I need to go get up to A's- please help.
Hiya all. Just to cut to the chase- I'm studying economics, sociology, and psychology. For my ideal university, Bristol I need 3 A'S. The issue is in my mocks i got ABB and no matter what i do for psychology and sociology I just cant get past a B. Like its actually driving me crazy- in year 12 i had 6 psychology assessments and they WERE ALL B's. So yeah- I guess I just need some advice- how can i get myself up that next level for my subjects. I've been considering getting a private tutor but I don't really know if that would help as my subjects are essay based and a lot of it is just remembering content. Any advice is much appreciated! <3
Reply 1
Original post
by pancakekrepsHiya all. Just to cut to the chase- I'm studying economics, sociology, and psychology. For my ideal university, Bristol I need 3 A'S. The issue is in my mocks i got ABB and no matter what i do for psychology and sociology I just cant get past a B. Like its actually driving me crazy- in year 12 i had 6 psychology assessments and they WERE ALL B's. So yeah- I guess I just need some advice- how can i get myself up that next level for my subjects. I've been considering getting a private tutor but I don't really know if that would help as my subjects are essay based and a lot of it is just remembering content. Any advice is much appreciated! <3
What feedback are you getting? Your teacher should be explaining how to improve ...
Reply 2
10
Original post
by Muttley79What feedback are you getting? Your teacher should be explaining how to improve ...
i dont really seem have a major weakness based on feedback, my feedback seems to vary each time, from the occasional lack of analysis in my essay to poor a01, there doesnt seem to be a specific issue i guess
Reply 3
Original post
by pancakekrepsi dont really seem have a major weakness based on feedback, my feedback seems to vary each time, from the occasional lack of analysis in my essay to poor a01, there doesnt seem to be a specific issue i guess
Have you tried redoing any after getting the feedback
Reply 4
I did A level psychology and sociology (both AQA) last year and got A*s in both
My main tips for psychology would be:
- quizlet is really useful for helping to memorise the content (If you'd like I could give you the details to access the ones that I made?)
- practice as many essays as you can and ask your teacher to give you feedback on them
- for research methods in particular, past papers are your best friend
- for biopsychology, using the images/diagrams helps to make it easier to learn the content
- make flaschards on areas that are shown to be less confident on based on how well you answered the quizlets/past papers
My main tips for sociology would be:
- create quizlets (again I could give you access to mine if you'd like0
- once you are confident on a quizlet, use blurting to see if you can recall the content without prompts
- create flashcards on less confident areas shown by the quizlets/blurts
- essay plans are useful for summarising the key question, introduction, main points, evaluations, conclusion and core debates
- see if you can write a full essay on each topic and practice multiple times to see if you can improve (our school did an asessment in every subject once every 2 weeks which enabled continuous improvement in performance so if your school doesn't do something like this then I would suggest doing it yourself then asking the teacher to give feedback)
Hope this helps and I'm happy to answer any specific questions you have
My main tips for psychology would be:
- quizlet is really useful for helping to memorise the content (If you'd like I could give you the details to access the ones that I made?)
- practice as many essays as you can and ask your teacher to give you feedback on them
- for research methods in particular, past papers are your best friend
- for biopsychology, using the images/diagrams helps to make it easier to learn the content
- make flaschards on areas that are shown to be less confident on based on how well you answered the quizlets/past papers
My main tips for sociology would be:
- create quizlets (again I could give you access to mine if you'd like0
- once you are confident on a quizlet, use blurting to see if you can recall the content without prompts
- create flashcards on less confident areas shown by the quizlets/blurts
- essay plans are useful for summarising the key question, introduction, main points, evaluations, conclusion and core debates
- see if you can write a full essay on each topic and practice multiple times to see if you can improve (our school did an asessment in every subject once every 2 weeks which enabled continuous improvement in performance so if your school doesn't do something like this then I would suggest doing it yourself then asking the teacher to give feedback)
Hope this helps and I'm happy to answer any specific questions you have
Reply 5
11
Has anyone used tutor2u for psychology i'm thinking of buying all the courses
Reply 6
10
Original post
by SB1234567890I did A level psychology and sociology (both AQA) last year and got A*s in both
My main tips for psychology would be:
- quizlet is really useful for helping to memorise the content (If you'd like I could give you the details to access the ones that I made?)
