Politics is war without bloodshed while war is politics with bloodshed.
Plato
Politics or war, we feel like we're headed to the trenches as we approach our A-Level exams. That may devalue actual combat veterans' experiences; we're not putting our lives on the line, after all. Still, our futures hang in the balance, and worries of failure - to say nothing of the pressure to succeed, is staggering.
Your best defence against all that is thorough and meticulous preparation. To that end, past papers are your primary arsenal. Which set should you secure and where should you find them? This article details sources for Edexcel Politics past papers, as well as AQA A-Level Politics documents.
💪Building Your Politics A-Level Arsenal
- Finding past papers
- Understand the exam structure and question types
- Using past papers effectively
- Resources, tips and tricks to master your subject
Where to Find A-Level Past Papers
Being an A-Level candidate signals you've undergone General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) exams. That suggests you're already familiar with the scramble for past papers and marking schemes. You likely have your go-to sources, and know where you can turn for additional copies.
With that in mind, let us quickly summarise past paper access points. The clear choice is your examination board's website.
Or, you could turn to a commercial outlet. These websites often release incomplete sets of past papers at no charge. Beware that they're in the business to make money. They may require you to set up an account and pay to access their full resources catalogue.
Sites like Mmerevise, Revisionworld and Savemyexams upload the same papers you can download for free from your exam board's website.
👩🏫Past Papers from Your Tutor
As you might know, you can only access five years' worth of AQA A-Level past papers. This exam board archives documents older than that. Edexcel Politics past papers are equally scarce, and for the same reasons. We can understand this practice, but it doesn't do much for students - especially not right now.
This crop of papers, from 2019 to 2023, offers only two valuable resources. The pandemic years, 2020, 21, and 22, saw examiners use different marking standards. Also, students received supplemental information, which helped boost their marks. This distorted those years' marking schemes and grade boundaries.
With only two 'standard' past papers to work from - 2019 and 2023, you may find yourself lacking in resources. However, your private tutor may have a file drawer full of past papers, going back years. Also, they may have created mock exams for past students that drew on information from those papers.
The best way to grasp your A-Level Politics specification is with a private tutor. Such a teacher knows their subject material and has experience helping students grasp these concepts.
They may have a stack of Edexcel A-Level Politics past papers to put at your disposal. Or AQA A-Level past papers, if that's your board. And, they could point you to other resources, such as this mini-course.
Exam Structure and Questions
After downloading and printing your past papers, you might wonder why they make such a small stack. Some A-Level past papers contain up to 40 questions, and room for notes. By contrast, A-Level Politics features only five questions per paper.
Beware that these are intensive questions. You'll find no multiple choice or short-answer formats.
Even queries with the lowest point values (up to 9 points each) require detailed answers. This exam's assessment criteria specify that students must apply the knowledge they gained from this course.
| Component | Topics | Subtopics |
|---|---|---|
| UK Government and politics | The Government of the UK UK Politics | Constitution, Parliament, Cabinet and Prime Minister, Judiciary Democracy, Elections, Political Parties, Pressure Groups, the European Union |
| US Government and politics | The Government of the US | Constitutional Framework, 3 Branches of Government, Electoral Processes, Political Parties, Pressure Groups |
| Comparing UK/US politics and government | Comparative politics | Constitutional arrangements The executives Judiciaries Party systems Civil rights Pressure groups |
| Political ideas | Core Ideologies Other ideologies | Conservatism, liberalism, socialism Feminism, nationalism, multiculturalism, anarchism, ecologism |
And, judging by that course overview, this A-Level is not a rote memorisation test. For all its simplicity (five questions!), it's an elaborate way to compel written communication. Within that limited format, you'll find questions about your course's three main topics.
United Kingdom (UK) government and politics, United States (US) government and politics, and political ideologies
At least one of your exam questions asks you to compare/contrast the UK government with a second government. For the AQA paper, you'll compare UK and US policies. Edexcel Politics A-Level offers students a choice between US government studies and global governance.
| 🤓Topic | 🅰Edexcel & AQA | 🅱Edexcel |
|---|---|---|
| UK politics studies | Political participation: democracy, elections, political parties, voting behaviour, core political ideologies. | |
| UK government studies | Historical documents, government positions and their roles, the Constitution, Parliament, branches of government. | |
| US politics and government | US Constitution and branches of government, civil rights and responsibilities, pressure groups | Globalisation and sovereignty; global governance: political and economic, human rights and environmental, power and developments, the European Union and regionalism, comparative theories |
| Political ideologies | conservatism, liberalism, socialism feminism, anarchism, multiculturalism, ecologism, nationalism |
⏲How Much Time for Each Paper
With such short papers, you might wonder how long you have to complete each one. Two hours per paper - your window for completion, sounds like a generous time limit. However, by the time you read and understand each question, organise your ideas and write them, you may scramble to finish.
Reading over the 2023 examiners' report, we find that incomplete answers cost the students the most points. This resulted in lower overall marks than last year's exams, but more in line with pre-pandemic results. In this article's last section, we share tips to avoid such pitfalls. For now, we must focus on another chapter in our guide to A-Level Politics.
The Effective Use of Past Papers
Some students take the time and trouble to download and print past papers, glance over them, and toss them aside. Maybe later, they'll use them for mock exams, or something. Other students build their entire revision strategy around past papers.
Those two extremes usually don't serve anyone well. Students must develop a strategy to use these resources to their maximum benefit. However, unless they have a private tutor to guide them, finding that path can be challenging. These tips will help you build such a scheme.
