The Student Room Group

Edexcel Government & Politics

How many units are you guys revising and have you started yet?

Scroll to see replies

Original post by xxvine
How many units are you guys revising and have you started yet?


I did AS last year, I revised three of the four topics for Unit 1 and Unit 2 and started revising in April. I wrote notes for all topics initially, and then focused my revision on the three I was strongest in. I felt there was too much to learn for Party Politics and I didn't quite grasp the Judiciary as well as I understood the other topics.

Ended up with 94% overall in AS Politics so if you're sensible with the topic you choose to miss out and do enough practice, it definitely won't limit your chances of getting a high grade.
Reply 2
Original post by moggington
I did AS last year, I revised three of the four topics for Unit 1 and Unit 2 and started revising in April. I wrote notes for all topics initially, and then focused my revision on the three I was strongest in. I felt there was too much to learn for Party Politics and I didn't quite grasp the Judiciary as well as I understood the other topics.

Ended up with 94% overall in AS Politics so if you're sensible with the topic you choose to miss out and do enough practice, it definitely won't limit your chances of getting a high grade.


Wowzers.....well done! I am just starting now (self teaching as well so I was scared i left it too late LOL as some people start revising from September)

So you just wrote notes, learnt the notes i suppose and did past papers?
Original post by xxvine
Wowzers.....well done! I am just starting now (self teaching as well so I was scared i left it too late LOL as some people start revising from September)

So you just wrote notes, learnt the notes i suppose and did past papers?


Pretty much that! All depends how you learn - if you're quite a visual learner then posters and things can help too. Past papers are probably one of the most important things, it's all good knowing the content but if you can't organise your argument well you'll struggle to achieve top marks. Perhaps ask a History teacher if they could go through anything you're stuck on if there's no Government and Politics teacher at your school.
Reply 4
Original post by moggington
Pretty much that! All depends how you learn - if you're quite a visual learner then posters and things can help too. Past papers are probably one of the most important things, it's all good knowing the content but if you can't organise your argument well you'll struggle to achieve top marks. Perhaps ask a History teacher if they could go through anything you're stuck on if there's no Government and Politics teacher at your school.


late reply but for unit 2 what topics did you learn?

Unit 2 is kinda and I am self teaching? Do you I have enough time left? Haven't even started it and the exam is in June:frown:
Original post by xxvine
late reply but for unit 2 what topics did you learn?

Unit 2 is kinda and I am self teaching? Do you I have enough time left? Haven't even started it and the exam is in June:frown:


I learnt the first three, and skipped the judiciary one, which was the last one. It's the only one I'd really recommend skipping, if any, because the content is fairly short and some of it overlaps with the constitution unit, so if you were lucky and an overlapping question came up, you'd still be able to answer it.

Definitely! My Unit 2 teacher pretty made us self-teach her units. It's not that she's a bad teacher, definitely not, she just preferred discussing the content with us and then we were left to learn for ourselves as opposed to being spoon fed. I found it tricky to get used to at first, but realistically, it's fantastic preparation for university life.

So yeah, having pretty much self-taught the units to myself as well, I'd say try to ensure you're up to a reasonable standard (at least half way through) by April, then buy a copy of My Revision Notes, which is a revision book for both Unit 1 and 2. It's not the greatest on it's own, but so long as you've got the normal textbook to support you, you'll do fine.

Practising the essays is key! If you can't find someone to mark them, I'd be quite happy to have a look over them as I know roughly how the essays are assessed and how the whole AO thing works. It's also worth noting that the same questions are often repeated - the question that came up for U1 in last year's exam was exactly the same one I'd done just days before and I ended up getting 25/25.
(edited 10 years ago)
DO NOT skip any units. I did that mistake last year and did not do well as the question on the topic I skipped was easy, but I was not able to do it due to having little knowledge on it. Instead I was forced to do something which I had no idea what they were asking me to do. As I had learnt from the silly mistake, I decided to revise EVERYTHING for the second exam which I got full marks on. :smile:

Tip: When you're revising for politics, the best way to go around it is devise arguments for possible questions/topics and then google the most recent examples proving that. Recent politics is unlikely to be in your textbook!
How would you answer these questions?

