How will I be examined on Political Ideas Flashcards
Exam tips:
How will I be examined on political ideas
Political Ideas will be examined on Section B of both Papers 1 and 2. In both cases you will have to answer one from a choice of two 24-mark essay questions.
+ Paper 1, Section B will have two questions on the core political ideas: conservatism, liberalism or socialism. You will choose one to answer.
+ Paper 2, Section B will have two questions on each of the five non-core political ideas: anarchism, ecologism, feminism, multiculturalism and nationalism. You will choose one to answer.
Exam tips:
What skills will I be tested on in the political ideas section
The 24-mark essays have the following assessment objectives.
A01 Knowledge and understanding (35% of marks)
You need to demonstrate knowledge and understanding of the political ideas and theories with reference to the key thinkers.
AO2 Analysis (35% of marks)
You need to demonstrate an analysis of the political ideas, including parallels, connections, similarities and differences.
Introduction
A03 Evaluation (30% of marks)
You need to evaluate the political ideas where they make substantiated judgements based upon the arguments that they have constructed.
An emphasis on analysis and evaluation
Essay questions on Political Ideas place explicit emphasis on analysis (A02) and evaluation (A03) skills.
+ The command words of Political Ideas questions are ‘To what extent..?’
This is inviting you to review political ideas, make substantiated judgements and draw conclusions.
+ You should ensure that you are discussing both sides of the argument (and also utilise the ideas of the relevant key thinkers) in the main body of the essay as well as the conclusion.
+ The examiner wants to see ongoing evaluation throughout the main body of the essay, so you should attempt intermediate conclusions in the main body of the essay to demonstrate A03 skills.
+ It goes without saying that the final paragraph must be a substantial evaluation that considers the overall conclusions. Those who don’t refer to specific key political thinkers and only consider one side of the argument will lose a considerable number of marks. Similarly, those who focus on knowledge (A01) at the expense of analysis (AO2) and evaluation (A03) will also lose considerable marks.
Exam tips:
How should I use my time in the political ideas section of the exam
+ As an approximate guide, you should split your time 70%/30% between
Section A and Section B on both Papers 1 and 2.
+ This means that you should allocate 85 minutes for Section A of both Paper 1 (UK Politics) and Paper 2 (UK Government), and 35 minutes for the 24-mark
(Non-Core Political Ideas).
essay question in Section B of both Paper 1 (Core Political Ideas) and Paper 2
+ You should practise writing Political Ideas essays for both Paper 1 and Paper 2 in 35 minutes each, as part of your revision schedule.
