A2 Levels

[Mathew]

Hey,
I'm just looking for a bit of advice because I feel quite unprepared for the A2 exams at the moment. There's only 6 more weeks before we break up for study leave on the 25th May and there's still absolutely loads of content to get through. In Sociology we've got the whole of Crime and Deviance to cover. In Psychology we've got a whole unit (Addiction) to get through, and in English there's still some stuff on Language Change to study.

If you did your A2 Levels recently, did you have teaching right up until the final week? Is it possible to cover it all? It was pretty much revision for the final few weeks last year! I have two weeks after we break up before my first exams but goodness I'm worried.

[Samantha]

Not done them yet as you know but my friends did the Sociology exam in January (that other one you did) and they got taught something that was on the paper the day before they took it? Probably really bad time management on the teachers behalf but hardly any achieved their target and the participants couldn't really revise all the other things because that was still fresh in their mind thus they had to revise that more so they actually remembered it.

In my English Language we did the exam in January so we're just doing coursework now and should be done with it by next Friday so we'll finish the course but for the exam we weren't learning right upto it. We'd finished a long while before and we just had to improve our mock exam things as our teacher 'took a day off.' (last lesson before exam).

[luce]

I have finished Economics but have 1 unit for History to do which I have read through over the holidays and have a few more studies for forensic psychology to do. What I would do if I was you is start going through the stuff you did at the start of each subject already to refresh despite having not finished and then you will have less to do over study leave.

I think you should get it all finished but because i'm in the same position i'm preparing for a manic few weeks! Just want these exams over with and to get on with summer!!

[Rhw]

For sociology, the exam you're probably talking about is OCR G673. I did that exam in January making sure I covered both Crime and Deviance and Education.

I started revision for sociology three weeks before the exam using just flashcards and managed to achieve my first A in the subject. All I did for education was create flashcards for all the sociologists, theoretical perspectives and criticisms (there were around one hundred). I thought that it was going to be impossible to pass but when the questions came up I could have answered them all. I mainly focused on Education but did cover some Crime and Deviance as I didn't want to put all my eggs in one basket.

Maybe you should try this technique for Crime and Deviance? To consolidate this you might also need to read through the textbook to refresh your memory of the theoretical perspectives.

Good luck!

[Rozi]

Don't worry Mattyb, I'm in pretty much the same situation.

In psychology we have a few more topics to go through, mainly research methods and I'm sure we'll be learning right up to the last lesson.
Our English is fairly free form but I assume we'll carry on learning right up to the end with more focus on exam methods.
In History we've actually technically finished the syllabus but I know like hardly any of it so YAY.


hello retakes and unplanned gap year, nice to meet you BIG LOVE

[Recursion]

I took my A2 levels last Summer and we were pretty much in the same situation, a few weeks before exam leave we still hadn't covered some material. Two of my subjects finished with a few days to spare which we used for revision, and my other one ran a couple of classes during the exam leave.

Of course, we also came in for revision sessions with our teachers whilst on leave.

[Mathew]

Not done them yet as you know but my friends did the Sociology exam in January (that other one you did) and they got taught something that was on the paper the day before they took it? Probably really bad time management on the teachers behalf but hardly any achieved their target and the participants couldn't really revise all the other things because that was still fresh in their mind thus they had to revise that more so they actually remembered it.

In my English Language we did the exam in January so we're just doing coursework now and should be done with it by next Friday so we'll finish the course but for the exam we weren't learning right upto it. We'd finished a long while before and we just had to improve our mock exam things as our teacher 'took a day off.' (last lesson before exam).
Eeeeek that must have been tough for them! Lucky that you've done the English exam. I've just handed in my two A2 coursework pieces this week, but I'm resitting the AS coursework to try and get a higher A... so I'll start that next week probably. Scaredddddd! What did you study in A2 English Language anyway? I've forgotten which exam board / spec you did.


I have finished Economics but have 1 unit for History to do which I have read through over the holidays and have a few more studies for forensic psychology to do. What I would do if I was you is start going through the stuff you did at the start of each subject already to refresh despite having not finished and then you will have less to do over study leave.

I think you should get it all finished but because i'm in the same position i'm preparing for a manic few weeks! Just want these exams over with and to get on with summer!!
Yeah I went in for some Psychology revision sessions over the Easter holidays and I've been revising the Theory part of Sociology. I need to get started on English Language now. There's only 6 weeks then about a month of exams... I'll be so happy when they're all done! :D


For sociology, the exam you're probably talking about is OCR G673. I did that exam in January making sure I covered both Crime and Deviance and Education.

I started revision for sociology three weeks before the exam using just flashcards and managed to achieve my first A in the subject. All I did for education was create flashcards for all the sociologists, theoretical perspectives and criticisms (there were around one hundred). I thought that it was going to be impossible to pass but when the questions came up I could have answered them all. I mainly focused on Education but did cover some Crime and Deviance as I didn't want to put all my eggs in one basket.

Maybe you should try this technique for Crime and Deviance? To consolidate this you might also need to read through the textbook to refresh your memory of the theoretical perspectives.

Good luck!
Oooo, we do AQA Sociology so I'll be sitting SCLY4 in June. I've never used flashcards so I don't know if they'd work for me. My teacher has organised the unit so it's split up into a series of lectures, with a more in-depth tutorial throughout the week. That makes it quite nice to revise from so I'll see how confident I feel at the end of it all! Thanks! :)


Don't worry Mattyb, I'm in pretty much the same situation.

