June 4, 2023 • 12 mins
In this episode, Matthew talks to Circe Newbold about Paper 3 for the AQA A-level Sociology exam. Circe Newbold is a lead examiner for Paper 3, here she explains some top tips in terms of what the examiners are looking for and how to structure questions. Circe also explains how to work towards the A* grade.
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Episode Transcript
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(00:04):
Hi, You're listening to a studentfocused episode of the Sociology Show podcast.
If you're studying the subject at gcsA level, foundation degree, or any
other discipline, then this podcast couldbe of help to you. If you
have a question for the show,then you can email the Sociology Show podcasts
the Gmail dot com and one ofthe teachers, lecturers, examiners, or
(00:27):
experts will answer your question for you. You can sponsor the show on the
go fund me page and subscribe onall the usual podcast platforms. If you're
going to class, going to thegym, or just chilling, put your
headphones in and let's be sociology beatstogether. A Hello, and welcome to
(00:48):
the Sociology Show podcast. This episodeis for those of you that are taking
AQA level sociology paper three. Iwas lucky enough to talk to sercynu Bold
who is a lead examiner and inthis episode, Curasi talks about her dues
and don't how to approach the paper, how to structure the questions, and
also how to work towards the Hstar grade. So, without further ado,
let's go over to the interview withSarsi new Bold, I Circi.
(01:14):
Welcome back, we are going tobe talking about paper three now, So
our start as I did with theprevious one. Overall, what's your advice
in terms of dus and don'ts forthis paper? But I think the same
applies. I think take time overthe short questions, read the questions really
carefully. Yeah, I mean readingthe questions carefully seems to be a bit,
a bit of a big issue withPaper three. I think also the
(01:38):
examiners understand that this is the birdof three to our papers. Via this
stage, you're probably feeling quite drainedlast summer. Some of the essays on
social action theories in that paper Ithought were really weak, and they were
getting like eleven twelve out of twenty. So I feel like there's a certain
amount of generosity on Paper three,possibly because it's the third of three papers.
(02:02):
And we always think about the notionalstudent. You know, exam stress,
they're eighteen, they're they're young.They you know, they've struggled,
and I hope this year will bethe same, especially COVID wise. That's
nice to know. Examiners have gota heart, they know that. Yeah,
And there's lots of positive marketing andsociality. I was going to say
(02:24):
that that examiners will look to positivelymark, won't they They're they're not trying
to take marks off. Yeah,it's really good. Yeah. And then
how does the structure for questions onpaper three differ to paper one. They're
the same, four, six,ten, and thirty on crime. The
difference is the twenty question is ontheorium methods. On paper one it's on
(02:47):
methods. In context, that theorymethods question is quite scary as a teacher,
because it could be theories, itcould be methods, it could be
sociology and science. It's a veryvery big range of the specification. The
only advice I can give is thatif the previous year it was theories,
(03:08):
probably it's going to be methods thefollowing year. But otherwise it's a really
broad range of possible as topic.So that's quite tough. I think it's
a tougher paper than paper one.Yeah, and you've just made me think,
Actually, teachers often try and predictwhat's coming up? Can you predict
with any accuracy at all? Ithink you can predict the what came up
(03:29):
last year won't come up right.The other thing to say, actually,
and this is very useful, whatcame up in last year's AS paper will
not come up in this year's Alevel paper. This is to not disadvantage
people that didn't take the AS,so I also look at the AS papers
from the previous year as well.Obviously it doesn't work with crime, but
(03:51):
with families and with education and methods. That's a useful tactic. That's it.
That's a good top tip. That'sa good top tip. And fore
for three, are there any particularquestions that are done a little bit more
poorly than the others. I thinkit's down to the wording of the question.
So last summer, the question threewas about working class victims of crime,
(04:13):
and most lots of students saw thatas offenders. They were so not
used to thinking about why working classpeople are more like to be victims.
