GCE Study Techniques - How To Succeed!

1. To be a successful Sociologist you have to read your text book.

2. Reading articles from academic journals and quality newspapers is important if you are going to stay informed about the latest social trends and research.

3. Look at the headlines of the Telegraph online, Guardian online, Times online etc., each day. Download a news app to your 'phone to make this easier.

4. Current Affairs are great sources of info. Radio 4 and Channel 4 programmes are your friend - listen to your friend. Catch the Today programme each weekday morning on your way into school (or catch up with iPlayer Radio here). The PM programme is on Radio 4 at 5pm (or catch up with iPlayer Radio here). Channel 4 News is on TV at 6pm (or catch up with 4OD here).

5. Be opinionated. Talk about the things you see and hear, and listen to what others are saying about them.

6. Write and think like a Sociologist. This basically means that you need to learn key words and concepts and use them in your writing and speech.

7. Make glossaries so that you understand key terms. You should aim to have a glossary that's bigger than the one in your text book by the time your exams come around. Don't just compile it though - read it over and over until you can remember most of it :-)

8. Revision cards and flash cards are key to testing yourself all the time. Don't wait until your exams are close - start making revision cards as soon as you encounter each topic.

9. Create useful notes to help you understand, revise, and pass your exams. When you watch a video or read an article, jot down a few notes on what you've just learned. The Cornell Note-Taking method is a really useful way of making notes that you can easily use and revise from.

10. Catch the specialist radio programmes that are perfect for Sociologists - Thinking Allowed and More or Less are two useful resources for your studies.

11. Use the Facebook groups for AS and A2. Lots of useful stuff gets posted there, and it's the main way that I can reach you outside of class.

12. Read the Sociology Department blog and check out the links to resources and research that I provide. Also use the AS, A2 and Study Techniques pages where I summarise lots of the stuff that has already been posted.

13. Follow and subscribe to me on Youtube, Twitter, Pinterest etc. so that you have access to all the other useful stuff that I post as I find it.


My best advice is to read one new article per day related to one of your Sociology units, and revise a small topic area each day for at least 10 minutes.

Research showing that taking notes by hand leads to greater retention than taking notes by laptop: http://www.npr.org/2016/04/17/474525392/attention-students-put-your-laptops-away