Revise with Annie!

Hello! 

I’m writing this post because although I don’t post regularly here anymore, I still get asks - a lot of them are anon, which means I can’t reply privately, and during University Term Time I am shockingly bad at maintaining a presence here, so it can take weeks for me to reply to people! 

Who are you? 

Legit just who are you? 

I’m Annie, I’m 20, I’m from the East of England. I’m a Hufflepuff. I like stationery, tea, coffee, and animals.

Can I have a link to your personal blog? 

Absolutely - just ask off-anon. I don’t link publicly because I wanted this blog to remain a resource I could share with classmates (and younger students from my school) without worrying about them (and my teachers!) seeing my obsession with dogs and GBBO... it just felt weird.

Can I contact you beyond tumblr? 

Maybe? Ask off anon, and explain why, and we can try to figure something out!

Why did you blog your notes? 

I got fed up of spending ages on notes for them to be ignored and discarded once the exam was over. I appreciated the help of an older friend in photocopying old notes for me, but didn’t want to dedicate so much time to help younger friends... and if I’m totally honest I just couldn’t get off tumblr for long enough to revise.

What did you get at A Level? 

A*A*A (in Religious Studies, Psychology, and French)! I have an A and a B in General Studies & Product Design at AS, too. Breakdowns can be found here and here

Where did you end up? 

At Durham University! I’m a Combined Honours student, I began majoring in Theology with some Education and some Philosophy... now I major in Education with some Theology. I love it. I’ll start my third (and final!) year in October (2016). 

I did a whole module about Harry Potter (in which I got a first), I slammed the NHS in an essay (for which I got a first), and I discussed cheeky nandos at length in an essay (for which I got a first). 

Being real, I also bombed some theology essays and hated some modules - my overall grade currently stands at 69.7% which is teetering on the borderline of a 2:1 and a First - I believe I would possibly/probably get a first overall if I maintain that this year.  

My dissertation is probably going to be about narrative - how we live stories, and tell stories; how they don’t always match with each other; and how narratives interact with classroom teaching and wellbeing on big and small scales. 

I have a question about Durham, or general University life, can I ask you? 

Of course - I love to talk about it! Send me an ask here, or ask me off anon and we can chat on my personal blog. 

Which Universities did you apply to / offers did you get?

I applied for Theology at Oxford, King’s College London, Sheffield, and Edinburgh. I applied for Combined Honours at Durham. 

I got 5 offers, I know Durham was A*AA, Oxford was AAA. I think Sheffield was AAB or ABB. I’m fairly sure Edinburgh was BBB. 

I firmed Durham and Sheffield was my insurance. 

Wait, you got an offer for Oxford? What was interviewing like?!

Like this, apparently - I’ve forgotten a lot of it, so I’m glad I blogged!

Wait, you got an offer for Oxford but you firmed Durham? Why?

There are a few reasons - I ought to make a post, and maybe I will before term starts. I’ll link here if I do!

Notes

Do you have notes for x exam board?

Maybe! 

These notes are for the exam boards my school favoured:  Psychology - Edexcel / Religious Studies - OCR / Product Design - OCR. 

That isn’t to say that their information can’t be applied elsewhere - a fact is a fact - but please check what you need to learn, the level of detail you need to know, and so on. If you’re unsure, ask your teacher whether this resource could be useful for you.

My unit choices for Religious Studies were Religious Ethics & Philosophy of Religion / My unit choices for A2 Psychology were Child Psychology & Criminological Psychology- there were no choices at AS. 

Do you have notes for my specification? 

Almost certainly not!

These notes are from when I sat my AS Levels (May/June 2013) and A2 Exams (May/June 2014), I’m sure times have moved on since then and specifications have changed. 

Again, that isn’t to say that their information can’t be applied elsewhere - a fact is a fact - but please check what you need to learn, the level of detail you need to know, and so on. If you’re unsure, ask your teacher whether this resource could be useful for you.

