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What do you do in General Studies?

17

Just wondering, everyone does General Studies at my 6th form - what actually is it? I know it's not really a proper A Level if you go by how reputable it is, and we only get 15 lessons for it anyway, but what do you actually learn?

Reply 1

anon53

4

Good question. I'm not sure yet as I am only just going into the 6th form myself. From what my friends have said, I thinkthere is a module on the Cultural domain, scientific domain and the social domain. However, I haveno idea what these mean in reality. Perhaps someone who has taken the course already could tell us. Many thanks

Reply 2

username5154

15

In our school, we just do past papers. Besides that, we just talk/discuss about stuff that is happening around the world and in the UK.

Reply 3

stoney

12

i have taken it, there are as the second poster rightly stated 3 units an arty one a sciencey/mathsy one and a social/pseudo sciencey one (although themes vary across exam boards) we didnt learn that much to be honest alot of what you do is just common sense (although i cant speak for all exam boards) hope that helps :smile:

Reply 4

Elusive Moose

1

Basically you go into an exam hall and bluff your way through an exam. If you can write essays, know about current affairs and have a grasp of basic maths (percentages and so forth) as well as have opinions then you'll be fine.

We did the AQA exam and it's split into 'Conflict' (4 essays in 1 hour on stuff like 'Special affects are responsible for the popularity of cinema today: Do you agree? Why?'), 'Power' (current events) and 'Space' (Maths with random questions about culture thrown in).

Having lessons in it probably won't affect your grade either; there was no correlation between the people with good grades and how many lessons they'd been to in our school, really. Probably because so few people went!

Not that I'm advocating skiving General Studies lessons...

Reply 5

FinalFan3

13

Am I the only one that thinks that GS sounds quite interesting??

Reply 6

Starsailor

1

I don't think it sounds too bad either, but then again I haven't had a lesson of it yet. For all I know it could boring as PSE was at GCSE :redface:

Hopefully not.

Michael

Reply 7

anon53

4

I'm not even sure that there are any lessons dedicated to General Studies at my school, or if there are I don't think it's every week, but the important thing isthat it is an A-Level (even if it's not accepted in the same way as other qualifications by some Universities)

Reply 8

luke88

11

Some colleges take it seriously whereas others just expect their students to turn up for the exam.

My college takes it very seriously and makes us attend for General Studies lessons 3 times a week, just like any other subject.

It is a proper A level, but some universities may not accept it when applying for competitive courses.
May I stress that the vast majority of universities and courses do accept A Level General Studies and for some reason, I have seen some universities stating they will accept just AS GS but not the full A level.

The the AS course compromises of 3 Units, depending on your exam board will determine what excatly you will be examined on.

What you ought to ask about GS is what doesn't it teach?
You get abit of everything from science, to religion to politics, it covers virtually everything.
It helps to broaden your knowledge, develop written, communication and analyical skills.
You get to learn different view points and you are allowed you express your own.

I have found the subject really interesting but I must admit, some secitons are dam right daft. But I guess you get this with every subject.

Different 6th forms/colleges view GS in different ways. My 6th form, like I have said, takes it very seriously. The reason for this is that most of us havn't got the best GCSE results in the land, many of us have difficulty with English and it's a easy subject to take as a 4th A Level.

Those who say that get an A in the subject from doing naff all are lying to a certain degree.
Tips I would give in order for you to pass the subject with a high grade is to keep up with current affairs on a regular basis, read widely and practise with your essay skills.

Reply 9

luke88

11

Final_F

Am I the only one that thinks that GS sounds quite interesting??

I have finished the AS and it is interesting. Just walk into the class with an open mind and just enoy the lesson.

Reply 10

Pixelated

13

I don't have to do GS or CT! :biggrin:

Reply 11

erk

14

Go home or to the pub.

Reply 12

Icy Ghost

2

Pixelated

I don't have to do GS or CT! :biggrin:

Lucky you!

Reply 13

anon53

4

What you ought to ask about GS is what doesn't it teach?
You get abit of everything from science, to religion to politics, it covers virtually everything.
It helps to broaden your knowledge, develop written, communication and analyical skills.
You get to learn different view points and you are allowed you express your own.

My essay based subjects next year will be English and Religious Studies, so hopefully the essay writing skills should compliment those. Not doing any science unfortunately though - there wasn't enough room for Biology (or the 5 other subjects I wanted to do) on top of the four I decided on

Reply 14

luke88

11

If your doing GS? Your R.E lessons will help when you do Religion in GS and of course, English is a great foundation for essay writing.

Reply 15

gordon_is_fit

1

Final_F

Am I the only one that thinks that GS sounds quite interesting??

yes. and soon you will learn.
general studies is the biggest joke. at my school if we were really lucky we would watch a video about what they put in sausages or something. it would be more productive to spend the lessons drinking bleach
my advice? dont go to any lessons and take random stabs at the answers to the questions in the exam...its as good as anything

Reply 16

bluenoxid

13

If you are good at English and history, you will get a high B/A

If you are crap at English and history and good at science, do not take the PISS out of the exam (hanging drunks is not a way to solve binge drinking) and you will score a low B/C

If you take the piss out of it, expect to fail.

Best advice, is attend the lessons (keep in the good books) and the day before the exams have a quick flick through past papers to give you an idea on the layout of it.

Apart from that its no work

Reply 17

Icy Ghost

2

gordon_is_fit

yes. and soon you will learn.
general studies is the biggest joke. at my school if we were really lucky we would watch a video about what they put in sausages or something. it would be more productive to spend the lessons drinking bleach
my advice? dont go to any lessons and take random stabs at the answers to the questions in the exam...its as good as anything

Advice taken.

Reply 18

luke88

11

Frosty Phantom

Advice taken.

Don't take that advise. Go to your lessons, learn something and go get a top grade! :smile:

Reply 19

MissSurfer

OP

17

They said they'd knock me off the GS list (which as a general rule everyone takes extra to the standard 4 subjects) as I was doing 5 proper subjects but I thought it's only 15 lessons (for us anyway) I'd do it anyway...it's an extra A Level at least!

What do you do in General Studies?

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