Politics Unit 3c and 4c paper June 2014

I only have questions for 3C

The 15 markers:

1. To what extent are different groups of minority voters concerned about the same political issues?

2. Why has the role of professional lobbyists been controversial?

3. To what extent do initiatives and propositions promote democracy?

4. Explain the main ideas and policies of the Republican Party?

5. Why are congressional elections so uncompetitive?

The 45 markers:

6. To what extent are pressure groups now more important than political parties in US politics?

7. 'Race has ceased to be a significant issue in US politics.' Discuss

8. To what extent has the Obama administration departed from traditional Democratic values and policies?

For anyone doing 4C I want to miss out congress and do the other 3 because it is by far the longest and takes up 40% of the whole unit! Is this a good game to play for this exam.... Thoughts?

I was advised not to do that, last year you could learn 3 out of the 4 topics and getaway with it but this year the paper structured a little bit differently and getting away with that isn't so easy here. I only learnt 2 topics for each unit last year (Democracy + elections and PM + Parliament) and was lucky to come out with an A, but I'm not going to gamble with like that this year, I don't advise you doing so either. Congress sure as hell is long but it's easy too, there's only a limited number of questions they can ask you such as to what extent does Congress have a meaningful role in foreign policy or to what extent is Congress the broken branch. Literally, the vast majority of questions repeat themselves each year and are just re-worded differently.

The way I'm revising for this is by creating plans for every singe possible 45 mark questions (and 15 markers) that can come up and then revising from that, did it last year and it worked, looking at past papers over the years, it could work this year.

I hear you but congresses long e.g 4x longer than supreme and the links are covered in presidency with 'relationship to congress'

Hey does anyone having any revision stuff on race and ethnic politics? I really like the topic but my teacher is rubbish and completely missed out all the stuff on civil rights and immigration? Be so grateful! Thank you!

Hi there, I agree it's a nice topic to do a 15 or 45 marker on, loads of points to use.
I have attached an email i recieved off of my teacher i hope it is of use to you.
Some of the points about the supreme court cases and the 14th amendement link nicely to questions in 4C about the supreme court being an imperial branch of Govt making an act unconstitutional - Brown v Board of Education reversing Plessy v Ferguson or a question on the constitution being flexible or unflexible to changing social times- as it states in the powerpoint the civil rights movement served as an example for other groups civil rights advancement - think the National organization for women and how they pushed for equal rights for women under the law- passed by both house of congress over two-thirds majority , but fell short of that majority needed by the state legislatures - an example of the inflexibilty of the codified constitution they have.
The power point also covers Affirmative action which i think is likely to come on a possible 45 marker, I obviously don't know if you have covered that but if you need more information on that just ask.
The power point does not really cover immigration that much- I HIGHLY recommend that you buy yourself Edexcel Gov and politics UNIT 3 +4C, i bought mine on amazon they helped me a lot last year in AS and this year- they include examples on immigration such as Bush's 'guest worker' scheme in 2004 and up to date examples of Obama's administration and their lack of action taken on sanctuary cities.
Good luck in the exam, I hope that's useful to you.

Yeah that's really great thank you! No she missed out pretty much the whole topic and she has not given us any examples! So annoying! So thank you so much

You are welcome , if you need any other information or up to date examples that are not on that power point just ask, Are you planning on doing politics in Uni ?

Thanks you! Do you have any of the factions/examples in each party? I'm no sure yet I'm taking a year out you?

Do the Edexcel revision guides cover all the content? I was predicted an A* but have become really complacent with politics and haven't really touched it recently, so trying to find a short cut (if there is one) to cover all the content that we need to, as well as some essay practice

They cover each topic in a lot of detail, with examples as up to date as 2013, to get more up to date than this you would need to purchase the Edexcel up dated version which is only as up to date as 2014 or Bennetts annual up date 2015.
I really would not worry too much, there is time to do revision between now and the exam, although sadly there is no 'short cut' exactly, the edexcel books cut out a lot of detail you do not need, and there are exam examples of responses at the back of the book.
I can give you 2013 past papers if you need? on 3C and 4C.

Thanks for your response. So in your opinion the Edexcel revision guides cover everything we need to know? I think I've ordered the Bennets 2015 book too! Do you think I could get away with revising 3/4 topics for each unit? Are they available on the Edexcel website? If not, please do

Yes they cover everything, Bennets book will be good for examples on the 2014 mid terms.
If i am honest i am going to be take my chances and for 3C revise Elections, Race + partys in full and leave out pressure groups, leave one that you are least good at, because there are 5 questions and you pick 3 in the first section, so there is a good chance there will be at least 3 questions on the topics you have revised, then on the last section the 45 markers there are three pick one and you will be fine to miss pressure groups here as well. In 4C I think revising three and because congress is so long you can just revise the 15 markers that could come up in it, but here you could miss out congress completely, the presidency links to congress a lot, so revise president, judicary which is nice to revise and constitution. Yes you can get the past papers on the website.
Good luck, if you need any other help just ask!