GCSE Soicology

Hi,
Anyone doing GCSE Sociology or A-Level I have a question.

My GCSE Sociology exam is in a week. I’ve been feeling confident and have been doing loads of practice questions using ChatGPT to check my answers (since I don’t have all the mark schemes). I’ve noticed something and wanted to ask:

Sometimes, I give an answer that’s correct and sociologically relevant, but it’s not on the mark scheme. For example, I’ll write about a theory or reason that’s valid and clearly linked to the question, but it doesn’t match exactly what’s listed.

👉 My question is: If I give a correct answer that isn’t in the mark scheme, can I still get full marks? Do I have to phrase things exactly the way the mark scheme says, or is there flexibility?

I’m aiming for an 8 or 9, so I want to be sure I’m writing in a way that’ll get full marks.

Example :

Identify and explain one disadvantage of using structured interviews to investigate
conjugal role relationships.

This is what your meant to talk about:

• The inflexibility of structured interviews as a research method.
• The interviewer effect.
• The quality of the data.

And I've talked about how they cannot expand on there awsners and stuff but my answer didn't fully match like what the markscheme wanted so could i still get full marks if i states something that's actually relevant.

Im just worried bc ik I'm good at sociology its just idk if I'm picking out the what exactly it wants.

Reply 1

rkiiikii

hi there, i do gcse sociology too and im pretty sure that the mark scheme just provides indicative content (an idea of what you could answer). I spoke to my teacher about this and they said as long as your answer is relevant and relates to the question then there shouldn't be a problem. but good luck for your exam & I hope u get ur desired grade!!

Reply 2

pr1tik

do u have any tips for time management and the 12 markers?

Reply 3

rkiiikii

Original post

by pr1tik

do u have any tips for time management and the 12 markers?

I'd say do ur 12 markers first and aim to keep them around 15 minutes - if ur not happy with ur 12 marker after the 15 minutes, move on the next question and come back at the end if u find time as there's no point wasting time on a 12 marker when you could move on and gain marks from other questions !! & practice 12 markers often and give them to your teacher to mark.