Study Skills

Course summary

The Extended Project Qualification (EPQ) is designed to teach you how to plan, research and deliver a project. The project normally takes the form of an essay (of between 4-5,000 words) though it can also be a creative piece (such as a short play or short story), an artefact (such as a model) or a presentation (such as a portfolio of photographs or a performance). At MPW, the essay is the option we pursue. In principle, you can choose to research anything you like. As an indication of the range of possibilities, titles have included “What are numbers?”, “What was the cause of the Rwandan genocide?”, “Why do people join cults?” and “How does early Victorian literature portray female insanity and how accurate is the representation of ‘mad women’?” This said it is important to grasp that the EPQ is not an extended essay by another name. The focus is the delivery of and development of research skills. You will have lessons on how to draw up a plan, how to structure a timeline for research, how and where to look for resources, how to organise your ideas into a thesis and how to deliver a presentation. You will have to detail your progress as you go in the form of the EPQ production log. You will be required to spell out your research plans and later reflect upon them, along with the challenges you faced and the skills you have developed as an independent researcher. The majority of the marks reflect the quality of the log. Whereas in your other subjects you are taught the content of what you need to know, the distinctive and valuable feature of the EPQ is that you research and develop your project largely by yourself. You will have a supervisor with whom you can discuss ideas, who will teach you research skills and who will provide advice on the structure and form of the essay. The EPQ is a special Level 3 qualification that is neither an A level nor an AS level. It is worth 50% of an A level in terms of UCAS points.