AQA A-Level Politics Active Recall Guide (7152)
AQA · A-Level
AQA A-Level Politics Active Recall Guide
Every topic of specification 7152 written as exam-style questions with the answers printed after them. 2,215 questions across 33 topics and 169 subtopics, including all five optional ideologies so the guide fits whichever one you sit.
- AQA
- A-Level
- Specification 7152
- 2,215 questions
Guide overview All 33 topics Sample questions Papers and weighting Look inside Questions and answers
What the exam asks of you
AQA A-Level Politics is three written papers of 2 hours, 77 marks each, a third of the A-level apiece. Paper 1 is the government and politics of the UK. Paper 2 is the government and politics of the USA with comparative politics. Paper 3 is political ideas: liberalism, conservatism and socialism, plus one further ideology chosen from five.
Politics is marked on named examples, specific cases and the thinkers themselves. A general argument about the Supreme Court scores far less than one carrying the case and the ruling.
| Paper | Covers | Length | Marks | Weighting |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Paper 1 Government and politics of the UK |
The constitution, Parliament, the Prime Minister and cabinet, the judiciary and devolution Democracy and participation, elections and referendums, parties and pressure groups The European Union and its impact on UK politics |
2 hours | 77 marks | 33⅓% |
|
Paper 2 The USA and comparative politics |
The constitutional framework, Congress, the presidency and the Supreme Court Elections, parties, pressure groups and civil rights in the USA Comparative politics, using structural, rational and cultural approaches |
2 hours | 77 marks | 33⅓% |
|
Paper 3 Political ideas |
Liberalism, conservatism and socialism, all compulsory One further ideology from nationalism, feminism, multiculturalism, anarchism or ecologism The core ideas of each, its strands and its key thinkers |
2 hours | 77 marks | 33⅓% |
What is in the guide
All 33 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.
-
Codified and Uncodified Constitutions
What is common law?
Show the answer
Law developed by judges through their rulings in individual cases, together with long-established legal custom. -
The Two Chambers and Parliamentary Privilege
Which Act made it possible to appoint peers for their lifetime only?
Show the answer
The Life Peerages Act 1958. -
The Core Executive and the Prime Minister's Powers
Translate primus inter pares and explain what it claims about the Prime Minister.
Show the answer
It means 'first among equals', and it presents the Prime Minister as the leading member of a collective cabinet rather than a separate chief executive. -
Judicial Independence and Impartiality
Define judicial impartiality.
Show the answer
The principle that judges must decide cases on the law and the evidence alone, without personal or political bias. -
Devolution, Federalism and the Scottish Parliament
Which Act created the Scottish Parliament, and what preceded it?
Show the answer
The Scotland Act 1998, which followed a 1997 referendum in which Scottish voters endorsed a parliament by a large majority. -
Democracy, Legitimacy and Direct Democracy
Explain why liberal democracy involves more than simply majority rule.
Show the answer
Liberal democracy also requires limited government, the rule of law, an independent judiciary, a free media and protected rights, so that majorities cannot override minorities. -
Majoritarian and Proportional Systems
What is a wasted vote?
Show the answer
It is a vote that contributes nothing to the outcome, either cast for a losing candidate or piled up beyond the number the winner needed. -
Party Functions and the Conservative Party
What is one-nation conservatism?
Show the answer
It is the paternalist tradition associated with Disraeli, holding that the privileged have a duty to improve the condition of the poor in order to keep society united.
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.
-
Step 1 · Closed book
Cover the answers. Work through one subtopic and write down what you can. Leave blanks where you have nothing.
-
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.
-
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.
- The Nature and Sources of the British Constitution82
- The Structure and Role of Parliament87
- The Prime Minister and Cabinet50
- The UK Judiciary52
- Devolution52
- Democracy and Participation98
- Elections and Referendums121
- Political Parties in the UK96
- Pressure Groups in the UK66
- The UK and the European Union29
- The Constitutional Framework of US Government73
- Congress56
- and 21 more
- Which two chambers make up the UK Parliament?
- How many MPs sit in the Commons, and how is each elected?
- Who chairs debates in the Commons, and what is required of them?
- Name the two categories of member who sit in the House of Lords.
- Which Act made it possible to appoint peers for their lifetime only?
- Who are the Lords Spiritual?
- What is a crossbencher?
- Why is the Lords described as a revising chamber?
- Define parliamentary privilege.
- The House of Commons and the House of Lords.
- There are 650 MPs, each elected in a single-member constituency under first past the post.
- The Speaker, who must set aside party allegiance and act with complete impartiality.
- Life peers and the twenty-six Lords Spiritual. The ninety-two remaining hereditary peers were removed by the House of Lords (Hereditary Peers) Act 2026.
- The Life Peerages Act 1958.
- Senior archbishops and bishops of the Church of England who sit in the Lords by virtue of their office.
- A peer who takes no party whip and sits as an independent.
- Its main task is to scrutinise and improve bills sent up from the Commons rather than to initiate or block the government's programme.
- The legal protections enjoyed by Parliament, chiefly freedom of speech in its proceedings, which cannot be challenged in the courts.
questions
Scroll sideways to turn through the pages.
Questions students ask first
Which ideology do I do?
Liberalism, conservatism and socialism are compulsory. One further ideology is chosen by your school from nationalism, feminism, multiculturalism, anarchism and ecologism.
All five options are in the guide. Work yours and skip the other four.
Is the comparative section really examined?
Yes, on Paper 2. Constitutions and legislatures, the executives, the judiciaries, electoral and party systems, pressure groups and civil rights are each compared, and the three theoretical approaches are examined alongside them.
How current does my knowledge need to be?
Current enough to use recent examples. The guide covers the institutions, processes and debates, which do not change year to year. Keep your own file of recent examples on top of it, because examiners credit current ones.
Are the key thinkers covered?
Yes. Paper 3 names specific thinkers for each ideology and the guide asks who they are, what they argued and where they differ from others in the same tradition.
AQA A-Level Politics Active Recall Guide
Every question paired with its answer, grouped by topic and subtopic, ready to work in three passes.