Politics tutors for your course and goals

Politics takes different forms across courses. Send the tutor the course title or module, your chosen topics and, for exams, the assessment year. These details help you choose the right preparation.

A level and Government and Politics

In England, AQA A level Politics 7152 covers UK government and politics, US and comparative politics, and political ideas. Pearson Edexcel offers USA or global comparative politics alongside UK politics, government and ideas. A useful starting task is to explain one institution, select evidence about how it works, then judge its effectiveness in relation to the question.

For Pearson, the revised A level specification is taught from September 2026, with first assessment in June 2028. Confirm the edition with your school when choosing resources.

In Wales, WJEC Government and Politics includes government in Wales and the UK and participation in democracy at AS, followed by political concepts and US politics at A2. In Northern Ireland, CCEA Government and Politics includes Northern Ireland and the British political process, with different comparative and political power or ideas options at A2. Share the options you actually study.

IB Global Politics

The IB course first assessed in 2026 connects power and global politics with rights and justice, development and sustainability, and peace and conflict. It includes source work, extended responses and an engagement project; Higher Level also has Paper 3. A useful task is to take a case you have studied and explain how a political concept helps interpret it, rather than simply retelling the events. Bring your SL or HL course details and current task.

Modern Studies in Scotland

National 5 Modern Studies includes democracy in Scotland and the UK, social issues and international issues. Higher develops extended analysis and judgments about conclusions, objectivity and source reliability. Give the tutor your level and topic: preparation for this broader subject needs its own questions and source tasks. For example, explain what makes a particular source reliable instead of calling every newspaper biased.

University study and adult learning

For a university module, bring a reading and the assignment question. A useful exercise is to identify the author’s central claim, the assumptions it rests on and a competing explanation, then outline your own response. Discuss the relevant module or specialism before arranging lessons.

For general interest, choose a question such as “Who has power in this decision?” Compare what two writers mean by power and test their explanations against the same example. OpenLearn’s introduction to politics offers a starting text for exploring contested political concepts without needing an exam syllabus.

Consider this constructed starting answer: “Prime Minister’s Questions makes the government change its policies.” It names a real process but assumes an outcome it has not demonstrated.

First separate the roles. The UK government includes the Prime Minister and ministers. Parliament checks government through questions, debate and committee investigations; some ministers are also parliamentarians. At Prime Minister’s Questions, MPs question the Prime Minister. Parliament’s explanation of scrutiny describes how government explains and defends decisions in public.

A more careful answer would be: “Questioning allows MPs to challenge the Prime Minister and seek explanations. This makes government answerable in public, but an answer does not by itself demonstrate a change in policy. To judge the effect, we need evidence of what government did in response.”

The improvement is the link between the process and the conclusion. For an AQA A level extract or essay task, analysis and evaluation need to support a balanced argument and a reasoned conclusion. The short answer above is a teaching illustration, not a complete exam response.

To take it further, compare a select committee recommendation with the government’s reply. Identify what was accepted, rejected or left uncertain. A reply may state an intention; evidence of subsequent action is needed before saying a recommendation was implemented.

Here are two invented extracts about a fictional decision over a local river:

A: “Residents should decide how the river is used.”

B: “Government should consult residents, but make the final decision in the national interest.”

A weak comparison says that A supports residents and B ignores them. That misses the consultation in B. A better comparison is: “Both give residents a voice, but they disagree about final authority. A gives residents the decision; B reserves it for government after consultation.”

This identifies a shared point and a precise difference. It also makes the idea of power concrete: being asked for a view and controlling the final decision are different roles.

In the current IB Global Politics Paper 1, question 3 asks for comparison or contrast between specific points in two sources. Question 4 separately calls for evaluation and synthesis with prior knowledge. Keep those tasks distinct. For an evaluation follow-up here, neither extract proves whose interests a real decision would serve. You would need evidence about the decision process and its effects.

Try changing B so that residents can reject the government’s proposal. Explain how that changes their power: they now have a way to stop the decision, beyond giving an opinion.