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Getting an A in AS politics/what to do with 1 week left

a week tomorrow is my first politics exam - edexcel- I feel pretty prepared for it but is there anything anyone did in their last week that felt got them an A??
thanks in advance
Reply 1
Have you gone through the My Revision Notes book? It's brilliant! Other than that I just used a bunch of revision stuff like flash cards and notes from the resources section of this site and Get Revising
Original post by sahil19
a week tomorrow is my first politics exam - edexcel- I feel pretty prepared for it but is there anything anyone did in their last week that felt got them an A??
thanks in advance


I am also really prepared i just plan on doing past questions and revising examples
Reply 3
Also look up essay plans online and study them, those alone can get you A's tbh
I was in the same position as you a year ago today. I had gotten a D at AS so was retaking in A2 year. I knew absolutely nothing and had about 5 days to get my **** together. Ended up getting 94/100ums on the paper!

My advice?
Don't focus on going in depth on the knowledge from now on as you don't have time. Just focus on structure. Honestly it works wonders! I can't remember exactly what the structure was like, but I'm pretty sure that for every point you make or every key theme there is in the topic you just need to be able to explain it in one concise sentence; learn an example; learn to explain that example; learn a counter argument/alternate view for that point; learn to explain it; and learn a strong argument i.e. no sitting on the fence. By learn I just mean memorise for the exam so you don't waste time.

Remember the examiner skims over our work quite quickly so you don't need to be fancy, just make sure your sentences are jam packed with *key terms* from the textbook and make sure you follow that very simple structure. Don't freak out about knowing everything - only focus on the examples that have relevance across the board

I did this and got almost full marks whereas my friend who was very passionate about the subject and claimed to know the information back to front got a C in the same exam. It's unfair but that's just how it works.

I think the most important thing is key terms and logical structure.
(edited 6 years ago)
Original post by mmm19
I was in the same position as you a year ago today. I had gotten a D at AS so was retaking in A2 year. I knew absolutely nothing and had about 5 days to get my **** together. Ended up getting 94/100ums on the paper!

My advise?
Don't focus on going in depth on the knowledge from now on as you don't have time. Just focus on structure. Honestly it works wonders! I can't remember exactly what the structure was like, but I'm pretty sure that for every point you make or every key theme there is in the topic you just need to be able to explain it in one concise sentence; learn an example; learn to explain that example; learn a counter argument/alternate view for that point; learn to explain it; and learn a strong argument i.e. no sitting on the fence. By learn I just mean memorise for the exam so you don't waste time.

Remember the examiner skims over our work quite quickly so you don't need to be fancy, just make sure your sentences are jam packed with *key terms* from the textbook and make sure you follow that very simple structure. Don't freak out about knowing everything - only focus on the examples that have relevance across the board

I did this and got almost full marks whereas my friend who was very passionate about the subject and claimed to know the information back to front got a C in the same exam. It's unfair but that's just how it works.

I think the most important thing is key terms and logical structure.


Ayyyyee, did you memorise some parts of the textbook as well? That is exactly what I am doing.
Original post by zayn008
Also look up essay plans online and study them, those alone can get you A's tbh


Yeah I hear that as well, is that what you did?

I think the essay plans you learn can be applied to almost all questions.
Original post by MajorFader
Ayyyyee, did you memorise some parts of the textbook as well? That is exactly what I am doing.


Yep the textbook is good for KEY TERMS, arguments and information. But don't literally just remember chunks of the textbook - you need to be able to apply the knowledge outside the context of the textbook!

Can't stress the importance of key terminology. When the examiner reads your work its going to be the key terms that immediately show them that you know what you're talking about.

Just found an example of a 5 mark:
A Pressure Group represents the INTERESTS of a certain CAUSE or SECTION of society and aims to encourage support for its beliefs amongst the PUBLIC and tries to PUT PRESSURE on either local government or Westminster [or even Brussels] to ADOPT POLICIES that that particular pressure group favours. Thus, LIBERTY is a CAUSE PRESSURE GROUP that pressurises the government to stop its EROSION OF CIVIL LIBERTIES and the MUSLIM COUNCIL OF BRITAIN is a SECTIONAL PRESSURE GROUP that represents the interests of Moslems in society and aims to ensure that they are in no way discriminated against. By giving greater influence to sections of society or those united by a commitment to a specific cause pressure groups thus DISPERSE POWER AWAY FROM THE GOVERNMENT thereby increasing democratic participation.

Don't take it as the holy grail, but hopefully this demonstrates how key terms can really boost the quality of your writing. Rather than explaining pressure groups in plain english this paragraph is full of buzzwords: interest; cause; section; erosion of civil liberties; disperse power etc. Someone who doesn't understand the importance of key terms could full well know what pressure groups are but might just say "harm people's rights" instead of "erosion of civil liberties", or "give the public more power so more people are involved in politics" rather than "disperse power away from the government...democratic participation". It can be the difference between a C and an A grade.

Also notice the simple structure - outline, examples, explanation/analysis.

For the long questions make sure you have a strong judgement.

Hope this helps!
(edited 6 years ago)
Reply 8
Original post by MajorFader
Yeah I hear that as well, is that what you did?

I think the essay plans you learn can be applied to almost all questions.


Yep. Went through most the year messing around and copying and pasting then in the last few weeks I got serious, read the my revision notes book and learnt essay plans. It really helped because I got a question on the House of Lords being abolished and I knew exactly what to write :smile:
Reply 9
thanks for all of the advice guys!
Reply 10
Original post by mmm19
Yep the textbook is good for KEY TERMS, arguments and information. But don't literally just remember chunks of the textbook - you need to be able to apply the knowledge outside the context of the textbook!

Can't stress the importance of key terminology. When the examiner reads your work its going to be the key terms that immediately show them that you know what you're talking about.

Just found an example of a 5 mark:
A Pressure Group represents the INTERESTS of a certain CAUSE or SECTION of society and aims to encourage support for its beliefs amongst the PUBLIC and tries to PUT PRESSURE on either local government or Westminster [or even Brussels] to ADOPT POLICIES that that particular pressure group favours. Thus, LIBERTY is a CAUSE PRESSURE GROUP that pressurises the government to stop its EROSION OF CIVIL LIBERTIES and the MUSLIM COUNCIL OF BRITAIN is a SECTIONAL PRESSURE GROUP that represents the interests of Moslems in society and aims to ensure that they are in no way discriminated against. By giving greater influence to sections of society or those united by a commitment to a specific cause pressure groups thus DISPERSE POWER AWAY FROM THE GOVERNMENT thereby increasing democratic participation.

Don't take it as the holy grail, but hopefully this demonstrates how key terms can really boost the quality of your writing. Rather than explaining pressure groups in plain english this paragraph is full of buzzwords: interest; cause; section; erosion of civil liberties; disperse power etc. Someone who doesn't understand the importance of key terms could full well know what pressure groups are but might just say "harm people's rights" instead of "erosion of civil liberties", or "give the public more power so more people are involved in politics" rather than "disperse power away from the government...democratic participation". It can be the difference between a C and an A grade.

Also notice the simple structure - outline, examples, explanation/analysis.

For the long questions make sure you have a strong judgement.

Hope this helps!


wow, brilliant; thanks very much!

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