The new media P2

Mark scheme, including the levels grid and indicative content

Examiner's comment

These require answers that are essays and are best written in paragraphs. A brief introduction can help set out the argument of the essay. It will not attract marks if it only repeats the question or parts of the item. The purpose of the items for these questions is to suggest a few starting points for students, including ways into evaluation. Students are expected to also bring in further ideas (“and your knowledge” in the instruction) rather than relying only on the item. A wide range of material can be relevant to these questions, so students need to be selective. It is more effective to cover a limited number of views/theories in depth rather than to try to include everything. Students should keep to the question. When a question is about a particular view, other views can be used for evaluation but without writing all that the student knows about them. There was a tendency for answers to progressively lose sight of the question and to become a list of different views. Students who made brief essay plans appeared to benefit by having more structured and coherent responses. Although this question was focused on one perspective, answers tended to try to cover several perspectives with only a short section on postmodernism itself. The best approach to a question like this is to use other perspectives only to evaluate (for example, by explaining points of agreement and difference). Some answers were limited by taking postmodernism as a synonym for pluralism. There were also some very good answers, showing knowledge of a range of studies and concepts.

Notes from the mark scheme and report

• keep postmodernism central and use other perspectives (pluralism, Marxism, feminisms) only to evaluate it
• many gave several perspectives with little on postmodernism, and some treated postmodernism as pluralism

Mark scheme, including the levels grid and indicative content

Examiner's comment

The nature of these questions means that students cannot rely on reciting knowledge. Questions will ask them to bring together aspects of their sociological knowledge in ways they will not have done before. It is therefore important for students to allow time to think about how to answer the question. Students should be made aware that there are two types of 10 mark questions. These have different requirements and different mark schemes . There are different marks available for the assessment objectives. A breakdown of the marks awarded by assessment objective can be found in the mark scheme. 10 mark “outline and explain” questions have more marks available for knowledge and understanding, and none for evaluation. Introductions and conclusions are not required for 10 mark questions; they take up time and rarely improve the mark. It is helpful if answers are set out to clearly indicate the two answers, with wording such as “One way/reason is…”, or by starting a new paragraph for the second point. Answers that give more than two points are unlikely to develop two of them sufficiently. Q19: Globalisation, increased choice, and citizen journalism were commonly referred to in responses. Some were unable to develop their points and others lost focus on new media. Better answers were aware that ownership and control are not the same, and gave examples.

Notes from the mark scheme and report

• two ways new media changed ownership and control (e.g. citizen journalism weakening owners' control of content, growth of conglomerates such as Meta, data harvesting, competition for old news sources, harder regulation)
• discussing ownership in general = 1–3
• better answers knew ownership and control are different
• some lost focus on new media

Mark scheme, including the levels grid and indicative content

Examiner's comment

The nature of these questions means that students cannot rely on reciting knowledge. Questions will ask them to bring together aspects of their sociological knowledge in ways they are unlikely to have done before. It is therefore important for students to allow time to think about how to answer the question. Students should be made aware that there are two types of 10 mark questions. These have different requirements and different mark schemes. There are different marks available for the assessment objectives. 10 mark “outline and explain” questions have more marks available for knowledge and understanding, and none for evaluation. Introductions and conclusions are not required for 10 mark questions and take up valuable time. It is helpful if answers are set out to clearly indicate the two separate points, with wording such as “One way/reason is…” or by starting a new paragraph for the second point. Answers that give more than two points are unlikely to develop two of them sufficiently. Question 19: This was generally well done, with most able to discuss two ways in which the new media may affect audiences. Some weaker answers were about media generally, for example outlining models of media effects without considering how these apply to new media.

Notes from the mark scheme and report

• two ways new media affect audiences (user-generated content, active audiences/influencers, data harvesting, choice, digital divide)
• drift into media in general = 1–3
• weaker answers outlined effects models without applying them to new media

Mark scheme, including the levels grid and indicative content

Examiner's comment

Most candidates answered their chosen questions in the order in which they appeared on the question paper. They therefore answered the section B 20 mark essay question last, and for many this was a relatively brief and often apparently unfinished answer. This suggests that timing is a problem for many candidates. The items for 20 mark questions are written to provide a number of ideas on which students can begin to build their answers. Students are expected to also bring in further ideas (hence “and your knowledge” in the instruction). It is often the case that a wide range of material can be relevant to these questions, and students need to be selective. For example, it may be more effective to cover a limited number of views or theories in some depth rather than to include every possible theory. There was a tendency for answers to progressively lose sight of the question and to become a list of different views. Many attempts at evaluation were learned criticisms. Evaluation is more effective where it is focused on the demands of the question. Students should also be aware that evaluation includes awareness of the strengths as well as the weaknesses of an argument or theory. Following feedback from centres regarding the advance information for the 20 mark questions, we have monitored the marking of these questions, as well as carrying out statistical analysis on student performance. Based on this analysis, we can confirm that students have performed as we expected them to on these questions, and their performance on these questions is in line with previous series. Q21 This question enabled students to apply their knowledge and understanding of media theories to new media. Better answers avoided reciting all they knew about a theory and focused on the question, often making insightful points on the changing nature of media. There was a tendency to focus on the positive aspects of new media (such as interactivity and citizen journalism) without always recognising more negative aspects such as the power of large corporations and the implications of surveillance and data harvesting.

