National 5 Modern Studies

FTPT Advantages:

1) Fair - The FPTP system can be described as being fair as each constituent is given one vote and can vote for their preferred candidate. Usually the winning candidate in a constituent wins by a majority of the votes, meaning the majority of the constituency is represented which makes it not only fair, But also democratic. For example, for the constituency of Glasgow Central, an MP like Alison Thewliss may receive 60,000 votes out of a possible 90,000. This makes Alison Thewliss win by a majority making it fair and democratic as the majority of the constituency is represented.

2) Simple - The FPTP system is considered to be a very simple way of voting which is easy to understand as all the candidate has to do is simply place an "x" next to the candidate of their preferred choice on the ballot paper. This can make the FPTP system very straight forward which in turn allows results to be released much faster and it also encourages people to vote due to its simplicity. For example, in 2015 the general election results were known by Noon the next day.

3) Tried and Trusted - This means that the vast majority of people in the UK are familiar with the FPTP system, So this will allow more people to get involved, increasing voter turnout. For example, in the 2015 election turnout for FPTP was 65% compared to STV which was only 40%.

Disadvantages:

1) Wasted Votes - However, the FPTP system does have its drawbacks. One notable drawback is that the winning candidate only needs 1 more vote than his/her closest competitor in order to win the election, essentially meaning that all the votes gained by his/her closest competitor are irrelevant. For example, in a constituency of 50,000 people, the winning candidate could gain 25,001 votes compared to his rival with 24,999. This shows that those 24,999 votes are wasted all, Because of one extra vote, leaving them unrepresented.

2) Unrepresented - The winning candidate in an election for FPTP may not need to receive a majority of the votes to win. This in turn means that only a minority of people who actually voted for the winning candidate would be represented in parliament, unlike the others who wouldn't be. For example, in a constituency of 50,000 people, three candidates could be running for MPs. The winning candidate could receive 20,00 votes, where as both the other candidates combined could gain 30,000 Votes. This leaves those 30,000 people in that constituency unrepresented making it undemocratic.

Wow! Thanks for such a comprehensive breakdown of fptp - really appreciate it I owe ya

Anyone have other revision/past papers as I've done every past paper on sqa website?

I'll post some pictures of model papers I got from my teacher- she only gave photos of the units we were taught (democracy in scotland, crime and the law, usa world power). I'm away for a bath so they will be up very soon!

Here they come-there's a lot of pics so this may take me a few minutes haha

Could you try post a couple more KU question from them model papers, much appreciated!

Will do haha there should be 18 by the time I've uploaded them all! Sorry this is taking ages but I hit some button and deleted my attachments. Bear with me pls

Second batch finally-I'm getting the hang of it now

They are all here I'm gonna stop typing now before I screw this up

Perseverance is the key and thanks man I'll ask if I need anything. Same goes if you want to ask me anything

Do we need to know about Alcohol laws and puishments for crime and the law ?
Could we be asked a question specifically about it or is it just good knowledge to have and use it apart of a bigger question, for example Role of the police.