How to answer Exam Questions: General Advice
CIE Examiners offer important guidance to students taking A Level Sociology:
• To achieve higher marks, it is essential to include references to appropriate sociological concepts, evidence, theories and research studies in answers. The recommended course textbook is the appropriate source for acquiring the relevant sociological knowledge.
• Good knowledge of theoretical perspectives was evident in high-scoring answers.
• Good answers include analysis and assessment.
• Low-scoring essay answers often lack references to theoretical issues or are purely descriptive; analysis and evaluation scores highly, especially when it is appropriate to the question and shown to be appropriate by the writer.
• Answers based solely on personal opinion gain low marks only.
• Answers that are too descriptive and lacking in evidence of assessment skills score low marks.
So we can use these points as a checklist for essay answers to ensure they will score highly.
To be a successful student of Sociology in the exams you need:
• A secure knowledge of basic sociological terms and concepts.
• To support your essays with accurate use of sociological evidence, both theoretical and empirical.
• To see the connections between factors like gender, class and ethnicity and not regard them in isolation to other social features.
• To answer the question as set by the examiner (and not the one you hoped s/he had set you as you revised that one really well!).
• To know that questions in part (a) will require straightforward application and understanding of knowledge showed sociological knowledge such as the accurate use of sociological terms and concepts.
• To know that questions in part (b) require more reference to sociological theory and methods, as well as evaluation and analysis.
• To know what each exam paper expects of you so that questions are answered in the allocated time.
• To spend time outlining a plan for your essays. Examiners tell us that it ‘will help (you) focus on the question as set’.
• To achieve higher marks, it is essential to include references to appropriate sociological concepts, evidence, theories and research studies in answers. The recommended course textbook is the appropriate source for acquiring the relevant sociological knowledge.
• Good knowledge of theoretical perspectives was evident in high-scoring answers.
• Good answers include analysis and assessment.
• Low-scoring essay answers often lack references to theoretical issues or are purely descriptive; analysis and evaluation scores highly, especially when it is appropriate to the question and shown to be appropriate by the writer.
• Answers based solely on personal opinion gain low marks only.
• Answers that are too descriptive and lacking in evidence of assessment skills score low marks.
So we can use these points as a checklist for essay answers to ensure they will score highly.
To be a successful student of Sociology in the exams you need:
• A secure knowledge of basic sociological terms and concepts.
• To support your essays with accurate use of sociological evidence, both theoretical and empirical.
• To see the connections between factors like gender, class and ethnicity and not regard them in isolation to other social features.
• To answer the question as set by the examiner (and not the one you hoped s/he had set you as you revised that one really well!).
• To know that questions in part (a) will require straightforward application and understanding of knowledge showed sociological knowledge such as the accurate use of sociological terms and concepts.
• To know that questions in part (b) require more reference to sociological theory and methods, as well as evaluation and analysis.
• To know what each exam paper expects of you so that questions are answered in the allocated time.
• To spend time outlining a plan for your essays. Examiners tell us that it ‘will help (you) focus on the question as set’.