A Level Edexcel Course Companion: Component 3: Comparative Politics: USA
Clear, comprehensive coverage of the A Level Edexcel specification, fully up to date for 2021. Classroom notes written in student-friendly language, organised in specification order and with detailed explanations of core concepts and political theories.
The detail is very impressive, the layout is perfect
- Clear learning outcomes at the start of each chapter – for focused work
- All key terms defined – aids students’ understanding and helps them to build up a handy glossary
- Comparative approaches tied in seamlessly with each topic. – ensures students know the key differences at the most relevant point in the course
- Up-to-date examples including the Trump & Biden presidencies – helps students to apply theories to ‘real life’, providing context and aiding understanding
- Fully illustrated and supported by diagrams and worked examples – helps visual learners to access the information
- ‘Talking points’ engage students – helps test vital AO2 and AO3 skills!
I love the Course Companions from ZigZag… They have clear learning objectives, the key terms help the students understand the concepts, and they always match the specification perfectly
What do teachers say about this resource? (8779)
Liked it... Tight focus on the syllabus. The pupils prefer it to the [competitor] text-book ... Works well with the learning grids. I am using these as a pair of resources for revision work... Very useful comparison pages for Qs 1 & 2 on paper 3... Great for revision work or for making notes in conjunction with learning grids.
Excellent timeline of the Primaries for both the Republicans and the Democrats – succinct enough and gives the key events for both... The Electoral College, a concept that my students always find difficult to grasp has been explained very well in this course companion along with some recent examples... Campaign finance is often a section which gets bogged down by statistics but the explanations of the key campaign finance rulings have been included and the overview is excellent... The Factions sections for each party is excellent – this is another difficult topic due to the overlapping nature of some factions but this Course Companion explains them well – especially the factions within the Democratic party which, in my opinion, are harder to explain and define than the Republican Party... Extremely valuable – as a supplement to textbooks or as a standalone revision tool... every teacher should purchase one.
What do teachers say about this resource? (8777)
Perfectly tuned for one of the most contentious congressional sessions in Modern US Politics. Perfect – well written and brilliant for co-teaching congress with my colleagues... Frequent knowledge checks ensure that students are constantly consolidating their knowledge... For planning purposes, I have used the course companions to plan lessons and essays – for me this has been very useful... Care is taken before it is published. It is carefully checked before being released. That attention to detail creates a quality product... Given the upheaval and partisanship currently, this resource helps to bring the teaching of Congress to light and should be purchased!
Page 4 shows a very good example of Bicameralism and shows some comparison with the UK system which students need to know... Good explanation of the powers of Congress – this could be used for exam practice... Very clear explanation of the differences between the House and the Senate – important that the students know this... A very good explanation of the incumbency factor in congressional elections – a more important factor than students are willing to acknowledge at times... Excellent overview of the reasons Congress votes the way it does – very good for understanding the important factors and could be used to develop knowledge further... Good overview of the checks Congress facilitates over the other branches of government... Excellent narrative on how Congress fulfils its representation function.
What do teachers say about this resource? (8914)
With the very difficult nomination processes for Kavanaugh and Gorsuch, this resource has helped to fully visualise to students the importance of this branch of government... invaluable in essay planning. Students have taken sections of this topic and produced essay plans/passages based on what has been written... It gets to the heart of the content... It focuses on the key fundamentals of this branch of government in order for the students to fully understand how it interlinks with the other 2 branches... In order to fully and effectively plan an engaging lesson for Supreme Court and Civil Rights buy this resource!
This is a really important guide... really written with students in mind... a superb addition to the Course Companions... The detail is very impressive, the layout is perfect... Excellent and simplified structure of the Federal Court System – much simpler than in certain resources and clear for the students to understand where the Supreme Court fits in... I like the Article 1 and 2 explanations which could be a variety of tasks at any stage of the lesson... Implied and Established Constitutional powers are well explained and can be very useful planning a variety tasks... Excellent contemporary example of Donald Trump and Judicial Independence... The Important Supreme Court Cases are excellent – the key cases are included and the students could use them to apply which amendment they cover as a way of showing how the Supreme Court protects rights and liberties as well as executing its oversight function on the executive and the legislature... The Appointments and Nomination process section is very good and gives a very clear oversight of how this happens – also, it distinguishes between the nominations of Gorsuch and ‘normal’ nomination processes such as Kagan or Sotomayor... Superb explanation of the different factors a President considers before nominating a Justice... The best part of the resource – The ideological difference of the Warren Court and the Roberts Court – an excellent overview that helps students to understand how the balance has shifted over time and how certain courts have implemented a number of key decisions and ideological changes based on the cases they have taken on... a very clear and straightforward explanation of judicial activism and restraint... Racial rights section is very good and gives a very clear overview of the struggles encountered and how the Supreme Court has/hasn’t protected these rights.
What do teachers say about this resource? (8776)
I love the Course Companions from ZigZag… They have clear learning objectives, the key terms help the students understand the concepts, and they always match the specification perfectly… The context to the creation of the Constitution is really straightforward - this took a couple of lessons with my students, but I believe that this could have been reduced had I structured the lesson around this companion... If I had followed this I believe my students would have grasped this more clearly... The debates section really provides both sides of the argument to ensure a balanced view – this will help the students understand the surrounding debates and how each view can be seen as valid and justified... The ‘Checks and Balances 2017’ section on page 20 is simply superb.
What do teachers say about this resource? (8778)
I will be coming on to the topic of the Presidency in the next couple of weeks and I will be utilising the ideas put forward in this companion and some of the examples in order to challenge the students and ensure they fully grasp the powers and influence of the Presidency... page 5 helps quash the theory that the President is the most ‘Powerful person in the world’... Good case study on page 26 regarding Congress and the President – relevant and recent... good case studies on the policy goals and successes of Bush, Obama and Trump.
- 2021 editions
- A Level Course Companions
- Bipartisanship, Checks and balances
- Enumerated powers
- First Teaching 2017
- Government and Politics of the USA
- Limited government
- Paper 3: Comparative Politics
- Politics Course Companions
- Politics Learning Resources
- Separation of powers
- US Constitution and federalism
- Divided government
- Mid-term elections
- Unanimous consent
- US Congress
- Domestic politics
- Electoral mandate
- Executive branch
- Executive orders
- Imperial presidency
- Imperilled presidency
- Informal powers
- Powers of persuasion
- Unified Government
- US presidency
- Campaign finance
- Committees (PACs)
- Invisible primary
- Party system
- Policy group
- Political Action
- Professional group
- Religious right
- Single interest group
- Soft/hard money
- Super PACs
- US democracy and participation