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Government & Politics

GCSE to A Level: How to prepare successfully

TASKS WITHIN THIS BOOKLET MUST BE COMPLETED OVER THE SUMMER AND SHOULD BE FILED IN YOUR FOLDER FOR YOUR TEACHER TO CHECK. We are very pleased to welcome you to the AS Level Government and Politics course. Don’t worry many of the skills and methods you learnt during GCSE will be very handy. GCSEs such as English, Geography, Ethics and Philosophy and History will have required to write well, debate and discussion, analyse a range of causes and read clear conclusions (PEE or SEE).

In order to be fully prepared for September, please work through the tasks in the booklet. The tasks are designed to build on generic GCSE skills and for you to explore new areas of knowledge.

Getting organised for AS Please get equipped with the following before September: Two ring binders: for UNIT 1 and one for UNIT2. sources/independent work. Plastic wallets will also be useful to help to get you organised. ary: pens, pencils and highlighter pens

The following books are useful: O AS UK Government and Politics by Lynch and Fairclough (ISBN 978-1-4441-8352-8) O UK Government & Politics Annual Update by Neil McNaughton (ISBN-13: 978-1471867958) O Exam Revision notes by Philip Allan Updates O The Blunders of Our Governments by King and Crewe (ISBN-13: 978-1780744056) Buying tips: 1) Don’t buy new unless you have to, 2) Use Amazon, Ebay, Oxfam online and charity shops in university towns to find a range of books. 3) Share books between you (in pairs or threes) and try to plan what you’re buying so you don’t get too many duplicates REMEMBER: You can always sell the books you buy when your A levels are over. Kaaching!

Read a quality newspaper - online (via apps) or in print - Times, Guardian, Daily Telegraph, Independent, Times, Observer, Sunday Telegraph or Independent on Sunday (Get updates sent straight to your phone).

Subscribe to a quality magazine – Economist, Time, Newsweek, Spectator, or

Watch quality TV – on iPlayer BBC , CNN, , BBC Parliament, Panorama, (BBC2 Mon - Fri), Dispatches (), The (BBC1) or Andrew Marr (BBC1)

Listen to quality radio via podcasts such as - Radio 4 – News – Today, , PM, , (11.30pm Mon-Fri when Parliament is sitting), The (11.00am Saturdays) or (Sundays 10pm. Summer learning – treasure map

Follow the simple steps and the treasure map below to strike gold in preparation for September! Complete all tasks to see who hits the jackpot when put to the test!!

START HERE! TASK 1:

Watch a programme about politics (see the list) and then talk

to a member of your family about the issues being discussed TASK 5: and what they think about the TASK 4: current condition of politics in Complete the essay question Look at the term ‘Big Tent’ Britain. As well as whether they below using your research parties – What is meant by vote or not, and why. and work so far this? Find examples of ‘big ‘People don’t vote in tent’ politics in action. What elections because they don’t example of ‘single issue’ CHALLENGE: Why do trust politicians’ Discuss parties can you find? governments lose elections?

TASK 2:

What do the 3 main parties stand for in British politics? Create a comparison grid. Use the following headings:

Health TASK 3:

Education Create a profile for 3 recent prime ministers: Margaret Foreign Policy Thatcher and EU including their political backgrounds, beliefs and key Taxation policies throughout their ministries.