How to get an A* in your EPQ

Summary

This video offers essential tips to achieve an A* in the Extended Project Qualification (EPQ). The speaker emphasizes the importance of source variety, critical analysis, and effective project planning over merely focusing on essay quality. Key advice includes utilizing both primary and secondary research, documenting every step in a project planning book, and using tools like Gantt charts to showcase time management skills. The speaker also encourages choosing a topic of personal interest for sustained engagement and advises dentistry applicants on reputable sources and ideas for EPQ topics.

Takeaways

• 📚 Ensure a variety of sources in your EPQ, including books, journals, websites, blogs, and more, to demonstrate critical analysis and source selection.
• 🔍 Use the citations and references in your sources to find additional material and expand your research base.
• 📝 Include both primary and secondary data in your research, such as interviews, questionnaires, books, and articles.
• ✍️ Focus less on perfecting the essay initially and more on planning, analyzing data, gathering sources, and evaluation.
• 📊 Project planning and time management are key: track your progress and use tools like Gantt charts to provide evidence of your organizational skills.
• 🗂 Write everything in your project planning book to ensure you document problem-solving, skill development, and project adjustments.
• ⏳ Keep a record of your time management, showcasing how you completed different stages of the project.
• 📈 A strong EPQ is not just about the final essay, but the entire process, including planning, evaluation, and how you manage the project.
• 🎯 Pick a topic you are genuinely interested in to stay motivated and engaged throughout the lengthy EPQ process.
• 🔄 Be open to refining your title as you progress through your research, as this development will earn you marks and help fine-tune your focus.

Q & A

What is the first tip the speaker gives for achieving a high grade in the EPQ?

The speaker advises having a variety of sources, such as books, journals, websites, and blogs, to demonstrate critical analysis and good source selection. A wider range of sources improves the quality of your analysis and shows that you've put effort into finding good materials.

Why does the speaker emphasize the importance of source variety in an EPQ?

Source variety is important because examiners want to see that you have explored different types of information and critically analyzed them. Relying too much on one type of source, like only websites or only books, may result in lower marks.

What does the speaker suggest doing with citations in sources?

The speaker suggests following the citations in your sources to find additional materials. This can help you expand your range of sources and discover valuable information to enhance your project.

How does the speaker differentiate between primary and secondary research?

Primary research involves collecting your own data through methods like interviews or questionnaires, while secondary research relies on pre-existing materials, such as books, articles, or videos.

What is the speaker’s advice regarding the essay portion of the EPQ?

The speaker advises not to stress too much about perfecting the essay at the start. Instead, focus on aspects like data analysis, source gathering, evaluation, and project planning, as these areas contribute significantly to the overall mark.

According to the speaker, what is more important than the essay itself in the EPQ?

The project planning, data analysis, and source evaluation are more important than the essay. The EPQ is about the entire project process, not just the final essay.

Why is the project planning book crucial in the EPQ?

The project planning book is essential because it allows you to document every step of your EPQ journey. This helps to demonstrate a range of skills like problem-solving, time management, and organization, all of which are important for a high grade.

What is the significance of keeping track of progress in the EPQ?

Tracking your progress helps demonstrate good time management and organizational skills. This can be shown through tools like a Gantt chart, which gives examiners evidence of how you planned and managed your project over time.

Why does the speaker recommend using a Gantt chart for the EPQ?

A Gantt chart helps you manage your time effectively and provides tangible evidence to examiners of your project management skills, such as time management and planning, which are important for achieving top marks.

What is the final piece of advice the speaker gives about choosing a topic for the EPQ?

The speaker advises choosing a topic that genuinely interests you, rather than one that you think will impress a university. If you're not passionate about the topic, the lengthy and tedious process of completing the EPQ will become difficult.

Outlines

00:00

📚 Tips for Smashing Your EPQ

The speaker begins by addressing the difficulty of starting an EPQ and offers advice on how to achieve an A-star grade. They emphasize the importance of using a variety of sources, including books, journals, websites, and blogs, to create a solid foundation for the EPQ. The speaker suggests looking at the citations of sources to find additional material and recommends a mix of primary and secondary research data. They advise against focusing solely on the essay and instead highlight the significance of project planning, data analysis, and source evaluation. The speaker also stresses the importance of documenting every step of the EPQ process in a planning book to demonstrate a range of skills to the examiners.

