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Any help/advice for AQA A-Level Sociology

I (year 13) am predicted a B, but I have been underperforming. I’m struggling, particularly as my teacher is never in and I struggle keeping up with her teaching style. I got a C in the mock, which was 18 Nov. This was paper 3 and we only started Crime and Deviance content from 3 Nov and my teacher was off the week before mocks, so I wasn’t surprised that I did worse than my prediction as we had to teach ourselves everything. Even this past school week she hasn’t been in either. I never got anything lower than a B in year 12, so this isn’t typical for me. The year 12 mock I did was 3 marks off an A, so there’s a vast difference between this year and last.

Does anyone have any tips or advice? Any revision methods? I’m considering getting me a tutor as Sociology is my worst subject at the moment. I need a B to relieve the pressure on my other subjects. If I don’t get a B then I have to get an A in at least one of my other subjects, which is possible but a lot of pressure.

Reply 1

Original post
by offline.tal_
I (year 13) am predicted a B, but I have been underperforming. I’m struggling, particularly as my teacher is never in and I struggle keeping up with her teaching style. I got a C in the mock, which was 18 Nov. This was paper 3 and we only started Crime and Deviance content from 3 Nov and my teacher was off the week before mocks, so I wasn’t surprised that I did worse than my prediction as we had to teach ourselves everything. Even this past school week she hasn’t been in either. I never got anything lower than a B in year 12, so this isn’t typical for me. The year 12 mock I did was 3 marks off an A, so there’s a vast difference between this year and last.
Does anyone have any tips or advice? Any revision methods? I’m considering getting me a tutor as Sociology is my worst subject at the moment. I need a B to relieve the pressure on my other subjects. If I don’t get a B then I have to get an A in at least one of my other subjects, which is possible but a lot of pressure.


I find that blurting works really well and then go back and fill any gaps in your knowledge using a textbook or a youtube video (my favs are probably tutor2u). Make flashcards with names if you haven’t already and go over them periodically, flashcards with evaluation points are also useful.

Another way to revise is probably just planning the answers to past paper questions to get a feel of how you can apply ideas to questions. If you struggle with time management then plan and write them out under timed conditions.

When it comes to the actual exams make sure you have like a really good structure following PEEEL and be consistent with it because it keeps you from going off on a tangent. Especially for 30 markers, the link back to the question is where you summarise (e.g. the extent to how useful it is) and it gives you enough information to reach the top bands even if you don’t manage to write a conclusion.

Good luck!! and you can definitely achieve an A

Reply 2

Original post
by victoriaeb
I find that blurting works really well and then go back and fill any gaps in your knowledge using a textbook or a youtube video (my favs are probably tutor2u). Make flashcards with names if you haven’t already and go over them periodically, flashcards with evaluation points are also useful.
Another way to revise is probably just planning the answers to past paper questions to get a feel of how you can apply ideas to questions. If you struggle with time management then plan and write them out under timed conditions.
When it comes to the actual exams make sure you have like a really good structure following PEEEL and be consistent with it because it keeps you from going off on a tangent. Especially for 30 markers, the link back to the question is where you summarise (e.g. the extent to how useful it is) and it gives you enough information to reach the top bands even if you don’t manage to write a conclusion.
Good luck!! and you can definitely achieve an A


Thank you. I have an assessment at the end of the coming week and a mock at the end of March so hopefully I can catch up with where I was last year or better if I’m feeling aspirational.

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