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AS revision is crazy

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Original post by lulucoco98
Sorry to be the bearer of bad news but A2 gets waaaaay harder. Double what your feeling now and multiply by a 100.

Good luck btw xxx


if you think A2 is hard now before the reforms then imagine how difficult it's going to be for us. taking AS + A2 all at once. ****ing nightmare tbh.

luckily one of my three subjects (gov and pol) hasn't been updated to the new spec, but it still sucks.
Reply 41
Original post by samb1234
Im similar tbh, but last year i was trying to het high ums whereas this year i dont really care that much about the ums as long as i meet my offer


Ah right, what's your offer?
Original post by BB8
Anthropology (hello not being able to find a job in 3-4 years.. But it looks interesting), and my firm will be UCL :smile:

And thanks! :smile:


That does actually look and sound really interesting :smile:

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Original post by BB8
Ah right, what's your offer?


**AA
Reply 44
Original post by popcornjpg
if you think A2 is hard now before the reforms then imagine how difficult it's going to be for us. taking AS + A2 all at once. ****ing nightmare tbh.

luckily one of my three subjects (gov and pol) hasn't been updated to the new spec, but it still sucks.


If you're taking sciences then revising AS alongside A2 will actually help you with A2 (my bio teacher actually recommended we retake the AS exams because of the synoptic nature of A2 or something - they can question us on AS stuff in the A2 exams, plus the questions on the prerelease article in the final exam will be from the whole spec). And of course doing and understanding A2 will help you with AS.

With humanities subjects, not so much (eg in history, we're doing completely different time periods so it would just be a ton of extra content to revise, not building on what we learnt at AS as it generally is with sciences)
(edited 7 years ago)
Reply 45
Original post by samb1234
**AA


Ah right, hopefully you get that then! :smile:

Original post by RedNebula
That does actually look and sound really interesting :smile:

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Yea, it does - I'm really looking forward to studying it tbh. Just not to the job hunt afterwards.
Original post by BB8
If you're taking sciences then revising AS alongside A2 will actually help you with A2 (my bio teacher actually recommended we retake the AS exams because of the synoptic nature of A2 or something - they can question us on AS stuff in the A2 exams, plus the questions on the prerelease article in the final exam will be from the whole spec). And of course doing and understanding A2 will help you with AS.

With humanities subjects, not so much (eg in history, we're doing completely different time periods so it would just be a ton of extra content to revise, not building on what we learnt at AS as it generally is with sciences)


in AQA history we just cover a longer time period. AS is 1855 - 1917 for Russia, A2 is 1917 - 1964. they don't link though. you just end up doing four A2 exams which sucks.

for sociology everything is new.

The A2 exams for the AS topics also get much harder. I mean, I'm not worried about flopping or anything, it just feels like unnecessary work and sort of makes AS levels pointless (tho I'm still revising to get +90 UMS).
Reply 47
Original post by popcornjpg
in AQA history we just cover a longer time period. AS is 1855 - 1917 for Russia, A2 is 1917 - 1964. they don't link though. you just end up doing four A2 exams which sucks.

for sociology everything is new.

The A2 exams for the AS topics also get much harder. I mean, I'm not worried about flopping or anything, it just feels like unnecessary work and sort of makes AS levels pointless (tho I'm still revising to get +90 UMS).


My A2 history exam covers Russia from 1855-1964.

Are all your exams Russia? Because my AS topics were completely different (the Cold War for European and Churchill for British) and then A2 coursework is on Gladstone and Disraeli.

Also, A levels used to be linear until AS was introduced around 2000 I think. So really this is just going back to the way they used to be. I didn't know about the A2 versions of the AS exams getting harder though, although I guess it makes sense
Original post by BB8
My A2 history exam covers Russia from 1855-1964.

Are all your exams Russia? Because my AS topics were completely different (the Cold War for European and Churchill for British) and then A2 coursework is on Gladstone and Disraeli.

Also, A levels used to be linear until AS was introduced around 2000 I think. So really this is just going back to the way they used to be. I didn't know about the A2 versions of the AS exams getting harder though, although I guess it makes sense


no, I also do English Civil War AS 1625 - 1624, A2 1642 - 1660.

in AS History, you compare two sources in an essay, in A2 you compare three. same with interpretations. the essays become 30 markers I think, and are in general more difficult than AS questions.

same for Sociology, longer questions and more difficult.
I just wanna go gym, do MMA and play football but exams are still real so revise
Original post by popcornjpg
if you think A2 is hard now before the reforms then imagine how difficult it's going to be for us. taking AS + A2 all at once. ****ing nightmare tbh.

luckily one of my three subjects (gov and pol) hasn't been updated to the new spec, but it still sucks.


I feel deeply sorry for you guys, you won't even know how much you need to improve from AS from your A2 results. It's no fair :frown:(. Also, applying to uni will be a pain. I do govt and politics at A2 now and it's heavy content, but I think being on top of everything you'll be alright hopefully.
Original post by Babs Posh
The panic has set in for me :frown:

I'm procrastinating to the point where last night I spent an hour watching A level results videos... not only weird but also rather depressing :-)!!!!!!


At least you've not gotten distracted and drift off to watch unrelated videos :3
Reply 53
Original post by popcornjpg
no, I also do English Civil War AS 1625 - 1624, A2 1642 - 1660.

in AS History, you compare two sources in an essay, in A2 you compare three. same with interpretations. the essays become 30 markers I think, and are in general more difficult than AS questions.

same for Sociology, longer questions and more difficult.


In AS I compared 2 for a 30 marker and 5 for a 70 marker, and the other exam didn't have sources (2x50 mark essays)

A2 coursework is 2x2000 word essays, 40 marks each, one comparing four passages/sources, the other is an investigations essay where we have to find at least 8 historians to quote. The A2 exam isn't source based and its 2x60 mark essays in 2 hours, and both cover the whole period from 1855-1964

So 30 marks is the shortest I've had over the whole A level
I honestly never understand how people end up in a panic at all. Perhaps I am emotionally deficient.

Original post by barbiegirl99
At least you've not gotten distracted and drift off to watch unrelated videos :3

I sat down to do a philosophy essay once and ended up watching a 40 minute ASMR video of a girl eating food. I'd only done the title.
Reply 55
Original post by barbiegirl99
Thanks for the advice, I just don't know how these 5 weeks are going to pan out, and I honestly feel as though I'm drawing a blank and I haven't even sat an exam yet.


Just start, I promise that once you do that, you'll be very into what you're doing that it'll be somehow enjoyable. And keep all your electronics and wi-fi at a distance.
How much revision do you do a day ?:smile:
How are people motivating themselves? :smile:

(I could use a little and am wondering if anyone has any good ideas! Thanks)

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Original post by RedNebula
How are people motivating themselves? :smile:

(I could use a little and am wondering if anyone has any good ideas! Thanks)

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Fail or become nothing in life. It's good motivation tbh

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