Improving your grades
in GCSE Sociology
Common myths
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The exams will be harder this year
The grade boundaries will be higher
Examiners have to fail so many
Examiners often make mistakes
Examiners don’t make mistakes
My script was probably marked wrongly
It’s impossible to get an ‘A’
Revising doesn’t work for me
I work better if I leave it to the last minute.
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No-one wants you to fail
• Markers are teachers and examiners
• Many are parents
• They went through this process
themselves
• They want the examination to be fair
to everyone equally
• They do their best to help you through
the system
• The rules are there for everyone
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Rule 1
Revise and understand your
work.
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People are disappointed because
• They don’t appear to know the work
• They haven’t prepared fully
• They don’t write enough
• They don’t understand the examination
process itself
• They have poor exam technique
• They organise their time badly in the
examination
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What do examiners want?
• Evidence of basic knowledge about
the course content
• Evidence of understanding of the
questions
• Well-planned answers that are
relevant to the question
• Good English and clear writing
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Activity
• What are the assessment objectives
that you are working towards?
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Focus on AO1
You need to be able to:
• Refer to studies and research
• Refer to knowledge about British
society
• Refer to theory
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Focus on AO2
You need to be able to:
• Answer the question directly
• Use evidence to support your points
• Make clear judgements on the value
of your evidence.
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Rule 2
Look at the specification
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Examiners follow a set of rules
• All questions go through a rigorous
checking process
• All questions relate directly to the
specification
• All markers apply the same mark
scheme.
• The markscheme uses assessment
objectives that are in the specification
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Rule 3
Listen to your teacher; view her
as a friend.
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Examinations are
• Set by practicing teachers
• Checked by teachers
• Marked by teachers
• In addition teachers are, by their
nature, people who are very good at
passing examinations.
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Don’t try this trick!
‘Don’t know.
Had c**p teacher.’
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Rule 4
Calm down, take exercise,
avoid caffeine and control
your negative emotions.
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Activity
• Write down the first five words you think
of when you think of examinations.
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Don’t panic
• Lots of students are totally panicked by
examinations.
• This is normal; everyone gets spooked.
• Examiners will take this into account.
• All marking is positive; you will not have
marks deducted for errors
• The more you know about the
examination, the less scary it is
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Activity
• Think of as many possible examination
questions as you can on the topic of
ethnic inequality.
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Rule 5
Look at past papers, mock
papers, markschemes.
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Questions
• There are only so many questions that
can be asked.
• Examiners repeat themselves
• Most questions that require evaluation
will focus on:
– How?
– Why?
– Whether?
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Rule 6
Write good English and use
sociological language.
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Read this…
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Handwriting
• Bad handwriting is rude to the
examiner.
• The examiner is under instructions to
read every word and to translate if
necessary.
• This doesn’t make them happy at all.
• In addition, there are mark bands that
take spelling into account.
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Rule 7
Plan your time in the
examination.
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Time planning
• Each question is allocated a number
of marks
• The examination is for a limited time.
• Many candidates write for a very long
time on c) questions and leave d)
questions done very badly.
• This leads to scrappy work and errors.
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Examples …
• Of course, Marxism is bad for society.
• Family diversity is caused by having
too many families.
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Rule 8
Answer the question.
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Command words
• Explain – develop a description, show
detail, talk about how and why, give
reasons or examples
• Identify – pick out the main points
• Outline and explain – pick out the
most important points and then talk
about reasons or examples
• Discuss – talk about all sides of an
argument.
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Instructions …
• Using the extract above … refer to the
stimulus item in some way
• Using relevant examples … mention
studies or facts
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How to upset the marker
Ignoring the
instructions
Misreading
the question
Irrelevant
answers
Twisting the
question
Going off on
a tangent
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The Golden Rules
1.
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7.
8.
Revise and understand the work
Look at the specification
Listen to your teacher; view her as a friend.
Calm down, take exercise, avoid caffeine and
control your negative emotions.
Look at past papers, mock papers, markschemes.
Write good English and use sociological language
Plan your time in the examination.
Answer the question
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