Aqa sociology exam

OP

Original post by Txhmid

i feel prepared yeah

How do you structure your 12 marks answers? I'm aiming for an A* but i always fall back by a few marks bare annoying.

(edited 6 years ago)

Reply 5

liam12345677

I'm pretty ****ing scared. My teacher has been giving me 12/12 on all of my most recent 12 mark answers but I worry that it's some kind of personal bias or that she's not marking it as strictly as an examiner would, or maybe I might end up running out of time in the exam since I feel like I write wayyyy too much for the 12 mark essays when apparently you can get full marks on them with only like 3-4 points and with about 10 mins of writing. I have to rush through the earlier stuff so I have at least 15 mins to write the 12 markers.

Reply 6

OP

Original post by liam12345677

I'm pretty ****ing scared. My teacher has been giving me 12/12 on all of my most recent 12 mark answers but I worry that it's some kind of personal bias or that she's not marking it as strictly as an examiner would, or maybe I might end up running out of time in the exam since I feel like I write wayyyy too much for the 12 mark essays when apparently you can get full marks on them with only like 3-4 points and with about 10 mins of writing. I have to rush through the earlier stuff so I have at least 15 mins to write the 12 markers.

That's really good that you get 12/12 either way you must be scoring above 10 on those essays even if your teacher is being biased. Is there a certain way you structure your 12 markers in school?

Reply 7

liam12345677

Original post by tanisha04

That's really good that you get 12/12 either way you must be scoring above 10 on those essays even if your teacher is being biased. Is there a certain way you structure your 12 markers in school?

My teacher always told us to use a 'fish plan' but it's all the same throughout humanities subjects - basically you want your introduction, 2 points arguing one side, 2 points arguing the opposition side, and a conclusion. I think I write too much in detail for my 4 points because my teacher says writing 6 points would be good, but I guess 4 points with in-depth description is good enough for the marks.

Your intro wants to be short, like maybe 1-3 sentences. I always start my answer by saying 'sociologists would NOT agree' because you know about the 4 types of sociologists from doing your GCSE and they all have radically different views, so they're obviously not gonna agree. Some people write 'sociologists DO agree because..., however some sociologists disagree because...' but it essentially means the same thing - you're introducing the fact that there are multiple sides to the debate.

Start with the side stated in the question, the side that would agree with the statement. If your points can be linked together somehow (as in, your 'for' point and 'against' point somehow play off each other, e.g. functionalists agree that meritocracy DOES exist, however marxists say it is a myth) then write them one after the other, but if they don't, don't worry. If your idea or sociological process for one of your points can be linked back to a particular TYPE of sociologist, e.g. talking about chivalry thesis in crime and deviance, then be sure to mention the group of sociologists.

Don't forget to sprinkle in lots of key terms. If there's something that has a fancy sociological word that you can use instead, USE IT. This would be a good use for your extra checking time, if you have any left at the end. For example, instead of saying 'pupils feel left out' say they feel 'excluded' or 'marginalised' by their social peer group.

And the conclusion is the most important part. I was getting like 6/7 out of 12 because I always only got about 3 points down and didn't add a conclusion, but your conclusion is the most important part! It weighs up 'how far' they actually agree, and I find that you can often sort of repeat what you say in the start introduction, just with a bit of a spin on it. What you should say is 'X sociologists agree with the statement because of reason A and B, however Y sociologists would disagree with the statement because of reasons C and D'. But you sort of need to show how their arguments interact and how important the arguments are, e.g. when re-stating one side's arguments, say that THAT SIDE disagrees with the opposing side's arguments because THAT SIDE'S arguments are better than the opposing side's arguments, or something really basic like that, it just sort of shows the examiner you know that you needed to weigh up both sides.

Reply 8

f_2000

Im sitting it on monday every mock ive done i got an a* so i feel prepared

Reply 9

OP

Original post by f_2000

Im sitting it on monday every mock ive done i got an a* so i feel prepared

How do you answer this question that always comes up in the studying society section, for example,
Describe one way in which sociological research may help government and/or schools to prevent bullying in school.
It's a 4 mark question but i just don't know what they mean by sociological research? Is it the same as research methods or do they mean things like case studies, field experiments etc..

Reply 10

Maribella_321

Original post by tanisha04

I asked my teacher about grade boundaries yesterday, to get an A* you need to be getting 75 marks on each paper. Let's hope grade boundaries stay the same as previous years!
How do you structure your 12 marks essays?

Well, essentially I start with a paragraph with some sociologists would agree... Then I would do another paragraph for agree. Then 2 paragraphs for disagree. And a conclusion.
I just use different views e.g Marxist, New rights and feminist with studies/laws/theories.

Make sure you sum up and make a logical conclusion.

Reply 11

Maribella_321

Original post by tanisha04

How do you answer this question that always comes up in the studying society section, for example,
Describe one way in which sociological research may help government and/or schools to prevent bullying in school.
It's a 4 mark question but i just don't know what they mean by sociological research? Is it the same as research methods or do they mean things like case studies, field experiments etc..

That would be research methods.

An example would be;

One way in which sociological research may help the government and/or schools to prevent bullying in school is by finding out the different social factors that causes bullying through questionnaires that have been given to school students. When finding out the different causes, the government and/or school is able to implement new policies to help prevent bullying. For example, one cause of bullying may be that students do not have the newest, up-to-date trainers. So the government or school may put in a policy which concludes that students of all genders and year groups must wear the exact same shoes, which eliminates that cause of bullying.

Reply 12

OP

Original post by Maribella_321

That would be research methods.

An example would be;

One way in which sociological research may help the government and/or schools to prevent bullying in school is by finding out the different social factors that causes bullying through questionnaires that have been given to school students. When finding out the different causes, the government and/or school is able to implement new policies to help prevent bullying. For example, one cause of bullying may be that students do not have the newest, up-to-date trainers. So the government or school may put in a policy which concludes that students of all genders and year groups must wear the exact same shoes, which eliminates that cause of bullying.

This is a really good example, thank you so much!

Reply 13

sohyun

12

I'm nervous but kinda excited! I mean my teacher says I'm a strong Sociology student but in my opinion i feel like I make stupid mistakes; I know all the theories but I sometimes forget when to include them; and I hope my revision was thorough and I hope I didn't forget to polish certain aspects :/
Good luck guys xx

Reply 14

f_2000

Original post by sohyun

I'm nervous but kinda excited! I mean my teacher says I'm a strong Sociology student but in my opinion i feel like I make stupid mistakes; I know all the theories but I sometimes forget when to include them; and I hope my revision was thorough and I hope I didn't forget to polish certain aspects :/
Good luck guys xx

same im scared but exited think i could get an a* or a, just hope the 12 markers will be ok

good luck

Reply 15

liam12345677