Where the 150 marks go
GCSE Government and Politics is two papers built the same way: Unit 1, Democracy in Action, and Unit 2, International Politics in Action, each 75 marks in 90 minutes. In both units, Section C is worth 26 marks across two extended questions, Question 19 (10 marks) and Question 20 (16 marks). Those two questions are over a third of your total mark, and they are marked on opposite rules from each other. Know the difference before you sit down.
Question 19 always asks you to make a case in support of a given statement. That is an instruction to argue one side only. A balanced answer here earns no credit for the opposing points it adds, it just spends time you needed for developing the case you were actually asked to make. Question 20 is the reverse: a full evaluation, and a one-sided answer to Question 20 caps you at Level 2, a maximum of 8 out of 16, however well it is written.
Paper by paper: the time budget
Each unit gives you 90 minutes for 75 marks, about 72 seconds per mark. Section A, short recall and matching worth 24 marks across roughly 14 short items, should take about 29 minutes; work through it briskly, since none of these questions reward extended writing. Section B, source-based description and explanation worth 25 marks across 4 questions, takes about 30 minutes. Section C takes the remaining 31 minutes: about 12 minutes on Question 19 and 19 minutes on Question 20, leaving a couple of minutes to check each answer against the question actually asked.
Section B: the source is not optional
Section B's questions are marked against the printed stimulus. Answer from your own knowledge alone, without quoting or drawing on what the source actually says, and the mark scheme caps you at Level 2, a maximum of 3 out of 5 or 4 out of 6. Point to a specific detail in the source in your first sentence, then build your explanation outward from it.
Command words and named evidence
Level 3 and Level 4 answers in Section C need a named, real example: a specific piece of legislation, a particular political crisis, a named peacekeeping mission, not a general description of the government or the UN doing something. Learn two or three concrete, current examples for each major topic in each unit before the exam, and use them by name rather than by category.
Three misconceptions worth fixing now
An economic migrant chooses to move for work or a better standard of living. A refugee is forced to flee war, persecution or disaster. These are not interchangeable terms, and mixing them up in Unit 2 costs marks on questions that depend on the distinction.
The United Nations has no standing army of its own. It relies entirely on voluntary troop and resource contributions from member states, authorised through Security Council resolutions. Do not write as though the UN can simply deploy forces on its own authority.
A Private Members' Bill is introduced by an individual backbench MP, not by the government or the cabinet. If a question asks about routes for changing the law that do not start with government, this is the one to name.
Quality of written communication
Section C answers are marked for quality of written communication as well as content: legible text, accurate spelling, punctuation and grammar, and specialist political vocabulary. A Question 20 answer that repeats its own points in the final paragraph instead of reaching a reasoned, substantiated judgement will not reach the top band, even when every fact in it is correct. End with a sentence that actually answers the question, weighing the strength of the arguments you have made against each other.
The week before
Drill the difference between Question 19 and Question 20 until it is automatic: one side only for a make a case question, both sides for an evaluation. Practise naming two current examples for every major topic, migration, the European Union, conflict resolution in Northern Ireland, elections, so that Level 3 and Level 4 language is ready when you need it, not invented on the day.