Edexcel A2 Government and Politics 3B+4B/ 11th + 14th June 2018 [Exam Discussion]

Hey

I am so behind with this...how are you revising?

What ideologies are you revising? I am only doing 3 and I have so far only revised Liberalism

I am not sure which other 2 out of socialism, anarchism and conservatism I am going to revise!

Reply 2

OP

Original post by 3mmz

Hey

I am so behind with this...how are you revising?

What ideologies are you revising? I am only doing 3 and I have so far only revised Liberalism

I am not sure which other 2 out of socialism, anarchism and conservatism I am going to revise!

I said this in the AS post, but don't worry about being behind - just focus on what you can do, not what you should have done, or else it'll just turn to worry.

I'm doing Liberalism, Socialism and Anarchism - I self-taught Anarchism because I hated doing Conservatism (lol). Perhaps what might help is choosing ideologies that best match your personal beliefs, since then you'd be naturally more interested and you're more likely to remember what you personally believe in during the exam.

For Unit 4B, I'm doing Ecologism, Feminism and Nationalism.

I'm revising by going through all my notes and compiling a comprehensive "revision guide" kind of thing, and if I have time before the exam I'll probably go through it again and condense it further. What also might help is flash cards of theorists and as many essays as possible.

Hope this helped!

Reply 3

Original post by Manninagh

I said this in the AS post, but don't worry about being behind - just focus on what you can do, not what you should have done, or else it'll just turn to worry.

I'm doing Liberalism, Socialism and Anarchism - I self-taught Anarchism because I hated doing Conservatism (lol). Perhaps what might help is choosing ideologies that best match your personal beliefs, since then you'd be naturally more interested and you're more likely to remember what you personally believe in during the exam.

For Unit 4B, I'm doing Ecologism, Feminism and Nationalism.

I'm revising by going through all my notes and compiling a comprehensive "revision guide" kind of thing, and if I have time before the exam I'll probably go through it again and condense it further. What also might help is flash cards of theorists and as many essays as possible.

Hope this helped!

Hey!

Yeah I think liberalism will be the two 15 markers this year.....because there is a trend and I think Liberalism has been a 45 marker for the last couple of years....

I am revising Liberalism, Socialism but haven't decided which other one yet.
For unit 4 I have revised some Feminism and Multiculturalism. Still have decide if I should revise nationalism or Ecologism.

Thats similar to how I revise! You know for the 15 markers and 45 markers do you have a plan on how to answer them...basically I mean like is it 3 points for/ 3 against.....?

Reply 4

OP

Original post by 3mmz

You know for the 15 markers and 45 markers do you have a plan on how to answer them...basically I mean like is it 3 points for/ 3 against.....?

For the 15 markers, it's generally something like this:

Intro: Very breif. All you do here is define obscure terms in the question, and that's it. Don't waste too much time here, and it shouldn't be more than a few lines (it's not actually necessary; you can get full marks without this, it's just useful because it secures AO1 knowledge that you might forget to include in the answer)

P1
P2
P3

That's it. The questions vary so much that there's not much point in devising a solid essay structure, just be sure to have about 3 points, and always explain the implications of each point and (if you can, and if you have time) highlight the divisions within the ideology. For example, if the question is "On what grounds have Socialists supported collectivism", your points are human nature, equality and economic collectivism, but you might want to mention (if you have time) how some socialists have supported collectivism less than others (eg. Blair). On the other hand, if the question is something like "Explain the link between Liberalism and Constitutionalism", there's not much contrast to put there, so just focus on explaining the link and its implications / reasons for it.

As for the 45 markers:

Intro: Explain obscure terms, as well as detail your understanding of exactly what the question is asking (eg. if it's one of those "Modern liberals have departed from the ideas of Classical Liberalism. Discuss.", explain the fact that the two factions exist and your essay will analyse both sides and come to a reasoned conclusion)

Have as many points as possible here. Generally aim for 4, 5 or 6 detailed points, but there's no concrete number. If it doesn't ask you to discuss a particualr issue, like Democracy, or Collectivism, or the State (Like those "compare these two sides of the ideology" or "Anarchism is merely an extreme form of socialist collectivism. Dicuss" questions), then dicuss their views on Human Nature, the Economy, the State and Society (I remember it by the acronym "HESS", which is easy to remember because it's the term for a "Hyperextended superslide" in an Ocarina of Time speedrun, but that's just me).

Conclusion - reach a reasoned conclusion, justified by points you've mentioned. Rememebr you're not marked on your opinion, but on your ability to discuss and justify the opinion.

Hope this helps!

(edited 6 years ago)

Reply 5

Since there are most likely going to be 2 liberalism 15 markers do we need to revise the strands - modern and classical or do we need to revise the themes and what liberals say about democracy etc...?