05:01

🔍 Choosing the Right EPQ Topic

In the second paragraph, the speaker advises on selecting an EPQ topic that one is passionate about, as this will make the research process more enjoyable and less tedious. They suggest starting with a general interest and refining the title as research progresses. The speaker also provides tips for developing the EPQ idea and title over time, reflecting the acquisition of new knowledge. They recommend using reputable sources for dental-related EPQs and offer a list of websites for the latest research and news. The speaker concludes by encouraging viewers to pick topics they genuinely enjoy and provides additional resources for A-levels and dental applications.

Keywords

💡EPQ

EPQ stands for Extended Project Qualification, a research-based qualification that students undertake in addition to their A-levels. It involves selecting a topic of interest, conducting research, and writing an extended essay or producing a project. The video focuses on how to achieve top marks in this qualification by balancing essay writing with strong project planning and research skills.

💡Sources

The term 'sources' refers to the materials and references used in the EPQ to support arguments and research. The speaker emphasizes the importance of using a variety of sources, such as books, journals, websites, and blogs, to ensure a comprehensive analysis. The critical evaluation of sources is key to achieving high marks, and relying solely on one type of source (e.g., just websites) can lead to lower grades.

💡Critical Analysis

Critical analysis involves evaluating and interpreting information from different sources to form a well-rounded argument. The speaker stresses the need for students to critically assess the reliability and relevance of their sources to demonstrate higher-level thinking, which is essential for scoring well in the EPQ.

💡Project Planning

Project planning refers to the process of organizing and scheduling the different stages of the EPQ. The video highlights that a large portion of the marks come from the student's ability to plan, organize, and track their progress throughout the project. Using tools like a Gantt chart to visualize and manage time is recommended to show effective planning and time management.

💡Primary and Secondary Research

Primary research involves collecting original data, such as through interviews or surveys, while secondary research refers to analyzing existing data from books, articles, or videos. The speaker advises students to use a mix of both types of research in their EPQs to strengthen their analysis and demonstrate a comprehensive approach to the topic.

💡Gantt Chart

A Gantt chart is a visual project management tool used to plan and schedule tasks over time. In the context of the EPQ, the speaker suggests using a Gantt chart to track progress and time management, showing evidence of planning and organizational skills, which are important elements of the assessment criteria.

💡Project Logbook

The project logbook is a document where students record their thoughts, progress, and changes throughout the EPQ. The speaker emphasizes the importance of noting every change or development in the project logbook, as this provides evidence of the student’s ability to reflect, plan, and problem-solve, which are critical skills being assessed.

💡Title Development

Title development refers to the process of refining the EPQ’s research question or topic over time. The speaker explains that as students gather more information and refine their understanding, their project title should evolve to reflect deeper insights into the subject. This evolution is not only expected but can also earn marks in the EPQ.

💡Dentistry EPQs

For students interested in dentistry, the speaker provides specific advice on how to approach dentistry-related EPQs. He suggests using reputable sources such as the British Dental Journal and PubMed, and emphasizes choosing a topic that genuinely interests the student rather than one that seems impressive to universities.

💡Evaluation

Evaluation in the EPQ context refers to assessing the strengths and weaknesses of the research process and findings. The speaker notes that examiners are looking for students to reflect on their project planning, research methods, and how they have improved their skills, such as time management, during the EPQ. Writing a thorough evaluation is key to achieving higher marks.

