The elementary difference between GCSEs and A-level(that is AS and A2 inclusive, mostly A2 or AL is referred to as A-level, but I will be referring to both of them) is that it is a higher level study where a progression of thought and analytic ability is expected.
First and foremost, one key feature any History or Religious Studies(Theology is an option line of this subject which I will delve a little deeper into) student will immediately spot is that they do not know how to start an essay.
The matter is simple: the students who have completed GCSEs and are embarking on A-level are stunned by the quality, organisation, and length(though not necessarily too long) of an essay they must produce. For the sake of this article, a dramatisation of reality would be that In GCSEs, all you had to do was throw in a bunch of facts, mix in a suitable style of writing and there pops out the A*. But in A-level, if you were to reproduce such a work, it will receive a daunting C grade or below.
The underlying difference in terms of essay writing at GCSEs and at A-level is in terms of clarity and accuracy. In A-level, whether it is History or Theology or any other discursive subject, essay writing is not a simple memory recall exercise. It requires prior planning before the actual writing. Every question asked in A-level papers are independent and unique. By that I mean that although the generic content covered by the questions may be relatively similar, the structure in which the essay has to be written needs to directly address the proposition in the question. For example, if a question demands the following: "How did Elizabeth I and her Archbishops deal with the Puritan threat?", one has to assess not only how the Puritans(a group of religious activists) have posed a threat to Elizabeth and religion but also focus on how the individual Archbishops(there were 3 of them in the period concerned) have dealt with the Puritans. In other words, the answer to this question cannot be the same as the next question: "How far do you agree that the Puritans posed the greatest religious threat than any other group during the Elizabethan period?"
So just how do you do it?!
That's the question even I had to shout to myself. Because I didn't get it. But now I do and I will tell in the simplistic way possible how to do it.
The answer is simple. At A-level 'specificity above all' principle must be abided by.
Each question you will be asked at A-level papers will be similar but different on its individual merit. The structure of the essay, the main argument of the essay needs to be clear, accurate, and relevant enough to answer each specific question properly. Therefore, you must pay undivded attention to 'specificity' alone, so that you do not just jot down every single fact you know about something as soon as it appears in the sentence of the question.
The example below will in detail display how an essay should be structured and how clear the main point has to be.
Imagine you are an AS History student, and your exam paper had the following:-
Question: How far do you agree that the Puritans never posed a serious threat to Elizabeth?
Answer:
Paragraphs will be numbered as follows.
1) Identify who Puritans are. Before you can talk about anything else, you will need to define who Puritans were and also provide contextual details: social, economic, or political facts.
2) In paragraphs 2,3, and 4 you will need to outline what threats Puritans posed, what method they employed to have a religious change brought about, and how Elizabeth and her government swiftly dealt with them. In each instances, your MAIN argument needs to be stressed. Assuming that your main argument is that Puritans posed a significant threat but they never got anywhere, you'll have to give examples of what kinds of things they did and how they were defeated in each of their attempts.
5) Finally, you will need a strong finish. Briefly summarise what the main argument was and a distinctive feature of their failure - disorgranisation, size, leadership.
So there you have it. An exemplary plan, that must be either in your head or noted down on the exam paper in the first few minutes of the exam. On the contrary, using the similar content, the following question stresses how important 'specificity' is.
Question: How successful was Elizabeth and her Archbishops in dealing with the Puritan threat?
Paragraphs will be numbered as follows.
1) Give background information, and outline your main argument: as given in the question, you are dealing specifically with how Elizabeth the Queen and her Archbishops managed to contain the Puritan threat.
2) In subsequent paragraphs 2,3, and 4 you will need to move on to key threats the Puritans posed and how each individual Archbishop or the Queen was involved in overcoming them.
5) You will once again need a strong finish summarising how the collaboration between her Archbishops and Elizabeth and any other advantages they had(size, government, support) allowed them to succumb successfully the Puritan threat.
As it can be seen, if you had answered the Second question with the plan of the First question, you will be considerably undermarked not because you do not know enough about the topic but due to your disorganisation and inability to answer the question and appreciate its specificity.
So please remember: without 'specificity' any essay in Higher Education will be of no worth.
Good luck with your studies and exams. Happy note making and thinking!
Herman