A2 Edexcel American Government & Politics Specification

Could anyone give me a detailed outline of the specification as on the edexcel website, it is extremly brief and I'm unsure of what exactly to revise?

Thanks

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Reply 1

tala121

For what paper as there are 2 papers for edexcel politics?

Reply 2

TheBlackMonster

3C: Political Parties, Pressure Groups, Race and Ethnical Politics, Elections

4C: Congress, Constitution, Supreme Court, Presidency

I think it's 3C and 4C, I might be mistaken on that...

Reply 3

tala121

Thats exactly what I'm doing ah the thought of doing them papers :frown:

Sorry I cant give you an exact detailed run through of the spec but to be honest the topics you have outlined above are the onlly things they can ask you about

At the moment I'm doing an essay on Do US pressure groups help or hinder democracy? you got any ideas on the two arguments?

Reply 4

TheBlackMonster

Original post by tala121

At the moment I'm doing an essay on Do US pressure groups help or hinder democracy? you got any ideas on the two arguments?

I hate pressure groups...all I remember is that pressure groups can
1) look out for themselves and hinder the minority in society
2) promote democracy by providing a platform for minorities and helping them through test cases

i'd avoid doing pressure groups though, I hate it lol...

Reply 5

tala121

I know its such a long topic to learn
To be honest i'm a bit confused on the structure of this paper I thought we had to learn all the topics as all of them would come up unlike year 12 where we could revise 3 topics

Reply 6

TheBlackMonster

Original post by tala121

havent you done an exam from American Politics yet? :O

it will give us 5 choices of 15 marker questions that we can answer, but we only answer 3 of them

then they will give us a choice of two 45 mark questions, and we only answer one

they mix up the topics but it's very likely that Race/Ethical will be a 45 mark question (but what they ask will vary)

I got away with just studying three topics - I left out pressure groups :P
but yeah, I guess it would be safe to study all of them...I mean I studied three but really in detail so I knew how to deal with it if they threw me a tricky question

Reply 7

tala121

We havent even done a mock yet and my schools supposedly a grammer school ;/
Thanks for that!
So are you confident with this exam as you had the mock? I feel like I know nothing especially in dpeth!

Reply 8

TheBlackMonster

oh nah, we did a paper for it in January...I got an A so i'm pretty happy with that
we haven't done a mock for the paper that we're going to sit in January yet but I think this paper is easier than 3C, I think we're doing the mock next week or something...

if you ever want to revise/discuss the course if you're unsure about anything then feel free to PM me :smile:

Reply 9

tala121

I'm gonna take you up on your offer of help lol
I'm totally baffeled about the US electoral system very confusing and long with the primaries and invisible primaries..care to discuss?

Reply 10

TheBlackMonster

sure I dont mind haha...uhhh you want to discuss it on TSR?

Reply 11

tala121

sorry i'm new to student room so i don't really know how it works..

shall i start a new thread and have a discussion about these 2 papers?

Reply 12

TheBlackMonster

sure if you want to...

Reply 13

tala121

I don't actually know how to start a thread :colondollar:

Anyways could you help me on this question..

Does the Supreme Court have too much power for an unelected body? 45 marks

Reply 14

Danyial123

Does any body known which one is easier? Elections and voting or political parties???

Reply 15

TheBlackMonster

Original post by Danyial123

Does any body known which one is easier? Elections and voting or political parties???

pressure groups is the hardest for me, I skipped that section
I would say Political Parties is the easiest

Reply 16

Danyial123

thanks, can you please give me some tips on how to structure the essay? and do you have any model answers for questions or notes pls

Reply 17

TheBlackMonster

Original post by Danyial123

thanks, can you please give me some tips on how to structure the essay? and do you have any model answers for questions or notes pls

for 15 markers, I would just do three points and a mini conclusion. maybe a small intro if you want.

45 markers, do around 4-5 points with an intro and conclusion. but detail counts more.