- practice as many essays as you can and ask your teacher to give you feedback on them
- for research methods in particular, past papers are your best friend
- for biopsychology, using the images/diagrams helps to make it easier to learn the content
- make flaschards on areas that are shown to be less confident on based on how well you answered the quizlets/past papers
My main tips for sociology would be:
- create quizlets (again I could give you access to mine if you'd like0
- once you are confident on a quizlet, use blurting to see if you can recall the content without prompts
- create flashcards on less confident areas shown by the quizlets/blurts
- essay plans are useful for summarising the key question, introduction, main points, evaluations, conclusion and core debates
- see if you can write a full essay on each topic and practice multiple times to see if you can improve (our school did an asessment in every subject once every 2 weeks which enabled continuous improvement in performance so if your school doesn't do something like this then I would suggest doing it yourself then asking the teacher to give feedback)
Hope this helps and I'm happy to answer any specific questions you have
My main tips for psychology would be:
- quizlet is really useful for helping to memorise the content (If you'd like I could give you the details to access the ones that I made?)
- practice as many essays as you can and ask your teacher to give you feedback on them
- for research methods in particular, past papers are your best friend
- for biopsychology, using the images/diagrams helps to make it easier to learn the content
- make flaschards on areas that are shown to be less confident on based on how well you answered the quizlets/past papers
My main tips for sociology would be:
- create quizlets (again I could give you access to mine if you'd like0
- once you are confident on a quizlet, use blurting to see if you can recall the content without prompts
- create flashcards on less confident areas shown by the quizlets/blurts
- essay plans are useful for summarising the key question, introduction, main points, evaluations, conclusion and core debates
- see if you can write a full essay on each topic and practice multiple times to see if you can improve (our school did an asessment in every subject once every 2 weeks which enabled continuous improvement in performance so if your school doesn't do something like this then I would suggest doing it yourself then asking the teacher to give feedback)
Hope this helps and I'm happy to answer any specific questions you have
Congrats on those grades, and really useful tips, thank you so much, and if you could please give me access to your quizlets that would be amazing, as I haven't really tried it- my main way of revising for mocks was blurting and practice questions. Essay plans seem to be a great idea- and i will definitely also give those a try. I guess my only other question was how did you really manage all the content, as both psychology and sociology are very content heavy and I'm finding it quite hard to keep up with all the current work as well as going over last years stuff. Also as an A* student if you have any more tips regarding exam technique or something that would be great
thanks!Reply 7
Original post
by pancakekrepsCongrats on those grades, and really useful tips, thank you so much, and if you could please give me access to your quizlets that would be amazing, as I haven't really tried it- my main way of revising for mocks was blurting and practice questions. Essay plans seem to be a great idea- and i will definitely also give those a try. I guess my only other question was how did you really manage all the content, as both psychology and sociology are very content heavy and I'm finding it quite hard to keep up with all the current work as well as going over last years stuff. Also as an A* student if you have any more tips regarding exam technique or something that would be great thanks!
thanks!In terms of keeping up with the content, I found it best for me to manage was by creating the quizlets in my next free period after the lesson or when I got home that day then over the weekends and holidays, I would allocate a previous chapter (or multiple depending on how long it took) to each day then spend the day testing myself on the quizlets/blurting and tried to manage my time so I had as much spare time as I could to do active recall
Also, for sociology, I wouldn't try to remember absolutely everything in the textbook and instead I'd just pick out the points that you think you would use in an essay on the topic plus a few extras that you would use if a shorter question was asking from a different angle
For pscyhology, I would try to find where areas of content overlap and try to be flexible as this will help to reduce the overall amount of content that you have to learn (for example, rather than learning a 5th study/argument to evaluate the learning theory of attachments, you can use Harlow as you are already required to learn this study)
As a general tip, I found an academic planner really useful when combined with a main to do lists to create daily to do lists and check that I was covering all the content regularly
Hope this helps
Reply 8
Original post
by SB1234567890I did A level psychology and sociology (both AQA) last year and got A*s in both
My main tips for psychology would be:
- quizlet is really useful for helping to memorise the content (If you'd like I could give you the details to access the ones that I made?)
- practice as many essays as you can and ask your teacher to give you feedback on them
- for research methods in particular, past papers are your best friend
- for biopsychology, using the images/diagrams helps to make it easier to learn the content
- make flaschards on areas that are shown to be less confident on based on how well you answered the quizlets/past papers
My main tips for sociology would be:
- create quizlets (again I could give you access to mine if you'd like0
- once you are confident on a quizlet, use blurting to see if you can recall the content without prompts
- create flashcards on less confident areas shown by the quizlets/blurts
- essay plans are useful for summarising the key question, introduction, main points, evaluations, conclusion and core debates
- see if you can write a full essay on each topic and practice multiple times to see if you can improve (our school did an asessment in every subject once every 2 weeks which enabled continuous improvement in performance so if your school doesn't do something like this then I would suggest doing it yourself then asking the teacher to give feedback)
Hope this helps and I'm happy to answer any specific questions you have
My main tips for psychology would be:
- quizlet is really useful for helping to memorise the content (If you'd like I could give you the details to access the ones that I made?)