Highlights

Tips for achieving an A-star in your EPQs

The importance of source selection and variety

Critically analyzing and evaluating sources

Utilizing a wide range of sources like books, journals, websites, and blogs

The significance of primary and secondary research data

The value of looking at citations for additional sources

Forgetting about the essay to focus on project planning

The misconception that the essay is the main focus of the EPQ

The importance of planning and project management in the EPQ

Writing everything in the planning book for evidence of skills

Keeping track of progress and time management

Using a Gantt chart for project scheduling and evidence

Picking a topic you like for the EPQ

Developing and changing your title throughout the EPQ

Dentistry-specific EPQ tips and reputable sources

Importance of choosing a topic that genuinely interests you

Ideas for dentistry-based EPQs

Encouragement to like and subscribe for more information

Transcripts

hey guys today i'm going to fill you in

and tell you how you can absolutely

smash your evq and get a star like i did

so i know how hard the epq can be that

pressure of writing that first word on

that first page of your essay and

because of that i'm going to give you my

best tips to get you an a-star in your

epqs and explain why the s8 isn't as

important as you might think and if you

want to find out why make sure you keep

watching and drop a sub while you're

waiting as well and for all you

dentistry applicants don't worry this is

going to be a general video on the ebq

but i will be mentioning some things

about dentistry related dvq's so stick

around okay so my first and easiest tip

is probably to make sure you have a

variety of sources you have to remember

that your examiners are checking for

some source selection so make sure you

have variety

how you critically analyze the sources

and how you evaluate them this means

that you need to look at a massive range

of sources such as books

journals websites blogs etc there are so

many sources you can use to form the

basis of your epq

and you just need to put a bit of effort

to find it the greater your range the

better your analysis will be and the

better your source selection will be

also it'll show examine some evidence

that you've actually tried to find good

source material and that you're

critically analyzing each one if the

examiner sees that half of your sources

are just websites so half of them are

just books they're probably going to

mark you down and say that you haven't

really thought outside of the box when

it comes to trying to find information

also depending on what type of epq you

have you'll be able to use different

types of sources but to be honest the

best thing for you to do is to have a

blended approach and try and include as

much as possible one little tip that i

have is to look at the citations of your

sources so you are basically finding the

sources of your sources so a lot of

websites or articles or books will

mention where they got the basis of

their information from

you might see in the bibliography they

usually will have a reference list and

you'll know if they're referencing if

there's like those little numbers in

brackets

in the text you can follow those and

find out where the source material is

from and then use that as an extra

source so that's a little top tip that i

have and it actually helps a lot in your

developing your idea

and the more sources you have the better

even though you won't pick all of them

it's good to have a larger range because

it gives you more choice and the last

thing i probably recommend is to make

sure that you have a mix of primary and

secondary research data so if you have

primary sources of information it means

that you've collected the data yourself

certain things such as

interviews or questionnaires and

secondary data is more related to things

that have already been produced so

reading books have already been

published or reading articles papers etc

you can also watch videos as a form of

secondary research as well now my next

tip is probably my favorite one and that

is to forget about your essay and by

this i mean stop stressing about the

essay and just start writing

don't try and perfect it from the get-go

this is because you need to be way more

worried about the boring bits of the ebq

things like analyzing data source

gathering

evaluation and project planning if you

actually look at the marketing for your

ebq you realize that most of the marks

don't come from the essay they come from

your planning and i know this is a bit

crazy and everyone's probably thinking

that's not true and the whole point of

the epq is to write an amazing essay

that represents like your research and

findings but trust me when i tell you

that's just not true you need to look at

the specification

actually scrap that i know none of you

can be bothered to go search up so i'll

just put it on the screen here

now obviously this isn't the

specification for everyone this is the

aqa specification but all of the epqs

follow a similar type of marketing

scheme and i want you to look here how

many times it refers to planning

analyzing sources and how many times it

actually refers to the quality of the

essay now of course you still need to

write a good essay and have good

punctuation grammar etc but if you look

at the epq it's kind of in the name what

they're looking for

it's called the extended project

qualification they're looking at the

entire project as a whole

and how it allows you to reach the essay

stage rather than the essay itself so

you need to make sure that everything

that supplements your essay

is tip top and absolutely brilliant

because that's how you're going to get

your a start people spend way too long

trying to perfect their essay and not

enough time on the project planning and

doing all the boring stuff so now you

must be thinking

how can i get that a star if it's not

just purely based on the quality of the

essay and that leads on to my next step

which is to make sure that you write

absolutely

everything in your planning book so when

you start the apk you'll be given this

really boring rubbish booklet that you

look at you're like i'm never ever going

to write anything in that and your tutor

will tell you you need to write your

title and what's inspired you et cetera

et cetera and if you're like me

i thought it was an absolute waste of

time but trust me it is so important you

have to remember that the epu is

