Politics and two veg: short term and long term, who has the answers?
I discussed yesterday in my blog post that David Cameron seems to have the upper hand over Gordon Brown when it comes to who looks better placed to provide solutions to the nation’s problems, and that the knife crime debate could be used as the prism through which we could view this battle. Here I suggest that traditional politics is too narrow in outlook and that other areas, such as the latest thinking in economics (gulp!) may provide more fertile ground
read more...»Oh lord. Will we ever see an elected upper house?
Another plan for Lords reform has been published. But yet again there appears to be little political will behind the idea
read more...»Cameron’s sharp initiative?
It was hard to avoid thinking about the politics of knife crime when I was out and about in London yesterday
read more...»Exams “bore brightest and fail weakest”
A damning indictment on the English education system by a respected think tank. But it is not all doom and gloom
read more...»Brown video
I have come across another very useful video on Brown’s year.
read more...»Lobby Magazine - Your Suggestions for 2008/9
Please take a couple of minutes to complete this online survey and give us your suggestions for what you would like to see included in the 2008/9 editions of Lobby Magazine - the free print magazine for Politics, Sociology and Law…
read more...»Brown mark
An in-depth look at Gordon Brown’s first year in office
read more...»Politics reading list
I have made a couple of additions to my Oxbridge reading list
read more...»Stimulus package
Another video from the barely political gang
read more...»Lobby Magazine is Here!
We’re delighted to announce the publication of Lobby Magazine - the new, free print magazine for teachers of Politics, Law & Sociology. Order your free copy today - and tell your colleagues about Lobby too!
read more...»AS revision: some definitions
A few examples of definitions in the people and participation area worked on during study leave
read more...»Devolution revision: differences in Scotland and Wales
How has devolution been delivered in these two parts of the Celtic fringe?
read more...»Using Google Earth as a teaching aid in Politics lessons
The revelation that protestors who climbed to the top of the House of Commons used Google Earth to plan their protest has got me thinking. Could you use Google Earth to help in the teaching of politics?
read more...»When Politicians Choose to Mime - John Redwood
Conservative politician John Redwood has been tipped as a successor to the current Shadow Chancellor George Osborne. Were Redwood to get the role, you can expect plenty of media replays of this famous rendition of the Welsh national anthem.
read more...»Question Time - The Politics Quiz - 24 February 2008
The latest edition of Question Time, our quiz for Politics teachers and students, is now available.
read more...»Great political moments - John Prescott (Prize Fighter)
The wonderful thing about YouTube is that you can relive some memorable political moments. Browsing tonight, I came across this classic. You could pause the video and ask your students - what happened next?
read more...»A to Z of Famous UK Politicians
Here is a challenge you could set for your students. The task is to create an A to Z of famous UK politicians. To help define the rules:
(1) Each entrant must have been elected to Parliament within the last 25 years
(2) May be alive or dead
(3) Can represent any party
(4) A to Z letter represented by the surname
(5) Should be genuinely well-known or infamous - not some obscure MEP!
Can you help us complete an A to Z. We’ll put some names in to start and then update the list with your suggestions via the comments box
read more...»Politics Categories
Some classic political interviews by Jeremy Paxman
Jeremy Paxman has established a fearsome reputation for grilling politicians. This collections of clips shows Paxman at his interrogative best…
read more...»Indy’s US Election Specials
The Independent newspaper is producing two specials ahead of Super-Duper Tuesday on February 6th. The giant poster in today’s edition will look great in your classroom or departmental resource room. Make sure you get your cope. And tomorrow there is a special 22 page booklet. Naturally there will be plenty of coverage of the US Presidential elections right here on the Tutor2u blog.
New edition of First Past the Post is out now (Jan 2008)
The latest edition of tutor2u’s hugely popular digital Politics magazine First Past the Post is online now. This month FPTP features articles on a wide range of topical issues by a team of writers who are all experienced teachers aware of the need to provide informative and accessible material.
read more...»Edexcel AS Modules January 2008 Exam Technique
Edexcel AS modules: January 2008
Some last minute hints and tips with the AS Politics January modules just days away.
Prior planning and preparation
By this stage you should hopefully have all of your notes in your file organised into some sort of clear order parallel to what’s in the syllabus.
