General Studies

[potterfan3]

What do you do in General Studies. Is it just a teacher standing at the front with a text book reading random facts

[MarkyP05]

I remember doing it when i was doing A-Levels, cant really remember much about it though...

...shows how beneficial the subject was to me then.

[potterfan3]

^^^lol^^^

[SteveD]

We used to have a lesson called "Civics". Nobody ever seemed to be able to explain what it was and I certainly don't remember anything from it.

[gammaray]

I think it's an amalgam of other subjects but dummed down for those students not considered bright enough to cope with a subject (like biology for example) in it's own right. I remember, like SteveD, in our school there was a subject called 'civics' (taught in the ROSLA block, but it was reserved for "troubled" students not in the exam main stream.

[fo3nix]

Basically, there were a lot of people who ended up knowing stuff that they'd learnt in their chosen a-levels, but didn't really know much of culture and the outside world.

So general studies is a way of learning these things. Like the different kinds of newspapers, and what type of people read what (Daily Telegraph being more Tory-orientated). And you'll also learn things like different types of Art movements, that sort of thing. Current debates on cloning and that sort of thing.

[candybar]

we did general studies at a level and it was about all sorts! mostly a load of stuff in the papers, or about exams, or finance or university. just general things that studenst might want to know but ther isnt a lesson for obviously. none of the lessons are what is in the exam though if you take one. that is on english, maths, technology and science. multiple choice and essay style.

[treacle84]

Gosh it was the most boring lesson in the world. I just used it to get more UCAS points to get into uni

[Buenchico]

Many years ago (1970) all us lower-6th form pupils - they didn't call us 'students' in those days - were invited to take the old O-level General Studies examination. We were told that the school refused to teach the subject, because it was so easy, but we were welcome to take the exam if we wanted to. This was without any preparation whatsoever! (We weren't even told what was on the syllabus, so we couldn't prepare on our own, even if we wanted to!). We all took the exam and I think we all passed. (I certainly did, anyway!). I'm still not really sure what it was that we were being tested on but it still counts as one of my 10 O-levels. (I wish that they were all that easy!).

Chris

[Buenchico]

For an idea of what goes on in General Studies, here's a teacher's suggested leson plans for the first 23 lessons of an A-level General Studies course:
http://www.sociology.org.uk/gstudies.pdf

Note, though, that the course also includes elements of each of these subject areas:
* Science
* Maths and technology
* Culture
* Morality
* Arts and humanities
* Society
* Politics and the economy

Chris

[SarCaustic]

I'm supposed to be studying AS General Studies now (along with Biology, Chemistry, Maths, Spanish and English Language), but we haven't actually learned anything - we had a general knowledge quiz on the first lesson (and I got �2 for winning!), but all subsequent lessons have involved the class mocking the freakish tutor. He looks like a the a white version of the villain from Indiana Jones and The Temple Of Doom/ Robocop without his face plate.

[kaz20]

like someone has already said - the exam isn't on anything covered in the lessons. our exam was about skills... such as reading an article about chemistry and answering questions on it. You didn't need to be able to understand the chemistry - it was a test of whether you could interpret the english and apply it to a different situation. I can also remember the maths section - this was about logic as apposed to taught maths.

[candybar]

i remember my friends who were oldder than me all told me everyone skipped this lesson at school cos it was pointless but i gave it the benefit of the doubt and thought im sure it must have some use, and decided i would attend it. however, after one or two sessions i realised just how useless it was and then stopped going! as has been said the exam does not work alongside the lessons so i didnt miss anything much at all!