Notes from the mark scheme and report

• top band compares pluralism and varieties of Marxism with new-media theories (digital optimism and pessimism)
• better answers avoided reciting whole theories
• many stressed positives (interactivity, citizen journalism) and neglected corporate power, surveillance and data harvesting

Mark scheme, including the levels grid and indicative content

Notes from the mark scheme and report

• no marks for evaluation in this question type
• two ways each developed, e.g. participatory culture blurring producer and consumer, globalised popular culture, influencers, speed of memes
• analysis of how popular culture differs from high or mass culture
• drift into media in general = 1–3
• no examiners' report comment for this part

Mark scheme, including the levels grid and indicative content

Notes from the mark scheme and report

• how new media change news selection and presentation: citizen journalism, immediacy, fake news, tweets becoming news, accountability, changing news values
• drift into the media in general = 1-3
• no marks for evaluation in this question type (examiners' report general remark)

Mark scheme, including the levels grid and indicative content

Examiner's comment

Some students wrote introductory paragraphs and/or conclusions. These are not necessary, and are unlikely to gain additional marks; they also take up time. Some students made only one point in their answers, or three or more, rather than the two asked for. The word ‘two’ is put in bold in the question to try and draw students’ attention to this. Sometimes it was not clear how many points were being made. It is helpful for students to clearly indicate their two answers, with wording such as “One way is…” or by starting a new paragraph for their second point. Notably, some students wrote far more than was needed for a 10-mark response. The two types of 10-mark question, “outline and explain” and “analysis” types, are marked differently as the assessment objectives have different weightings. It is important that students are aware of this. In particular they should note that evaluation is not a requirement for answers to 10 mark “outline and explain” questions. For 10 mark “outline and explain” questions, students cannot rely on reciting knowledge; these questions will ask them to bring together aspects of their sociological knowledge of the topic in a way that they are unlikely to have done before. The best answers to 10-mark questions were focused, clearly stating a point and then developing it, and used sociological concepts, studies, evidence and theory as appropriate. While many students showed good knowledge of stereotypical media portrayals of women and of how they could be challenged, they were less clear on how the new media enabled challenges. Some presented two examples of new media platforms as different ‘ways’, and these could only be credited as one way.

Notes from the mark scheme and report

• must explain how new media enable challenge, not just describe stereotyped portrayals of women (drift = 1–3)
• two platforms making the same point count as one way
• AO split from AQA's standard grid for this paper (this year's mark scheme does not print it).

Mark scheme, including the levels grid and indicative content

Examiner's comment

Some students wrote introductory paragraphs and/or conclusions. These are not necessary, and are unlikely to gain additional marks, and they also take up time. Some students made only one point in their answers, or three or more, rather than the two asked for in the question. Sometimes it was unclear how many points were being made. It is helpful for students to clearly indicate their two answers, with wording such as “One way is…” or by starting a new paragraph for their second point. Evaluation is not a requirement for answers to 10 mark “outline and explain” questions. The marks awarded for the assessment objectives being targeted are different in the two types of ten mark questions, and students should be made aware of this. The best answers to 10 mark questions were focused, clearly stating a point and then developing it, using sociological concepts, evidence and theory where appropriate. In some questions students tended to focus on the first aspect of the question at the expense of the second. Students need guidance on how to approach these questions and how to best demonstrate their sociological understanding. The nature of these questions means that students cannot rely on reciting knowledge. These questions will ask them to bring together aspects of their sociological knowledge in a way that they are unlikely to have done before. There were some good answers that analysed online campaigns, more people having a voice revitalising democracy and citizen journalism, although links to the political process were often left implicit. Examples often showed good ability to apply sociological ideas to current issues. There were examples of fake news, of trolling and more specific examples, such as the Facebook- Cambridge Analytica data scandal. Some answers discussed Berlusconi and Murdoch, conflating old and new media. The questions and the items need to be carefully considered along with the item rather than rushing in.

Notes from the mark scheme and report

• two developed applications from Item M (interactivity, users as producers, questionable validity), e.g. online campaigns, spread of false information
• drift into e-commerce is a tangent
• links to the political process often left implicit
• some conflated old and new media (Murdoch, Berlusconi)
• AO split from AQA's standard grid for this paper (this year's mark scheme does not print it).

Mark scheme, including the levels grid and indicative content

Examiner's comment

A number of students wrote introductory paragraphs and/or conclusions. These are not necessary, and are unlikely to gain additional marks. A number of students made only one point in their answer, or three or more, rather than the two asked for. In these cases, the two best answers were rewarded and will be in future series. It is helpful for students to clearly indicate their two answers, with wording such as “One way is…” or by starting a new paragraph for their second point. Schools and colleges should note that there is no reference in the mark scheme for 10 mark ‘outline and explain’ questions to evaluation, and that evaluation is not a requirement for answers to these questions. The assessment objective allocations are different in the two types of 10 mark questions, and students should be made aware of this. There was a wide range of responses to these questions. A minority of students wrote very brief answers. For these 10 mark items, a simple statement of two ways, reasons or factors, without development, is not sufficient to access more than the lower marks in the mark range. The best answers were focused, clearly stating a point and then developing it, with use of sociological concepts, evidence and theory where appropriate, in ways that demonstrated the skills expected from the targeted assessment objectives. There was a tendency, however, for many answers to focus on the first aspect of the question at the expense of the second. Students need guidance on how to approach these questions and how to best demonstrate their sociological understanding. The nature of these questions means that students cannot rely on reciting knowledge. They require students to bring together two aspects of their sociological knowledge in a way that they are unlikely to have done before. Answers will sometimes require claims that students may be unsure of because they do not know of specific evidence (for example, in question 5, whether migrants from Eastern Europe who are single workers tend to live alone or in shared households). However, answers that are sociologically plausible will be accepted. There were some very good answers to this question. Some students struggled with the ‘new’ media aspect and wrote about the media in general. Good points were made about, for example, global branding and advertising, the availability of social media and the dominance of American or Western cultural forms.

Notes from the mark scheme and report

• must be the new media specifically (social media, TNCs, global advertising, cultural homogenisation)
• a list of popular-culture factors = 1–3
• some wrote about the media in general