After achieving an A* in 2017, I am sharing my quality revision notes, essays, templates and tactics to help ambitious students reach their goals. These resources have proven a hit across the globe with students and teachers alike - download yourself to see why!
Chat with me on twitter @astarlevels or just drop me an email... happy revising!
After achieving an A* in 2017, I am sharing my quality revision notes, essays, templates and tactics to help ambitious students reach their goals. These resources have proven a hit across the globe with students and teachers alike - download yourself to see why!
Chat with me on twitter @astarlevels or just drop me an email... happy revising!
Top band, student written model answer for A Level English Language.
This essay demonstrates how to convey understanding of linguistic ideas by evaluating and challenging the views presented in the question and by other linguists. Students of all abilities will benefit from an example of effective essay writing which they can emulate in their own work. There is also an opportunity for students to plan their own answer to the question.
Why it works:
Shows how to select, arrange & argue the most important ideas in essays
Produced by a student who achieved an A* in 2017
Useful as a concise summary of key theories in essay format
Marking activity for student reflection
Can be reworked as a template for your future (brilliant!) essays
Follow my twitter to stay updated with more essential free resources and news - @astarlevels
Check out my shop for more essays and revision resources: https://www.tes.com/teaching-resources/shop/astarlevels
Written by an a student who got an A* in 2017 and download, used and loved by countless students and teachers across the country. Download to get the full essay PDF. Small sample section deliberately shown in preview
A complete set of notes for child language acquisition full of theorists, linguists, facts, stats, examples, application and more. I used these notes only alongside practice questions to achieve an A* in 2017.
Why they work:
Easy to learn, concise, bullet point revision notes
Show different lines of arguments that can be used to ‘evaluate’ an idea which is crucial to enter the top bands
Omitted endless details on methodology and results
Replaced these with meaningful comments on each study to form the basis of your argument in the exam (crucial to enter top bands!)
Summary sheet includes:
The stages of acquisition
Different things to pick out in a transcript given in the exam & what to say about them
Nativist approach
Constructivists
Nurture approach
Cognitive approach
Notes for written & multi modal language acquisition
Full revision for Paper 1
Model essays for all topics in A Level English Language, including child language
Check out my shop for more: https://www.tes.com/teaching-resources/shop/astarlevels
I’ve created a comprehensive set of notes for every topic in A Level English Language. There are five pages full of theorists, linguists, facts, stats, examples, real world application and more. I used these notes only alongside practice questions & achieved an A* in 2017.
Why they work:
Easy to learn, concise, bullet point revision notes
Omitted endless details on methodology and results
Replaced these with meaningful comments on each study to form the basis of your argument in the exam (crucial to enter top bands!)
Summary sheet includes:
Dominance: Zimmerman & West, Beattie, Spender, Fishman
Deficit: Lakoff, Jepersen
Difference: Tannen, Trudgill, Coates
Diversity: Cameron
Notes for all six topics in A Level English Language
Model essays for all topics in A Level English Language
Check out my shop for more: https://www.tes.com/teaching-resources/shop/astarlevels
14 practice essay questions organised in a workbook format for A Level English Language. Includes an essay template for each question to guide students to structure an answer.
Questions are written in ‘evaluate’ style i.e.* ‘evaluate the idea that some accents and dialects are viewed more favourably than others’*
Why it works:
Covers every topic: gender, accent & dialect, sociolect, world English, language change
Template helps structure answers
Practice recalling AO2 and arranging it with other theories to build an argument
Model essays for all topics in A Level English Language
I’ve created a comprehensive set of notes for every topic in A Level Psychology. They completely cover the specification, condensing all the key theories, studies, applications and evaluations into one booklet. I used these notes only alongside practice questions & achieved an A* in 2017.
Why they work:
> Organised according to, and covering entirely, the AQA specification.
> All AO1 and AO3 ready to answer exam questions
> Presented in a concise and memorable way - easy to learn!
Includes:
• Problems in defining crime. Ways of measuring crime, including official statistics, victim surveys and offender surveys.
• Offender profiling: the top-down approach, including organised and disorganised types of offender; the bottom-up approach, including investigative Psychology; geographical profiling.
• Biological explanations of offending behaviour: an historical approach (atavistic form); genetics and neural explanations.
• Psychological explanations of offending behaviour: Eysenck’s theory of the criminal personality;
cognitive explanations; level of moral reasoning and cognitive distortions, including hostile attribution
bias and minimalisation; differential association theory; psychodynamic explanations.
