Edexcel A-level Government & Politics 6GP03 3rd/6th/13th June 2019 [Exam Discussion]

Yeah of course. I mentioned PACs and SuperPACs as well since they relate to campaign funding and SPACs bypass the finance regulations, making the system flawed since it promotes a a system where money determines the presidential candidates

What about electoral college?

How did it go today guys? Hope you are all feeling positive after the exam !

Reply 1782

JCIM

16

Yes absolutley

Original post by roryfrain

Could you talk about primaries and caucuses for the way in which presidential elections is flawed?

Reply 1783

Razz13

14

USA Comparative Politics Questions:

1. a) (Can't remember this one as I don't know anybody who did it; could someone help me out on this one)

1. b) Examine the differences between devolution in the UK and federalism in the USA.

2. Analyse the differences between the legislative powers of the US Congress and the UK Parliament.

3. a) Evaluate the view that Congress has the same level of domination over foreign policy as the presidency.

3. b) Evaluate the view that the work of interest groups is more important than the Supreme Court at ensuring the Constitution is interpreted effectively.

3. c) Evaluate the view that the system of electing Presidents and Congressman is unfit for purpose.

Note: all of these questions are approximate wordings of the actual questions, but they are fundamentally the same.

Reply 1784

Razz13

14

Original post by anonymousamk

What about electoral college?

yeah that too, as long as you can link it to a being corrupt or effective

Reply 1785

Freya.Interhigh

11

What do you mean?

Original post by JCIM

You don’t have to answer all of them

Reply 1786

Razz13

14

Original post by hanmay

What about national conventions???

yeah

Reply 1787

Wellnowhe

12

For elections i talked about

electoral college good and bad

Incumbency being a symbol of political apathy in connressional elections but could be a representation of strong links and congressmen are ousted

Finance and how it’s led to elitism and a disengagement of regular folks

Low turnout

It’s allowed diversity

So yeah probably gonna be a U

Reply 1788

JCIM

16

Original post by Freya.Interhigh

What do you mean?

I probably read what you said wrong, sorry. But you said you had run out of time and then you listed that you answered 2 comparative and 2 essay questions so you answered all the questions you needed to. Just pointing out that 1 of the essays and one comparative you don’t need to do.

Reply 1789

Wellnowhe

12

Could’ve been a much easier paper

Reply 1790

Freya.Interhigh

11

Yeah I only did the 4, I’m mega slow :cool:

Always spend too long on the first 12 marker!

Original post by JCIM

I probably read what you said wrong, sorry. But you said you had run out of time and then you listed that you answered 2 comparative and 2 essay questions so you answered all the questions you needed to. Just pointing out that 1 of the essays and one comparative you don’t need to do.

Reply 1791

username2805430

15

for the election system q I didn’t read the question properly and only spoke about the electoral college, and congressmen in passing... :frown:

Reply 1792

rarf

6

Original post by nish2910

for the election system q I didn’t read the question properly and only spoke about the electoral college, and congressmen in passing... :frown:

The system for electing is the Electoral College, I did the same, i only talked about the positives and negatives of the electoral college really. I dont think they could mark you down though because all of my points were still valid? so confused

Reply 1793

rarf

6

Original post by rarf

The system for electing is the Electoral College, I did the same, i only talked about the positives and negatives of the electoral college really. I dont think they could mark you down though because all of my points were still valid? so confused

For that question, my arguments were:

How the popular vote loser can still win (Trump 2016) and this is undemocratic.

However, winnows weak candidates in primary stages, (TV debates, Rick Perry 2011)

Disproportionate representation (1 elector every 177,000 for Wyoming whereas 1 elector every 715,000 for Texas)

However, no viable alternative that is apparent in the modern day (Popular vote is not better alternative because it is unconstitutional and gives no representation to rural areas of the US)

I don’t get it at all. I now realise congressman are elected via popular vote but obviously popular vote for the Presidential elections wouldn’t work can be very undemocratic also.

All my points are valid arguments for/against and they still answer the question ? will I only get half marks for not mentioning Congress? there’s no exhaustive list of points that examiners use when they mark it though. Literally not a clue what to expect.

Apart from that I thought the paper was pretty good

Reply 1794

username2805430

15

Basically the same but I spoke about third parries instead of primary stages. Praying it’s okay. Found the foreign policy one good though.

Original post by rarf

For that question, my arguments were:

How the popular vote loser can still win (Trump 2016) and this is undemocratic.

However, winnows weak candidates in primary stages, (TV debates, Rick Perry 2011)

Disproportionate representation (1 elector every 177,000 for Wyoming whereas 1 elector every 715,000 for Texas)

However, no viable alternative that is apparent in the modern day (Popular vote is not better alternative because it is unconstitutional and gives no representation to rural areas of the US)

I don’t get it at all. I now realise congressman are elected via popular vote but obviously popular vote for the Presidential elections wouldn’t work can be very undemocratic also.

All my points are valid arguments for/against and they still answer the question ? will I only get half marks for not mentioning Congress? there’s no exhaustive list of points that examiners use when they mark it though. Literally not a clue what to expect.

Apart from that I thought the paper was pretty good

Reply 1795

rarf

6

The main question on my mind is that have I limited myself to half marks at the most because I only spoke about the Electoral college? maybe the question was meant to be easy and they’ve purposely added congressman to make the answers more broad so more people can answer them ?

Original post by nish2910

Basically the same but I spoke about third parries instead of primary stages. Praying it’s okay. Found the foreign policy one good though.

Reply 1796

username2805430

15

I think we have limited ourselves. My issue was I totally blanked how congressmen were elected so v vaguely applied the issue of lack of third parties in Congress... anyways it’s over and hopefully our other papers will save us. G luck x

Original post by rarf

The main question on my mind is that have I limited myself to half marks at the most because I only spoke about the Electoral college? maybe the question was meant to be easy and they’ve purposely added congressman to make the answers more broad so more people can answer them ?

Reply 1797

lozzzzbx

1

Our teacher taught us to never bother with an introduction so that’s fine however conclusion is kinda important

Original post by RWA1Ker

I ran out of time so didn’t do an intro or conclusion for one of the 30 markers, how much will this affect the mark?

Reply 1798

psych_o_student

4

Original post by rarf

The main question on my mind is that have I limited myself to half marks at the most because I only spoke about the Electoral college? maybe the question was meant to be easy and they’ve purposely added congressman to make the answers more broad so more people can answer them ?

I did the same thing. Only really talked about Electoral College, besides one point I made about the fact that elections are regular (Representatives elected every 2 years, President every 4) which is democratic because it allows the people frequent participation and to frequently hold the executive and legislative branches to account (not sure how relevant this is to the question?)
So glad other people said they only wrote about EC cause seriously I was the same, drew a total blank on congressional elections and I just couldn’t think of any points about them whatsoever. Praying EC is enough since my points still answered the question.. loved the foreign policy question though!