Even though the item was quite victimdriven, loads of students were about offending
and ended up with three or fourout of ten. Yeah, so question
six is also quite poorly answered,partly because it was a tough question it
(04:38):
was about social action theory, andalso because it's the last question and the
students already sat too to our exams. Yeah. Yeah, I think that
looking at the wording of the questionis really key, isn't it. I
think there was one that came upa few years ago and it said in
contemporary Society, and students just wroteabout everything they could remember about particular theory
and didn't read that bit. Sopaying really attention to what's being asked is
(05:00):
key. Yeah, And actually Iwould say that that's really true for the
thirty mark essay as well, becauselast summer we knew in advance it was
going to be about theories, becausewe've got the advanced information. But the
question asked assess the extent to whichcrime is inevitable and beneficial and not,
so students just wrote about functions ofcrime. Yeah, and even when they
(05:25):
were evaluating functionalism, they didn't evaluatethe extent to which it's beneficial or inevitable.
And when they put words in aquestion, they put those words there
for a reason. Yeah, youhave to use those words. And I
know this is a bit ahead,but I think an a star candidate is
all the way through is referring backto the question, yeah, and keeps
(05:47):
really on track because yeah, thatthose words are there to make students pick
out those words from them in theiranswer. But well, let's talk about
that the star grade then, Sofirstly, students often ask how do I
actually get it? So what isactually needed to achieve an A star grade?
I mean what I would say is, and this is really important,
(06:09):
it's all three of the papers addedtogether. So you can do relatively badly
on one paper, if you doreally really well on the other two papers,
you don't have to get an Astar a coss or three papers.
Last summer it was seventy four.So I know sometimes schools like don't want
(06:30):
the students to know how accessible itis, or I might not share that
with teachers that don't teach sociology becauseI don't want them to say, or
you're a star isn't as good asour a star. I don't think there's
anything in particular, because it's anamalgamation of all your marks in terms of
the essay. So I'm fun thinkingabout an essay that gets twenty seven,
(06:51):
twenty twenty nine, or thirty outof thirty. It's really focused on the
question. There's a at the endof each section, there's a link back
to the question that's really important.It's got really good contemporary knowledge. So,
like you were saying, we don'treally want to be hearing just about
Dirk him So contemporary knowledge is reallyimportant. And the other thing I would
(07:15):
say is make sure that the evaluationis linked to the point you've just made.
There's a big problem with what theycall vaulted on evaluation. So you've
written something about functionalism and then youjust go Marxists would argue that functionalism is
too optimistic view of society, ratherthan evaluating the point you've just made.
(07:38):
I think those are the key thingsto do in an essay to mark essay
great, thank you, Cecie.And you know, if you've got a
big pile of marking in the summerand you're you're going through hundreds and the
ones that really kind of stand out, the ones that really sort of open
your eyes, is there anything thatthey're doing that you can see they're right
at the very top. I thinkit's the use of language is important,
(08:00):
the way that they make their points. I think it's analysis as well,
really explaining well what different sociological studiesmean, concepts mean. I mean the
other important thing to say is finishthe paper. Don't run out of time.
Make sure that you finished the paper. This might not be an a
star student. But if you haven'tfinished, write a really quick plan or
(08:24):
say to the right to the examiners, see my plan. You can get
marks for a plan. I've seenas many as eight nine marks out of
twenty for a really good plan.Yeah. I mean this morning, actually,
I was looking at a question fromlast summer. It was about the
extent to which official statistics are socialfacts, and this student got ten out
(08:46):
of ten. First, he's talkingabout how marks this statistics as manipulated by
the government. Gave some really goodexamples of that through things like poverty statistics,
unemployment statistics. And the second partwas about started talking about dirt coming
suicide, but then brought it backto phenomenology. I mean that's a hard
(09:09):
one term yew, isn't it.And the social construction of suicide statistics atkinson
really good understanding and knowledge of howstatistics are socially constructed. Yeah, if
you've got that knowledge, show itoff right, Yes, exactly. And
I mean the other thing to sayis make your writing legible. You know
(09:30):
it's scanned, it's photocopied, it'sit's sent, you know it's on a
computer. The person marking your paperwill like you much more. If they
can easily read what you've written.Yea. And also never cross anything out
because if it's wrong, they'll justignore it. Yeah. If it's right,
you will get credit for it.Yeah. I mean I've been in
(09:52):
an examiners meeting before where we've talkedfor about ten minutes about whether or not
we should allow this answer. Theyhave one line through it, but it
can be read. Yeah, sothe exact the chief examine was saying,
we should credit this student even thoughthey've put a line through it. Yeah.