- practice as many essays as you can and ask your teacher to give you feedback on them
- for research methods in particular, past papers are your best friend
- for biopsychology, using the images/diagrams helps to make it easier to learn the content
- make flaschards on areas that are shown to be less confident on based on how well you answered the quizlets/past papers
My main tips for sociology would be:
- create quizlets (again I could give you access to mine if you'd like0
- once you are confident on a quizlet, use blurting to see if you can recall the content without prompts
- create flashcards on less confident areas shown by the quizlets/blurts
- essay plans are useful for summarising the key question, introduction, main points, evaluations, conclusion and core debates
- see if you can write a full essay on each topic and practice multiple times to see if you can improve (our school did an asessment in every subject once every 2 weeks which enabled continuous improvement in performance so if your school doesn't do something like this then I would suggest doing it yourself then asking the teacher to give feedback)
Hope this helps and I'm happy to answer any specific questions you have
Woah, those grades are so impressive. Is it possible for you to let me know your quizlet as well? Thank you
Reply 9
11
Original post
by SB1234567890I did A level psychology and sociology (both AQA) last year and got A*s in both
My main tips for psychology would be:
- quizlet is really useful for helping to memorise the content (If you'd like I could give you the details to access the ones that I made?)
- practice as many essays as you can and ask your teacher to give you feedback on them
- for research methods in particular, past papers are your best friend
- for biopsychology, using the images/diagrams helps to make it easier to learn the content
- make flaschards on areas that are shown to be less confident on based on how well you answered the quizlets/past papers
My main tips for sociology would be:
- create quizlets (again I could give you access to mine if you'd like0
- once you are confident on a quizlet, use blurting to see if you can recall the content without prompts
- create flashcards on less confident areas shown by the quizlets/blurts
- essay plans are useful for summarising the key question, introduction, main points, evaluations, conclusion and core debates
- see if you can write a full essay on each topic and practice multiple times to see if you can improve (our school did an asessment in every subject once every 2 weeks which enabled continuous improvement in performance so if your school doesn't do something like this then I would suggest doing it yourself then asking the teacher to give feedback)
Hope this helps and I'm happy to answer any specific questions you have
My main tips for psychology would be:
- quizlet is really useful for helping to memorise the content (If you'd like I could give you the details to access the ones that I made?)
- practice as many essays as you can and ask your teacher to give you feedback on them
- for research methods in particular, past papers are your best friend
- for biopsychology, using the images/diagrams helps to make it easier to learn the content
- make flaschards on areas that are shown to be less confident on based on how well you answered the quizlets/past papers
My main tips for sociology would be:
- create quizlets (again I could give you access to mine if you'd like0
- once you are confident on a quizlet, use blurting to see if you can recall the content without prompts
- create flashcards on less confident areas shown by the quizlets/blurts
- essay plans are useful for summarising the key question, introduction, main points, evaluations, conclusion and core debates
- see if you can write a full essay on each topic and practice multiple times to see if you can improve (our school did an asessment in every subject once every 2 weeks which enabled continuous improvement in performance so if your school doesn't do something like this then I would suggest doing it yourself then asking the teacher to give feedback)
Hope this helps and I'm happy to answer any specific questions you have
hey im so proud of you!! ive got my AS level exam for psych this may/june, and would love to get access to your quizlet links please
Reply 10
I can help you dear
Reply 11
Original post
by SB1234567890I did A level psychology and sociology (both AQA) last year and got A*s in both
My main tips for psychology would be:
- quizlet is really useful for helping to memorise the content (If you'd like I could give you the details to access the ones that I made?)
- practice as many essays as you can and ask your teacher to give you feedback on them
- for research methods in particular, past papers are your best friend
- for biopsychology, using the images/diagrams helps to make it easier to learn the content
- make flaschards on areas that are shown to be less confident on based on how well you answered the quizlets/past papers
My main tips for sociology would be:
- create quizlets (again I could give you access to mine if you'd like0
- once you are confident on a quizlet, use blurting to see if you can recall the content without prompts
- create flashcards on less confident areas shown by the quizlets/blurts
- essay plans are useful for summarising the key question, introduction, main points, evaluations, conclusion and core debates
- see if you can write a full essay on each topic and practice multiple times to see if you can improve (our school did an asessment in every subject once every 2 weeks which enabled continuous improvement in performance so if your school doesn't do something like this then I would suggest doing it yourself then asking the teacher to give feedback)
Hope this helps and I'm happy to answer any specific questions you have
My main tips for psychology would be:
- quizlet is really useful for helping to memorise the content (If you'd like I could give you the details to access the ones that I made?)
