OxfordAQA International GCSE Sociology Tutors Online

OxfordAQA International GCSE Sociology is specification 9292. This page works from version 1.0 of the specification, which covers International GCSE exams from May/June 2028 onwards.

That date is the most important fact on this page for a family planning now. This is the newest specification in the OxfordAQA suite, so there are no past papers for it yet and the first cohort is still ahead.

The qualification has two papers. Paper 1 is Introducing Sociology and Paper 2 is Exploring Sociology.

Both are exams of 1 hour 30 minutes carrying 60 marks, and each is 50 per cent of the qualification. Every scaling factor is 1, so raw and scaled marks are the same and the total scaled mark is 120.

Both papers have the same three section structure, and the marks are identical on each.

Section A is worth 22 marks and contains short and extended response questions. On Paper 1 it examines Families. On Paper 2 it examines Differences and Inequalities.

Section B is worth 22 marks and contains short and extended response questions. On Paper 1 it examines Education. On Paper 2 it examines Socialisation and Social Control.

Section C is worth 16 marks and examines Research methods on both papers. This is the only content that appears on both, and it is worth understanding the difference between the two versions of it.

On Paper 1, Section C contains short questions and a structured question based on data about an unseen issue of global sociological significance.

On Paper 2, Section C contains short questions and short and extended response questions.

So the Paper 1 version is the one that hands a student data about a global issue they have never seen and asks them to work with it. That is a skill, not a topic, and it is the single hardest thing to prepare for by reading alone.

The three assessment objectives are worth taking in order, because the weighting is not what most students expect.

AO1 is demonstrating knowledge and understanding of sociological theories, concepts and evidence.

AO2 is interpreting sociological evidence and data, and applying sociological theories, concepts, evidence and research methods to a range of issues.

AO3 is analysing and evaluating sociological theories, concepts, evidence and research methods in order to present arguments, make judgements and draw conclusions.

The overall weighting is AO1 at 46 per cent, AO2 at 21 per cent and AO3 at 33 per cent.

So knowledge and understanding is the largest single objective, worth more than analysis and evaluation. That is unusual at this level, where evaluation is often the heaviest objective, and it changes how a student should revise.

The two papers do not weight the objectives identically, which is a second thing worth knowing.

On Paper 1 the weighting is AO1 at 22 per cent, AO2 at 13 per cent and AO3 at 15 per cent.

On Paper 2 the weighting is AO1 at 24 per cent, AO2 at 8 per cent and AO3 at 18 per cent.

So Paper 1 carries nearly twice as much AO2 as Paper 2, and Paper 2 carries more AO1 and more AO3. The reason is visible in the content: Paper 1 includes research methods, which is where interpreting evidence and data lives.

The subject content runs across five areas. Paper 1 covers Families, Education and Research methods. Paper 2 covers Differences and inequalities, and Socialisation and social control.

Families covers families marriage and kinship, with the types of family named as extended families including vertically and horizontally extended, nuclear families, and single parent families.

It also covers alternatives to families, which the specification lists as communes, living alone, foster care and children's homes, and Therborn's types of family system.

The perspectives section covers Functionalism, including the functions of the family and how the nuclear family fits modern industrial society.

The social change section covers demographic changes including family size, birth and death rates, and infant and child mortality. The gender and age section covers traditional roles of the male and female in families and the female expressive role.

Education covers formal and informal education, and perspectives including Functionalism, with role allocation, shared values, developing human capital and schools as a socialising agent.

It covers relationships and school ethos and curricula, including ethnocentrism, vocational education and unequal access. It covers the issues in measuring attainment, naming examinations and IQ tests.

And it covers global education, including literacy rates with global rates and comparisons between countries.

Research methods covers approaches to quantitative and qualitative evidence and data, and the main research methods including surveys and questionnaires such as postal and telephone surveys, online surveys and self completion.

It covers issues in research including the operationalisation of concepts, and the interpretation of data from quantitative sources including tables, charts and graphs.

Differences and inequalities covers how sociologists classify groups of people by social class, status, caste, slavery and sex, and inequalities in power and in life chances across employment, education, health and life expectancy.

It then covers the perspectives by name: Marxism, with social classes and class conflict, exploitation and false consciousness; feminist views of patriarchy; and the differences between race and ethnicity. It also covers attempts to reduce inequality, including the Marxist view of the abolition of capitalism.

Socialisation and social control covers culture, with norms and values, roles, status, stereotypes and subcultures including ethnic groups.

It covers primary and secondary socialisation, re-socialisation and inadequate socialisation, and formal and informal social control.

There is a distinctive international requirement running through the whole specification. Because of its international nature, a key focus is how the themes and issues apply in different societies around the world.

The specification states that students will be required to use examples from their own society, or a society they know about, in their answers to selected extended response questions in the exam.

That is a real requirement with a real consequence. A student who has learned the theories but cannot illustrate them with concrete institutions, policies or statistics from a specific country will lose marks that no amount of theory can recover. Building a bank of national examples early is not optional polish, it is core preparation.

The combination of that requirement with the Paper 1 Section C unseen global data question is what makes this specification genuinely international rather than merely internationally available.

The grading scale is the nine point one. The qualification is graded 1 to 9, where 9 is the best grade, and a student who does not reach the minimum standard for grade 1 is recorded as U and does not receive a certificate.

Exams are available in May/June and in November.

Resits are whole qualification only, because this is a traditional linear specification and individual components cannot be re-sat.

There are no previous learning requirements, and any requirement for entry to a course based on the specification is at the discretion of the school.

The specification overlaps with AQA GCSE Sociology 8192.

A practical note for a school starting this course early. Because the first examination is in 2028, a cohort beginning in 2026 has two full years with no live past papers to work from, so the specimen materials and the specification's own wording carry more weight than usual in shaping exam technique.