Top Tips for Revision: Part Two

In the previous post, there were some general tips for planning your revision for exams and how to deal with some of the anxiety associated with them. In this post, there will be some suggestions about how to revise for Sociology specifically!

• Seek out the Specification

You will have no doubt seen the specification a number of times during your studies in Sociology, you may even know it like the back of your hand as you’ve seen it that much, but use this to help structure your revision. Try and get a printout or use a checklist version to self-assess your knowledge of the areas you have covered.

Remember – you cannot be asked about things that are NOT covered in the specification.

• Get to Know the Papers

For the linear exams, there are three papers and you will have been taught core topics and some options:

• Paper 1: Education with Theory and Methods (all core areas)
• Paper 2: You will have been taught two topics from a selection for the two sections of the paper. These topics may include for example Families and Households, Beliefs in Society or Culture and Identity and The Media – ensure that you are clear with what topics you have covered. In the exam situation, you’ll be surprised by how many students attempt a ‘different section’ to what they were taught in lessons.
• Paper 3: Crime and Deviance with Theory and Methods (all core areas)

For each paper, do you roughly also know the question break-down?

• Name Calling

This is perhaps one of the biggest concerns about sociology, how do you remember all of the people? It’s a completely justified concern, but the main thing to remember is this – you don’t need to remember everyone.

Some people are certainly easier to remember than others, such as Karl Marx and Emile Durkheim and you might immediately be able to think of subject content associated with them related to different topics. However, what about the likes of Husserl? Heidonsohn? Or Woodhead?

Here are some tips for recalling names:

• Make a list of the names of people that you do know and then a second list of additional names that you are unfamiliar with using your notes. Doing this could jolt your memory and you may remember more people and their work than you think.
• Narrow these down into a list of core people with preferably a link to a sociological perspective, a piece of research or both.
• Make cue cards for each of these with details about who they are and their contribution to Sociology. If something stands out about a piece of theory/research, then you are also more likely to remember it… Laud Humphreys, anyone?
• The more you use people in your work also, their work and names will become more familiar to you. When it comes to the exams themselves and you can’t remember who said what, rather than putting in a random name, just keep it broad and say something like, ‘A sociologist argued/said/stated…’

Good luck!