The Student Room Group

EdExcel Govt & Politics Unit 1 and TIME.

I was just wondering: You are only given an hour to write 100 marks worth of points in Unit 1. So how much are you expected to write, really? :confused:

And if you are expected to write a lot, why are they only giving us an hour to complete it? What are they trying to test us? Our understanding of the subject or the ability to write and purge our facts out as fast as we can? :mad:

If anyone could help answer these questions for me, I would very much appreciate it :smile:
Reply 1
If you revised well then you shouldn't really have any problems with unit one. I don't think you need to write very much for it. I only wrote about 5 sides. I think they're trying to test knowledge more than analysis at AS-level, but analysis wouldn't do any harm. :smile:
Reply 2
Thanks! But It's not really about me having a problem answering the questions. It's just that...you wrote 5 sides?! How did you find the time to write 5 full pages in just one hour? :frown:

I've checked out the marking scheme and it turns out that for 30 mark questions, you only need 3 or 4 main points with elaboration and examples. Is that true? Because I'm constantly rushing to put in my 10 main points.
Reply 3
Yesterday I had 1hr 15mins (I got a bit of extra time due to not being able to write properly) and I wrote abbout 5 sides for paper one and 7 and a bit sides for paper 2!!!
Reply 4
All edexcel exams are tight for time. (well the ones i do anyway :frown: )..dam edexcel!
Reply 5
Timing wasn't really an issue for me, although I think I messed up unit 2 which is the one I need to improve on. :frown:
Reply 6
which questions did u answer in unit 2?
Reply 7
chandni
which questions did u answer in unit 2?

Can't remember the question numbers but I did questions on the UK Constitution and Parliament.
Reply 8
kool i did the constitution one as well though I only included about 5-6 points in the final essay and somehow dragged the essay on for almost 3 sides!!! I also did the Judiciary question...was well happy that came up!!!
Mirlina
I was just wondering: You are only given an hour to write 100 marks worth of points in Unit 1. So how much are you expected to write, really? :confused:

And if you are expected to write a lot, why are they only giving us an hour to complete it? What are they trying to test us? Our understanding of the subject or the ability to write and purge our facts out as fast as we can? :mad:

If anyone could help answer these questions for me, I would very much appreciate it :smile:


You're not expected to make loads and loads of points, with only superficial analysis surrounding them. Go for the main points, the 'necessary' points if you like that are obvious and discuss them. If you think you have time left add others in. They don't want you to tell them everything that you know about the topic, just answer the question. Although the questions are worth a lot, they are all weighted equally, so there are 10 20 30 40 mark questions- just look at halving them 5 10 15 20 marks and it may give you a better indication about what they mean.

My teacher told me last year that the last big question of around 40 marks needed to be around 2-3 sides worth of writing. For some that might not be a lot but I can understand the time constraints you all felt today, as I had barely anytime to check over what I had written. I also nearly mucked up paper three (OCR) when I miscalculated how many questions I had to answer and how much time I had for both. Luckily, I realised as I was writing my first answer, but a boy in my class made the same mistake. He finished the exam about 30 minutes early as he had only answered half the questions believing he was just fast!
Reply 10
I'm doomed. For the 30 mark question, I only wrote a page's worth. But honestly, I really couldn't find the time to write any more than I did. :mad: