Revision help

Original post by amyxwillis

I'm currently taking government and politics AS and I'm finding it really difficult to learn all the 40/25 markers etc. I'm also pretty crap at the subject itself and have very basic knowledge about politics...
so I was wondering how you guys prepare and if you think it's more useful to look at all past paper questions and then base revision off that by learning the answers if that makes any sense???
Also, do you guys find that the past paper questions repeat themselves a lot?
Thanks!

yeap im keen to know this too. i think the questions repeat themselves. i think the issue with Edexcel's govt and politics is that nobody on this forum has made it absolutely clear as to how to answer exam questions for the various markers. nobody has been able to provide sample answers or answer structures. all these people on this forum ever do is just say 'PEEL', drop a one or two liner and then disappear. if you wanna help someone, be clear. if not, then don't bother.

Reply 2

murakamami

2

Hi! Glad to know you're also doing government and politics at AS! Have you just done your mocks? :smile:

how did they go? :smile:

.

I tend to do really well in my essay questions and not so well in the 5 mark politics questions (weird I know). I can't stress enough how important past paper questions are!!! Very important!!!. I wouldn't just base revision just off the past paper essay questions; because although they are important you need to do gain some political knowledge too :smile:

. Revise past paper questions and work on a good writing style and essay structure; I can't stress how important that is because it honestly saves so much time in the exam.

Read around current political news; because if you are to gain sufficient knowledge of modern day politics it will allow you to appear different to other candidates doing the exam. But, by also researching you will understand the political concepts much more! :smile:

.

I hope that was okay?

Reply 3

username2370311

1

Original post by amyxwillis

I'm currently taking government and politics AS and I'm finding it really difficult to learn all the 40/25 markers etc. I'm also pretty crap at the subject itself and have very basic knowledge about politics...
so I was wondering how you guys prepare and if you think it's more useful to look at all past paper questions and then base revision off that by learning the answers if that makes any sense???
Also, do you guys find that the past paper questions repeat themselves a lot?
Thanks!

For the 25 markers you are supposed to write in 3 + 3 structure. So 3 for and 3 against. plus intro and conclusion. (or you can write one paragraph then contrast and repeat this two more times).
For the 40 markers you are supposed to write 4 + 4 plus intro and conclusion.
Then follow the PEEL structure for each paragraph.
I did AS politics last year and got an A overall. For most of the year I was getting D's and E's so don't worry. I bet you'll do great.
Also as a helpful tip, watch the news and read newspapers.
good luck

Reply 4

username2370311

1

Original post by Audrey18

yeap im keen to know this too. i think the questions repeat themselves. i think the issue with Edexcel's govt and politics is that nobody on this forum has made it absolutely clear as to how to answer exam questions for the various markers. nobody has been able to provide sample answers or answer structures. all these people on this forum ever do is just say 'PEEL', drop a one or two liner and then disappear. if you wanna help someone, be clear. if not, then don't bother.

idk personally i found planning the questions helpful. most of the questions repeat themselves each year.

Reply 5

Original post by kikileo18

For the 25 markers you are supposed to write in 3 + 3 structure. So 3 for and 3 against. plus intro and conclusion. (or you can write one paragraph then contrast and repeat this two more times).

This is not accurate. I wish people would stop talking about **** they don't know about, honestly, you're leading people in the wrong direction.

Go look at any examiner report for 25 markers, they never have 6 points.. How are you even supposed to add detail with 6 points? It's impossible. The paragraphs would have to be incredibly short. It may have worked for you, but I don't think it's the best thing to recommend to others...

Most have four paragraphs, some three, the length doesn't matter. In fact, the examiner report for June 2013 gives a 25 marker full marks with only 3 paragraphs.

And then if you do three, two for, one against, unless you're against the statement in the question, since in my experience you generally have to assert a stance (some questions only require you argue one side, though)

For OP, just do past papers and read examiner reports. Identify what the answers with full marks are doing right, and try to use those techniques.

Reply 6

Original post by popcornjpg

This is not accurate. I wish people would stop talking about **** they don't know about, honestly, you're leading people in the wrong direction.

Go look at any examiner report for 25 markers, they never have 6 points.. How are you even supposed to add detail with 6 points? It's impossible. The paragraphs would have to be incredibly short. It may have worked for you, but I don't think it's the best thing to recommend to others...

Most have four paragraphs, some three, the length doesn't matter. In fact, the examiner report for June 2013 gives a 25 marker full marks with only 3 paragraphs.

And then if you do three, two for, one against, unless you're against the statement in the question, since in my experience you generally have to assert a stance (some questions only require you argue one side, though)

For OP, just do past papers and read examiner reports. Identify what the answers with full marks are doing right, and try to use those techniques.

hi. thanks for helping out. i gave you rep. can you provide me with the link to the examiner report. i can't seem to access it. do you happen to have any sample answers or answer structures for the various marker questions? my teacher is useless so i am very much relying on this forum for such info. thanks again.

Reply 7

Original post by murakamami

Hi! Glad to know you're also doing government and politics at AS! Have you just done your mocks? :smile:

how did they go? :smile:

.

