In our last seminar I was recieved some questions on the upcoming exams. I just wanted to go over some pointers:
1) I am sure a lot of you will be relieved to hear this! It is recommended that you concentrate on a minimum of four areas from the curriculum and not more than five. The exam comes in the format of essay questions and you will choose two questions from a list of eleven or so, by concentrating on five areas of the curriculum you would probably be better equipped to answer any question you choose in depth. On another note, the essay questions you chose as part of your previous assignments should have no bearing on the exam question you happen to choose in your exam.
2) In terms of citation in the exam, it would be good to go over a good number of theories and studies as part of your revison for the exam, the key point is to apply your knowledge to the question and to demonstrate key sociological skills, as was necessary when writing your essays. To revise essay technique I recommend you visit this online tutorial (I sent this tutorial before, if you remember) and go through it again as part of your revision:
http://www.monash.edu.au/lls/llonline/writing/arts/sociology/index.xml
3) Nevertheless, don’t get too bogged down with the exact year of a study or work, as relaying relevant key theories would get you good marks. Think of it as a spectrum, the more you put in, whether it be accurate and relevant relay of information, citation of relevant studies etc., the higer grades you will achieve. Tackling exam questions are similar to tackling essay questions, however more flexibility is given in the marking of exam questions, due to the time constraints and lack of access to references.
4) The exam date is not officially set, however the provisional date for now is the 6th of May at 9:30 AM. The date could change, but consider that the date for your exams would be roughly around that time. It’s actually one of the early exams set in the provisional timetable.
5) For past exam papers, visit the student portal and put in your username and password. From the portal you can download past papers. Here’s the link (Just enter your username and password):
https://portal.gre.ac.uk/cp/home/displaylogin
I will also be handing out sample papers for our next seminar.
6) As for the workshops, I was first requested to finalize details and dates, so that a room can be booked. In our last seminar, we had some disagreement within the first group (11-12), however the second group (12-1) gave preference to a Tuesday afternoon. Would everyone be able to fit in a Tuesday to their schedule, if you can’t make it to the afternoon session, we can always set another workshop on the same day, to do go over the same topics, but run at another time (similar to how our seminars are split into two different groups e.g. 12PM - 2PM & 2PM - 4PM). If we were to have two duplicate seminars, I would prefer them to be on the same date. Either way, please send an email with your preferences, so I can then go about booking a room. However, seeing that the Modern Societies exam is early, the workshops can still be used after exams, as part of your further studies/revision for sociology.
If you have any further question, just send me an email - modernsocieties@gmail.com
Best wishes,
Basem
Overproduction, the environment and the general law of capitalist accumulation 
In the last seminar we mentioned trends that showed higher levels of religiosity in the United States, compared to Europe, yet ironically America has a stricter separation of state and religion, then say Britain. For example, Britain has an established state Church and a network of faith schools under the state sector (where some individuals may claim membership of religious organizations to access these schools for their children). In the United States, on the other hand, there is a complete separation of religion from all state functions and provisions. At first it would seem that a state sponsor of a religious tradition would result in higher levels of religiosity, but in the case of Britain and the United States the opposite is true. To understand these differing trends you might want to consider the writings of Roger Finke & Rodney Stark. In their book ‘The Churching of America, 1776-1990: Winners and Losers in Our Religious Economy’ they liken religious activity to a marketplace. What concerns them most is the market supply of religion, and in countries where religious activity is deregulated, as in the United States, and there exists a vast plurality, each religious organisation is in competition with the other — as is the case when companies outbid each other in the production and marketing of consumer commodities. 
