AQA A-Level Media Studies Active Recall Guide (7572)
AQA · A-Level
AQA A-Level Media Studies Active Recall Guide
Every topic of specification 7572 written as exam-style questions with the answers printed after them. 1,066 questions across 7 topics and 83 subtopics, cut by the theoretical framework so it holds whichever set products your school teaches.
- AQA
- A-Level
- Specification 7572
- 1,066 questions
Guide overview All 7 topics Sample questions Papers and weighting Look inside Questions and answers
What the exam asks of you
AQA A-Level Media Studies is two written papers and a cross-media production. Media One and Media Two are two hours and 84 marks each, worth 35 per cent apiece. The production carries 60 marks and 30 per cent.
Both written papers examine the whole theoretical framework, media language, representation, industries and audiences, applied to set products AQA publishes and periodically changes. The framework and the named theorists do not change when the products do, which is why the guide is cut that way.
| Paper | Covers | Length | Marks | Weighting |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Media One Media Products, Industries and Audiences |
Section A: Media Language and Media Representations, testing advertising and marketing and music video Section B: Media Industries and Audiences, testing two of radio, newspapers and film Film is examined for its industry only |
2 hours | 84 marks | 35% |
|
Media Two Media Forms and Products in Depth |
Television Magazines Online, social and participatory media, and video games |
2 hours | 84 marks | 35% |
|
Non-exam assessment Creating a Cross-Media Production |
One of six briefs set by AQA, changing annually A cross-media production in a specified form for a specified audience A Statement of Intent of no more than 500 words |
Coursework | 60 marks | 30% |
What is in the guide
All 7 topics
Every topic has its own page with its subtopics, what it covers and sample questions.
Sample questions
Taken from the guide. Answer each one closed book first, then open the answer.
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Codes and conventions
Why do media forms use multiple codes simultaneously rather than relying on a single code?
Show the answer
Using multiple codes simultaneously allows media products to communicate several layers of meaning at once, creating richer, more complex messages that engage audiences on different levels. -
Constructing representations
What does social identity mean in the context of media representation?
Show the answer
Social identity in media representation refers to how membership of social groups is portrayed and constructed. -
Production, distribution and circulation
Why is media production described as specialised?
Show the answer
Because it requires specific technical skills, equipment and professional expertise. -
Grouping and categorising audiences
How does taste function as a psychographic factor for categorising audiences?
Show the answer
Taste refers to audience preferences for particular styles, genres or cultural products, allowing media industries to group audiences who share similar aesthetic preferences. -
Social context
What does the presence or absence of particular social groups in a product reveal about its context?
Show the answer
It indicates whose experience was regarded as central and whose was treated as marginal or invisible at the time and place of production. -
Advertising and marketing
How does an advertisement establish its target audience within the text itself?
Show the answer
Through casting, setting, music, language and visual style chosen so that the intended group recognises the product as meant for people like them. -
Close study products and how they are used
Why does the board require close study products across audio-visual, print and online forms?
Show the answer
Because each form uses media language differently and raises different industry and audience questions, so studying across all three prevents an understanding built on one kind of product.
How the guide is worked
Answering a question from memory stores it far better than reading the answer again. The guide runs that as a fixed procedure on one subtopic at a time, about twenty minutes a session.
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Step 1 · Closed book
Cover the answers. Work through one subtopic and write down what you can. Leave blanks where you have nothing.
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Step 2 · Open book
Go back to the top. Read each printed answer and write it out in full, including the ones you had right.
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Step 3 · Closed book again
Same questions, same order, from memory. The gap between pass one and pass three is the session result.
Read the full method, the return schedule and the research behind it.
Look inside
Questions for a subtopic print together and the answers for that section print after them.
- Media Language181
- Media Representation216
- Media Industries189
- Media Audiences203
- Contexts of the Media78
- Media Forms and Products125
- The Cross-Media Production and Assessment74
- What is the process of selection in media representation?
- What does combination mean in the construction of media representations?
- What role does exclusion play in constructing media representations?
- Define self-representation in media contexts.
- What does social identity mean in the context of media representation?
- What is meant by the term 're-presentation' in media studies?
- Why is representation described as a process rather than a reflection?
- How does the framing of a photograph make it a representation rather than a record?
- What is meant by mediation?
- Selection is the process by which media producers choose which elements to include in a media text from all available options.
- Combination refers to how producers arrange and organise selected elements together to create meaning within a media text.
- Exclusion involves deliberately leaving out certain elements, perspectives, or information, which shapes meaning by determining what audiences do not see or hear.
- Self-representation refers to how individuals present and construct their own identity through media.
- Social identity in media representation refers to how membership of social groups is portrayed and constructed.
- Re-presentation is the process by which media construct versions of reality rather than simply reflecting it.
- Because producing a representation involves a series of decisions about what to include, how to arrange it and what to leave out, so what reaches the audience has been actively made rather than simply captured.
- The photographer chooses where to point the camera, what to keep in shot and what falls outside it, so the image presents a selected portion of a scene as though it were the whole.
- The process by which media products stand between an audience and events, so that what audiences receive has passed through selection, construction and presentation rather than reaching them directly.
questions
Scroll sideways to turn through the pages.
Questions students ask first
My set products are different from my friend’s. Does this still work?
Yes. AQA publishes close study products and rotates them, and centres choose within some sections. The guide is cut by the theoretical framework instead, which does not change when the products do.
Which forms are on which paper?
Media One is advertising and marketing and music video for media language and representations, then two of radio, newspapers and film for industries and audiences, with film examined for its industry only.
Media Two is television, magazines, and online, social and participatory media with video games. The full breakdown is here.
Do I have to name theorists?
Yes. AQA names the academic theories you are assessed on, and a point made without its theorist is credited below the same point attributed. The guide asks for the theorist, the concept and its claim separately.
Is the coursework covered?
The production itself is your own practical work, marked by your centre. What is in the guide is the knowledge around it: the brief requirements, the Statement of Intent and what the assessment expects, which is 74 questions.
AQA A-Level Media Studies Active Recall Guide
Every question paired with its answer, grouped by topic and subtopic, ready to work in three passes.