A2 Edexcel Govt & Politics Units 5 and 6 (22nd and 26th June)

omg! that is essentially all that came up! what a lucky guess.

yes i did C, how did u find it? i did pressure groups and congress for my 60 markers, u?

i know i was so lucky!

i was contemplating the pressure group essay but thought i had more of a A grade response for the race one - i dont know however if the risk will pull off

as question was like polictical strategies to improve equality whereas i only did it about affirmative action

argh. also i thought pressure groups influence on senate was bit of an off question

and i was threw on the flexible constitution - wrote firstly about amendment process then went on to sep. of powers and gridlock but dont know if i got enough down on the latter :s

also did the congress effective in const. nature

half the class including me wrote about leg, rep, and srutiny while the other half wrote about checks and balances..
so dont know about that one either!

just wish it was more obvious or a more difintive answer instead of trying to second guess what the examiner wants - or maybe thats justr me!

xx

well i went for the pressure group question just cos it was so straightforward..but i suppose if i had revised race stuff i might have done that instead.

hmm i didnt talk about gridlock or seperation of powers..it wasnt about legislation it was about constitution so i went with the usual arguments:
i talked about the ammendment process-only 27 ammendments etc. and then said but actually it can be said to be flexible because a) supreme court can alter meaning e.g. brown case, b)congressional acts can alter important constitutional processes e.g. voting rights act gave blacks the ability to vote thus increased the US franchise.
but u might be right..i wasnt too sure..i hadnt revised constitions at all-i actually forgot they were part of unit5.

for congress-id have to go with the first half of your class, essentially the same question came up in unit2, so i structured it the same way-roles are legislation, checks and representation so i just went thro each one arguing how congress is effective and not effective in each. but i wasnt sure if they wanted more theory than reality..i mostly wrote about recent examples rather than rambling on about how it should be in theory..
the first half of your class also did checks and balances with scrutinisation anyway..
what did u do for the const one?
ah well, we'll see how it goes. january 07 had the best questions! pah.
what were ur section A questions?
i stayed far away from the pressure group and senate one..all i could think was lobbying and had very few examples for that.

hmm.....i did the Congress question and I did the checks and balances-walked out the exam room and realised shudve done rep, scrutiny etc and their effectiveness-pretty depressed now..need to get 90% ums in politics-rlly dnt think thats gonna happen anymore..have u got any ideas bout wot mite be on mod 6?i'm thinking elections but rlly not sure..

i did the party resurgence question..was ok...argh how were mod 1 and 2 this year? think u shud be ok if u did the resits! i cnt remember anything from last year... o well...gd luck with it all!

I did route C and the 'Lame Duck' question for Unit 5

I realised afterwards that I got the wrong definition for 'lame duck' and hence answered it wrongly.

For some reason I thought 'Lame Duck' refers to a President who is up against an opposition Party who controls congress and so their limited with the power they have. So I answered it by writing about the powers of the President and how he is still powerful even when Congress is against him.

I'm very frustrated, I was so certain that's what it meant and so I answered it.

I really hope I get marks for it because I put such good points across

Do you think I would get marks for it?

Yeh im sure u will! That's kinda right coz its about the limits on the President..s'long as u mentioned Bush or some examples they'll definitely credit it! Don't worry...i cnt really talk tho...

Yeh I spoke about the recent Mid-term elections how Bush is now like a lame duck and he's against a democratic controlled congress.

I also mentioned about Clinton, who in 95 who was against Republican controlled Congress.

Apparently it's positive marking anyway so I really hope I get marks for it.


On Unit 4 I did the Mid-Term Question, the small Pressure group question and the 60 mark Pressure group question. It's not common for there to be a number of straight forward 60 mark questions on Unit 4 papers, so I assume the grade boundaries won't be as low as 60% as the previous past papers have been.

These were the last 2 years of questions:

June 05

1) Compare and contrast the effectiveness of the US congress and the UK Parliament in controlling the executive

2) How successfully are civil liberties upheld in the UK and the USA

3) 'US pressure groups are more powerful than UK pressure groups.' Discuss.

4) Which State is more democratic, the UK or the USA?

June 06

1) 'The two-party system has grown stronger in the USA whilst it has grown weaker in the UK'. Discuss

2) Are heads of government in the UK and the USA as powerful as they appear to be?

3) 'Power has shifted towards central government in both the UK and USA, regardless of their formal constitutional arrangements.' Discuss

4) Compare and contrast the representative nature of the US Congress and the UK Parliament

well i went for the pressure group question just cos it was so straightforward..but i suppose if i had revised race stuff i might have done that instead.

hmm i didnt talk about gridlock or seperation of powers..it wasnt about legislation it was about constitution so i went with the usual arguments:
i talked about the ammendment process-only 27 ammendments etc. and then said but actually it can be said to be flexible because a) supreme court can alter meaning e.g. brown case, b)congressional acts can alter important constitutional processes e.g. voting rights act gave blacks the ability to vote thus increased the US franchise.
but u might be right..i wasnt too sure..i hadnt revised constitions at all-i actually forgot they were part of unit5.

for congress-id have to go with the first half of your class, essentially the same question came up in unit2, so i structured it the same way-roles are legislation, checks and representation so i just went thro each one arguing how congress is effective and not effective in each. but i wasnt sure if they wanted more theory than reality..i mostly wrote about recent examples rather than rambling on about how it should be in theory..
the first half of your class also did checks and balances with scrutinisation anyway..
what did u do for the const one?
ah well, we'll see how it goes. january 07 had the best questions! pah.
what were ur section A questions?
i stayed far away from the pressure group and senate one..all i could think was lobbying and had very few examples for that.

Anarchism short answer was great, feminism was slightly dodgy but the feminism essay was spot on...hopefully.

Yeah i agree with that about the short answer feminism question, kinda threw me a bit when i saw it - i talked about liberal feminists stressing the women's right to choose their own gender role and contrasted it with the radical feminist view that androgyny should replace gender bias, making the concept of gender irrelevant . . . sounds like a load of bull to me but it might just work.