edexel A2 politics Route A

I was only doing unit 5 as I did unit 4 in January. I opted for Inter/Supra and the CAP question (seems everyone did CAP) and then the essay on democratic deficit as i'm not to good with economics so didn't fancy the single market question. I thought it went reasonably well though.

Reply 5

babyboo

OP

Mark_KK

What did people write on the E.C.B. I did the course in one year and thus could only cover certain topics and this was the "best of the rest" for me after I did the C.A.P. question.

ecb i wrote supranational neutral body one of only a few in eu, (ECJ)and looks at the interests of affectin EU as a whole n not just specific countries. and then interest rates fiscal poilcy and its constraints on govt policy, then i put that its become significant on a global scale, i thought this point was wicked the idea that the rates it set will affect othe foreign exchange markets, n just that theres dependency on the ECB now!! basically it i think, cant think what else i put

Reply 6

Redx

Hey,

I did

Unit 4
social security
NHS privitisation
ECONOMY CONSENSUS

Unit 5
CAP
Supra/Inter
SINGLE EUROPEAN MARKET

I thought the exam went really well! YAY!!!

Now only the synoptic 2 go!!!

How's everyone gonna prepare for that?????

Reply 7

babyboo

OP

Red

How's everyone gonna prepare for that?????

bugger all

Reply 8

missyb

anyone?! wasn't terrible, but vertainly wasnt brilliant in my opinion.......had been banking on there being a big question about racism so had really mugged that up-ooops! did the economic one but found it pretty hard-what did you say? that there basically is a consensus, just small differences between the parties(like liberals advocating higher tax) and also differences between parties such as TUs against labour uusing private sector etc? mabye it wasnt that bad, but dont think i wrote very well............
oh well! thought unit 5 was much better than id expected-the 20 mark questions were all okay.....did ECB and conditions of candidate countries, nae too bad! for big essay did democratic deficit. help me on this one-the question was 'analyse the measures which HAVE been taken to rectiy the democratic deficit? or something along those lines wasnt it?! please tell me it was about thing which HAVE been done, cos as soon as i came out, one girl said shed wrote all about things that COULD be done............nightmare! which one of us is right?!!!!!!!!!
any ideas for what it ll be on thurs? thought the economic consensu one was quite like a unit 6 q-theyre more general arent they, leave more scope...
and if i did get the democratic deficit q right, what did you write about? co-=decision, co-operation, commission being questioned by parliament, 1999 all leaving, subsidiarity? didnt know what had been done to council of ministrs tho..........
phew! tg its over! :smile:

Reply 9

JayJay

Did you put in the three main models

Supranational Government
Subsidial Federal Structure
British Parl System?

Didn't do the DD question, but that's how i'd have attacked that q

Reply 10

missyb

anyone?! wasn't terrible, but vertainly wasnt brilliant in my opinion.......had been banking on there being a big question about racism so had really mugged that up-ooops! did the economic one but found it pretty hard-what did you say? that there basically is a consensus, just small differences between the parties(like liberals advocating higher tax) and also differences between parties such as TUs against labour uusing private sector etc? mabye it wasnt that bad, but dont think i wrote very well............
oh well! thought unit 5 was much better than id expected-the 20 mark questions were all okay.....did ECB and conditions of candidate countries, nae too bad! for big essay did democratic deficit. help me on this one-the question was 'analyse the measures which HAVE been taken to rectiy the democratic deficit? or something along those lines wasnt it?! please tell me it was about thing which HAVE been done, cos as soon as i came out, one girl said shed wrote all about things that COULD be done............nightmare! which one of us is right?!!!!!!!!!
any ideas for what it ll be on thurs? thought the economic consensu one was quite like a unit 6 q-theyre more general arent they, leave more scope...
and if i did get the democratic deficit q right, what did you write about? co-=decision, co-operation, commission being questioned by parliament, 1999 all leaving, subsidiarity? didnt know what had been done to council of ministrs tho..........
phew! tg its over! :smile:

I did Democratic deficit. The question was 'Analyse the various proposals that have been put forward to correct the democratic deficit in the EU' (i'm sure of that, I have a strong memory for these things). Thus I think both have and could are both proposals (although obviously first r proposals put into practice and second are just ideas waiting). Therefore If i'm right with that, you would both be right! (I hope I am because that what I thought it meant anyhow!)

