Here at LAE Stratford, we firmly believe in the value of developing research skills and high levels of academic literacy from the word go. All of our Year 12s undertake a Mini Project Qualification (MPQ) when they start, and in this blog, Gloria Toko speaks about her experience of the programme.

An MPQ is a Mini Project Qualification which prepares you for an EPQ. This consists of choosing an academic question that is debatable, but must be quite specific as your response has to be within 1000 words. I wrote my MPQ on the Great Depression because I was curious about how the UK functioned during one of the biggest recessions in its history. As we are going through this pandemic where many people have lost their jobs, I was inspired to write about unemployment in the 1930s. Writing this MPQ taught me how important project planning is because it structures your paragraphs and makes sure your points are linked together throughout your essay. In addition, in-depth research is very important because it helps you find out more about the topic and build up your response to be fully credible. The best part of this experience was probably researching in a way that I never had before – a way that really gave a taste of university.