So never ever cross anything out.That's really good advice. That's really
good advice, even if you thinkwhat you've in is silly. The worst
(10:16):
thing is that the examines are goingto have a little bit of a laugh.
But yeah, so what you're nevergoing to meet them. Yeah,
And going back to what you said, it's positive marking, isn't it so?
Absolutely positive marking? Yeah, AndI mean I think students need to
know that we might sit for tenminutes talking about a student. Oh,
come on, they obviously did meanthis, you know. I mean,
(10:37):
I think sociology marking is very positive. If there's anything wrong, it gets
ignored. Don't worry massively about howmany names you've got. I mean,
it is important to have names associologists, but it's not the only thing.
Theory essays. There's more emphasis onhaving names theory questions where a questions
(11:00):
which are more about let's say socialclass and achievement. Yes, you need
some names, but you also needto back up with the material and the
evidence. Really really recent stuff isimportant. So anything to do COVID would
be great to get in, especiallyaround working class children and underachievement. And
the same with crime. If it'sa question about white pollo crime, let's
(11:24):
get Boris Johnson in if we can. Yeah, yeah, Medline zahar Wee,
let's get him in as an example, who of someone who committed tax
flaud didn't go to prison. Yeah, that's good stuff politics at the moment
as well. Now that's really goodadvice. Thank you very much for your
time. Sasia really really appreciate it. You're welcome. Thank you. If
(11:48):
you are a regular listener to theSociology Show, then you could help with
the costs of promoting and hosting thepodcast. If you can spare even a
small amount, then you can donateon the gofund me dot com website by
searching for the Sociology Show. Thereis no obligation, of course, and
all future downloads will continue to befree. A huge thank you to all
those that have already donated. Yourkind gesture will help to continue keep the
(12:13):
show going and growing. Best wishesand keep enjoying the show. Thank you
for taking the time to listen tothe podcast. If you would like to
contact the show or be interviewed,then please email The Sociology Show podcast at
gmail dot com.
Hi, You're listening to a studentfocused episode of the Sociology Show podcast.
If you're studying the subject at gcsA level, foundation degree, or any
other discipline, then this podcast couldbe of help to you. If you
have a question for the show,then you can email the Sociology Show podcasts
the Gmail dot com and one ofthe teachers, lecturers, examiners, or
(00:27):
experts will answer your question for you. You can sponsor the show on the
go fund me page and subscribe onall the usual podcast platforms. If you're
going to class, going to thegym, or just chilling, put your
headphones in and let's be sociology beatstogether. A Hello, and welcome to
(00:48):
the Sociology Show podcast. This episodeis for those of you that are taking
AQA level sociology paper three. Iwas lucky enough to talk to sercynu Bold
who is a lead examiner and inthis episode, Curasi talks about her dues
and don't how to approach the paper, how to structure the questions, and
also how to work towards the Hstar grade. So, without further ado,
let's go over to the interview withSarsi new Bold, I Circi.
(01:14):
Welcome back, we are going tobe talking about paper three now, So
our start as I did with theprevious one. Overall, what's your advice
in terms of dus and don'ts forthis paper? But I think the same
applies. I think take time overthe short questions, read the questions really
carefully. Yeah, I mean readingthe questions carefully seems to be a bit,
a bit of a big issue withPaper three. I think also the
(01:38):
examiners understand that this is the birdof three to our papers. Via this
stage, you're probably feeling quite drainedlast summer. Some of the essays on
social action theories in that paper Ithought were really weak, and they were
getting like eleven twelve out of twenty. So I feel like there's a certain
amount of generosity on Paper three,possibly because it's the third of three papers.
