Taking on the EPQ
Written by Anna 31 Aug 2020
Undertaking the EPQ was a fulfilling experience for me but understandably, it is not a project for everyone. In this article I have shared a brief description of what an EPQ is, discussed the advantages and disadvantages of undertaking the EPQ and lastly gave some tips useful to anyone keen on taking on the EPQ. I hope you find this article helpful :)
INTRODUCING THE EPQ
Disclaimer!
I undertook the AQA Level 3 Extended Project Qualification and so this section of the article will primarily focus on the structure of the AQA EPQ. If your school offers EPQ under a different exam board, please feel free to read this section as there are similarities but do bear in mind that ultimately you will need to refer to the relevant resource document made available by your exam board. I have also pasted links to the EPQ specifications of various exam boards below for your reference. Please note that this introduction to the EPQ is a brief summary. You are advised to read the relevant specification document for more detail.
What is the EPQ?
The Extended Project Qualification (EPQ) is an AS-Level (half an A-Level) subject graded from A* to E. It is an optional qualification that is heavily self-directed meaning that while students each get assigned an EPQ tutor for general guidance, students are expected to be able to conduct their own research, plan and organise their own research schedule as well as complete their project with minimal outside help. The EPQ may be in the form of a 5000 word essay, an artefact with an accompanying 1000 word essay or perhaps a musical or drama composition. These options are dependent on the specification of EPQ your school* is doing.
*You may also enrol in the EPQ as a private candidate.
It may be completed individually or as a group. For the latter, I am not too familiar with how it works so if this is something you are interested in, please discuss with your EPQ tutor on this option.
The EPQ duration lasts from early February (of Lower Sixth) to early December (of Upper Sixth).
A brief note with regards to the choosing of your EPQ topic - while your EPQ topic can be freely chosen by you, it has to be “academically useful”. You can either relate your topic to your current course of study or your future career choice. As you may want to talk about your EPQ and your insights gained in your personal statement and/or your medical interview, it will be helpful if your topic is science or medicine related.
The AQA Level 3 Extended Project Qualification assesses students on the following
Completed Production Log and Assessment Record. To put it simply, the production log is where students reflect on their project during various stages of their research/product formation process. Part of this assessment evidence includes students completing a live presentation of their EPQ product to a non-specialist audience and responding at a short question and answer session related to their presentation.
Completed product (5000 words essay or artefact with accompanying 1000 words report).
There are four assessment objectives used to mark the work of a student. It can be found here on pages 8 to 12.
Specification documents of exam boards offering the EPQ
*This link directs you to a WJEC specification though this resource was uploaded on the Eduqas official website. If your school does this specification, please ask your school for the document, just to be safe.
**For the CIE specification, the project is called IPQ (International Project Qualification) instead.
ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES
SOME ADVANTAGES
Opportunity to explore your passion and expand your knowledge
You are able to choose your area of research which might be enjoyable if what interests you is not taught under the A-Level course
Develop transferable skills that may be helpful in university
Skills that you may be able to develop include, but are not limited to, the following:
Research skills - in being able to identify and find relevant sources of information and academic writings
Critical thinking skills - in being able to assess your research sources and derive conclusions
Time management skills - in being able to organise your time efficiently such that you are able to meet deadlines while balancing your academic pursuits
Presentation and communication skills - being able to break down the complexities of your research and present your product to a non-specialist audience requires good communication and presentation skills
May help you in medical school applications
Undertaking an EPQ shows universities your commitment to your passion and your drive to be able to handle an academically rigorous project alongside heavy workload associated with your A-Level courses
The EPQ can be an interesting point of elaboration or discussion in your personal statement or medical interview respectively. You can impress the admission teams of universities of the knowledge you have gained and insights made from your research process
In the event of necessity, you can drop your EPQ at any point of the process to focus on other more pressing demands
SOME DISADVANTAGES
Time-consuming and therefore requires a lot of self-discipline
The EPQ duration overlaps with mid-term tests, Lower Sixth mocks, UCAS deadlines and possibly university interviews. Balancing academic commitments with EPQ deadlines might be difficult and stressful. It requires a lot of self-discipline and passion in your project to give you the energy to push through and complete your project well while meeting deadlines
Students are encouraged to complete the bulk of their research and writing during the summer holiday months. However, medicine applicants would also need to prepare for the UCAT and/or BMAT during this period
May not necessarily help you in your medical applications
Not all medical schools are familiar with the EPQ or consider such project as value-added in terms of their admissions process
Few medical schools offer lower academic entry requirements in lieu of the student undertaking an AS-Level EPQ. One school which lowers their entry requirements would be the University of Sheffield where the grade requirement is lowered from AAA to AAB with an A in the EPQ. Considering the rigour of the A-Level course and the grade requirements for a place in a medical school, it may be wiser to focus on attaining stellar grades in your A-Level subjects rather than investing your time on an EPQ which is regarded as an AS-Level subject
Getting an A/A* for your EPQ does not replace the typical grade requirements imposed by medical schools
TIPS FOR UNDERTAKING THE EPQ
If you are keen on undertaking an EPQ, here are some tips that I have to offer.
