Global Politics 2014

[achre]

Not enough information 

It's very hard to tell off the bat of your first SAC even a ballpark of what study score you're going to get. Your cohort matters more than your score, as everyone will tell you. Keep your final score in mind, but remember that all the time you spend thinking about it is time not working towards getting that score.

But 92% is a tremendous effort, all the same. It's so easy to drop just 1 mark here and there because you didn't say the specific thing the teacher was going for, and you should be congratulated for not letting those small losses tally up. (As they so easily do)

[TonyEcon]

A score of 92% on my first global sac, thoughts? good enough for a 40 or not?

People really should not be fixated on sac marks, they genuinely mean nothing. Some teachers are very easy markers, some are harsh - it all gets moderated by the exam.

For National Politic/Australian Politics I dropped a lot of marks and still got a 50, in Economics I was on close to perfect Sacs and did significantly worse than pol, don't get caught up on sacs, focus on learning from mistakes (as cliched as that sounds).

[Summers]

I don't understand it.

They had Grade Assessment 1 and 2 on the SS sheet, as well as the exam. If you got like D's on the SACs but maintained top 3 in the cohort and blitzed the exam, wouldn't they essentially ignore the GA's and mark you up?

I got 41/50 for my first SAC - I dropped 2 marks because of something stupid, and the other 7 were due to not defining in every question and I'm second in the two classes at my school. From looking at the statistics I'm already below an A+ and I'm only half way through GA1 so that means I basically can't get a 40. Sucks.

[Reus]

Your cohort matters more than your score, as everyone will tell you.

What do you mean by cohort? Unfortunately someone topped the class with 100%, me in second 

[Reus]

They had Grade Assessment 1 and 2 on the SS sheet, as well as the exam. If you got like D's on the SACs but maintained top 3 in the cohort and blitzed the exam, wouldn't they essentially ignore the GA's and mark you up?

According to my teacher, yes. Your rank and exam mark will moderate SAC marks positively or negatively respectively.

[Summers]

Hi,

My school has been doing China but I really want to do Indonesia. We've pretty much completed China as our area of study but I know absolutely nothing of what we have done and am lost, and know a really good resource for Indonesia. Would the SAC my school has be focused around China or will it be around a state you have studied this year or whatever?

Cheers.

[lionelmessi1997]

Schools tend to keep the questions they ask very general in relation to the exam, however it really depends on your teacher mate!

[Reus]

Hi,

My school has been doing China but I really want to do Indonesia. We've pretty much completed China as our area of study but I know absolutely nothing of what we have done and am lost, and know a really good resource for Indonesia. Would the SAC my school has be focused around China or will it be around a state you have studied this year or whatever?

Cheers.

As I've seen on the past exam, it says to list the state studied, and then gives you regulated questions on it. However presuming that the teacher which assigned your class with China is most likely going to base the SAC on China. Stay on the safe side and stick to it for the SAC.

[Reus]

Asian Pacific SAC soon, any good case studies? Tips? Advice? Anything beneficial? Haha

[90ATAR]

I'm doing Global Politics notes right now ... trying to learn all the national interests of China now.

For economic development, what are you expected to know? Like, after the Cold War China encouraged the ideology of globalisation through expanding their market internationally and modernising China ... then what? A bunch of random facts like ...

Joining the WTO in 2002.
Private home ownership in 2004.
$2.1 trillion in trade in 2007.
Three three major manufacturers USA, Japan and Germany are all in minor recession, allowing China to become more competitive.
One Country, Two System Policy - talking about Macau and Hong Kong and their autonomy for capitalism.
7-10% economic growth for 20 years.

Would that be enough? Or should you talk about something very specific and ALOT like currency manipulation if you are to talk about this as a national interest?

[Jono_CP]

Hey Global Politics students,

I am actually studying Aus. Pol. instead of Global.

Due to the lack of activity on the Australian Politics forum - I have to seek assistance elsewhere.

I started off pretty poorly in the first SAC and got 25/30 for short answer and 15/20 for the essay. Even more frustrating, I was doing VCAA exams, and most of the past school SAC papers. If someone could give me any tips with my efficiency of studying politics that would be greatly beneficial?

1) With the short answer, how does everyone remember the information and condense it into questions. E.g. small cards, videos, documentaries etc...?

2) I don't mean to come across as arrogant here, but I consider essay writing to be one of my stronger points. I was using various quotes and recent examples, but my teacher said this didn't always relate back to the prompt. I was writing about democratic principles rather than democratic rights and freedoms. In this sense, what is the point of recent examples if you do not know what the essay prompt is going to be? Also, does anyone have a proven formula when it comes to writing Political essays?

