Exam Technique

Quick revise
Links from GCSE
AS Sociology requires no prior learning or achievement at GCSE although it is useful to
have a grade C in GCSE English Language because of the emphasis on essay writing.
What are examiners looking for?
Examiners use instructions to help you to decide the length and depth of your answer. In
essays and data response questions the following action or trigger words and phrases are
frequently used.
State, define, what is meant by, name
These normally require a short, concise answer and is often recall material that can be
learned by rote.

Explain, discuss
Some reasoning or some reference to theory is required. It normally involves reference to
both sides of a debate.

Outline, describe
This implies a short response which sums up the major points of one particular theory or
approach.

Identify, suggest, illustrate

These words normally require you to apply your knowledge to a particular sociological
problem or theory.
Assess, examine, evaluate
These words suggest that you should look at the strengths and weaknesses of an argument
or both sides of a particular debate. You should offer judgement based on evidence.
Some dos and donts
Do read the rubric, i.e. the set of instructions at the start of the exam paper.
You dont want to answer too many questions or not enough or answer from the wrong
sections.
Do answer the question set rather than the one you wished was set.
Do spend 5 minutes reading through the Items and the questions.
It is especially important to read through all the questions before attempting any of them. A
common mistake is to use information to answer a question which is more appropriate to
another question.
Do plan your response to any question worth over 20 marks.
Do pay special attention to the way marks are divided up between sections of data
responses.
It is wasteful to write more than is required and it will impact negatively on the time left for
the bigger questions.
Do always clearly label the part of the question you are answering.
Do use the data provided in the Items whenever it is relevant to do so.
Respond to the appropriate action words and phrases. Failure to use them could result in
you failing to pick up marks.
Do exercise care when it comes to the interpretation of statistics, tables and
diagrams especially in regard to scale.
Marks are easily wasted because the candidate fails to look at how the data is organised
(i.e. into percentages, thousands, etc.).
Do take care in how you present sociological thinkers and theory.
You need to recognise that contributions to sociological debate are a product of a specific
time and place. For example, try to avoid suggesting that 19th-century sociologists are still
making a regular contribution to modern sociological debate.
Do take notice of action words and phrases such as contemporary, recently, post
Second World War, last twenty years, etc.
These words want you to set your response in a modern context. Any reference to studies
and debate outside these periods (e.g. contemporary and recent usually mean the last 20
years) will be regarded as largely irrelevant to the question. It is not necessary to know the
exact date of a study but do know the decade in which it was produced.
Do make your sociology more valid by being aware of current social and political
events.
Be aware of how sociological theory and methods can be applied to them.
Examiners want you to be able to apply your knowledge to the real world and its
social problems.
Do take care with regard to grammar and spelling.
Poor grammatical structure and spelling can impair the intelligibility of a response or
weaken the argument used. A coherent and logical presentation of argument and evidence
is necessary to achieve a good AS Level standard.
Dont waste time writing out the question.
This wastes time. The marks are for the answer.
Dont mistake your own opinion for sociology.
Try and back up what you say with evidence.
Dont over-simplify sociological debate by presenting ideological positions
as irreconcilable.
Examiners are concerned that functionalists and positivists are often presented as bad
sociologists whilst Marxists and interpretivists are seen as good sociologists. You need to
demonstrate that sociological studies which seem opposed actually share common
research problems and theoretical underpinnings. In other words, similarities are just as
important as differences.
This is comparing and contrasting.
Dont over-rely on pre-prepared shopping list answers.
Try to avoid writing down all you know about a particular area, regardless of the question
asked.
Be prepared to be flexible and to adapt your knowledge to the question set.
Think on your feet. There are no rehearsed or model answers.
Dont be one-sided in your evaluation.
Dont focus disproportionately on the virtues of a debate, theory or method at the expense
of its drawbacks or vice versa. In order to get into the higher mark bands, your evaluation
must be balanced.