Thus I wrote(and I hope this was right i.e whats on the mark scheme!):

- Discussed what DD is in summary (i.e intro.)
- Then mentioned DD in commission (unelected and unnacountable)
- Mentioned proposals for reform i.e give parliament more power 2 hold it 2 account (which has happened), more power for president (also happened) lastly ideas that some commentators have forwarded ie. fully elected commission (obviously just an idea proposal).
- DD in legislative sphere, i.e undemocratic nature of council, but despite this very powerful versus fully elected parliament with less power. EU's proposed solution more power to the Parliament (under SEA onwards) with more proposed in constitution. More openness in council.
- However Sceptics position that they argue this hasn't actually made EU more democratic since parliament itself not that democratic - issue of turnout and no pan-european democracy.
- Thus new ideas bout giving national parliaments more significance in decision making through select committees (which has been implemented) and Constitution yellow card proposal.
-Conclusion i.e a sum up..

Reply 11

missyb

phew, okay, kinda feel better now.........it just gave me a heart attack when this other girl said shed written all about proposal which hadn' been implemented and i'd been blabbing along about ones which had. phew! thanx so much for replying, wld have been twiddling me thumbs all night wondering about it..................
now just thursday to go ay?

Reply 12

Unit 4:

Questions 1, 2, 7.

Unit 5:

Questions 2, 3, 6.

I like to know why Edexcel in their wisdom decided to set the synoptic on the very last day in the afternoon. Last year unit 3 was with units 1 and 2. So why not unit 6 with 4 and 5? Means I miss some of my leavers day, oh well. Someone will have to miss some of it, just had to be me.

Reply 13

babyboo

OP

i hope the unit 6 paper has 2 lovely questions on the EU, pressure groups n constitution!! nothin on law n order or N.I PLEASE!!!!!

Reply 14

NDGAARONDI

Unit 4:

Questions 1, 2, 7.

Unit 5:

Questions 2, 3, 6.

I like to know why Edexcel in their wisdom decided to set the synoptic on the very last day in the afternoon. Last year unit 3 was with units 1 and 2. So why not unit 6 with 4 and 5? Means I miss some of my leavers day, oh well. Someone will have to miss some of it, just had to be me.

Apparently it is to do with the Examination authority (QCA). Exam boards are not allowed to set exams that go over a 3 hour period (or so I'm told), as a result unit 1,2,&3 can go together because that is 3 hours but not 4,5&6 because it comes to more.

Reply 15

Indelible

I wrote 10 lines for the CAP question and then crossed it out and started the Intra/Supra instead because I thought I knew more about it. :tongue:

Reply 16

babyboo

i hope the unit 6 paper has 2 lovely questions on the EU, pressure groups n constitution!! nothin on law n order or N.I PLEASE!!!!!

I don't mind law and order, would rather have that than the economy. Yes NI gives me a headache in class but most of the time we did not learn anything about it.

Do any of you read the indicative contents of past papers?

Also I do not have any past papers in their original format. Is it two essays pick one like in unit 3?

Reply 17

Imagashead

Apparently it is to do with the Examination authority (QCA). Exam boards are not allowed to set exams that go over a 3 hour period (or so I'm told), as a result unit 1,2,&3 can go together because that is 3 hours but not 4,5&6 because it comes to more.

They could just then make units 4 and 5 1 hour each respectively and change the exam accordingly?

I always give a few minutes at the beginning of the exam on which question to do. If elections/devolution issues come up that will be real handy.

Reply 18

NDGAARONDI

I don't mind law and order, would rather have that than the economy. Yes NI gives me a headache in class but most of the time we did not learn anything about it.

Do any of you read the indicative contents of past papers?

Also I do not have any past papers in their original format. Is it two essays pick one like in unit 3?

No in unit 6 there are 4 essays and you have to pick 2, each one takes around 45minutes (or should!).

Reply 19