(02:02):
And we always think about the notionalstudent. You know, exam stress,
they're eighteen, they're they're young.They you know, they've struggled,
and I hope this year will bethe same, especially COVID wise. That's
nice to know. Examiners have gota heart, they know that. Yeah,
And there's lots of positive marketing andsociality. I was going to say
(02:24):
that that examiners will look to positivelymark, won't they They're they're not trying
to take marks off. Yeah,it's really good. Yeah. And then
how does the structure for questions onpaper three differ to paper one. They're
the same, four, six,ten, and thirty on crime. The
difference is the twenty question is ontheorium methods. On paper one it's on
(02:47):
methods. In context, that theorymethods question is quite scary as a teacher,
because it could be theories, itcould be methods, it could be
sociology and science. It's a veryvery big range of the specification. The
only advice I can give is thatif the previous year it was theories,
(03:08):
probably it's going to be methods thefollowing year. But otherwise it's a really
broad range of possible as topic.So that's quite tough. I think it's
a tougher paper than paper one.Yeah, and you've just made me think,
Actually, teachers often try and predictwhat's coming up? Can you predict
with any accuracy at all? Ithink you can predict the what came up
(03:29):
last year won't come up right.The other thing to say, actually,
and this is very useful, whatcame up in last year's AS paper will
not come up in this year's Alevel paper. This is to not disadvantage
people that didn't take the AS,so I also look at the AS papers
from the previous year as well.Obviously it doesn't work with crime, but
(03:51):
with families and with education and methods. That's a useful tactic. That's it.
That's a good top tip. That'sa good top tip. And fore
for three, are there any particularquestions that are done a little bit more
poorly than the others. I thinkit's down to the wording of the question.
So last summer, the question threewas about working class victims of crime,
(04:13):
and most lots of students saw thatas offenders. They were so not
used to thinking about why working classpeople are more like to be victims.
Even though the item was quite victimdriven, loads of students were about offending
and ended up with three or fourout of ten. Yeah, so question
six is also quite poorly answered,partly because it was a tough question it
(04:38):
was about social action theory, andalso because it's the last question and the
students already sat too to our exams. Yeah. Yeah, I think that
looking at the wording of the questionis really key, isn't it. I
think there was one that came upa few years ago and it said in
contemporary Society, and students just wroteabout everything they could remember about particular theory
and didn't read that bit. Sopaying really attention to what's being asked is
(05:00):
key. Yeah, And actually Iwould say that that's really true for the
thirty mark essay as well, becauselast summer we knew in advance it was
going to be about theories, becausewe've got the advanced information. But the
question asked assess the extent to whichcrime is inevitable and beneficial and not,
so students just wrote about functions ofcrime. Yeah, and even when they
(05:25):
were evaluating functionalism, they didn't evaluatethe extent to which it's beneficial or inevitable.
And when they put words in aquestion, they put those words there
for a reason. Yeah, youhave to use those words. And I
know this is a bit ahead,but I think an a star candidate is
all the way through is referring backto the question, yeah, and keeps
(05:47):
really on track because yeah, thatthose words are there to make students pick
out those words from them in theiranswer. But well, let's talk about
that the star grade then, Sofirstly, students often ask how do I
actually get it? So what isactually needed to achieve an A star grade?
I mean what I would say is, and this is really important,
(06:09):
it's all three of the papers addedtogether. So you can do relatively badly
on one paper, if you doreally really well on the other two papers,
you don't have to get an Astar a coss or three papers.
Last summer it was seventy four.So I know sometimes schools like don't want
(06:30):
the students to know how accessible itis, or I might not share that
with teachers that don't teach sociology becauseI don't want them to say, or
you're a star isn't as good asour a star. I don't think there's
anything in particular, because it's anamalgamation of all your marks in terms of
the essay. So I'm fun thinkingabout an essay that gets twenty seven,
(06:51):
twenty twenty nine, or thirty outof thirty. It's really focused on the
question. There's a at the endof each section, there's a link back
to the question that's really important.It's got really good contemporary knowledge. So,
like you were saying, we don'treally want to be hearing just about
Dirk him So contemporary knowledge is reallyimportant. And the other thing I would
(07:15):
say is make sure that the evaluationis linked to the point you've just made.
There's a big problem with what theycall vaulted on evaluation. So you've
written something about functionalism and then youjust go Marxists would argue that functionalism is
too optimistic view of society, ratherthan evaluating the point you've just made.