As mentioned above, students may write an essay or create an artefact / musical / drama composition for their EPQ. As I did an essay, these tips are geared towards essay writing.
Here are 6 tips for the EPQ essay that I hope you would find useful.
Planning is important
The EPQ has a word limit of 5000 words. It is therefore important to ensure that
your scope is neither too broad nor narrow
your question is not too ambitious but sufficiently ambitious
By keeping these two points in mind, you will be able to effectively utilise all 5000 words without going over the word limit. Do note that exceeding the word limit will result in a one-point deduction.
These can be achieved through thorough planning of your EPQ essay. I suggest typing out a skeleton of your essay, inclusive of main headings and subheadings, without going into too much detail for a start. This will serve as a general outline for your essay’s targets/aims which will help to guide your research process.
I learnt a great lesson from deciding on a scope that was way too broad, resulting in having to shift my essay scope mid-way through the project. While this mistake did serve as a good point of discussion in my summary and reflection log (and reflections are important for securing a good score for your EPQ), I would have saved myself a lot more time and experienced lesser stress had I kept the above two points in mind.
BONUS TIP: Once you’ve planned out the skeletal essay structure, use it to organise your research schedule in the form of a Gantt chart. Your assigned EPQ tutor would introduce you to that. If not, google is your best friend.
While planning is important, flexibility is also equally important
Earlier I discussed the importance of typing out a general outline of your essay plan. The keywords here are “general” and “outline”. Planning is merely one part of the process. The actual writing is where the bulk of most of your efforts should be steered towards. It is important to focus on the big picture (ie, the skeletal structure) rather than the minute details at the planning stage. When you embark on your research journey, you’ll find that part of the joy in researching is in its non-linear aspect. Our insights and perceptions are constantly being shifted by new research findings we come across. It is therefore important to be open to new perspectives and be willing to adjust or make changes to your essay outline. While making such changes after devoting time to research is not always fun, I believe that doing so will help to make your essay more holistic and refined.
Research and write at the same time
Some teachers recommend researching before writing but from my personal experience, I find it helpful and efficient to research and write concurrently. If one were to focus too much on researching from the get-go, there is a possibility of devoting too much time researching and leaving too little time to organise and structure the essay. You may also find yourself doing too much research in one area and insufficient research in another without realising it until it is too late. There is also a possibility of you forgetting what you have initially researched when beginning your writing process. Writing while researching helps you to analyse and process the research data with more focus. I personally find it very useful in aiding my understanding of my research. In doing so, writing production logs, journal logs and reflection logs becomes much easier.
Cite as you write and keep a list of the sources that you have referred to
Citing (crediting your reference made in your essay to the original source) is a key and critical component of your EPQ essay. More importantly, it ensures that you do not plagiarise anyone’s work. Your essay will be checked for plagiarism - any percentage below 10% is generally considered safe - you may ask your school to conduct a plagiarism check on your behalf. Please aim to avoid plagiarism as it is a very severe offence to do so. Whether it is done by accident or otherwise, it will have the same consequences when discovered. Keeping a list of sources used will be helpful when putting together your bibliography and evaluating your sources.
A general list of details to record down are the source type, source title, volume number if any, author(s), chapter number(s), page number(s). This list is not exhaustive and it is best to check with your EPQ tutor on the most appropriate form of citation.
Choose your resources carefully and consistently evaluate your research sources
Bearing in mind the limited time span of the EPQ and considering your other academic obligations, it is helpful to have an efficient research process. Evaluation of sources is a component of your essay/production log. By evaluation, I mean determining the relevance of your resource to your research paper. You would also have to consider the source type and the biases associated with it. By choosing your sources carefully (while keeping an open mind to “unexpected” sources), you will be able to have a smoother writing process. Consistently evaluating your sources will help you understand the value of your sources as well as guide and refine your source-searching process.
Be realistic and wise when planning your time
Set yourself a goal for the day/week but make sure it’s not too challenging; you will not want to undermine your confidence as a result of not meeting the timeline. As long as you plan and do everything in moderation, you should be fine and you would not be too stressed out when your EPQ final deadline is approaching.
With regards to the actual planning of your research schedule, it would be helpful to chart carefully the EPQ deadlines, university application deadlines, medical application test deadlines and general tests/exam dates. Once you have done that, you can determine your availability in certain months and allocate the bulk of your research and writing to those periods that are less demanding in terms of other more critical deadlines.
I hope you have found this article useful. If you choose to undertake an EPQ, I wish the best of luck to you!
Special thanks to Lia for contributing to this article :)