look like? So if I wanted to do something statistically related would I go research deeply into a very particular area, or just broad idea?
Also is there anything I could start this year to be ahead for year 13?
How do universities view EPQs?
You're fully done with it in January?

Hi,

I cannot really answer questions specifically about Maths, because I did not do a numerically intensive project myself, and neither did anybody else in my class. Typically the EPQ lends itself more to arts and social science students who are used to doing essays, but it can be done!

Also yes, the biggest thing you could do is decide a question and stick with it! In my class, many people changed their question after a few months, and that just was not good. The question title is what you need to do before year 13 in short.

Very, very well. So many of my classmates got alternative offers which lowered A Level requirements. It became more useful to many people on a scale that they did not expect.

Reply 11

Lularose83

14

[QUOTE="Alex347_;52757715"]Is the prediction based upon submitted drafts or based on GCSE/AS data? You'll get it so long as you work hard enough :biggrin:

... And be prepared to work, because at times, it was well... Quite easy to give up on, because it got stressful haha.

Well in terms of structure, that depends on your question. Do you have a question in mind? Also I used 17 in the end, use as many as possible![/QUOTE

Prediction was based on submitted drafts. I really need to get a move on with it though, I haven't researched for a while and I can feel it building up! The question is in relation to deficiency of a specific vitamin and to what extent it can account for increase in rise of neurodegenerative disease :smile:

Reply 12

OP

Original post by Helloworld_95

It's really not that difficult, if it takes you more than a couple of weeks of actual work (So total of 25-30 hours I'd say) then you've probably chosen a bad topic. The most difficult part is probably the citations, and the only difficult part about that is finding a reasonable source if your first one is kinda dodgy.

I got an A* in it. I don't need you to tell me that it was 'not difficult'. It will be difficult to some people, because it's a completely different academic experience to other qualifications.

Reply 13

OP

[QUOTE="Lularose83;52757897"]

Original post by Alex347_

Is the prediction based upon submitted drafts or based on GCSE/AS data? You'll get it so long as you work hard enough :biggrin:

... And be prepared to work, because at times, it was well... Quite easy to give up on, because it got stressful haha.

Well in terms of structure, that depends on your question. Do you have a question in mind? Also I used 17 in the end, use as many as possible![/QUOTE

Prediction was based on submitted drafts. I really need to get a move on with it though, I haven't researched for a while and I can feel it building up! The question is in relation to deficiency of a specific vitamin and to what extent it can account for increase in rise of neurodegenerative disease :smile:

Then I am sure you will get it! Oh my goodness, science! I am absolutely terrible with science, hopefully a science-based EPQ student will come on this thread and help you out. Two people in my class did a science EPQ, but it lends itself better to social science and humanities students who are used to writing essays, and so I congratulate you for crossing those traditional stereotypes haha.

Reply 14

Lularose83

14

[QUOTE="Alex347_;52757965"]

Original post by Lularose83

Then I am sure you will get it! Oh my goodness, science! I am absolutely terrible with science, hopefully a science-based EPQ student will come on this thread and help you out. Two people in my class did a science EPQ, but it lends itself better to social science and humanities students who are used to writing essays, and so I congratulate you for crossing those traditional stereotypes haha.

Haha thank you, hoping all will go to plan! Congratulations on your fantastic result again :smile:

Reply 15

Placeboo123

Original post by Alex347_

Hi,

I cannot really answer questions specifically about Maths, because I did not do a numerically intensive project myself, and neither did anybody else in my class. Typically the EPQ lends itself more to arts and social science students who are used to doing essays, but it can be done!

Also yes, the biggest thing you could do is decide a question and stick with it! In my class, many people changed their question after a few months, and that just was not good. The question title is what you need to do before year 13 in short.

Very, very well. So many of my classmates got alternative offers which lowered A Level requirements. It became more useful to many people on a scale that they did not expect.

What does an average question in a particular field look like? is it good if it's highly related to the course you want to do at university?
How much time did it take you? And how much of that time was independent research?
How do you get graded in it? Is it just like a btec you write then gets marked? If you get lower than you expected can you go back and make it better?
How much help from teacher do you need to get into How much help from teacher do you need to get in order to get your EPQ?
If I decided to start my EPQ now could I get my final grade in a few months or is it like an exam that only takes place once in the year?

Reply 16

Helloworld_95

Original post by Alex347_

I got an A* in it. I don't need you to tell me that it was 'not difficult'. It will be difficult to some people, because it's a completely different academic experience to other qualifications.

Yeah, of course it'll be difficult to some people, in the same way that getting a C in GCSE maths is difficult for some people.

It's really not that different an experience, it's pretty much think of an idea, write notes on that idea and then write up those notes into a paper, if you haven't done any of those then ok, it's completely different to anything you've experienced before, but then you just get the argument that it's a single, mollycuddled uni assignment, which most people would get on with fine.

Reply 17

OP