Help would be much appreciated,

Thank you!

[achre]

When it comes to National Interest, Global Politics is more interested in "why" than "how". The questions you should be asking yourself (and what your knowledge should relate to) is why the national interest is what it is, what they've done to secure this national interest element and how successful they've been.

The lion's share of marks does come from describing specific things your state has done (your random facts, preceded with a "For example _____" or an "as seen through _____"), but it's strung together with a sustained discussion of why your state does the things it does, and how well it has achieved them. I can't see where you would ever need to mention the Cold War, same way you very rarely need to discuss a state's "historical power", as it requires you to refer to exclusively pre-2000 events.

So, China wants to develop its economy because it directly strengthens its military, cultural, diplomatic and (obviously) ecoanomic power, and this power helps it achieve other dimensions of its national interest. Ways China has chosen to pursue economic development include joining the WTO in 2002 and/or allowing private home ownership and/or the economic instrumentation of the SARs, which has had the effect of (building international trade up to 2.1 trillion dollars in 2007/7-10% economic growth for the past 20 years).

Super specific detail on the mechanics of economics, like currency manipulation, is not expected of you at the year 12 level, but, used correctly, references to it may score you brownie points.

[Reus]

Hey Global Politics students...
Help would be much appreciated,

I got 46/50 on my first SAC, what worked for me may not work for you! But may as well give it a go

I would read over notes, create questions I thought were on the SAC, answer them, read them, re write them, and read them again. In doing so, it stuck in my head. Then for extra practise I usually do past SAC papers and sections of past exams that consist of that particular AoS, in exam conditions. This really tests your ability to tackle questions efficiently.

Once knowing your faults in the practice SACs/exams, focus on improving them.

When it comes to memorisation, reading and re writing is my main thing.

Essays are essays, the more evidence the higher the credibility.

Good luck with the rest of the year!

P.S I'm no academic genius, these just tend to work for me

[Jono_CP]

Wow, 46/50 well done

I was aiming for 45 but it's harder than I thought it was.

I did BAD again on a practice essay. I got 12/20 and I was literally so furious I demanded a conversation with my teacher. He's like "it's probably one of the most impressive essays I have seen, but you didn't directly answer the question etc..."

So getting pissed off. I think the question was along the lines of: which has the more democratic mandate, the US President or the Australia Prime Minister. I was quoting journalists, using examples but going back as far as 1948, which my teacher found exhilitaring apparently to read but was just too far back.

HOW IN THE HELL ARE YOU MEANT TO DO WELL IN THESE ESSAYS! Literally my book is just dot points of the study design. I did History Rev's last year and there was like a narrative to it, so the essay you could kind of predict. In Politics how can you predict the essay topic? It could literally be anything, which gets rid of all the hard work which goes into finding recent examples, articles and documentaries etc...

Could I please have more advice on the essay, because funny enough, essays are my biggest strength and for some reason in politics it is just getting ridiculous.

The only positive news is I got 28/32 for a short answer... So ironic, the essay should be my biggest strength.

Can anyone (e.g. Reus and/or Achre) give me a template for my essays? How do you get 46/50 if you do not know what the question is going to be, not knowing what examples to use, not knowing what quotes to use and the textbook only has dot points of each area?

So frustrated, help is needed...

Thank you!

[Reus]

So frustrated, help is needed...

Just remember you start off with 0% at the start of the SAC, so you cant go wrong, have that positive mindset from the start.
12/20 isn't necessarily bad, at least you get your practise essays and now you can rectify your errors! And yes answering the question is a struggle for me too, sometimes I end up off track and ramble on some random statistic/quote which I think sounds impressive however irrelevant.

Don't get pissed off, wrong mindset. Always stay positive. About the 1948 quotes not too sure about AusPol, but Global Politics all sorts of evidence needs to be >2000. You might want to keep it that way, the newer the more impressive it is for examiners.

You can't specifically predict the essay question, BUT, it will be based on your AoS. Nothing else. So, try to figure out what potential short answer questions there could be and essay prompts. Usually teachers hint essay questions when they emphasise on a particular topic for extended responses and an influx of case studies.

Always remember to link to the prompt, and keep it simple but include a plethora of evidence.
In the meantime, keep writing essays on a variety of questions deriving from you AoS, send them to you teacher, post them here?
Once again good luck!