AS Coursework Soc 2b Sociology Examination Feedback

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AS Coursework Soc 2bSociology Examination
Feedback

• INSET Meeting
• Cardiff 6th October 2006

Subject Officer WJEC Joanna Lewis Support
Officer Andrew Bevan Examiners Barbara
Greenall Janis Griffiths
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Soc 2 - overview

• Only a few centres attempted the coursework
  option so it is difficult to generalise
• Some high level work even from candidates who
  were basically weak
• Most candidates showed sociological knowledge and
  clearly had worked hard

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Marking

• Most centres had the rank order correctly
  identified.
• Most centres were accurate with the rubric and
  the organisation of material for the moderators
• There was a degree of over-marking by centres at
  the top end, though at the lower end, the view of
  moderators and centres was more in line.
• Those centres that applied and noted AO1 and AO2
  separately tended to be the ones that reflected
  the markscheme most accurately.

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Choice of studies

• Generally these were sound.
• Many people picked old favourites. Some of
  these are inaccessible for AS candidates. These
  candidates became over-reliant on second hand
  sources.
• Most picked shorter basic accounts and these
  seemed to be more successful.

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Strengths

• Excellent use of sociological language
• Reference to the aims and context of the original
  research
• Clear evidence of some form of processing of the
  original material so that coherent and clear
  commentary could be seen

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Weaknesses

• Some very personal accounts
• Candidates filtered their accounts through their
  own interests and did not contextualise the study
  fully. It was interesting for Willis to study
  schools because I go to school
• Some padding evident, In my opinion and I
  think.
• Lack of focus on the research process itself

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Language

• Candidates often confused reliability and
  validity.
• Weaker candidates used both terms in one sentence
  and conflated the two ideas.
• Some informality was obvious in weaker studies,
• A few studies showed inconsistency of writing
  style, suggesting an over-reliance on source
  materials and notes

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Thanks for

• Annotating the work so well it really helps
• For including copies of the original research
  where easy and appropriate this helped with
  unfamiliar studies.
• For keeping work within the word length
• Choosing studies that were in line with the AS
  level modules
• Avoiding plagiarism so carefully. This is a very
  serious issue!

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The end

• For further information, please contact the WJEC
  directly.
• www.wjec.co.uk