Politics

Assessment

The A level is assessed by 3 two-hour-long exams at the end of year 13. Each exam is worth 84 marks and a third of the A level. Paper 1 focuses on UK politics and core political ideas (liberalism, conservatism, and socialism), Paper 2 looks at the UK government and non-core political ideas (feminism, nationalism, multiculturalism, ecologism, and anarchism), and Paper 3 examines comparative politics (global politics). There is an emphasis on extended writing in the exams - the ‘shortest’ questions are worth 12 marks while the longer responses are worth 30 marks. Paper 1 and paper 2 also require students to respond to sources/extracts from articles or legislation so students should be comfortable with responding to and referencing unseen material.