(07:38):
I think those are the key thingsto do in an essay to mark essay
great, thank you, Cecie.And you know, if you've got a
big pile of marking in the summerand you're you're going through hundreds and the
ones that really kind of stand out, the ones that really sort of open
your eyes, is there anything thatthey're doing that you can see they're right
at the very top. I thinkit's the use of language is important,
(08:00):
the way that they make their points. I think it's analysis as well,
really explaining well what different sociological studiesmean, concepts mean. I mean the
other important thing to say is finishthe paper. Don't run out of time.
Make sure that you finished the paper. This might not be an a
star student. But if you haven'tfinished, write a really quick plan or
(08:24):
say to the right to the examiners, see my plan. You can get
marks for a plan. I've seenas many as eight nine marks out of
twenty for a really good plan.Yeah. I mean this morning, actually,
I was looking at a question fromlast summer. It was about the
extent to which official statistics are socialfacts, and this student got ten out
(08:46):
of ten. First, he's talkingabout how marks this statistics as manipulated by
the government. Gave some really goodexamples of that through things like poverty statistics,
unemployment statistics. And the second partwas about started talking about dirt coming
suicide, but then brought it backto phenomenology. I mean that's a hard
(09:09):
one term yew, isn't it.And the social construction of suicide statistics atkinson
really good understanding and knowledge of howstatistics are socially constructed. Yeah, if
you've got that knowledge, show itoff right, Yes, exactly. And
I mean the other thing to sayis make your writing legible. You know
(09:30):
it's scanned, it's photocopied, it'sit's sent, you know it's on a
computer. The person marking your paperwill like you much more. If they
can easily read what you've written.Yea. And also never cross anything out
because if it's wrong, they'll justignore it. Yeah. If it's right,
you will get credit for it.Yeah. I mean I've been in
(09:52):
an examiners meeting before where we've talkedfor about ten minutes about whether or not
we should allow this answer. Theyhave one line through it, but it
can be read. Yeah, sothe exact the chief examine was saying,
we should credit this student even thoughthey've put a line through it. Yeah.
So never ever cross anything out.That's really good advice. That's really
good advice, even if you thinkwhat you've in is silly. The worst
(10:16):
thing is that the examines are goingto have a little bit of a laugh.
But yeah, so what you're nevergoing to meet them. Yeah,
And going back to what you said, it's positive marking, isn't it so?
Absolutely positive marking? Yeah, AndI mean I think students need to
know that we might sit for tenminutes talking about a student. Oh,
come on, they obviously did meanthis, you know. I mean,
(10:37):
I think sociology marking is very positive. If there's anything wrong, it gets
ignored. Don't worry massively about howmany names you've got. I mean,
it is important to have names associologists, but it's not the only thing.
Theory essays. There's more emphasis onhaving names theory questions where a questions
(11:00):
which are more about let's say socialclass and achievement. Yes, you need
some names, but you also needto back up with the material and the
evidence. Really really recent stuff isimportant. So anything to do COVID would
be great to get in, especiallyaround working class children and underachievement. And
the same with crime. If it'sa question about white pollo crime, let's
(11:24):
get Boris Johnson in if we can. Yeah, yeah, Medline zahar Wee,
let's get him in as an example, who of someone who committed tax
flaud didn't go to prison. Yeah, that's good stuff politics at the moment
as well. Now that's really goodadvice. Thank you very much for your
time. Sasia really really appreciate it. You're welcome. Thank you. If
(11:48):
you are a regular listener to theSociology Show, then you could help with
the costs of promoting and hosting thepodcast. If you can spare even a
small amount, then you can donateon the gofund me dot com website by
searching for the Sociology Show. Thereis no obligation, of course, and
all future downloads will continue to befree. A huge thank you to all
those that have already donated. Yourkind gesture will help to continue keep the
(12:13):
show going and growing. Best wishesand keep enjoying the show. Thank you
for taking the time to listen tothe podcast. If you would like to
contact the show or be interviewed,then please email The Sociology Show podcast at
gmail dot com.
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