Case Study Method
9607 is a case-study subject. You answer exam questions from institutions and texts you know in depth, not from general knowledge. The method governs Component 2 Section B, both Component 4 sections, and shapes the portfolios.
The syllabus definition
“Throughout the course candidates are expected to study a wide range of linked texts, referred to as case studies. These will be used to support their responses in the examinations, and might influence their production work as well. Case studies should feature a majority of contemporary texts, although any text may be used to give historical context. The term contemporary is used to mean a text which was first published no more than approximately five years before the examination year.” (Syllabus 2027 p.13)
The five-year rule is exact. “Contemporary” does not mean “recent” or “within a decade.” For a June 2027 AS entry, most of your case-study texts should date from roughly 2022 onward. You may use historical texts freely, but as context, not as the bulk.
Two different five-year clocks apply. Case studies date from the examination year. For teaching extracts used in Section A TV-drama work, the guidance is to select extracts within five years of when your cohort is taught, from different organisations and a mix of genres; extracts used in past exams may also be reused for practice.
How many
| Requirement | Number | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Media areas studied (AS) | at least one | Syllabus pp.9, 17 |
| Case studies referenced in C2 Section B | at least one | Syllabus p.23 |
| Case study known for C2 Section B teaching | ”at least one case study which is known in depth” | SoW p.14 |
| Media forms per C4 Section A debate answer | one or more | Syllabus p.26 |
| Media forms in the C4 Section B answer | at least two | Syllabus p.26 |
| A Level debate topics studied | at least two of three | Syllabus pp.9, 18 |
Each of these is a floor, not a target. “At least one media area” is a minimum, and the syllabus separately requires studying “a range of media forms and media platforms” across the course (p.13).
⚠ “Media area” is not “media form”
These two categories are easy to confuse:
- Media areas (Syllabus p.17) — Film · Music · Print · Radio and podcasts · Video games. These are industry study areas for the AS contexts work. At least one required.
- Media forms (Syllabus p.13) — time-based audio-visual media (film, TV, radio) · print (newspapers, magazines, advertising) · video games. A three-way categorization of medium, with the note “There is overlap between these media forms.”
Music is a media area but not a media form. So studying one media area does not by itself satisfy Component 4 Section B’s “at least two media forms” requirement: the Section B answer must span two forms, whatever your Grade 11 case study covered.
The five media areas (Syllabus p.17)
Each carries its own required accompaniment:
- Film — specific studios or production companies: production, distribution, exhibition, consumption; “accompanied by a study of contemporary film distribution practices (digital cinemas, DVD, 3D, downloads and streaming, etc.)”
- Music — particular record labels and independent producers; “accompanied by study of wider issues around digital distribution of music”
- Print — contemporary newspaper and/or magazine publishing; how print “is adapting to challenges… as a result of technological changes”
- Radio and podcasts — production, distribution, audience consumption; “accompanied by a study of the impact of DAB and internet broadcasting… and the development of podcasting as a form”
- Video games — a specific game across platforms plus its reception; “accompanied by a study of the impact of next generation capabilities”
This list is a set of suggestions (“The case study could include,” SoW p.14), not a closed list. The syllabus is the authority on what is permitted.
Depth: what “known in depth” means
Cambridge never defines it directly. A working checklist is the six things a candidate must be able to demonstrate whichever area they choose (SoW pp.14–15):
- the influence and issues of media ownership
- convergence and synergy in production, distribution, marketing and consumption
- the significance of particular technologies in production, distribution, marketing and consumption
- how these technologies have changed and how they might change in future
- local and global audiences and the differences in media consumption
- their own media consumption and production practices
If a case study can answer all six, it is deep enough. A newer version of the guidance organises the same substance as a circuit — ownership/funding → production practices → distribution → marketing → audience consumption — with the focus on “the interrelationship between production decisions and consumption decisions.”
Choose for the afterlife
A key rule from Cambridge: “Note also that the work for Component 2 lays the foundations for Component 4 – particularly the Media Ecology element” (SoW p.17). Media ecology is synoptic and recycles earlier work: “Examples from other components can and should, be drawn upon” (SoW p.26).
So your Grade 11 case study is chosen twice — once for Paper 2 Section B, and once for Paper 4 Section B eighteen months later. Pick an institution that can grow across two or more media forms, or the synoptic essay starts from scratch.
The institution studied in L12 should be chosen with the G12 media-ecology essay in view, not only for Paper 2.