#a level study tips

o c t o b e r 2 3, 2 0 1 8

So this is all new to me . I have always wanted to start a blog of some sort. Helping me keep track on what i did daily / weekly and if i was keeping on top of my work . Overall helping me become more productive

But i was lazy and i everytime i said i wanted to start one i never continued as a result . However today i want to change that .

So here i am . Today i started off slow . Seeing that Half term is over and sixth form starts up tommorow , i arranged my things. Did a little bit of my computing coursework as well as finishing up my maths homework .

Right now before i go to sleep , i plan to mark the biology past papers i did as well as finishing up some of my computer science past papers i planned to finished .

Yeah so pretty much today was slow .

With this blog , i will try to post at least weekly , talking about the things i did that week. Hopefully be released every saturday.

If you want me to post pictures of the work i did that week , i wouldn't mind ( but hand writing is pretty atrocious)

march 01, 2019

m o n d a y , o c t 2 9

practice papers and essays in preparation for the ELAT on the 31st

A-level history essay tips: as told by a massive procrastinator

Plan, plan, plan. The plan is one of the most important parts of your essay, about on the same level as the essay itself. For me, planning is one of the longest steps, here is my planning process:

Step one: brainstorm, make a brainstorm of every possible analysis of your question, if the word “significant” is used, think about what makes something significant? How can you judge something’s significance? Break down your question into measurable chunks. Once that is done, make a brainstorm of all the points that could possibly go into your question, it doesn’t matter if you don’t have the evidence to support them, just get them on paper.

Step two: on a new sheet of paper sort all of your ideas into categories, time periods, leaders, any significant sub-headings that would make your essay more structured. For example in my most recent essay, i sorted my points into time periods under each government (Lenin, Stalin, post-Stalin) - this made it easier for me to form a coherent argument, it might be something completely different for you.

Step three: now that your points are put in categories, find evidence that supports every single point, this is essential, you may want to search your textbook for this or turn to the internet (a website i find really useful is revisionworld)

This is your plan, you should now be ready to begin writing. If this method doesn’t work for you, some other planning methods are: here, here and here

Once you have a good plan, writing your essay should be far easier. A structure I follow when writing is:

Introduction: Signpost your argument (I don’t always do this here, but it’s a helpful tip regardless), write a breif summary of what your essay will discuss, refer back to your first brainstorm and unpick the question, assess how you will judge the topic

Paragraphs: Begin with a topic sentence, summarise the argument your paragraph will make. Then add the supporting evidence you put in your plan earlier, names, dates, figures - at this point in your essay there shouldn’t be much you have to think about other than how to word your point. Evaluate your evidence in regards to your question (in my case, I had a “how significant?” question, so here I would discuss the significance of my evidence). You may want to repeat this process with more than one peice of evidence in your paragraph. End your paragraph with a synthesis sentence, one that wraps up everything you have said into one sentence and makes your point clear.

Conclusion: For your conclusion, refer back to your synthesis sentences at the end of every paragraph, summarise them (particularly the ones that support your argument) and make a final judgement

You now have a history essay! I hope this has been any help, I’m by no means an expert on essay writing and this is just how I personally write and structure my essays. If anybody has anything they would add/change, comment on this post or send me a message.