• Dealing with offending behaviour: the aims of custodial sentencing and the psychological effects
of custodial sentencing. Recidivism. Behaviour modification in custody. Anger management and restorative justice programmes.
Check out my shop for more AQA A Level Psychology resources: https://www.tes.com/teaching-resources/shop/astarlevels
Complete revision for accent & dialect. This resource includes the revision NOTES so you can revise the theory and then an example student ESSAY so you can see how to tackle the exam. Produced by a student who achieved an A* in 2017.
Why they work:
Easy to learn, concise, bullet point revision notes
Essays show how to structure a top band response
Feel confident for your exam
Chat with me on Twitter @astarlevels
Top band, student written model answer for A Level English Language Paper 2 Question 3 on Language Discourses. Includes full essay & marker annotations with overall feedback.
This essay demonstrates how to analyse the way two texts use language to present ideas, attitudes and opinions in similar and different ways. Students of all abilities will benefit from an example of effective essay writing which they can emulate in their own work.
Why it works:
Shows how to structure an answer to this question that addresses all 3 AOs
Examiner commentary highlights successful elements
Produced by a student who achieved an A* in 2017
This particular response was awarded 34/40
Can be reworked as a template for your future (brilliant!) essays
To find the texts used to write this essay download my free mock exam
A checklist of all the research methods content needed for the year one and year two exams (AQA). It is split into what is needed for first year and second year for your convenience :-)
Check out my shop for all the revision resources i used to get an A*: https://www.tes.com/teaching-resources/shop/astarlevels
This bundle contains three packs of suggested essay questions for the new Psychology specification: AQA A Level Psychology.
Despite many students being able to recite key studies and theories by Milgram, Bowlby or Zimbardo, without plenty of practice putting these theories into essays and linking up ideas, they often fail to reach the top marks.
However this resource provides students with LOADS of essays for each topic in the specification. It has a checklist encouraging them to plan the essay to pick the most relevant ideas, then write it and most importantly get it marked for feedback.
When preparing for A Level Psychology some of the most crucial preparation is practice and this resource gives realistic, challenging and invaluable suggested questions.
Hope these pre made questions save you some time and provide some practice material to help students secure the top grades!
Check out my shop for more: https://www.tes.com/teaching-resources/shop/astarlevels
Complete revision for language & occupation/ jargon. This resource includes the revision NOTES so you can revise the theory and then an example student ESSAY so you can see how to tackle the exam. Produced by a student who achieved an A* in 2017.
Why they work:
Easy to learn, concise, bullet point revision notes
Essays show how to structure a top band response
Feel confident for your exam
Chat with me on Twitter @astarlevels
Complete revision for language & gender. This resources includes the revision NOTES so you can revise the theory and then an example student ESSAY so you can see how to tackle the exam. Produced by a student who achieved an A* in 2017.
Why they work:
Easy to learn, concise, bullet point revision notes
Essays show how to structure a top band response
Feel confident for your exam
Chat with me on Twitter @astarlevels
Top band, student written model opinion article for A Level English Language. Produced by a student who achieved an A* in 2017.
This model article demonstrates how to convey understanding of linguistic ideas by evaluating and challenging the views presented in the text and by other linguists. Students of all abilities will benefit from an example of effective article writing which they can emulate in their own work.
Why it works:
Shows how to assess ideas from the texts within your own article
Demonstrates how to balance engaging writing with linguistic content
Produced by a student who achieved an A* in 2017
Can be reworked as a template for your future (brilliant!) articles
Easily turned into an assessment because text A & B are included. The model article can be used for reflection afterwards
I have also included a powerpoint that encourages students to look at each text in detail, make meaningful comments on it & then use these ideas to plan an opinion article answer. Would work well as the premise of a lesson but is not a full lesson powerpoint.
Model essays for all topics in A Level English Language
Write an opinion article about language diversity and variation in which you assess the ideas and issues raised in Text A and Text B and argue your own views.
I’ve created a comprehensive set of notes for every topic in A Level Psychology. They completely cover the specification, condensing all the key theories, studies, applications and evaluations into one booklet. I used these notes only alongside practice questions & achieved an A* in 2017.
Why they work:
> Organised according to, and covering entirely, the AQA specification.
