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A Level Sociology Revision

I'm currently like halfway through Year 12 and I'm not sure how to revise for sociology. I've kind of neglected it and haven't really made any resources(apart from a few mindmaps). I only really 'revise' when I have assessments coming up but tbh I'm doing ok (averaging low A's, high B's), but the content is really starting to pile up and mocks are in like 2-3 months. I also don't want to be too overwhelmed in Year 13.

My main plan/strategy is to make condensed notes on everything, then make flashcards on key info, blurting for active recall and make mindmaps for consolidation when I have assessments coming up. I also plan on making essay plans for 20/30 markers and do some more exam questions for the shorter questions.

Btw is it worth buying the textbook? And also how do I make sense of the specification? I do AQA and it's just not clear to me exactly what I need to know each topic, like how much do I need to know about Emile Durkheim or like how many sociologists I need to remember for each theory. I understand sociology is a relatively subjective subject but I think I need some guidance/structure so that I know what I'm doing.

Any tips would be really helpful, especially for structuring 20/30 markers!

Reply 1

im currently doing aqa sociology in year 13 , and i think you already have a pretty solid plan , im pretty sure you will do good 🙂 i would say doing more exam questions def helps , even if you dont wanna write it full out , try to plan it out. so for eg a 30 marker : intro , PEAR x 4 ( point explain analysis reject ) and conclusion.you would have a set strcucture for every marker and the command words in the question would also influence how you answer it. Analysis is super important as it has shown the knowledge u have and so the credits the examiners should give u. As someone who has experienced tragic downfall and incline again in sociology, i would say studies are VERY VERY important , it would def boost you up marks wise. i personally find making a table useful to remember it, so 4 columns - topic / sociologist/findings or theory / trigger words , i did this last time mock for ~ 20 sociologists in total and i did get an A ! ( ofc you have to pick out key sociologists that u can use for multiple times as a priority )

Reply 2

Original post by rolypoly08
I'm currently like halfway through Year 12 and I'm not sure how to revise for sociology. I've kind of neglected it and haven't really made any resources(apart from a few mindmaps). I only really 'revise' when I have assessments coming up but tbh I'm doing ok (averaging low A's, high B's), but the content is really starting to pile up and mocks are in like 2-3 months. I also don't want to be too overwhelmed in Year 13.
My main plan/strategy is to make condensed notes on everything, then make flashcards on key info, blurting for active recall and make mindmaps for consolidation when I have assessments coming up. I also plan on making essay plans for 20/30 markers and do some more exam questions for the shorter questions.
Btw is it worth buying the textbook? And also how do I make sense of the specification? I do AQA and it's just not clear to me exactly what I need to know each topic, like how much do I need to know about Emile Durkheim or like how many sociologists I need to remember for each theory. I understand sociology is a relatively subjective subject but I think I need some guidance/structure so that I know what I'm doing.
Any tips would be really helpful, especially for structuring 20/30 markers!


Hey I’m in yr13 and ever since year 12, I condensed each subtopic into Mindmaps to make manageable info , I then created flashcard for everything eg. A mind map on Functionalist ideas on education and then i have 3 flashcards one for Davis and Moore, one for Durkheim and one for parsons. For the larger sections like gender I have a lot more but as the person above, you need studies in each paragraph so try condense notes down to studies fir everything , good look :smile:

Reply 3

Original post by someone_cat
im currently doing aqa sociology in year 13 , and i think you already have a pretty solid plan , im pretty sure you will do good 🙂 i would say doing more exam questions def helps , even if you dont wanna write it full out , try to plan it out. so for eg a 30 marker : intro , PEAR x 4 ( point explain analysis reject ) and conclusion.you would have a set strcucture for every marker and the command words in the question would also influence how you answer it. Analysis is super important as it has shown the knowledge u have and so the credits the examiners should give u. As someone who has experienced tragic downfall and incline again in sociology, i would say studies are VERY VERY important , it would def boost you up marks wise. i personally find making a table useful to remember it, so 4 columns - topic / sociologist/findings or theory / trigger words , i did this last time mock for ~ 20 sociologists in total and i did get an A ! ( ofc you have to pick out key sociologists that u can use for multiple times as a priority )

hi! im in year 13 too and im having trouble trying to find every important study, would you mind sharing the table of key studies? x

Reply 4

Original post by za.abd4301
hi! im in year 13 too and im having trouble trying to find every important study, would you mind sharing the table of key studies? x

tutor2u has a checklist for each topic with key concepts and studies
https://www.tutor2u.net/sociology/collections/topic-checklists

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