Careful reading of past papers is extremely important since there are unlikely to be any surprises in the exam, i.e. the question topics and format will be almost the same as what has been set previously.
Looking through your notes make sure that you could confidently answer as many questions as possible if the exam was ‘open book’. If you can’t do this then you have to fill in any gaps since it is unlikely that you will be able to pluck an answer out of thin air in the exam hall.
One of the key things you should bear in mind when checking the contents of your file with the past questions is that Edexcel is an examples based course, so wherever possible provide an example to back up your points. Indeed try to give more than one if you can since the quality and depth of examples are what examiners use to differentiate between good and very good answers. On a related note, a little bit of exposition/detail with your example can add marks. For instance, rather than just stating an example of a pressure group you should try to explain what they campaign for and any recent activity.
Once you are reasonably satisfied that you have your notes in order you may want to go through any essays you have done throughout the year and see if there are any patterns in where you have gone wrong; do you have a habit of answering one side of the question, or do you have time management issues? If so, try to keep these in mind when setting about the task that will essentially determine what grade you get: practising answers under timed conditions.
There really is no secret to exam success. Doing lots of past papers is the best thing you can do to help yourself. The concepts and ideas in Politics at AS level are probably not the most challenging you have encountered. But what is a challenge is committing the breadth and depth of material to memory. Occasionally I get requests to provide private tuition or am asked by parents if I think that their son or daughter would benefit from a tutor. I know it is slightly different in the case of Maths and Sciences, but I think a far better answer is for students to do extra exam practise and get their teachers to mark the papers.
How much time you devote to each AS paper will depend on your individual workload. Some students will have as many as a dozen modules this month (including retakes) whilst some may only have one. But if you can find the time then aiming to have 4 or 5 attempts at a full question paper is a reasonable target.
Try also to get your answers to a similar standard. Often candidates will provide a very good answer on one topic (usually pressure groups in Unit 1 and Prime Minister/Cabinet in Unit 2) but be much weaker on their second question.
Answer technique
Each sub-question in the AS papers places different demands on candidates. For part (a) - which is essentially a test of the breadth of your subject knowledge - you should make two short points with examples. Try not to spend too long on this part since it only carries 10% of the overall mark allocation.
Part (b) questions in units 1 and 2 often specify 3 points, so answers are differentiated by the quality and range of examples. Looking at pressure groups again (always the most popular topic on Unit 1) if you were asked about typology and therefore discussed insider/outsider groups then you could develop your points by seeking to explain why some groups are insiders and some outsiders. If the question doesn’t specify 3 then I find that going for range rather than depth is successful.
For part (c) in units 1 and 2 be conscious of the need to tackle both sides of the question – answers do not have to be perfectly balanced in terms of the number of arguments, but do have to show an attempt, e.g. 5 for and 2 against is equally as acceptable as 4 for and 3 against
Time management
Note that 60% of the total marks in units 1 and 2 are carried by the last question. For this reason you should obviously devote more time to this part than (a) and (b).
As I alluded to above it is tempting to spend too long on part (a) - especially since the exam booklet provides a full page for the answer. But with only 5 marks up for grabs, keep in mind that if you haven’t said what you want in a few lines then a full page of writing is unlikely to add much.
If you approach the questions in the order set, timing is 3 minutes, 9 minutes, and 18 minutes.
So this equates to 12 minutes and 42 minutes after the exam starts.
If you want to try and play it safe and tackle the big questions first then adjust accordingly.
Similarly on Unit 3 you may want to tackle (c) and (d) first. A normal time guide (allowing 5 minutes reading time) goes: 5, 10, 17, 23. But (a) and (b) are difficult to do well on so you may want to try and make sure that you don’t spend too long on them by doing the big questions first. If you do this then there is a 45 minute rule: 5 minutes reading, then attempts at (c) and (d) leave you 15 minutes for (a) and (b).
Note also that for part (a) in Unit 3 you must add something to the extract in the form of an explanation, or examples.
For part (b) it is half marks for use of the extract and half marks for own knowledge, i.e. 2 points from the source and attempting to bring 2 of your own related points
This is an edited version of the exam hints and tips contained in tutor2u’s bestselling AS Edexcel revision guide:
http://www.tutor2u.net/acatalog/Edexcel_AS_Politics_ExamBuster.html
