Sociology - AQA Unit 1 - Families and Households Jan 2011

It was pretty good! And oh dont worry, AQA are RUBBISH! I want to do english at university and I got a horrendous mark in the exam, just like you, and it did NOT reflect my ability whatsoever. urgh!

I hope you have done better this year, it's so stressful redoing exams isn't it I'm doing Three retakes and that's pretty grim.

I found it ok, I messed up on the net migration one, I dont even know how lol as soon as I got out I was like I KNOW THE ANSWER?! IT'S SO EASY?! The 4 and 6 markers were okay i thought, for the reasons why people want to migrate I put to escape religious persecution (linking to France and Holland in 16th/17th century, so I hope they accept that?!) and standard of living.

For the big q on marriage etc, I put in Sue Sharpe about magazines but then in the book under the topic it talks about interviews, but I know she looked at magazines as well so I hope I don't lose too many marks! Wrote quite a lot so was alright on that one,

Childhood I found AWESOME. Was hoping and praying for this to come up, hopefully would have got a good mark in that so fingers crossed!
How about you? xxxx

It is stressful, the worst thing is knowing that you havent been taught this stuff for almost a year, and then a hour before the exam its panic time! I have 3 retakes aswell, did Geography this morning! Hate 2 exams on the same day :/

Good! Ah, unlucky! I loved the net migration! Hopefully get 10/12 in the short questions overall. They should accept that religious persecution! I didn't think of that, cant remember what I put now but got standard of living.

Haha! I mentionned Sue Sharpe aswell, it was one of the only Sociologists I could remember haha! Wrote just over a page for that, but I do quite a few words per line, so all my answers are quite short.

Childhood was nice! Everyone was suggesting that would come up! "Child-Centred" was good to base the answer around! Hopefully I got atleast a C, which will be an improvement on my U last year! Hoping for a B though! What about you? xx

I found it alright ish
the first 3 questions were on things i never revised i think ill get 6/12 for them
but the essays were good! they were two i wanted

I had like 25 mins to write each esaay, i just rushed the first 3 questions
filled up the whole booklet (although my handwriting was pretty big)

Wht sort of things did people write for the 6 mark question, mine was sooo muddeld.

Was that the ethnic diversity - family diversity one?
I wrote that Modood et al found that African Caribbeans tend to be single parent families (and then briefly said why, legacy of slave trade etc) that Bangladeshi tend to be nuclear (tradition/religion?) and that South Asians tend to be extended (reflecting their cultural identity?)

xxxx

Well anything will be better than last year. 165/200 atm added up, so any improvement on that means WAAAYYY less pressure for the june exam! xxx and Yeah I'm hoping to get 8 or more in the first qs hopefully! I'm used to putting it so much depth because of how long and complicated the essays have to be this year, so I felt as though I wasn't saying enough etc but heyho, only three exams left now! xxxx

Haha yeah! I think it is definitely easier when you are in A2 resitting an AS as you know what is coming and how to structure the essays better.
Good luck with the other exams! Does that include Unit 3 - Beliefs in Religion next Friday? xx

I thought this exam was quite difficult compared to the others I have done.

I knew migration and ethnic differences would come up! But my textbook only has the tiniest bit on it so I thought it couldn't be for all 3 of the shorter questions.. Oh how I was wrong. I put down what I guess though, net migration something along the lines of immigration and emigration and how they effect population size. It's not the word for word answer but hopefully it could get a mark. For the second I said something along the lines of people may migrate to the UK for better education opportunities/better quality of life. For the third one something along the lines of Black women more likely to be LPF usually due to the their views on independence, blacks and whites more likely to get divorces, Indians etc more likely to marry. Total guesses, I hope they're okay.

The essays weren't great for me. For marriage I talked about change in womens position, secularisation, fall in stigma. For cohabitation I talked about Chester and Coast, contraception, fall in stigma of sex outside marriage/living together before marriage and some other rubbish.

Childhood I did about Aries, then functionalist march in progress view, then critics of that - inequalities between children and adult power of children. Gittens 'age patriarchy', laws, compulsory schooling, how children are a unit of consumption for marxists this helps the bourgeoisie stay in power etc etc.

I don't think I have done particularly well!

I self taught myself this unit, and also all the others. People were talking about Sharpe and Cunningham, but I have never came across these studies! I hope this doesn't effect me too much I'm being a bit of a strange one and doing the whole a level in January.

I don't feel very confident for the other units

It sure does. Man there is a hell of a lot to learn! I'm hoping to god ideology doesn't come up - it weirds me out and is confusing lol. REALLY just want a plain, easy, secularisation question tbh!

Anyway, back to this exam haha. I didn't include many names of people. Modood for Q3, Sue Sharpe...Townsend for cultural variations of child poverty etc... literally don't think I included any other names, just perspective... uhohhhhhh lol x

Argghh! Cunningham, he was the bugger I forgot the name of.
I am sure you did fine, you have included quite a bit I would never of thought of in the exam! Fair play for doing the whole A level in January! I would never be able to cope with that.

Haha! That is still more names than me, I managed to remember Neil Postman in the childhood question, who said something like children are growing up quickly so childhood is dieing out - I think. Sue Sharpe was for question 4 right with the marriage/cohabitation? xx

I have never came across Cunningham or Sharpe...

I also think my AO2 and exam structure was appalling.

Oh well, I am quite harsh on myself to maybe it'll be fine. It would be nice to get a B then for unit 2 do better..

I think Sue Sharpe comes from the Education topic, but it could easily be linked in. Either that or my topics are mixing up.
Cunningham outlined the social construction, but I didnt know that in the exam :/

What sociologists did you use?

Phew someone talked about Postman! I wasn't sure whether or not to talk about the future of childhood, I did anyway

That may be why, I haven't got round to education yet. (Doing that in a minute)

For the third question I gave Modood's study.

Marriage all I gave was Fletcher, Chester, Coast and Mocklin. Also includes the British Attitudes Survey and Social Trends. Also feminist perspectives.

Childhood I gave Aries, Pollock, Shorter, Postman, Hillman, Bonke, Brannens, Howard, Marx views maybe a bit of feminist.. I'm not sure.

I ended up talking about how Postman's toxic childhood led to children working which linked to Zaretsky's theory of the family propping up capitalism. Not sure if that was the best idea in the world, but hey.

Well I remembered reading something about children pestering their parents for things and I thought it linked with Marxist theory about making the bourgeoisie a profit... Hmm who knows, I just remember on the mark schemes they say to link in with theoretical perspectives so I was draining any possibility of that as I possibly could!!!