The 15 makers don't ask to compare strands do they? It's mostly about the themes...

Reply 6

OP

Original post by 3mmz

Since there are most likely going to be 2 liberalism 15 markers do we need to revise the strands - modern and classical or do we need to revise the themes and what liberals say about democracy etc...?

The 15 makers don't ask to compare strands do they? It's mostly about the themes...

Ideally, you should revise as much as possible because they still might include a Liberalism 45 marker, but it's unlikely, so if you absolutely had to prioritise, then you might want to risk leaving out revision for the strands of Liberalism if you have to.

The 15 markers won't explicitly ask you to compare ideologies, but you's still get marks for a simple mention. For example, if there was a 15 marker on the liberal view of tolerance, you'd get marks for highlighting the conflict between Berlin's "Value Pluralism" with Popper's "Paradox of Tolerance"

Reply 7

bioenthusiast

16

I’m doing these !

Which ideologies are you guys revising and do you have any predictions or what essays are you hoping for?
My college skipped Anarchism and Ecologism so I’m revising the others. My guess is that Liberalism will be the 2 x 15 markers for unit 3 and maybe Multiculturalism for Unit 4. I really want a 45 marker on the New Right or “to what extent is Conservatism a single doctrine” but I’m not sure as this was the 2016 question.

Reply 8

Original post by bioenthusiast

I’m doing these !

Which ideologies are you guys revising and do you have any predictions or what essays are you hoping for?
My college skipped Anarchism and Ecologism so I’m revising the others. My guess is that Liberalism will be the 2 x 15 markers for unit 3 and maybe Multiculturalism for Unit 4. I really want a 45 marker on the New Right or “to what extent is Conservatism a single doctrine” but I’m not sure as this was the 2016 question.

We should set up a group chat but not sure enough people want that!

For unit 3 I'm revising liberalism and conservatism...have no clue what the other one will be. My knowledge on socialism is thin.....
For unit 4 - feminism and multiculturalism are my strongest.....ecoligism and nationalism are my weakest.

Yeah can't see 'is conservatism a single doctrine' being the 45 marker....since it came up in 2016.
Do you have any predictions?

Reply 9

bioenthusiast

16

Original post by 3mmz

We should set up a group chat but not sure enough people want that!

For unit 3 I'm revising liberalism and conservatism...have no clue what the other one will be. My knowledge on socialism is thin.....
For unit 4 - feminism and multiculturalism are my strongest.....ecoligism and nationalism are my weakest.

Yeah can't see 'is conservatism a single doctrine' being the 45 marker....since it came up in 2016.
Do you have any predictions?

Yeah a group chat would be ideal! And predictions wise I’m really not sure. For socialism, I feel like they could ask a 45 marker along the lines of something like “How is equality the main feature of socialism”? Socialism is so long and difficult, I’m considering self teaching Anarchism but do you think that’d be pointless?
Also, I’ve noticed they’ve never asked a Multiculturalism 15 marker on “How do feminists criticise Multiculturalism” so that could be something to look out for.

What grade are you hoping for? And what did you get in AS?

Reply 10

OP

Original post by bioenthusiast

Yeah a group chat would be ideal! And predictions wise I’m really not sure. For socialism, I feel like they could ask a 45 marker along the lines of something like “How is equality the main feature of socialism”? Socialism is so long and difficult, I’m considering self teaching Anarchism but do you think that’d be pointless?
Also, I’ve noticed they’ve never asked a Multiculturalism 15 marker on “How do feminists criticise Multiculturalism” so that could be something to look out for.

What grade are you hoping for? And what did you get in AS?

I really hope that's not the socialism question! I'm hoping for an easy Anarchism 45 marker (something about Anarchism being a single doctrine), but Socialism is my backup in case the Anarchism question is brutal

I self-taught Anarchism (my school doesn't teach Anarchism or Multiculturalism), but that was around Christmas time. It wasn't too bad, but I'd say you'd be taking a risk self-teaching it this close to exams, though it's not impossible - the recommended teaching time is 15 hours, and there's more than that before the exam, but it's all down to whether you think you'd be able to. Personally, I'd say it's a better idea to go over what you already know, but in the end if you're genuinely terrified of scoring low on Socialism, then brushing over Anarchism couldn't hurt, provided you have the time. If you decide to go over it, let me know and I'll try to help you if I have the time

I have the same predictions as you for the questions - I think that they use a topic for a 45 marker for 3 years at a time, and Liberalism has been a 45 mark topic for the last 3 years, so I imagine that the two 15 markers will be Liberalism, and Multiculturalism for Paper 2 (for the same reason). I've not really got any predictions on the actual content of the questions that could come up, but I don't think Anarchism and Utopianism will come up, since it's come up for the past 2 years.

I'm hoping for an A* myself, and I got an A (85%) on the AS

Reply 11