EPQ questions

[minionwithdms]

I'm coming to the end of my A Levels this year. Last year I did an Extended Project Qualification (EPQ), and am happy to answer any kind of questions about it from a student's perspective, if anyone or their child is thinking about doing one.

DD is thinking of doing a medical topic. Do you have any experience of this?

Mine was a literature-based project, but the majority of people in my year did medical ones. From my perspective, everyone who picked topics that really interested them coped well with the heavy research that seemed to be involved with lots of medical, dentistry or veterinary science EPQs.

My friend who went on to apply for medicine included it in her personal statement and interviews as a way of showing her passion and interest beyond the A Level curriculum. She also thought it was useful evidence that she had essay writing skills, despite taking all science/maths subjects.

How long did you spend researching before you started the write up and how did you structure the essay, e.g. in sections or as one long essay?

I did some reading around the subject a month or so before I got started, just to get an idea of where to focus. The research for my project was almost entirely done through contacting authors and an online survey, which I closed after two weeks. The main bulk of the work for me came from having to analyse all the responses to my survey in detail, which took me nearly a week - it was much more tricky than I expected.

My essay was written in sections - first my research methods and an overview of my topic, then the analysis of the survey results, which was split for each survey question. I had a very long appendix with more details at the end in order to fit the word count, though.

Many thanks for the information. How was it marked?

No problem Throughout the whole process you and your project supervisor fill in a 'Production/Activity Log', which is where you describe in detail how your project has developed, any difficulties, changes made etc. A lot of marks are awarded based on what you write in the log, and not just the final essay. Once everything's completed, the supervisor gives you a mark, and sends the project and log to the exam board for moderation.

It might be slightly different for different exam boards, but that's my experience of it.

What did you find was the hardest part of the project? And how did you go about picking a title?

I would say that I struggled most with time management. I've always left everything to the last minute and seem to find it easier to work under a lot of pressure (3000 word essays done the night before deadline spring to mind!) However, the project was on a completely different level. I really underestimated the amount of work needed to actually sort through all my research and shape it into something understandable. Writing the long essay was actually fairly easy in comparison.

You're also required to do a presentation of your project to an audience, which I found quite daunting as I'm not used to public speaking. Despite much angst, it turned out fine on the day though.

I considered a huge variety of subjects and titles, but ended up picking one that explores a niche genre of literature that I already knew a lot of general detail about. At the time, I was wavering between applying for two different subjects in university. I made sure my title was related to both subjects, so I would have a little leeway in talking about my project in my personal statement or interview.

Just bumping this thread although I realise OP probably isn't around. Ds decided a week ago to do an EPQ and has missed some of the introductory sessions at school. Does anyone know what referencing system they are supposed to use and whether there is an official guide to it? It could be Harvard, but I wondered whether it might be a modified version??? Any links to explain formats and structure gratefully received. I realise I don't even know what exam board it is, does that matter?