A2 AQA Sociology Revision.

Yup, I also do psychology and PRE.

How do you learn them? There is so much information on them 30 odd pages lol

memorise, mind maps, practice essays etc.

You couldn't possibly memorise all that?

You couldn't possibly memorise all that?

I can, and I have.

It is difficult, but neccasary for the top grade

Wow... Fair play to ya.

Well I did write them which took many many hours so in that sense I learn the majority of them just by writing it.

Yeah I completely understand that, the notes look absolutely brilliant and should definitely be worthy of a top grade without a shadow of a doubt.

However, I don't have the mind of a sponge and I assume you are all in a similar situation as myself, in that we all have multiple exams to be revising for at the same time? How do you revise for this big 33 pager; memorise, mindmaps and practice essays etc. and also revise for your other exams?

You can probably establish that this is a first time thing for me really, I have never adopted a revision technique that has "worked" for me. My progress so far has just been like winning the lottery, I cram the night before (all-nighter) and hope for the best in the exam. But I'm never really confident with my performance and as I say, the B's in Sociology so far have just been pot luck :/

i am thinking that gender differences in crime and maybe crime as a social construct may come up, also in the theories and methods, i think it may be to do withone of the thories and their contribution to understanding society, but don't take my word for it other than this you could be asked to asses the usefulness of using some kind of reasearch method and apply knowledge from the crime and devience topic, here are some past qs

assess the strengths and limitations of overt participant observation as a means of investigating police attitudes. (15 marks) This question requires you to apply your knowledge and understanding of sociological
research methods to the study of this particular issue in crime and deviance.

Assess the relative importance of the different factors that affect sociologists’ choice of
research methods and of topics to investigate. (33 marks)

Identify and briefly explain three problems of using self-report studies to study offending.

Examine some of the reasons why females may be less likely than males to commit
crimes. (12 marks)

Using material from Item A and elsewhere, assess sociological views of the relationship
between crime and the mass media. (21 marks)

Examine some of the ways in which crime and globalisation may be related. (12 marks)

assess the view that ethnic differences in
crime rates are the result of the ways in which the criminal justice system operates.
(21 marks)

Identify and briefly explain three problems of using qualitative methods and/or sources
of data to study suicide. (9 marks)

assess the strengths and limitations of
unstructured interviews as a means of investigating victims of crime. (15 marks)
This Question requires you to apply your knowledge and understanding of sociological
research methods to the study of this particular issue in crime and deviance.


“Feminism has revolutionised sociology by placing women at the centre of its analysis
of society. However, while all feminists share this starting point, there are now many
different ‘feminisms’ within sociology.”
Assess the contribution of feminist theorists and researchers to an understanding of
society today.

first good luck to Noodlz with the A*. I hope to get their too, but I dont know if its in my grasp.

To you Irishmonkey the key to memorization is repitition. Hence why Noodlz writes out all of those notes. You just have to keep going over and over it.

I assume you have 3 A levels to revise for? If you have 4 I dont know what to suggest.
But if you have the 3 its possible to divide your time evenly between them. Just make sure to do a few hours of one subject each day at least. practice papers, read notes, write notes , do mind maps. Something.

I don't know about you but I consider my self nothing special academically. Naturally im of average intelligence, perhaps a bit lower. Due to that it takes a lot of work to get to the top grades. You just have to be prepared to put in all of the revision.

Cramming the night before works if your naturally clever like some are. But for an average student to get their work has to be put in in advance. An important thing aswel is attitude. Dont assume you wont get their. Assume that you will get a good grade at the end of your revision. I always aim for 100% in any exam. I never get it but the ' Im not going to drop any marks ' mindset is a great motivator in revision time.

Yeah that i will adopt that mindset aswell I think. I think the naturally clever often have alot of luck or secrecy involved. For example, everyone knows it is cooler to say 'I done no revision for this exam and got an A*' than 'I got an A* because I was revising obsessively about it'. Im just saying that this is the case for alot of people, it was never cool to revise alot

So me, Noodlez and you are going for the A* grade? I've got to still do my media exam so its going to be hard :/ I also think this grade requires luck on the day. I don't think we could go into the exam 5 times over and get an A* every time. It depends on the examiner, what questions you are stong on and what questions come up on the day

But yeah... I like that mentality

first good luck to Noodlz with the A*. I hope to get their too, but I dont know if its in my grasp.

To you Irishmonkey the key to memorization is repitition. Hence why Noodlz writes out all of those notes. You just have to keep going over and over it.

I assume you have 3 A levels to revise for? If you have 4 I dont know what to suggest.
But if you have the 3 its possible to divide your time evenly between them. Just make sure to do a few hours of one subject each day at least. practice papers, read notes, write notes , do mind maps. Something.

I don't know about you but I consider my self nothing special academically. Naturally im of average intelligence, perhaps a bit lower. Due to that it takes a lot of work to get to the top grades. You just have to be prepared to put in all of the revision.

Cramming the night before works if your naturally clever like some are. But for an average student to get their work has to be put in in advance. An important thing aswel is attitude. Dont assume you wont get their. Assume that you will get a good grade at the end of your revision. I always aim for 100% in any exam. I never get it but the ' Im not going to drop any marks ' mindset is a great motivator in revision time.

Well I did write them which took many many hours so in that sense I learn the majority of them just by writing it.

Hey it's me again

Just stumbled across this thread. but many people do Crime and Deviance, whereas I do Mass Media.

Nice notes, I don't think they are that long as people are saying. The topic is quite a large one on it's own, it's a bit annoying as there may be a 33marker just on research methods, rather than theory! Which books/resources does your school give you to make them?

I used my teachers notes, the yellow AQA A2 book, revision book and 'Sociology' by Giddens + some wider reading

Thanks, did they supply the Giddens for you, or did you go out and buy it? 'Yellow' AQA, I don't remember seeing a yellow one...

How are you finding sociology so far, well the T+M bit, as I don't do the other topics ?

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Sociology-Focus-AQA-Mike-Haralambos/dp/1405896698/ref=sr_1_12?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1306069829&sr=1-12 - It's great!

Nope, I bought it off eBay for about £4

It's going ok, only need a U to get an A overall so not too much pressure but would like the A*! Some topics like media, green crime etc. I find lack much substance so I get bored and haven't revised them as much, so depends on what comes up. Yourself?

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Sociology-Focus-AQA-Mike-Haralambos/dp/1405896698/ref=sr_1_12?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1306069829&sr=1-12 - It's great!

Nope, I bought it off eBay for about £4

It's going ok, only need a U to get an A overall so not too much pressure but would like the A*! Some topics like media, green crime etc. I find lack much substance so I get bored and haven't revised them as much, so depends on what comes up. Yourself?