Will you write up the missing notes for x?

Sorry, but probably not any time soon. There’s a chance it’ll happen someday, but right now I’m about to go into my third year of University, and I don’t really have the time to be adding notes to this blog :(

How should I use these notes? 

While I always intended for this blog to be a pretty comprehensive guide to everything for the exam boards and specifications I studied, please please please also make use of your own textbooks, class notes, and the resources your teachers give you- I don’t think I’m entirely ready for the responsibility of people’s exam results :P

I don’t like what you said in this post / this is offensive in some way / I think this is factually wrong. 

Thank you for letting me know - hopefully this can be constructive! 

If you think there’s a factual inaccuracy, let me know via an ask and I’ll do my best to check and fix anything that needs fixing - bear in mind that if this is during University term time it might wait until the vacation if I’m busy or need to access resources which remain at home-home!

I’m really sorry if something I’ve posted here has upset or offended you. Let me know, and if it is something I can change, I will change it. Otherwise, I will do my best to edit the relevant posts so they at least link to your explanation of why they are harmful (if you don’t want me to post an ask with your username, please use anon or let me know, as chances are I’ll use your explanation to highlight what’s wrong). An example of this is autism - my original post contained some poorly worded sentences, which I edited, but other elements such as Extreme Male Brain theory had to remain, because edexcel required me to learn and evaluate them in accordance with their specification. I really am genuinely sorry.

This link is broken - it’s there but takes me to the wrong place / nothing at all! 

Oops, thanks for letting me know - I’ll get on fixing that!

This link is missing - something’s listed on a contents page but it doesn’t seem to even try to link to a post!

Oops, that probably means I didn’t get around to typing up notes for it! Feel free to send me an ask to confirm if you think the issue might be a broken link, though.

Your post has a typo!

Oops, thanks for letting me know - I’ll get on fixing that! If you could link to the post in question it’d be a huge help!

Your blog has helped me!

Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! I try to reply to these asks because they make my day, but I’m really bad at doing it. I really appreciate your thanks, and I enjoy hearing about how your Sixth Form experience is going - it’s interesting to find out about people, and it makes the work I put into this blog feel worth it when I know it’s helped!

Revision / Exam Technique

Do you have any revision tips? 

The specification is your best friend. It is literally a list of everything you could be asked questions on! Use it - but check you’re using the right one. If in doubt, ask your teacher. 

Past papers! Do them! Use the mark schemes! Use the examiners’ reports! 

If you feel confident in your exam technique (you know - and marks in class confirm - that you can answer within the time, you can write a good essay, you can express yourself well) it might be more time efficient to mindmap or bullet-point-list points to answer, rather than doing a paper in full. If you do this, make sure you still do enough work on your exam technique - timings and expression and so on. If in doubt, ask your teacher!

Do some timed questions so you’re used to expressing what you know under pressure.

Save some past papers for soon to the exam - preparing for mocks is great, identifying problem areas before revision is great, but you want to maintain your exam technique and get into the exam zone before your exams too!

If you stumble across something you’re unsure on, ask your teacher! Email, or see them before/after a lesson (don’t be surprised if their response to either of these is to arrange a time to see you in person). They’re there to help you! 

If you want a teacher to mark something you’ve done, just ask! Most of them (in my experience) were happy to, although it sometimes took quite a while as it (entirely understandably) wasn’t their top priority. 

Experiment - see what suits you! For AS I had no real revision timetable, for A2 I had a really strict one, I’ve had a chill one for both of my years at University. Some people write notes, some mind map, some revision card, some teach others, some draw, some listen to recordings of themselves. See what works for you!

Don’t waste time intensely preparing for predictions- you will probably find some online. They’ll probably have a hint of truth in them. They’ll probably be mostly false. It’s really not worth the risk! 

Make sure you take breaks, and practice good self-care. Drink plenty of water, eat healthy meals and snacks, make sure you move about, take breaks, chat to friends, don’t become isolated. You’re all very important people and no qualification or exam is worth significantly sacrificing your wellbeing! 