- practice as many essays as you can and ask your teacher to give you feedback on them
- for research methods in particular, past papers are your best friend
- for biopsychology, using the images/diagrams helps to make it easier to learn the content
- make flaschards on areas that are shown to be less confident on based on how well you answered the quizlets/past papers
My main tips for sociology would be:
- create quizlets (again I could give you access to mine if you'd like0
- once you are confident on a quizlet, use blurting to see if you can recall the content without prompts
- create flashcards on less confident areas shown by the quizlets/blurts
- essay plans are useful for summarising the key question, introduction, main points, evaluations, conclusion and core debates
- see if you can write a full essay on each topic and practice multiple times to see if you can improve (our school did an asessment in every subject once every 2 weeks which enabled continuous improvement in performance so if your school doesn't do something like this then I would suggest doing it yourself then asking the teacher to give feedback)
Hope this helps and I'm happy to answer any specific questions you have
Reply 12
I think i can help you, you should PM me with your Questions dear! v
Reply 13
Original post
by SB1234567890I did A level psychology and sociology (both AQA) last year and got A*s in both
My main tips for psychology would be:
- quizlet is really useful for helping to memorise the content (If you'd like I could give you the details to access the ones that I made?)
- practice as many essays as you can and ask your teacher to give you feedback on them
- for research methods in particular, past papers are your best friend
- for biopsychology, using the images/diagrams helps to make it easier to learn the content
- make flaschards on areas that are shown to be less confident on based on how well you answered the quizlets/past papers
My main tips for sociology would be:
- create quizlets (again I could give you access to mine if you'd like0
- once you are confident on a quizlet, use blurting to see if you can recall the content without prompts
- create flashcards on less confident areas shown by the quizlets/blurts
- essay plans are useful for summarising the key question, introduction, main points, evaluations, conclusion and core debates
- see if you can write a full essay on each topic and practice multiple times to see if you can improve (our school did an asessment in every subject once every 2 weeks which enabled continuous improvement in performance so if your school doesn't do something like this then I would suggest doing it yourself then asking the teacher to give feedback)
Hope this helps and I'm happy to answer any specific questions you have
My main tips for psychology would be:
- quizlet is really useful for helping to memorise the content (If you'd like I could give you the details to access the ones that I made?)
- practice as many essays as you can and ask your teacher to give you feedback on them
- for research methods in particular, past papers are your best friend
- for biopsychology, using the images/diagrams helps to make it easier to learn the content
- make flaschards on areas that are shown to be less confident on based on how well you answered the quizlets/past papers
My main tips for sociology would be:
- create quizlets (again I could give you access to mine if you'd like0
- once you are confident on a quizlet, use blurting to see if you can recall the content without prompts
- create flashcards on less confident areas shown by the quizlets/blurts
- essay plans are useful for summarising the key question, introduction, main points, evaluations, conclusion and core debates
- see if you can write a full essay on each topic and practice multiple times to see if you can improve (our school did an asessment in every subject once every 2 weeks which enabled continuous improvement in performance so if your school doesn't do something like this then I would suggest doing it yourself then asking the teacher to give feedback)
Hope this helps and I'm happy to answer any specific questions you have
would you please send me your quilt account please to access those flashcards
Reply 14
Original post
by pancakekrepsHiya all. Just to cut to the chase- I'm studying economics, sociology, and psychology. For my ideal university, Bristol I need 3 A'S. The issue is in my mocks i got ABB and no matter what i do for psychology and sociology I just cant get past a B. Like its actually driving me crazy- in year 12 i had 6 psychology assessments and they WERE ALL B's. So yeah- I guess I just need some advice- how can i get myself up that next level for my subjects. I've been considering getting a private tutor but I don't really know if that would help as my subjects are essay based and a lot of it is just remembering content. Any advice is much appreciated! <3
Hi there! I understand your frustration with trying to push your grades from Bs to As, especially in essay-based subjects. Here are some specific strategies that could help:
•
Essay Structure Mastery
•
Create detailed essay plans before writing
•
Use the PEEL method (Point, Evidence, Explain, Link) for paragraphs
•
Study exemplar A-grade essays to understand what examiners want
•
Content Retention
•
Try active recall techniques instead of passive reading
•
Create mind maps for each topic
•
Use spaced repetition (review content at increasing intervals)
•
Make flashcards for key theories and studies
•
Subject-Specific Tips
•
Focus on evaluation points - this is often what separates A from B grades
•
Link different theories/studies together to show deeper understanding
•
Use current real-world examples to support your arguments
•
Practice diagrams until they're perfect
•
Always link theory to real-world examples
•
Master evaluation techniques
•
Exam Technique
•
Time yourself strictly when practicing
•
Read examiner reports to understand common mistakes
•
Practice past papers under exam conditions
•
Get feedback from teachers on where you're losing marks
•
Regarding Private Tutoring
•
Teaching you exam techniques specific to your exam board
•
Helping you structure better arguments
•
Identifying patterns in where you lose marks
•
Providing focused feedback on your essays
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