Extract taken from Dr Melanie Taylor, Fellow and Admissions Tutor at Cambridge University;

Politics, Psychology and Sociology essays:

This was the first year in which we organised an essay competition in Politics, Psychology and Sociology, and we were delighted to receive a large number of excellent entries. 61 students’ submitted essays and standards were very high. The most popular title was the question that asked whether democracy was a universal value, although the question on whether an unequal society was necessarily unjust came a close second in terms of its popularity. The best essays set out a clear argument that related directly to the title at the outset, before developing this with reference to a range of different sources that had been carefully examined. It was evident that many students were drawing on work that they had completed for their A level courses, and, while this is certainly a good starting point, the best essays tended to go beyond this and showed evidence of independent study and analysis. It was particularly encouraging to see a good number of essays from students with no previous experience of the three core subjects.