assessing your ability to analyze

problem solve design and apply a load of

skills to achieve your objectives and

because there's such a broad range of

skills that the examiners are looking

for you need to make sure you have

evidence for every type of skill and you

can only do this by writing everything

down in your project planning book so

anytime you do anything that will result

in a change or development of your epq

or ideas

make sure you write it down in the

project planning book this will save you

so much time because what will usually

happen is you'll get to the last week of

the epq and realize how important the

project planning part is and you'll have

to just cram a load of information in

there which isn't very accurate so just

do as you go along and you'll just save

yourself so much time and kind of

building off of this idea of noting

everything down you should also

always keep track of your progress by

this i mean be highly aware of how you

manage your time and how you complete

the different stages of the epq so

within your project planning book

there's different stages that you have

to get to throughout the epq and what

you're kind of meant to do is write down

the dates where you finish each of the

tasks this allows you to keep track and

show evidence of time management and

organizational skills they can take this

idea of planning and being organized one

step further and present all this

information in a graph format one thing

that i really recommend is to use a

gantt chart these charts help you

visualize your project schedule and have

a dual purpose

one it helps you dictate how you manage

your own time and two by noting down

everything that you've done and

presenting in a chart it gives evidence

to the examiner for example let's say in

your evaluation which is part of the epq

you say that as a result of the project

you've gained amazing time management

skills an average candidate might just

mention a basic to-do list that they did

and not really go into much detail as to

how they develop the skills and a star

candidate however will have something

that's actually tangible

and something that the examiners can

look at to show evidence of these skills

such as a gantt chart and this concept

should be applied to all aspects of the

ebq

write everything down in your project

book and my final tip is to make sure

that you just pick a topic that you like

don't pick a talk because you think it's

going to impress the university that you

apply to pick a topic because you

actually want to find out more about it

of course if you're passionate about

something that relates directly to the

course then by all means go ahead and do

it because it will make it easier for

you to make links in your interview or

personal statement but you need to

remember there's no point picking a

topic unless you enjoy or else you'll

get bored very quickly the epq is really

long and tedious remember

5 000 words is quite a bit and that's

not even including the planning and

source gathering that in itself is going

to take you so many hours

so when it comes to trying to pick a

topic make sure you write down a few

things that you're interested in then

try and generate some makeshift titles

for example i'm a dental student i like

teeth so i can pick a title like how do

fizzy drinks affect the teeth and once

i've got this basic title or just an

idea i then look online look at

different websites see if there's some

good source material for me to base my

topic off of you shouldn't be stressing

too much at the start about the title

because

you will definitely change your title

throughout the epq the main thing you

want to establish is the general topic

that you'd like to cover and then you'll

be able to hone it down once you do your

research and you progress through the

epq and building upon this concept

actually leads to another mini tip which

is to make sure that you develop your

idea your title should develop and

change throughout your epq

to reflect you gaining more knowledge

and refining the details of your project

so for example when i did my epq i

started off with the title how has

dentistry changed over the last hundred

years then i realized 100 years is quite

a long time and eventually changed it to

how has dentistry changed over the last

10 years and then as i did more research

i found some really interesting topics

and found something called cad cam

dentistry i went from having a really

general idea and title

something a bit more specific that i

found really interesting and that's why

i suppose to know that you're not going

to have the perfect title from the

get-go it will only happen over

time but developing your topic and

altering a title is very important and

it's actually something that will gain

you marks in the epq again if you don't

believe me here's the mark scheme right

here so literally just changing your

title will get you some marks so just

change your title and for all those

patiently waiting for some dentistry pq

ideas and tips don't worry i haven't

forgotten about you at all so for a

dentistry-based epq i'd say definitely

follow all the tips i've mentioned

before but on top of all the tips i just

mentioned

make sure that if you're going to be

doing something based on dentistry you

use very good reputable sources you can

get the latest research and news from

websites such as the british dental

journal google scholar pubmed

dentistry.co at uk

and a load more i'll leave some down in

the description below for you to check

out and if you're struggling for ideas

for dentistry i particularly recommend

dentistry.cod at uk that's because they

have so many news articles so much

information that you can look at that

will give you a load of ideas for you to

pick out a topic that you think you

would enjoy again do not pick a topic

because you think it'll impress the

interviewer pick a topic if you actually

enjoy it and if you're still a bit stuck

i'll pop up some ideas on the screen

here somewhere you can look at all these

ideas and research them more and see if

you want to develop them or want to go

down another route in density and if you

guys want any more information on a

levels or the dental application make

sure you click here for the a-level

stuff and make sure you click here for

anything to do with the dental

application and if you learned something

please make sure you do like and

subscribe and if you want comment down

below your epq ideas i'll let you know

if they're any good