advice for classical civilisation?

hey, i'm going into year ten and starting the classics course, it would be great if anyone could recommend great websites or revision books etc to help me prepare for it.
btw , my skl is doing 'women in the ancient world' and 'the homeric world'
can anyone plz give me advice for what to expect?
thank u

Look up the specification.
On the resource pages it should suggest books you can get from the libary or semi text books. Classics is quite niche so am not sure there will be text books and they might use a mix of other history books. The exam board spec should give you a good pointer.

If you are doing the Homeric world id expect a book giving an introduction to Homer and either the Iliad or the Odyssey might be a good start. Id think you would be more likely to be doing the Odyssey.

Classics would be great fun, bit of History, bit of social History, literature and some mythology. Go and look on the exam board website.

Fun things can be stories films and books concerning the Greeks or Romans including Mythology. You sound interested so it should be fun for you.

hey, i'm going into year ten and starting the classics course, it would be great if anyone could recommend great websites or revision books etc to help me prepare for it.
btw , my skl is doing 'women in the ancient world' and 'the homeric world'
can anyone plz give me advice for what to expect?
thank u

Hi, I got a 9 (98%) in my GCSE OCR Class Civ so here are my tips:
1. Be really picky with the textbook, learn everything. Dimensions of a building? Artist of a Prescribed Source? They will be really specific in one and two mark questions - even learning who is related to who. For example, who was Pandora's husband? Who was the last Roman king (relevant for sabine women and Lucretia)? They will ask these questions which don't seem relevant to really catch you out. The section on Cleopatra is really long, but I'm afraid you'll also have to learn the dates of when she moved where, the Roman numerals of her brothers (they're all called Ptolemy!) etc.
.
The textbook!

Hope this helps! Good luck, it's a really interesting course

well done for getting a nine!!! i have a few questions:
what modules did u do?
what methods did u find the most useful to memorise important keywords, quotes or comparisons?
did you regularly revise over the key words, and how did u prevent yourself from mixing up keywords.(i seem to do that alot!!).
finally, did u practice essay questions frequently, or mainly near a test?
thank youu

hey, i'm going into year ten and starting the classics course, it would be great if anyone could recommend great websites or revision books etc to help me prepare for it.
btw , my skl is doing 'women in the ancient world' and 'the homeric world'
can anyone plz give me advice for what to expect?
thank u

Hi, I got a 9 (98%) in my GCSE OCR Class Civ so here are my tips:
1. Be really picky with the textbook, learn everything. Dimensions of a building? Artist of a Prescribed Source? They will be really specific in one and two mark questions - even learning who is related to who. For example, who was Pandora's husband? Who was the last Roman king (relevant for sabine women and Lucretia)? They will ask these questions which don't seem relevant to really catch you out. The section on Cleopatra is really long, but I'm afraid you'll also have to learn the dates of when she moved where, the Roman numerals of her brothers (they're all called Ptolemy!) etc.
2. Learn key quotes given in the textbook - these are really impressive to use in an essay! Particularly for the women module, quotes that aren't prescribed will get you a long way.
3. Group the duties of Greek women and Roman women onto a flashcard, the differences in wedding ceremony
4. Compile a list of all women in the Ancient World - even those not set - for example, Clytemnestra, Maesia, Penelope etc.
5. Use Prescribed Visual images in essays too (e.g. the Hegeso stele shows women were expected to be both beautiful and modest, so there are double-standards)
6. Frequently make comparisons between different women that are given as examples and the expectation for that society (e.g. Cleopatra versus Roman norms, Medea versus Greek norms). Compare Greek versus Roman. Cleopatra versus Medea. Helen versus Lucretia etc.

For any literature, learn the plot in incredible detail and then learn a few key quotes.
Quizlet was the best for learning so much content.
The textbook!

Hope this helps! Good luck, it's a really interesting course.

hi thanks for this advice, I'm studying the same units so this was really helpful. did you plan any 15 markers for the exams? There are limited practice questions in the textbook ( which we have mostly done) but these obviously won't come up. I would love to plan some but don't have any questions to do do you having any for women in the ancient world/war and warfare?

Hi, I didn't plan many I just made sure when revising I thought about things comparatively. For women that could be enjoyment in marriage in Greece versus Rome (and you could talk about how Spartans would have had most enjoyment but Athenians and Romans less so) and for War you could compare the efficiency of Roman and Athenian navy, or Spartan and Roman tactics. Also, always think about which feature of each society's army/military campaigns were most effective, and for women which part was most enjoyable or negative in their life etc.

Here are some questions we did:
'Which figure most transcends the expectations of women in their society: Medea or Cleopatra?'
'How much can we learn from visual sources about women in the Ancient world?'
'Who would enjoy their marriage more: a Greek or Roman woman?'
'It is impossible to fully understand the life of an ancient woman, how far do you agree based on the sources you have studied?'
'Who would enjoy their life more: a porne or hetairai?'

'What were the reasons for Octavian's victory at Actium?'
'What made the Athenian navy so effective?'
'What was the most important factor in making the Spartan army so effective?'

this is brilliant thanks so much we've been told the questions are mostly comparative so are questions asking to refer to all sources likely to come up?

I doubt they would ask to refer to all sources, most questions allow you to include whatever evidence you want - quotes are good, facts and so is knowledge of a visual source.
The paper will start of with a visual source and questions with less marks will be prompted by this source, then they tend to follow a theme, with the 15 marker being different to the content of the smaller questions.
There hasn't been any women in religion yet and with war there hasn't been much on Athens and Salamis or on Roman Forts.

Hi, I didn't plan many I just made sure when revising I thought about things comparatively. For women that could be enjoyment in marriage in Greece versus Rome (and you could talk about how Spartans would have had most enjoyment but Athenians and Romans less so) and for War you could compare the efficiency of Roman and Athenian navy, or Spartan and Roman tactics. Also, always think about which feature of each society's army/military campaigns were most effective, and for women which part was most enjoyable or negative in their life etc.

Here are some questions we did:
'Which figure most transcends the expectations of women in their society: Medea or Cleopatra?'
'How much can we learn from visual sources about women in the Ancient world?'
'Who would enjoy their marriage more: a Greek or Roman woman?'
'It is impossible to fully understand the life of an ancient woman, how far do you agree based on the sources you have studied?'
'Who would enjoy their life more: a porne or hetairai?'

'What were the reasons for Octavian's victory at Actium?'
'What made the Athenian navy so effective?'
'What was the most important factor in making the Spartan army so effective?'