Version 1.0 General Certificate of Education (A-level) General Studies A GENA3 (Specification 2760) Unit 3: Culture and Society Report on the Examination
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GENA3 A2 Culture and Society General Comments As always, there was a range of answers, from those argued and illustrated at an enviably high standard to those that were brief and cursory. Most candidates had something to say, and very many of them offered some creditable thoughts and viewpoints. As usual, the main weaknesses centred on vagueness and a lack of understanding of the precise nature of the question and that was especially the case in question 02 (see below). Evidence and illustration are always rewarded more highly than mere assertion. Section A Question 01 was looking for an assessment of similarities and differences of viewpoint and tone in the two extracts. Both extracts were relatively densely textured and aimed at audiences of similar ability, so the matters of viewpoint and tone were quite subtle. The political viewpoint could have been determined by looking at the titles and the provenance of each, though a surprising number failed to do so and were misled by the relatively ironic start of Source A into believing that both sources were very similar. In fact their political differences become relatively more obvious as they progress. Nevertheless, there were some good responses that recognised differences of tone, and especially what they termed Polly Toynbee s anger. There continues to be a trend of paraphrasing the extracts in the hope that the differences and similarities emerge. Analysis is needed to come up with a higher level answer. Question 02 produced the weakest answers on the paper. Candidates did not always notice that 01 and 02 (for the second time in this unit) attracted the same number of marks. This will continue to be the case in future examinations. As always, Questions 01 and 02 are distinct and separate, though based on the same material. It may be that there are facts in Question 01 which could be used to support the arguments in Question O2, as there are in this instance, but Question 02 is not dependent on Question 01 and will usually seek the candidate s own opinions and arguments. Here there was a poor concept of what a subsidy might be and, despite the discussions in Question 01 of the notion of subsidy, candidates were often unable to see the political dilemmas inherent in the situation and tended towards simplistic choices. Section B In this section, it is worth reiterating that examiners are looking to reward well presented knowledge, arguments, analysis, development, exemplification, illustration and communication. The validity of the conclusions should emerge from the strength of arguments contained within the essay. There was a good variety of essay questions attempted. Question 06 on religion was the most popular and Question 03 on anthropomorphism in the arts the least. Question 03 elicited some excellent responses from a variety of genres, using landscapes and inanimate objects as well as animals. Some candidates were only able to see a limited view of anthropomorphism as a vehicle for teaching young children, particularly through the medium of film cartoons, but many were able to see beyond this and there was a wide variety of intelligent illustration from a variety of art forms poetry and literature particularly. They were also able to say why anthropomorphism was an effective tool. It was the least popular question on this section, but produced a higher percentage of level 4 answers than the others. 3
Question 04 on the appeal and artistic importance of a musical genre often lost sight of both these areas. There was much description of the context of the chosen genre, but little solid factual information and insufficient on the musical style itself. Some of the description was good and comprehensive, though appeal was easier to assess than artistic importance and some candidates rather gave up on their attempt to do justice to the importance. Rap was the widest choice though much more time was spent on the social/cultural aspects of appeal than the music itself. Nevertheless some candidates were very focused and accurate and were able to give detailed exemplification of individual songs and styles rather than mere lists of names of rap artists. Question 05 was a criterion-based question about photography. Qualitative essays are sometimes poorly attempted and here there were insufficient candidates who were able to write about the flair of a good photographer. Some were quite good on the advantages of modern technology in allowing editing and accessibility, but were unable to say how such programs, or apps on phone cameras, might best be used. For many candidates the only important tool was the one that turns photos into sepia replicas of something from the 19th century and therefore became a good photograph. Few candidates were able to name a famous photographer or refer to any iconic photographs. Question 06 was the most popular question on this section, but had the lowest mean mark. The focus of the question was why religion arouses such strong reactions. This was supposed to be discussed within the context of the prompt through conflict. Many candidates watered down the notion of conflict to moral dilemmas, which did not produce sufficiently clear exemplification. Others chose inappropriate exemplification for purely religious conflict often the Nazi attitude to the Jews and were unable to back up their choice. Some of the better responses were able to explain religious conviction on tribal lines and extrapolate a just reaction to opposition to deeply held views. Others managed to recognise the overlap between religious motives for conflict and cultural, geopolitical and economic imperatives. Section C This section also comprises one choice from four, with more of a social theme. Question 07 was the most popular question on the whole paper. The Sandy Hook shooting in Connecticut had taken place a few weeks before the exam and many answers focused on this event. The US position on gun control was therefore frequently contrasted with that of the UK, though hardly anybody mentioned the numerically far worse Anders Breivik killings in Norway, or indeed the shootings of 1996 in Dunblane. There was varied strength of knowledge of the US position, with its complications of the right to bear arms (Bill of Rights 2nd amendment to the US Constitution) and the powerful gun lobby of the NRA and others instanced with a variety of certainty, and an equally unsure feeling as to whether guns were banned in the UK. Nevertheless, there were those who recognised very well the dilemma between the desirability of preventing the private ownership of guns and the possibility of such a process meeting with any success. Some good exemplification was used to highlight this difficulty. Weaker candidates simply described the evil of guns, without recognising the nuance of the question. Question 08 Some outstandingly knowledgeable and analytical answers were in evidence here, particularly on Israeli/Palestinian issues and the problems that beset Afghanistan. A common problem was a tendency to ignore the question of problems preventing a peaceful settlement in favour of potted histories of the origins of conflict. Question 09 was treated best by those candidates who separated out green and pleasant and were able to use their own definitions of each. Few noted that Blake s times were those 4
of dark satanic mills, and many produced a sanitised and idealised view of the 19th century. There were some reasonable assessments of such items as the contrast between urban and rural living and green in the environmental sense. Where green and pleasant were treated more as abstractions, the essays sometimes touched a higher plane of discussion. Question 10 was perhaps an issue which had faded from view rather more than the setters had anticipated. There were few references to events which sparked the Leveson enquiry whose first report appeared only 2 months before this examination and over which there had been sound and fury for many months. Candidates were asked to define a proper relationship between press and politicians. The number of answers that instead focused on reality TV shows and the appearance of Nadine Dorries showed a trivialised version of that relationship without looking carefully at more serious political, moral and ethical dimensions. There were relatively few exemplified analyses of the issues that had led to the Leveson enquiry and the very serious legal implications of overstepping the boundaries of that proper relationship. I would like to repeat the advice given in all reports in this series. Essay skills are vital here and many A-level students may have little experience of essays in their other subjects. These skills, and that of the analysis of source material do need to be practised and honed to achieve the higher levels in this examination. Mark Ranges and Award of Grades Grade boundaries and cumulative percentage grades are available on the results statistics page of the AQA Website. UMS conversion calculator 5