AQA GCSE Sociology

My teacher says for 5 markers you should describe the term, give a bit of further description, then give an example of the term (or law) in place and explain it further. Very basic and loosely structured but maybe it'll help you. You need a bit more explanation than just description. Also, it might be a good idea to split your answer into two sections with an actual line gap, so you have one 'paragraph' describing, and the other paragraph explaining it. It'll make it easier for the examiner to award you marks.

Also, my teacher has given me 12/12 on all the 12 markers that I've done, and the one thing I changed about them since doing 12 markers back in year 10 was MAKE A CONCLUSION. You'll get more marks with a 3 point + conc essay than a 4 point + no conc essay, since the conclusion is essentially your final link back to the 'how far do sociologist agree' question. Also, don't get too caught up trying to memorise sociologists and their study dates. You need to give an answer that is sociological and proves that you aren't just answering the question from a common sense standpoint, and yes, one way to do that is to show knowledge of sociologists and their studies, but I think an easier way to do it is to just pour those keyterms in by the gallon, as well as giving contemporary examples of the sociological process happening in real life (e.g. in a question asking if meritocracy exists, you can say 'an example of meritocracy in contemporary society is Alan Sugar who came from a working class family and achieved his status').

Do a plan for the 12 marker. Idk about you but I am terrible with the timings but I feel like you're not meant to have enough time, i.e. if you're finishing all the questions with time to spare then you're not writing enough. You should blast through the first 4 marks since they're easy, and pick up maybe 30 secs here and there on the 4 and 5 markers. When you reach the 12 marker, I think 15 minutes is a good amount of time to have.