In psychology we have a few more topics to go through, mainly research methods and I'm sure we'll be learning right up to the last lesson.
Our English is fairly free form but I assume we'll carry on learning right up to the end with more focus on exam methods.
In History we've actually technically finished the syllabus but I know like hardly any of it so YAY.


hello retakes and unplanned gap year, nice to meet you BIG LOVE
Ughhhhhhhhh, A2 Research Methods in Psychology is HORRIBLE. Honestly it's so confusing... I still don't fully understand it. :(


I took my A2 levels last Summer and we were pretty much in the same situation, a few weeks before exam leave we still hadn't covered some material. Two of my subjects finished with a few days to spare which we used for revision, and my other one ran a couple of classes during the exam leave.

Of course, we also came in for revision sessions with our teachers whilst on leave.
Oh, that's good to hear that I'm not in a minority then! :P I have 11 days before my first exams on the 11th June so there's still quite a bit of time there, but obviously it's better to get prepared well in advance! Thanks! :)

[Samantha]

Eeeeek that must have been tough for them! Lucky that you've done the English exam. I've just handed in my two A2 coursework pieces this week, but I'm resitting the AS coursework to try and get a higher A... so I'll start that next week probably. Scaredddddd! What did you study in A2 English Language anyway? I've forgotten which exam board / spec you did.


Yeah I went in for some Psychology revision sessions over the Easter holidays and I've been revising the Theory part of Sociology. I need to get started on English Language now. There's only 6 weeks then about a month of exams... I'll be so happy when they're all done! :D


Oooo, we do AQA Sociology so I'll be sitting SCLY4 in June. I've never used flashcards so I don't know if they'd work for me. My teacher has organised the unit so it's split up into a series of lectures, with a more in-depth tutorial throughout the week. That makes it quite nice to revise from so I'll see how confident I feel at the end of it all! Thanks! :)


Ughhhhhhhhh, A2 Research Methods in Psychology is HORRIBLE. Honestly it's so confusing... I still don't fully understand it. :(


Oh, that's good to hear that I'm not in a minority then! :P I have 11 days before my first exams on the 11th June so there's still quite a bit of time there, but obviously it's better to get prepared well in advance! Thanks! :)

We're on WJEC so we did language in dialect and ages and gender thingy. Chose language in gender for my coursework. My coursework has to be submitted monday but servers been down on college and all my deadlines are coming up and when theyre all gonna be done on computer its hard lmao!

i did jeremy kyle and top gear for my transcripts. hooray for not having to do a commentary though :P.

[Mathew]

We're on WJEC so we did language in dialect and ages and gender thingy. Chose language in gender for my coursework. My coursework has to be submitted monday but servers been down on college and all my deadlines are coming up and when theyre all gonna be done on computer its hard lmao!

i did jeremy kyle and top gear for my transcripts. hooray for not having to do a commentary though :P.
Ahhhhh right. Yeah we did Accent & Dialect along with loads of other variations.. English as a World Language.. Language Change, Age, Ethnicity, Gender and Class! :D

I DID LANGUAGE AND GENDER FOR MY COURSEWORK TOO YEAH I DID JEREMY KYLE AND TRISHA GODDARD!!!!! 10 pages, woo! :P

[Samantha]

Ahhhhh right. Yeah we did Accent & Dialect along with loads of other variations.. English as a World Language.. Language Change, Age, Ethnicity, Gender and Class! :D

I DID LANGUAGE AND GENDER FOR MY COURSEWORK TOO YEAH I DID JEREMY KYLE AND TRISHA GODDARD!!!!! 10 pages, woo! :P

10 pages? Don't you have a maximum word count? I know you did JK as you wouldn't give me your transcript ;).

[Mathew]

10 pages? Don't you have a maximum word count? I know you did JK as you wouldn't give me your transcript ;).

Yeah but she said just to write as much as you can then worry about that later, LOL! :P

[Shar]

I wouldn't worry Matt, I think everyone's in the same situation as you! I've been trying to get through the last topic for each subject (in the Easter hols) before we go through it in class cos that way it will be more like a revision session in class and then I have time to go over the entire unit outside of class without having to worry about not finishing the curriculum on time.
Whens your first exam?

[Mathew]

I wouldn't worry Matt, I think everyone's in the same situation as you! I've been trying to get through the last topic for each subject (in the Easter hols) before we go through it in class cos that way it will be more like a revision session in class and then I have time to go over the entire unit outside of class without having to worry about not finishing the curriculum on time.
Whens your first exam?

Glad it's not just me then! That's a pretty good idea. I think we've finished Schizophrenia now so there's just Addiction to get through... with 5 weeks to go! I'm so scared for all of the exams.. :(

My first exams (Psychology Unit 3 and English Language) are both on the 11th June! I have another day with two exams on it too - I have 6 in total!

[Shar]

Glad it's not just me then! That's a pretty good idea. I think we've finished Schizophrenia now so there's just Addiction to get through... with 5 weeks to go! I'm so scared for all of the exams.. :(

My first exams (Psychology Unit 3 and English Language) are both on the 11th June! I have another day with two exams on it too - I have 6 in total!
Psychology is the worst subject to finish late. I'm really struggling with it as well..hopefully it will be ok :(

I'm really scared about the exams too and I only have 4 and the first one is on the 29th May and the rest are in June starting from the 14th. Ahh we'll be ok!