> All AO1 and AO3 ready to answer exam questions
> Presented in a concise and memorable way
It covers every topic in this area of the spec:
• Gender and culture in psychology – universality and bias. Gender bias including androcentrism and alpha and beta bias; cultural bias, including ethnocentrism and cultural relativism.
• Free will and determinism: hard determinism and soft determinism; biological, environmental and psychic determinism. The scientific emphasis on causal explanations.
• The nature-nurture debate: the relative importance of heredity and environment in determining behaviour; the interactionist approach.
• Holism and reductionism: levels of explanation in psychology. Biological reductionism and environmental (stimulus-response) reductionism.
• Idiographic and nomothetic approaches to psychological investigation.
• Ethical implications of research studies and theory, including reference to social sensitivity.
Please do check out my shop as I have over 100 other revision resources. DM me on Twitter @astarlevels if you have any questions. Good luck in your exams!
Detailed summary sheet makes this summary sheet suitable for students aiming for an A* in AQA A Level Psychology
Concise and easy to learn style makes it beneficial for all abilities
Everything you need for this topic right here!
Challenging set of AQA style questions on page 2 that relate to the summary sheet and directly to the specification.
Easy to mark the questions as answers are on summary sheet…
Best used as a handout in class or for revision. The brilliant set of questions means students can reinforce what they’ve learnt with specific questions, meaning they are well prepared for the exam.
Specifically includes:
Classification of schizophrenia.
Positive symptoms of schizophrenia, including hallucinations and delusions.
Negative symptoms of schizophrenia, including speech poverty and avolition.
Reliability and validity in diagnosis and classification of schizophrenia, including reference to co-morbidity, culture and gender bias
A checklist of everything that can be assessed in AQA A Level Psychology from the first year content. It covers the introductory topics i.e. memory, attachment, etc. and the approaches. Use it to make sure you know exactly what you need to know - this is based on the spec straight from the exam board - and check there aren’t any gaps in your notes!
Get research methods checklist and year 2 checklist in the bundle. See my shop for the notes and resources i used to get an A* in 2017 on the new spec :-)
This bundle includes four packs of exam questions for AQA psychology. Each pack covers one of the compulsory AS topics that appear in year one and year 2 exams: MEMORY, ATTACHMENT, SOCIAL and PSYCHOPATHOLOGY.
The questions are usefully grouped so that once you have revised the topic you can test yourself on a range of questions that have appeared in the past, giving you ample opportunities to get familiar with the types of questions the exam board have asked in the past and no doubt will again.
Even students who can recite their notes off by heart may struggle to achieve the top grades because they have poor exam technique, but this workbook is the ideal resource to improve exam technique simply by practicing!
I spent a lot of time going through old specification AQA papers to find the questions that relate to the new specification & highly recommend this exam focused approach to revision in order to access the highest grades.
Check out my shop for complete notes for all year two topics & yr 1 and 2 research methods: https://www.tes.com/teaching-resources/shop/astarlevels
Detailed summary sheet makes this summary sheet suitable for students aiming for an A* in AQA A Level Psychology
Concise and easy to learn style makes it beneficial for all abilities
Everything you need for this topic right here!
Challenging set of AQA style questions on page 2 that relate to the summary sheet and directly to the specification.
Easy to mark the questions as answers are on summary sheet…
Best used as a handout in class or for revision. The brilliant set of questions means students can reinforce what they’ve learnt with specific ‘absorption addiction’ questions, meaning they are well prepared for the exam.
Check out my shop for more!
Check out my shop for tonnes more AQA A Level Psychology resources for the new spec!
Specifically includes:
Para social relationships: levels of para social relationships, the absorption addiction model and the attachment theory explanation
Worksheet offering five loaded & varied opinions on accent and dialect for discussion. Extension asks students to link theories to the different parts of each opinion.
L00K: “Evaluate the idea that some accents and dialects are viewed more favourably than others” A* model student answer with examiner commentary: https://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/accent-and-dialect-a-example-essay-aqa-english-language-a-level-11682959
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Examples of the stages of children’s writing.
Starter idea: ask students to note:
progression in the writing
any mistakes they notice
can they apply nay theories
Follow my twitter to stay updated with more essential free resources and news - @astarlevels
Poster giving an explanation and examples of jargon. Could be used as a starter or as part of a display alongside students own posters.
Follow my twitter to stay updated with more essential free resources and news - @astarlevels