Specification = GENERAL STUDIES OCR AS 3831, A 7831

Introduction

It is undoubtedly true, as is often pointed out, that several universities and many more academic departments do not accept General Studies as being equal to conventional A level disciplines. It is equally true that most Universities and most departments do accept it as an alternative third A level.

It is worth pointing out that at least some university departments regard General Studies as their best indicator of likely performance on a degree course since the approach requires almost entirely the application of skills learned rather than a test of content.

Since we began teaching our General Studies examination programme, we have been delighted with the results in terms of the A level grades achieved. In some cases, the A level has not been of direct use to a candidate applying for degree courses, but in many cases it has either been taken into account in terms of the points gained to qualify for admission, or it has taken the place of the third A level. Last year, again, General Studies was one of the most successful A level in terms of results.

Several teaching staff are involved in the two year programme, providing their individual expertise in teaching classes or supervising individual private studies. General Studies calls for skills in handling information from varied areas of knowledge in a diversity of form and allows the development of these skills in a context free from the restrictions imposed by other subject-specification disciplines.

All Sixth form students who are competent in written and spoken English are required to attend classes in General Studies and normally choose to take the examination at A level.

Specification

General Studies is examined in six papers, three for the AS and three for the A2 exam leading to the A level qualification.

There are three main ingredients to the programme of study:

· A Scientific Domain including Mathematics, Science and Technology
· A Cultural Domain including Culture, Morality, Arts and Humanities
· A Social Domain including Society, Politics and Economics

General Studies is the application of academic and theoretical knowledge to form opinions about current problems or issues in every day life.

· The Science Domain touches issues such as global warming, pollution, principles of scientific study, mathematical reasoning and techniques, gravity, disease control, recycling and peace-keeping among many others.

· The Culture Domain touches issues of belief, instincts, conscience, minority cultures, the nature of western society, the media, fashion, music and aesthetics.

· The Social Domain covers the political system, education, poverty, social structure, ideologies, human behaviour, law and ethics, transport issues and current areas of political controversy.