How did you revise?

I used the specification to identify which topics I needed to understand, and split my revision into chunks - usually these were the topics which separate into individual posts. I made a checklist to keep me on track.

I made a set of full notes, combining information from in-class powerpoints and teaching with information from textbooks, revision guides, and other resources. These are the notes which can be found on this blog!

I made these notes into mindmaps, condensing the information and making it easy to review. I put the ones I needed to review most on my wall. 

I did past papers! Once I knew I had my exam technique down I just made notes for the longer questions. I then marked my performance using the mark scheme, and looked through the examiners’ reports! 

I made revision cards! For things I struggled to memorise, like names, dates, and summaries for Psychology studies, I made ‘match the card’ games. 

I verbally revised with friends - we’d take it in turns explaining things, or work together to list all the potential points to make in answer to a question.

How do you write a good essay? 

I honestly wouldn’t trust myself to give you an answer - I’ve spent 2 years writing essays for University, and they look for different things in their essays so my technique has developed. I would suggest asking your teacher, but if they’re unhelpful ask a classmate (who does well!) or a friend a year or so older than you who sat the same qualification. Sorry!

When did you start revising?

I don’t remember when I began revising for my AS Levels... I don’t really remember when I started revising for my A2 exams either. I remember them all being intense and stressful, so my advice would be to not procrastinate, and to ask your teacher for their advice. I wish I were better at following my own advice, though. 

Which textbooks did you use? 

Religious Studies: the Oliphant textbook for Ethics, and the Taylor/Mayled & Ahluwalia for Philosophy of Religion.

Oops, sorry about that! 

“Evaluation of Freud’s Case Studies & Credibility” can be found here :) 

Hey! 

I’m glad you’re finding them useful :) 

I’m really glad the blog has helped you! :) 

If you send me a message off-anon explaining a bit more about why you want to contact me (and what kind of thing you mean by directly), we can definitely try to figure something out! 

(I’m sure you can appreciate that I’m reluctant to give contact details publicly, and without knowing the person asking and reason they’re doing so!)

I’m really glad, thanks for letting me know! :) 

Thank you very much, appreciated :’) 

I think they were notes I never typed up for the blog- I wrote the contents pages in advance and updated them with links as I progressed, so if I didn't get as far as writing notes for a topic on my laptop the text remains there unlinked. 

It's been something I've wanted to do for a while, and might feature new posts to be linked to an FAQ as well as simple answers, but term-time is so hectic it's a project that's had to wait until vacation! 

Hello annie, your blog is helping me so much, but I would like to know how you revised for RS OCR as I'm currently doing it for AS at the moment? xx

Hey, not sure if you guys are 2 anons or one re-sending a question I've not responded to- sorry it's taken me a while to get around to the question, being a student is busier than I ever imagined and the start of term has been full of catching up with friends, taking exams, and submitting assignments!

For AS I wrote out lots of notes so I had a complete set for each topic- I used class notes, plus textbooks- I used the Oliphant textbook for Ethics, and the Taylor/Mayled & Ahluwalia for Philosophy of Religion. I think I probably then used past papers and such. 

To be honest, it's probably easier if I describe what I did for A2 because that's more recent so I remember better! I made notes, but on a revision blog instead. I then created mindmaps- one for each post, roughly speaking, and then an overall one from each topic. These covered my walls, and it helped me visualise every philosopher I knew for each topic! I made sure I'd completed a long untimed essay, plus an exam conditions essay, for each topic. I went through all of the past papers and planned answers, practiced picking questions, and compared my thoughts to the markscheme and examiners' reports. Finally, my friend & I would sit and verbally recap the main points for each philosopher or topic, or plan essays. I had a check list on my wall where I could mark off each of those activities for topics, to keep me on track!

