advanced higher modern studies dissertation marking scheme

29/12/23 UPDATE: Terrorism added in National 5 section; Advanced Higher content updated; revision strategy suggestions published.

Advanced Higher Modern Studies

Advanced Higher Modern Studies is a Level 7 SCQF course offered by the SQA - equivalent to the first year of Undergraduate. By reading the course, candidates develop a deepened understanding of the issues in society, and the responses to them. Assessment at Advanced Higher consists of a 5,000 dissertation and 3-hour exam.

Learn more on the SQA website

⚠ IMPORTANT ⚠ 

Candidates of Advanced Higher Modern Studies can study one of three main sections. These sections are: Political issues, law and order, or social inequality. Within these sections, there are three sub-sections, of which you're expected to address two in the final exam. At Inverurie Academy, we study Section 2 (Law and order). Within this section, we learn study Section 2B (Understanding criminal behaviour) and Section 2C (Responses by society to crime). Click the drop-down menus below to find out more.

Section 2B: Understanding criminal behaviour 

Below are the Course Assessment Specification (CAS) headings for Section 2B. These headings are established by the SQA, and are the basis of the questions you're faced within the final exam.

definitions, measurements and perceptions of crime

contemporary relevance of theories of criminal behaviour including physiological, psychological and sociological theories

social and economic impact of criminal behaviour on victims, perpetrators, families and wider society

Section 2 C : Responses by society to crime

contemporary relevance of theories of punishment, including deterrence, rehabilitation, incapacitation, retributivism and denunciation

preventative responses to crime, including policing strategies, multi-agency approaches and early interventions

criminal justice responses to crime, including custodial and non-custodial sentences

PowerPoint presentations

LAST UPDATED: 29th December 2023

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Definitions, measurements and perceptions of crime

Relevance of theories of criminal behaviour, social and economic impacts of crime, relevance of theories of punishment, criminal justice responses to crime, preventative responses to crime, dissertation.

The Advanced Higher Modern Studies Dissertation is worth 50 marks, which is 36% of the overall marks available for the course. The rest comes from the final exam. For the Dissertation, candidates select a pre-approved title from the SQA website and write up a 5,000 word dissertation looking at the issue in detail. The Dissertation is then collected and marked by the SQA, usually in late March. The documents below will help you start the process.

Helpful links

Crimestoppers website: https://goo.gl/kTgTV2  

Education Scotland – Crime and the Law resources: https://goo.gl/HbQ3ZG  

Police Scotland website: https://goo.gl/ztigwm  

Scottish Centre for Crime and Justice Research website:  https://goo.gl/2HuuaK  

Scottish Centre for Crime and Justice Research Advanced Higher resources: https://bit.ly/41y92Ya  

Scottish Courts website: https://goo.gl/s3eeUp  

Scottish Government – Crime and the Law website: https://goo.gl/7nW3Wk  

Scottish Prison Service website: https://goo.gl/C293vW  

SQA Advanced Higher Modern Studies: https://bit.ly/41vV4q0  

SQA Understanding Standards materials for Advanced Higher Modern Studies: https://bit.ly/43GbEFk  

Victim Support Scotland: https://goo.gl/C4mbdy  

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• Question paper
• Assessment overview
• Project-dissertation
• Presentations
• Course Reports
• Additional resources for sessions 2020-22

Advanced Higher History - project-dissertation

Project-dissertation 2019  (all links open as pdf files).

Please note: The following candidate evidence and commentaries should be used alongside the AH Dissertation Webinar 16 March 2021 , available from the AH History subject page on the SQA website.

Field of study 1 — Northern Britain from the Iron Age to 1034

• Candidate 3 (To what extent was the military leadership of Governor Agricola successful in the occupation of Northern Britain?)
• Candidate 3 Evidence
• Candidate 3 Commentary

Field of study 2 — Scotland: independence and kingship, 1249–1334

• Candidate 4 (How important was the part played by William Wallace in the wars of independence between 1297 and 1305?)
• Candidate 4 Evidence
• Candidate 4 Commentary

Field of study 4 — USA: ‘a house divided’, 1850–65 — Scotland: independence and kingship, 1249–1334

• Candidate 5 (What factors best explain the growth of the abolitionist movement within America up to 1860?)
• Candidate 5 Evidence
• Candidate 5 Commentary

Field of study 6 — Germany: from democracy to dictatorship, 1918–39

• Candidate 6 (To what extent did economic collapse allow the rise of the Nazis by 1933?)
• Candidate 6 Evidence
• Candidate 6 Commentary

Field of study 8 — Russia: from Tsarism to Stalinism, 1914–45

• Candidate 1 (To what did Stalin owe his grip of power?)
• Candidate 1 Evidence
• Candidate 2 (To what did Stalin owe his grip of power?)
• Candidate 2 Evidence

Field of study 10 — Britain: at war and peace, 1938–51

• Candidate 7 (Was the British bombing offensive worth the costs in men and resources that were invested in it?)
• Candidate 7 Evidence
• Candidate 7 Commentary

Project-dissertation 2016  (All links open as PDF files)

Field of study 2 - scotland: independence and kingship, 1249-1334.

• Candidate 1 (Edward I's political decisions and his failure to conquer Scotland)
• Candidate 1 Commentary
• Candidate 2 (Defeat at Falkirk and the continued resistance to Edward I)
• Candidate 2 Commentary

Field of study 3 - Italy: the Renaissance in the 15th and Early 16th Centuries

• Candidate 1 (Classical antiquity and the development of C15 renaissance humanism)

Field of study 4 - Scotland: from the Treaty of Union to the Enlightenment, 1707-1815

• Candidate 1 (Prince Charles Edward Stuart's responsibility for the failure of the '45)

Field of study 5 - USA: ‘A House Divided’, 1850–1865

• Candidate 1 (A single cause for the outbreak of the American Civil War?)

Field of study 7 - Germany: from Democracy to Dictatorship, 1918–1939

• Candidate 1 (The Nazis' policies towards women, 1933-39)
• Candidate 2 (The Nazis' attempt to create a Volksgemeinschaft)
• Candidate 3 (The extent of opposition and resistance to Nazism, 1933-39)
• Candidate 4 (Propaganda and the rise of the Nazi party, 1928-32)

Field of study 8 - South Africa: Race and Power, 1902–1984

• Candidate 1 (Dr D F Malan and the growth of Afrikaner nationalism to 1948)

Field of study 9 - Russia: from Tsarism to Stalinism, 1914–1945

• Candidate 1 (Opportunism and Stalin's rise to power)

Field of study 10 - Spain: the Civil War - Causes, Conflict and Consequences, 1923–1945

• Candidate 1 (Republican weakness and a failed coup but successful Nationalist war)

Field of study 10 - Britain: At War and Peace, 1938-51

• Candidate 1 (The Second World War as a "locomotive of social change" in Britain)
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2016 SQA Advanced Higher Modern Studies Past Papers

Sqa advanced higher modern studies paper 1 – may 2016.

SQA Advanced Higher Modern Studies Paper 1. Reference X749/77/11

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