Study Skills

Course summary

The EPQ is submitted to the EPQ supervisor by the end of the Summer Term of Year 12. This is to ensure that students are able to focus entirely on their A2 studies in Year 13. Students’ EPQs are entered for examination in November of Year 13 with results available in January of Year 13. Course Outline: Students have just one lesson per week for EPQ. Approximately 20 teaching hours are given over to the taught skills listed below. The remaining lesson time is spent with students working independently on their projects and having 1:1 discussion on their progress with their supervisor. Taught Skills: Students will develop the following: •Research skills including the ability to search for and identify suitable sources of information in the chosen subject area •ICT skills in the production of the final report •Project management skills including time management and task management •Report writing skills including learning how to format and structure a report in an academic style •Referencing skills, such as creating consistent citations and the production of a standard bibliography •Presentation skills Skills / Aptitudes required to be successful in this course: Students need to be keen, independent learners who are very self-motivated. They will need to enjoy researching using a variety of sources including books, academic journals, newspapers, as well as online sources. Some students may also choose to collect their own primary data. Goes well with: The EPQ suits all students who are committed to their studies. Many students choose it as an ‘added extra’ to demonstrate that they have gone above and beyond expectations by taking the initiative to gain a qualification which is not a compulsory part of the A-Level curriculum. Other students choose to do an EPQ for the simple reason that they have a genuine interest in their research topic, and want to find out more.