I tend to do really well in my essay questions and not so well in the 5 mark politics questions (weird I know). I can't stress enough how important past paper questions are!!! Very important!!!. I wouldn't just base revision just off the past paper essay questions; because although they are important you need to do gain some political knowledge too :smile:

. Revise past paper questions and work on a good writing style and essay structure; I can't stress how important that is because it honestly saves so much time in the exam.

Read around current political news; because if you are to gain sufficient knowledge of modern day politics it will allow you to appear different to other candidates doing the exam. But, by also researching you will understand the political concepts much more! :smile:

.

I hope that was okay?

hi there. great post and thanks for helping. i gave you rep too. can you provide me with the link to the examiner report. i can't seem to access it. do you happen to have any sample answers or answer structures for the various marker questions? my teacher is useless so i am very much relying on this forum for such info. thanks again.

Reply 8

murakamami

2

Original post by Audrey18

hi there. great post and thanks for helping. i gave you rep too. can you provide me with the link to the examiner report. i can't seem to access it. do you happen to have any sample answers or answer structures for the various marker questions? my teacher is useless so i am very much relying on this forum for such info. thanks again.

Hi there! Thanks a lot for the rep! :biggrin:

We got given all the past papers with the answers (except 2015 of course); we weren't given any examiner reports :frown:

; have you tried looking online for these?

Reply 9

Original post by murakamami

Hi there! Thanks a lot for the rep! :biggrin:

We got given all the past papers with the answers (except 2015 of course); we weren't given any examiner reports :frown:

; have you tried looking online for these?

Hi. i just came across some of the reports. thank you so much. they are indeed very helpful. i wanted to ask you something. for unit 1 and 2, is it safe to just study 2 out of 4 topics? What did your teacher say? I'm on the fast track A levels. are you doing AS or A2? I'm doing the america choices for A2.

Reply 10

ocument-Type%2FExaminer-report&filterQuery=category:Pearson-UK :u:

Come on guys, these reports are very easy to find online. Takes five seconds, and I advise you all to read each one after you do the entire paper - they are really fantastic.

http://qualifications.pearson.com/en/qualifications/edexcel-a-levels/government-and-politics-2008.coursematerials.html#filterQuery=category:Pearson-UK:Category%2FExam-materials&filterQuery=category:Pearson-UK :biggrin:

nit%2FUnit-1&filterQuery=category:Pearson-UK :u:

Original post by amyxwillis

I'm currently taking government and politics AS and I'm finding it really difficult to learn all the 40/25 markers etc. I'm also pretty crap at the subject itself and have very basic knowledge about politics...
so I was wondering how you guys prepare and if you think it's more useful to look at all past paper questions and then base revision off that by learning the answers if that makes any sense???
Also, do you guys find that the past paper questions repeat themselves a lot?
Thanks!

DO NOT DO THAT!!!!

And in answer to your second question, yes. But not as often as you might like.

Just make notes from the textbook to begin with, essentially reteaching yourself. Perhaps create your own 5 markers/10 markers and test yourself on the content from that.

Then use your notes/a revision guide to produce concise notes to revise from, finally plan 25 and 40 mark answers to past paper questions!

Reply 12

murakamami

2

Original post by Audrey18

Hi. i just came across some of the reports. thank you so much. they are indeed very helpful. i wanted to ask you something. for unit 1 and 2, is it safe to just study 2 out of 4 topics? What did your teacher say? I'm on the fast track A levels. are you doing AS or A2? I'm doing the america choices for A2.

No problem! They're very useful indeed and include some great tips!. To be on the safe side you should study all 4 topics; I've heard of people guessing which ones will appear on the papers and it's always a lucky guess. You will be best going over all 4. If you're running out of time then you can look at the common past paper questions for that certain topic and learn those; but even for mocks our politics teacher told us to revise all the topics we had covered since the beginning :smile:

. I'm doing AS right now,
and I know that A2's are incredibly important so please try to ensure you cover all; you don't want anything to backfire on you. Good luck with your A2's :biggrin:

.

Reply 13

@popcornjpg @jamestg

Hi. I've heard what other members have said for this question but I was hoping to get your views too. for both unit 1 and 2, is it safe to just study 2 out of 4 topics each? What did your teacher say? I'm on the fast track A levels. are you doing AS or A2? I'm doing the america choices for A2.

Reply 14

jamestg

Original post by Audrey18

@popcornjpg @jamestg

Hi. I've heard what other members have said for this question but I was hoping to get your views too. for both unit 1 and 2, is it safe to just study 2 out of 4 topics each? What did your teacher say? I'm on the fast track A levels. are you doing AS or A2? I'm doing the america choices for A2.

Do not only study two. Really focus on two, revise well with one and roughly revise the fourth chapter. This is for unit one.

Unit two, revise all four thoroughly.

I'm doing AS at the moment, but from September I'll be doing A2 - USA politics also :biggrin:

(edited 8 years ago)

Reply 15

I am studying all topics for each unit because I want to maximise my chances of doing a 25 marker which is an 'Assess' question because those are nice and easy and I'm pretty good at them.

I don't think you should anyway, it's nice to have the option in case you forget things for one topic. I would feel very stressed going into the exam knowing only 2 topics.

Reply 16