Exam and revision advice to help you get your target grades in A-level Sociology
When you're revising for your A-level exams, you want to make the most of your study time.
So, we invited the experts at the AQA exam board to share their tips and advice on preparing for A-level Sociology exams.
The article that follows has been written by an AQA curriculum expert, based on their years of experience in the assessment of their subject.
You can find more articles in this series, covering a range of subjects at both GCSE and A-level, over on our revision section.
Also on The Student Room, you can find student discussion of 2024 A-level exams.
Do…
1. Do make sure you maximise your marks for the 4 and 6-mark questions
In each case there’s a +1 for clearly outlining your two or three reasons or ways or whatever you’re asked for in the question.
So, after you’ve identified your reason or way, add in some additional detail using phrases like:
- This means that…
- An example of this is…
- A study which illustrates this is...
- Therefore...
- A key concept here is…
And always link to the specific question. For example, for the question below, you need to clearly outline how the material factors you identify affect educational achievement.
| Outline two material factors that may affect social class differences in educational achievement. [4 marks] |
2. Do make sure you know the differences between the two different types of 10-mark questions
For example, for the ‘outline and explain two...’ 10-mark questions, you don’t need to evaluate – just analyse.
For the ‘analyse two...’ 10-mark questions, the mark scheme makes reference to analysis/evaluation where relevant evaluation is creditworthy: i.e. evaluation which is clearly linked to the reason or way or whatever you’ve been asked for in the question.
3. Do make sure you use the Item, especially for the 10-mark ‘analyse two...’ questions
You need to look for two ‘hooks’ in the Item to hang your points on, and you do need to make explicit reference to the Item.
For the 20 and 30-mark questions, the Items also contain useful hooks that you can use to hang points on and develop points from.
They’re there to help you, so read them, highlight them and use them. Examiners are looking for your skills of ‘application’ (AO2), so show them off!
4. Do make sure you time your responses appropriately
For example, 15 minutes for 10-mark questions, 30 minutes for 20-mark questions and 45 minutes for 30-mark questions.
Don’t…
1. Don’t expect that you can pre-learn all the answers
You’ll need to use your AO2 skills, think on your feet and apply your knowledge from one area within the specification to another. This is especially so in the 10-mark ‘outline and explain two...’ questions.
As our Report on the Exam for Paper 2 said, these questions will ask students ‘to bring together aspects of their sociological knowledge in a way they are unlikely to have done before.’
For example, this question asks you to bring together your knowledge of changing gender roles and also childhood in order to answer the question:
| Outline and explain two ways in which changing gender roles within the family may have affected children’s experience of childhood. [10 marks] |
2. Don’t forget the importance of learning the theories, studies and research
Remember 44% of the weighting at A-level is for knowledge and understanding and all the extended writing questions expect this knowledge to be explained, applied, analysed and evaluated.
3. Don’t forget to develop and deploy your conceptual literacy at all times
Good use of concepts can demonstrate all three assessment objectives:
- AO1: by using sociological concepts with accuracy and precision you can demonstrate good levels of knowledge and understanding.
- AO2: by selecting and deploying concepts appropriately in response to a question you can demonstrate good application skills.
- AO3: by explaining in depth a given concept you can demonstrate the ability to analyse.
- AO3: by explaining the usefulness or otherwise of a concept you can demonstrate the ability to evaluate.
So, meritocracy, self-fulfilling prophecy, social mobility, consensus, conflict, labelling, role models, parentocracy, patriarchy, valid, reliable, generalizable etc. Use them!
