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AS and A-Level arts and humanities resources thread

Does anyone know where I can get OCR A(s) - level General Studies past papers?

Also, what is the best way to revise for General Studies?

Thanks. :cool:

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Reply 1
The best way that my teachers have told me to revise for AS General Studies is to keep an eye on current affairs, such as reading a national newspaper each day as well as watching the news. The reason for this they state is that it will enable one to give examples that occur within the world in the answers, in order to gain the "higher marks."

I read national newspapers each day and watch the news out of habit, so I should be okay! lol

You can view a January 2005 past paper (The Scientific Domain) on OCR's website --> clicky here.
Reply 2
I thought GS could be passed with no revision?
Reply 3
learn how to lie and make up good stories to fit every scenario.

i got full marks in the social and culture AS exams and my entire paper consisted of me thinking up 'examples of my personal experiences' to fit the answers, it was kind of fun as i made up loads of cool stuff about my friends :smile: they all ended up being a little character in my imaginary general studies world...
wow - a lot has changed since my time; people actually revise for GS now?
Reply 5
I'd never looked at a GS paper until now! Thank God I don't have to take it - seems like a waste of precious time!
Reply 6
Yeh taking the General Studies exam is a waste of time. At my sixth form you have to take it!!! I mean i don't need it 4 qualifications wen i'm older n i also fink that Unis don't take much notice of GS either!!
Reply 7
Its all well and good that we are "cussing", for lack of a better word, GS but does anyone know the answer to my original question?
Reply 8
Senior
Its all well and good that we are "cussing", for lack of a better word, GS but does anyone know the answer to my original question?

The first reply to this thread gave you a link. OPEN your eyes.
Reply 9
Does anyone know where I can get OCR A(s) - level General Studies past papers?

The first reply gave me the link to one paper. Did it not occur to you that one paper, out of the three that I will be doing, would not be enough to revise from?

My eyes are OPEN, maybe you should take note of your own advice. I advise you, for your sake, to find another hobby other than posting rude, unconstructive messages.
Reply 10
Senior
Does anyone know where I can get OCR A(s) - level General Studies past papers?

The first reply gave me the link to one paper. Did it not occur to you that one paper, out of the three that I will be doing, would not be enough to revise from?

My eyes are OPEN, maybe you should take note of your own advice. I advise you, for your sake, to find another hobby other than posting rude, unconstructive messages.


well my reply answered the question of how to revise- learning how to lie is a form of revision for general studies, it helps you in the exam so it must be good!

if OCR don't offer any more papers on their website then you probably wont be able to get any, unless you ask at school.
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Reply 12
I have started the AS music course at school and really need help on Unit 3, which is about the instrumental and vocal pieces to analyse and write for the exam. However, our teacher isn't really going into much depth with the analysis and is rushing through the pieces meaning i don't really understand them :s-smilie: Does anyone have resources on the pieces, and also how to write the essays in the exam?
Any help would be much appreciated :smile:
Thanks :biggrin:
Got this exam in January..

Isn't taught at our sixth form at AS standard so I have zero notes...

If anyone has any notes for AQA CITIZENSHIP STUDIES UNIT 2 this would be much appreciated!! (I'll even pay via PP for a good set)

Also, if anyone wants a revision partner, I would be happy to work with someone in preparation for this exam.

Message me or reply.

Cheers :smile:
Reply 14
Does anyone have any good websites or revision notes for AS citizenship? I cant seem to find any useful website that would help me revise. :frown:

Thanks :wink:
Reply 15
Sorry if this has already been asked before, I'm having a bit of a mare and if I'm honest, couldn't be bothered to search though, sorry! :colondollar:

But does anyone know how I can get hold of the AS Unit 1 Critical Thinking past papers and markschemes online? Just occurred to me that my exam is on Monday and I'm literally screwed, especially seeing as I've had <10 actual lessons in it

Thank you in advance. (:
Reply 16
Know how you feel, I feel completely unprepared for it. Most of my lessons consisted of watching movies or mock debates.

http://www.ocr.org.uk/qualifications/subjects/critical_thinking/index.html

And for tips with exam technique -
http://www.criticalthinking.org.uk/unit1/examguide/
Reply 17
Original post by Accalia
Know how you feel, I feel completely unprepared for it. Most of my lessons consisted of watching movies or mock debates.

http://www.ocr.org.uk/qualifications/subjects/critical_thinking/index.html

And for tips with exam technique -
http://www.criticalthinking.org.uk/unit1/examguide/



Thankyou! Life saver :smile: I was scouring the OCR website but couldn't seem to find them.
I took it as a 5th subject/elective type thing, so I only have like 2 timetabled hours of it per week and so much has been going on that we've had about 9 lessons of it. :') Oh dear. If I fail this Unit really badly I'm just not going to go to the June exam so I don't have to aggregate it and suffer the pain of (hopefully) getting AAAA and then a U :')
Reply 18
Original post by finestory
Thankyou! Life saver :smile: I was scouring the OCR website but couldn't seem to find them.
I took it as a 5th subject/elective type thing, so I only have like 2 timetabled hours of it per week and so much has been going on that we've had about 9 lessons of it. :') Oh dear. If I fail this Unit really badly I'm just not going to go to the June exam so I don't have to aggregate it and suffer the pain of (hopefully) getting AAAA and then a U :')


Creepy - when choosing my AS Levels, I got told I had to take another one and was given the choice out of this or General Studies. My old English teacher used to say Crit was a good choice if you were thinking about doing humanities at Uni (which I was thinking of doing at the time). To be honest, I'm just wondering how I'm going to explain getting good grades (hopefully) in my other subjects and then a pretty bad grade in this, which is supposed to be considered so easy that a lot of unis don't even count it in offers.

To be honest though, as long as I do fine in my other subjects I'm not too bothered about the grade I get either. Can hope for at least a B though... AAAAB doesn't look too bad.
Reply 19
Same - mine is on top of my four subjects and we have an hour a week, with a teacher who doesn't really know what he's on about, so we just sit and play bin basketball. :smile:
I'm not really worried for it though, it's mostly common sense, it's only definitions and evaluating arguments that trip me up :s-smilie:
I have maths on monday too, so fun day..

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