One Exam Down, One More to Go!

With one A level Media exam completed and just one more to go, many of my own students are now focusing on a question that often stumps them (and occasionally, me too): how do you evaluate media theories and theorists?

It's not enough to simply explain what a theorist says. Examiners want to see that you can discuss strengths, weaknesses, relevance and limitations, applying ideas to the set texts you have studied.

That's exactly why I've added support materials in The Common Room - the dedicated space for Media Studies students. One of the most useful resources focuses specifically on evaluating media theories. It includes questions to ask about a theory as well as an example response.

In essence, you need to:

• show your knowledge and understanding of the theory

• back up your claims with specific and detailed evidence from the set texts

• analyse the evidence and its significance

• challenge the theory - what are its limitations?

• make a judgement about how useful the theory is overall for the media product, audience or industry

Evaluation isn't about proving a theorist is right or wrong. It's about showing how useful their ideas are when applied to real media products, audiences and industries. The strongest answers recognise that most theories have both strengths and limitations and that context also plays an important role.

If you've ever wondered how to move beyond description and into analysis, this will help you understand what strong evaluation looks like and how to write it confidently under exam conditions.

A simple structure to remember for your overall response is:

Know → Evidence → Analyse → Challenge → Judge

If you can do all five throughout your response, you're already moving beyond description and into the higher-level evaluation that examiners are looking for.

You may be wondering where What–How–Why–Link comes into all of this. Think of Know–Evidence–Analyse–Challenge–Judge as the destination. What–How–Why–Link is the route you take to get there. By applying both, you're demonstrating the analytical and evaluative skills that examiners are looking for.

Good luck with your revision and the final exam. Keep going - you’re nearly there!