What role have women's rights groups had in influencing various issues?


Which branch of government has been particularly targeted by pressure groups campaigning on abortion, and why?

I do US politics + global political issues, any good resources online?
Reply 8
Original post by moggington
I learnt the first three, and skipped the judiciary one, which was the last one. It's the only one I'd really recommend skipping, if any, because the content is fairly short and some of it overlaps with the constitution unit, so if you were lucky and an overlapping question came up, you'd still be able to answer it.

Definitely! My Unit 2 teacher pretty made us self-teach her units. It's not that she's a bad teacher, definitely not, she just preferred discussing the content with us and then we were left to learn for ourselves as opposed to being spoon fed. I found it tricky to get used to at first, but realistically, it's fantastic preparation for university life.

So yeah, having pretty much self-taught the units to myself as well, I'd say try to ensure you're up to a reasonable standard (at least half way through) by April, then buy a copy of My Revision Notes, which is a revision book for both Unit 1 and 2. It's not the greatest on it's own, but so long as you've got the normal textbook to support you, you'll do fine.

Practising the essays is key! If you can't find someone to mark them, I'd be quite happy to have a look over them as I know roughly how the essays are assessed and how the whole AO thing works. It's also worth noting that the same questions are often repeated - the question that came up for U1 in last year's exam was exactly the same one I'd done just days before and I ended up getting 25/25.

Hey

Sorry for the late reply...Yeah I see, I will learn 3 topics from each unit! That would be great if you could look at them for me! I will start essay writing in about April I think and I will be grateful if you could have a look at them!
Do you have any tips with regards to the exam especially unit !
I am learning Democracy, elections and pressure groups!
Original post by xxvine
Hey

Sorry for the late reply...Yeah I see, I will learn 3 topics from each unit! That would be great if you could look at them for me! I will start essay writing in about April I think and I will be grateful if you could have a look at them!
Do you have any tips with regards to the exam especially unit !
I am learning Democracy, elections and pressure groups!


My biggest tip for the exam would be to get good at timing, it's 1 mark per minute for all of the Government and Politics exams.

Keep up with what's going on in the news politics-wise, for things like elections, memorising the results of referendums or general election turnouts can be useful to add emphasis to your argument.
do you briefly remember what questions were on unit 2?
Reply 11
Original post by onesoulfortwo
DO NOT skip any units. I did that mistake last year and did not do well as the question on the topic I skipped was easy, but I was not able to do it due to having little knowledge on it. Instead I was forced to do something which I had no idea what they were asking me to do. As I had learnt from the silly mistake, I decided to revise EVERYTHING for the second exam which I got full marks on. :smile:

Tip: When you're revising for politics, the best way to go around it is devise arguments for possible questions/topics and then google the most recent examples proving that. Recent politics is unlikely to be in your textbook!


Unit 2 is zoo hard lol! Any tips
Reply 12
Do you remember which 2 topics came up in section a and which 2 in section b of the UNIT 2 paper last year? Decided I'm going to do a bit of topic guessing and try revise just 2 topics.
Reply 13
hows revision coming along guys?
Any ideas what the questions will be like for democracy and elections/pressure groups in unit 1?
yes any predictions for the questions for the june 2014 for unit for democracy, elections and pressure groups?
Reply 16
its hard to predict the questions lol.. im hoping we aren't knocked over by a really hard question.. the deocracy section is ok, but elections and pressure groups are hard!
Reply 17
hows revision going guys?
Quick question on Unit 2:
Can parliament pass a law that conflicts with the Human Rights Act? Or does it first have the ECHR before doing that?
i think it needs to consult the eu first and go through judicary blah blah

Quick Reply

Latest