A level Sociology

Guy, i wanted to do AQA Sociology as an A level along side Bio and Chem. So i wanted to ask those who do sociology about the difficulty (out of 10-being very hard, how hard is it?), do you enjoy it and also because i am going to do online (distant learning a level) is it relatively easier to self study it

thanks in advance.

I do A LEVEL SOCIOLOGY!
Difficulty I would say a 6/10, it is a lot of content and you need to be able to know a lot of theories and sociologists. I admit I really like it
And yes it can be easy to learn it individually. You need good knowledge.
Ask me anything else, this is my first year doing AS!
Hope this helped.

THANK YOU very much for the quick response,
do you mind me asking what grades you've got from the mock exams and what did you get for GCSE?what other subjects do you do besides Sociology? u dont have to tell me if u dont want to -am trying to figure out how i would find it personally looking back at my gcse results by comparing it to urs

Guy, i wanted to do AQA Sociology as an A level along side Bio and Chem. So i wanted to ask those who do sociology about the difficulty (out of 10-being very hard, how hard is it?), do you enjoy it and also because i am going to do online (distant learning a level) is it relatively easier to self study it

thanks in advance.

AQA Sociology isn't that difficult however you will have to write quite a few essays. Also i'm in my second year of A levels, where sociology still has the same difficulty level but is fairly content heavy. hope this helps

How did you find the AS exam?
I am nervous for my upcoming ones.

Honestly it wasn't that bad. I've done two subjects with new specifications and AQA tend to be quite nice about what they ask on the papers. For the education paper it will usually be a general question about class, gender, or ethnicity (or a question on all three), for families and household its usually based on a theory (functionalism, marxism, or feminisim). For methods just make sure you apply PERVERT-Practical, Ethical, Reliability, validity, examples, Representitive and Theories (such as positivist and interpretivist views). Honestly theres no need to stress for this years exams because you only need a pass (which is an E at A level) to get onto A2 and then the grade will be scrapped at A2 and you'll do both the content for As and A2 at the end. Hope this helps

Thank you so much!
I will definitely be using the application of pervert.

Your welcome. It really does work for methods (it got me 16 out of 20 last year) with little methods revision anyway

Guy, i wanted to do AQA Sociology as an A level along side Bio and Chem. So i wanted to ask those who do sociology about the difficulty (out of 10-being very hard, how hard is it?), do you enjoy it and also because i am going to do online (distant learning a level) is it relatively easier to self study it

thanks in advance.

I do Cambridge A-levels actually not AQA but I would give Sociology a 7/10 in difficulty. You need to know theories as well as scholars. Its pretty interesting though.

It's mostly just difficult due to how much content you have to learn, I'm in my second year of A Level sociology now and i've been predicted an A so honestly if you can cope with a ridiculous amount of information I'd go for it!! I've mostly self taught a lot of the course content due to having completely useless tutors and I seem to be doing pretty good!! It's really interesting!!

Your welcome. It really does work for methods (it got me 16 out of 20 last year) with little methods revision anyway

For the examples aspect in the use of pervert for sociology, is that simply studies by sociologists with regards to research methods?
Thank you!

That is correct, for example james patricks research of glasgow gangs. If you miss out the examples stage it doesn't matter too much-i don't think i remembered to put them in despite getting 16/20. Also I forgot too mention wherever there is an item always use a quote from it and make sure its linked in with your answer. The quote doesn't need to be long winded, just pick out a concise part of the item thats focused and straight to the point.

Thank you so much, you have been really helpful!
If I have any other questions regarding sociology I know who to come to haha
My AS exam is nextweek for sociology. What would you recommend for brief revision? What did you do when your AS was nearing? Thank you.

Glad to hear it helped. For revision what I did was:

write a revision cards for methods.
write a revision card with studies and key words that could be used specific to each essay e.g. for class questions i would write a revision card with material deprivation, cultural deprivation, subculture, paul willis' study of the "lads" counter culture, oppenheim argued We have reverted to Victorian styles of thinking about the poor - we see the working class as the 'deserving' poor and the underclass as the 'undeserving'. Also i would add a few marxist studies and concepts such as ideological state apparatus legitimising working class poverty through an apparatus such as the educational system to instill values to justify the bourgeoise ruling.

The above is a brief example. Personally I would write about 3 revision cards for each essay question-my writing reasonably small though.

For each revision card I would include:

at least 6 studies/ arguments from sociologists

at least 6 criticisms of studies

about 10 concepts - these can be applied and developed in the essay

at least 4 links to a related theory if its not a theory question e.g. functionalism or marxism for a class or ethnicity question, feminism for a gender question.

I also wrote a revision card for a structure for each essay (except methods)
- I made up CSTEEA:
This stands for Concept, Study/theory, explanation, evaluation, Apply to question

Hope this helps. Good luck in your exam. luckily the first A2 sociology exam is on the 8th of June

Oh wow! Thank you for sharing what you did. I also do revision cards and they really help. I will attempt to use your method of CSTEEA.
Oh and by the way I have been using the application of pervert in my research methods and it really flows well. Thank you.
Good luck for your first exam on the 8th of June. You will do great considering how you revise.
Is it difficult to handle both AS and A2 out of curiosity?
What other A levels do you do?
Thank you again 2025!!!