51ºÚÁÏ

Thank you very much for your kind words! Glad they can help

Hi ‘NaturedGecko605’! You’re in yr12 so time is on your side. Do all of your class work but every time you learn anything new, add it to this document and make sure it’s fully padded out. When it comes to mock exams, use this time to work out what revision method works best for you. This could be flash cards, it could be learning essay plans, or it could legitimately be cramming (it often gets a bad rep but some people do perform best having crammed). I graduated with a First in History & Politics from Oxford last summer and what worked the best for me was for every paper I had documents like these 70+ pages that I used as a notes bank. But then for each sub-topic I had 2 sides of A4 of scholars notes (at A-level this is probably just the various for/against argument but if you can add the odd scholar or two you’ll really show the examiner you’re worthy of an A*), 2 sides of A4 of notes/facts, and then an essay plan or two that a tutor had provided feedback for. In truth, I ended up cramming this but if it works, it works! At A-level, much like GCSE, examiners reports are also your best friend. Examiners at every level want you to ‘hold their hand’ as you walk them through your argument. The biggest difference between an A grade student and an A* student, is one who can justify every piece of info you bring in. You might write about an argument/case study because it is the only one you know but you have to slightly bolster your argument into claiming why it’s the perfect case study. I’m using an example at Uni level here so forgive me if this doesn’t make sense but in my International Security & Conflict paper last year, I had to answer a question about peace building. The question said ‘what can failed military interventions outside of Europe since 1990 tell us about western attempts at peacebuilding’. A lot of people froze, we had never been explicitly taught any of these things. I can guarantee you, everyone in that exam hall wrote about Afghanistan and Iraq. I did too but I justified why. In my essay intro I wrote about it being the prime location for study due to various parties involved, a somewhat homogenous religion with Islam and similar historic conditions yet deeply heterogeneous cultures, languages, political systems etc. I claimed the geographic proximities offered a remarkable opportunity for the arguments I went on to make. I suggested further scholarship should extrapolate my argument to other conflicts and then named a few conflicts I knew of but where I didn’t actually know much detail. I achieved the top grade in my cohort on this paper for this exact reason. ALWAYS JUSTIFY YOUR ARGUMENTS! Why are yours the only ones. The examiner might not agree but at least they will award you marks for depth of understanding. Apologies if this is rather longwinded but I wish you the best of luck and every success in the years to come. Cheers, Johnny