Background Research

[chantellehugs]

I was wondering if anyone who's done the following AS Levels;

- English Language
- History
- Maths
- R.E
- Biology
- Chemistry

Would tell me whether there's anything I can revise and learn now about them before I go back to school in September? I'm eager to get a head start so it's not so muddling when I go back. I've been doing some AS maths work on mymaths but that's about it.

[Mathew]

Hi Chantelle,
I did AS English Language last year and I'll be continuing it at A-Level next year. I got my results back yesterday and I got an A, which I'm extremely happy about! When I first started the course last September, I remember my teacher telling us that it's VERY difficult to get an A so I'm over the moon.

You've told me on Habbo that you're doing AQA, so I'm assuming it will be the same as what I did. The course is split into two parts: Child Language Acquisition and Comparing Modes in text.

To get a head start, I'd suggest getting the revision books and just making sure you're familiar with absolutely everything. The Child Language Acquision side is split into two parts and you choose one of the two questions. One is about language acquisition and the other is about children's writing. Most people tend to go for the former because you tend to use a lot of those skills in the latter. There's a lot of terms to learn and a lot of theorists, to the earlier you get these names and theories in your head, the better.

In the comparing modes question, you're giving two (sometimes three I think) texts and you need to compare them. It's similar in some ways to GCSE English - you discuss who the text might be aimed at and what impression it might have on them. There's a lot of new terms here and you discuss things like acronyms. For example, in the past there's been an MSN Conversation and we'd say that "chantellehugs said "lol" which may suggest she's a teen and therefore more subjective to the latest trends and terms in online speech. This differs from the business report in Item 1 where they have written "laugh out loud"........... or something like that.

Get the revision books. Get the background reading done. I also suggest a read of "Eats, Shoots and Leaves" by Lynne Truss. Very helpful! :)
Good luck x

[Shar]

I did history AS and thoroughly enjoyed it. There was no coursework involved in my course at AS and the syllabus was quite good and it wasn't a big leap from GCSE history imo. Do you know what exam board your 6th form/college is doing? (If its OCR I can tell you a bit about it.)

[chantellehugs]

Hi Chantelle,
I did AS English Language last year and I'll be continuing it at A-Level next year. I got my results back yesterday and I got an A, which I'm extremely happy about! When I first started the course last September, I remember my teacher telling us that it's VERY difficult to get an A so I'm over the moon.

You've told me on Habbo that you're doing AQA, so I'm assuming it will be the same as what I did. The course is split into two parts: Child Language Acquisition and Comparing Modes in text.

To get a head start, I'd suggest getting the revision books and just making sure you're familiar with absolutely everything. The Child Language Acquision side is split into two parts and you choose one of the two questions. One is about language acquisition and the other is about children's writing. Most people tend to go for the former because you tend to use a lot of those skills in the latter. There's a lot of terms to learn and a lot of theorists, to the earlier you get these names and theories in your head, the better.

In the comparing modes question, you're giving two (sometimes three I think) texts and you need to compare them. It's similar in some ways to GCSE English - you discuss who the text might be aimed at and what impression it might have on them. There's a lot of new terms here and you discuss things like acronyms. For example, in the past there's been an MSN Conversation and we'd say that "chantellehugs said "lol" which may suggest she's a teen and therefore more subjective to the latest trends and terms in online speech. This differs from the business report in Item 1 where they have written "laugh out loud"........... or something like that.

Get the revision books. Get the background reading done. I also suggest a read of "Eats, Shoots and Leaves" by Lynne Truss. Very helpful! :)
Good luck x
Thanks so much Mathew, I've looked at the course content for my sixth form and it's the same as what you had! The exams sound alright and the topics I'll be studying are quite interesting! At first I was thinking of studying Literature but I'm glad I'm doing Language because it seems more suited to me. I'm eager to get back to school now (wonder how long that will last) :P


I did history AS and thoroughly enjoyed it. There was no coursework involved in my course at AS and the syllabus was quite good and it wasn't a big leap from GCSE history imo. Do you know what exam board your 6th form/college is doing? (If its OCR I can tell you a bit about it.)

The exam board is edexcel, but I did my GCSE History with OCR and I got an A on the exam! The only problem was everyone in the class always had their coursework marked down by a few marks because the exam board weren't satisfied with the marking. :( I'm glad there's not a massive difference to GCSE, I really enjoy history so I'm looking forward to it! I've just seen what topics I'll be studying on my sixth form website so I might make a start and research a bit :P Thank you!

[Mathew]

Thanks so much Mathew, I've looked at the course content for my sixth form and it's the same as what you had! The exams sound alright and the topics I'll be studying are quite interesting! At first I was thinking of studying Literature but I'm glad I'm doing Language because it seems more suited to me. I'm eager to get back to school now (wonder how long that will last) :P
I did both Language and Literature at GCSE and at A-Level and I preferred language. I found myself analysing things in Literature which I didn't actually believe, but you HAD to write it. We studied poems by Christina Rossetti and The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald. We then decided to write the coursework on Captain Corelli's Mandolin, then the other comparing The Catcher in the Rye with The Caretaker. I enjoyed it in parts, but I found everyone was just looking too deeply into the books and trying to find symbols, themes and meanings for the sake of it. These writers weren't thinking those things when they wrote the novel, but you have to make out they did!

[chantellehugs]

I did both Language and Literature at GCSE and at A-Level and I preferred language. I found myself analysing things in Literature which I didn't actually believe, but you HAD to write it. We studied poems by Christina Rossetti and The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald. We then decided to write the coursework on Captain Corelli's Mandolin, then the other comparing The Catcher in the Rye with The Caretaker. I enjoyed it in parts, but I found everyone was just looking too deeply into the books and trying to find symbols, themes and meanings for the sake of it. These writers weren't thinking those things when they wrote the novel, but you have to make out they did!

That's what I hate about English Lit, I remember one study session I filled an entire page with highlighting and notes for practically every sentence of one poem. I doubt the writers were concentrating on each sentence having about 50 different interpretations lol