🥜How to Use Past Papers
❓Question papers
- revision start: to get familiar with the exam format
- while revising: to correlate information
- revision end: mock exams
✅Marking Schemes
- revision start: gain insights into assessment criteria
- to help you stay on target with expectations
- to assess your mock exam
🔍Examiner Report
- revision start: gain insights of student performance
- while revising: as guidance to desired responses
- revision end: compare your responses to desired criteria
❓Question Papers
You should download and print your past papers before you start your course, if possible. At that early stage, the question papers won't deliver much value. Still, you can study them to get an idea of the exam's structure and the questions' wording. Remember that you won't see the same questions on your exam papers.
Toward the end of your Politics A-Level course, these papers matter. As you start revising, stage a mock exam. Doing so will give you a feel for pacing your answers. You'll also get an idea of which areas you need to focus on.
✅Marking Schemes
These documents deliver their payload immediately. Mark schemes are full of helpful information, including how examiners assess students' responses. You will further find discussions on 'indicative content' under each question. In those dialogue boxes, examiners share the expectations for each response.
Study those guidelines, and take them to heart. Incorporate the desired formats into your coursework responses as soon as you can. Avoid the practices that yield the lowest points - lack of clarity, making weak points, not citing examples, and others. And, whatever you do, avoid repeating information.
🔎Examiners' Reports
These are your goldmines. In these papers, you'll read examiners' candid assessments of students' performances. They point out trends that reveal (coursework or revision) weaknesses. They make recommendations for future students to improve their results.
And that's just in the opening paragraph. This report then runs through each question, delivering assessments, making observations, and pointing out shortcomings. They also highlight points students excelled at.
Crucially, the examiners' reports don't dwell on question-specific information, as the mark scheme paper does. Instead, these reports discuss student's understanding and skills working with the exams' topics.
"There was also a tendency in many mid-level responses to explain socialist theory at length without focusing on socio-economic class."
These reports are brilliant: there's no other way to say it. When you start your course (or before), be sure to read and digest these papers. Compare what the examiners say with the marking scheme commentary. This will paint a complete picture of examiners' expectations of your exam performance.
Final Tips
We end our topic with tips to succeed in your coursework and A-Level Politics exam. Naturally, perseverance tops our recommendations list. Two years of coursework seems like a long time. This might tempt you to put off implementing the best learning and study practices.
Putting yourself in the proper mind from your course's start is an excellent strategy. You may download and listen to political podcasts, such as the one below. Should your teacher offer a recommended reading list, strive to read and understand as many books as possible.
And, you should load up on productivity tools and resources, as well as study resources. This table presents you with a few free (or cheap) options.
| 🔨Tool or resource | ❓What it's for | 🎯Where to find it |
|---|---|---|
| Flashcards | Memorising keywords and their definitions Mastering concepts | Quizlet Anki Make your own! |
| Mindmaps | Organising information Connecting concepts visually | MindMeister Coggle Drraw your own! |
| Productivity apps | Keep your revision schedult on track Set boundaries on study times | App stores Search for planners, Pomidoro timers, other productivity apps |
| A-Level-targeted platforms | Revision tools specifically for GCSE and A-Level revision | Study Rocket |
| Study groups | Exchange information, debate ideas, support, competition | Ask your teacher Recruit classmates |
| Private tutor | Guidance, support, coaching, motivation, additional revision materials | Peer tutors through school Tutoring agencies Superprof tutoring platform |
😓Worrying About Politics A Level Grade Boundaries
| Summer 2023 | Max Marks | *A | A | B | C | D | E | U |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| AQA Politics A-Level | 231 % | 176 76 | 150 65 | 123 53 | 96 42 | 69 30 | 42 18 | 0 |
| Paper I | 77 % | 59 71 | 51 66 | 42 55 | 33 43 | 24 31 | 16 21 | 0 |
| Paper 2 | 77 % | 55 71 | 44 57 | 35 45 | 27 35 | 19 25 | 11 14 | 0 |
| Paper 3 | 77 % | 62 81 | 55 71 | 45 58 | 35 45 | 25 32 | 15 19 | 0 |
Our final tip may be our best: you've no need to focus on grade boundaries or percentages. The table above reflects 2023's AQA A-Level Politics exam (the one below is for 2023's Edexcel boundaries). The spread is quite generous, with a fair points distribution throughout.
| Summer 2023 | Max marks | A* | A | B | C | D | E | U |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Edexcel With US studies | 252 % | 181 72 | 159 63 | 134 53 | 109 43 | 85 34 | 61 24 | 0 |
| Edexcel With global studies | 252 % | 179 71 | 158 63 | 133 53 | 108 43 | 84 33 | 60 24 | 0 |
| Paper 1 | 84 % | 59 70 | 52 62 | 44 52 | 36 43 | 28 33 | 20 24 | 0 |
| Paper 2 | 84 % | 60 71 | 53 63 | 44 52 | 36 43 | 28 33 | 20 24 | 0 |
| Paper 3 US studies | 84 % | 62 74 | 54 64 | 45 54 | 37 44 | 29 35 | 21 25 | 0 |
| Paper 3 global studies | 84 % | 60 71 | 53 63 | 44 52 | 36 43 | 28 33 | 20 24 | 0 |
Indeed, grade boundaries should be of minimal concern. As long as you learn and prepare well, using all the tools this article presents, you'll be satisfied with your efforts. That level of confidence is quite the stress buster - and stress is the enemy of success.
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