My biggest tip would be to experiment and see what works for you. For A2, I had a strict revision timetable, for AS I didn't. Some people might find writing out notes is awful. Some people prefer to record themselves reading them, or put them into a text-to-speech site and download the files to listen to. See what suits you best!

Make sure you take breaks, and practice good self-care. Drink plenty of water, eat healthy meals and snacks, make sure you move about, take breaks, chat to friends, don't become isolated. You're all very important people and no qualification or exam is worth significantly sacrificing your wellbeing! 

Past papers really are your best friend- you may find it helpful to write whole essays, to bullet point, to plan, or just to read. Don't waste time intensely preparing for predictions- you will probably find some online. They'll probably have a hint of truth in them. They'll probably be mostly false. It's really not worth the risk! Also, make sure you save some past papers for the period imminently before your exam so you can truly test yourself then. Preparing for mocks is useful and important, but I'd recommend saving some past papers, as I performed far better then I did so. 

Your teachers and classmates are also your friends! Try revising in pairs or small groups, and see if it helps- my friend & I used to explain things together, and then we could correct or add to each other's knowledge! It might just distract you, but now is a good time to experiment and find out, if you've not already. Ask your teachers to clarify anything you don't understand, that's what they're there for, and don't be afraid to ask for resources or ask them if they'll mark or look over practice work!

Hey, glad they're helpful!

I made notes on this blog, which is how I combined my notes from class with information from textbooks...

I then made mindmaps of key areas [use the specification for this, it is literally a list of what you need to know] and had the ones I needed to memorise [like studies] up on my wall...

And then I did past papers. All of the past papers. By the end I was confident I had my essay technique and timing DOWN, so I just made notes for the longer/essay questions as I felt that was the best use of my time. I'd definitely recommend doing one or two past papers fully, and flicking through all of them before your final exam, and do not forget the markschemes and examiners' reports whatever you do! Basically look at whether you want to get the content DOWN to ensure maximum marks, or whether your exam technique is what needs refining to make sure you can get the knowledge you have communicated and credited! The only other thing I'd say now, bearing in mind it's January, is not to past-paper yourself out too early- there are plenty, but they are limited, so manke sur eyou leave yourself some to do as new papers wen it comes to close to the exam itself!

I'm so glad to hear that! It makes all the effort I put into my A2 notes so worth it, it makes me really, really happy to know that it can help other people, so thank you so much for taking the time to write that ask, you're lovely!

I’m really glad to hear it’s useful for you guys, it makes all those hours of revision feel double worth it because not only did it help me learn and get the grades I needed, hopefully it can be a useful resource for others, too! It’s always so lovely to know that it’s helpful, this message really made me smile, so thank you so much!

I have no plans to delete this blog ever- it’ll be here for as long as tumblr hosts it, though I might have to make some tweaks when the specification changes to avoid confusion! 

Thank you very much ^_^

Being 5 UMS off an A this year means you just need to be 5 UMS over the A boundary next year, effectively you need to get 165/200, which is definitely achievable I think, although obviously I can't really say for sure what you could get because I don't know you!

You've had a year to settle down and learn how you best revise, and you've also had a year to learn some exam technique, so it's entirely possible to end up with greater UMS at A2 than at AS. 

Some people chose to retake an AS Unit, because Unit 4 encompasses all you've learned thus far and so you do have to go over a lot of Unit 1 and 2 content in revision anyway. While that's definitely an option, for the sake of 5 marks it may be better to focus all of your time on A2 to get those 5 marks over the A boundary that you need- as you're so close it seems pretty achievable without a retake, although if you're in a centre you can definitely discuss this with a member of staff and see what they think!

Personally, I got better marks at A2 than at AS- that's definitely at least partly down to the fact I put more work into A2, but I was able to do that because I found the content more interesting and because I found the course gave me more to engage with and learn, not just memorise!

My 6th Form picked the topics for me- if you're taking the exam through a centre it's likely they'll pick the topics you study, and I'd advise you to stick with their choice because that's obviously the teaching you'll be given...