Edexcel A-Level Politics Component 3: Comparative Politics (USA) overview quiz quiz

A single 30-mark source-based question, drawn from an extract, that candidates answer on its own under timed conditions

A 12-mark US question, a compulsory 12-mark comparative-theories question, and two 30-mark synoptic essays

Three separate 24-mark political ideas essays

Internally assessed coursework only

Brown v Board of Education (1954)

Dobbs v Jackson (2022)

Marbury v Madison (1803)

Citizens United v FEC (2010)

218

270

435

538

Banned all forms of private political donation to candidates and parties outright

Introduced full and compulsory state funding of all election campaigns

Capped all campaign spending permanently at the levels seen in 2002

Allowed unlimited independent political spending and gave rise to Super PACs

It focuses on institutions and the formal processes within a political system

It focuses on individuals acting rationally to maximise their own personal benefit and self-interest

It focuses on the shared cultural values of social groups

It focuses only on the outcomes of elections

The US Court is not independent of the executive branch and is controlled directly by the president and Congress in practice

The UK Court is in practice the more powerful of the two

The US Court can strike down legislation as unconstitutional, while the UK Court cannot because Parliament is sovereign

Neither of the two courts is able to hear appeals

Because of the fusion of powers between the executive and the legislature that operates within the US system

Because the president personally appoints all of the members of Congress

Because the same parliamentary Westminster system that governs the UK applies directly in the USA

Because of the separation of powers, which makes Congress independent of the president (divided government)

Richard Neustadt's account of presidential power as largely informal

A formal power explicitly granted to the president by the Constitution itself

The Senate's formal power to confirm presidential appointments

The workings of the electoral college system

The USA has many more parties represented in its national legislature than the UK does, producing frequent coalition governments

The USA has a strict two-party system, while the UK has a two-party Westminster with a genuine multi-party periphery

The UK is in effect a one-party state

There is no real difference between them

Applying one of the three comparative approaches consistently throughout the whole essay

Reaching a clear and substantiated overall judgement

Writing a US account followed by a separate UK account instead of comparing directly

Using precise named examples throughout

Roe v Wade

Obergefell v Hodges

Shelby County v Holder

Dobbs v Jackson