Typical phrasing

Exam question 1(d) comes in two flavours, which we’ll call Type i and Type ii.

There are six marks available for this question and you’ll have twelve line to write on, implying you can write up to about 120 words.

This question tests whether you have learned to consider the scale (global, national, local, personal) at which things matter, or need to be done. If you want to think more deeply about why that question is worth asking in the real world, see this post.

To be ready for this question you’ll need a mental list of general reasons why things are global, national, local, and/or personal. Here are a few ideas to get you started:

Things may be global because they

  • are limited in supply and must be shared, e.g. the minerals needed to make electronics, UNESCO world heritage sites
  • affect people across borders and so can only be managed with global cooperation, e.g. atmospheric pollution, infectious diseases, cybercrime
  • are a basic human need or human right, e.g. safe working conditions
  • occur everywhere, e.g. LGBTQ+ identities and relationships.

Things may be national because they

  • affect things that are customarily managed at the national level, e.g. economic policy (tax & interest rates), laws, international relations, the school curriculum
  • require larger scales of cooperation than can be achieved at a local level, e.g. infrastructure (transport, power, flood prevention, etc.), military defence
  • require cooperation with other nations, e.g. The Olympics, trade agreements
  • are closely related to a language/culture which identifies strongly with the nation.

Things may be local because they

  • are fixed to particular places, a heritage site, a species which needs specific habitats
  • relate to local resources & landscapes, e.g. a coastal town may have a fishing industry
  • relate to a regional history or culture, e.g. New Orleans prides itself in being the “birthplace of jazz”.
Jazz may be global, but New Orleans has a special relationship with the music.

Things may be personal because they

  • are a matter of individual taste or free opinion, e.g. how I choose to vote
  • only apply to certain people, e.g. a food allergy, a particular talent or skill
  • belong to a person, e.g. copyright of things I create
  • relate to personal experience, e.g. something has sentimental value to me
  • are customarily allowed to be private, e.g. my medical history, or how I behave in my own home if it does not affect others.

To build up your mental muscles, try thinking up further examples for each of the bullet points above.

Examples

You don’t need to go to past exam papers to practise this kind of question, because it’s easy to make up your own.

Example of Type i

Explain one local benefit and one national benefit of government support for the arts.

Local benefit: People may complain when taxpayer’s money is used to subsidise the arts, but it can be a good investment if it boosts the local economy by attracting tourists to visit and spend money in the area, which benefits all local people indirectly. For example, the Mardi Gras festival brings hundreds of millions of dollars to the New Orleans economy. [59 words]

National benefit: A nation needs a sense of shared identity; otherwise, parts of the country might prefer to break away. The arts help a large group of people to see themselves as a single group. For example, Jazz is sometimes described as America’s premier art form. Thus, financial support for the arts is justified because it strengthens a country. [57 words]

Example of Type ii

Explain why food labelling is an important national issue.

Governments have a duty to keep their citizens safe while they freely travel anywhere in the country. Some people have food allergies which can be fatal, so it is essential for every food provider in the country to follow the same labelling guidelines – otherwise, when somebody from one town travels to another, they might be misled by different standards and eat something that harms them. The potential consequences are too severe for this to be left to the goodwill of food providers, who are motivated to avoid the extra effort and expense. Therefore, food labelling needs to be planned and enforced at a national level by the government, which can pass laws to make food providers comply. [117 words]

For this kind of writing it helps to think about duties (e.g. a government’s duty to keep it citizens safe), capabilities (e.g. governments can pass laws to force compliance), and concerns (e.g. a food provider is concerned to minimise effort and cost of production).

In the exam you have the sources neatly provided in your Insert booklet, but when you practise with questions you make yourself as above, you’ll notice that you want to research information to support your points, and the writing starts to look more like a paragraph from an Individual Report (IR). This should come as no surprise: for the IR you have to research a range of perspectives on your chosen issue – considering related advantages, disadvantages, causes and effects at the different scales (global, national, local and personal) helps you to develop a fuller understanding of it. You should find brainstorming questions of this type a very useful step in your project.

Try making some questions now, using the question formats at the top of this page, and your own project ideas. Post them in the comments section below if you wish.

Marking policy

A top scoring answer needs to be:

Now you try

Study the sources for this paper about Demographic Change

1(d) Explain why young people should be a priority for governments.

Remember to think about the duties, capabilities and concerns of a government – and why young people are a national issue (for the national government) or a local issue (for local government). You can post your answers in the comments section.

On to the next section!

Image credits:
Jazz musicians performing on the French Quarter, New Orleans – Joseph Sohm on Shutterstock
Man inspecting a food label – Goski on Shutterstock