Acknowledgement: the author would like to thank the sociology students at Kingsthorpe College for their support.

Philip Allan, an imprint of Hodder Education, an Hachette UK company, Blenheim Court, George Street, Banbury, Oxfordshire OX16 5BH

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© Dave O’Leary 2015

ISBN 978-1-4718-4432-4
eISBN 978-1-4718-4433-1

First printed 2015

Impression number 5 4 3 2 1

Year 2019 2018 2017 2016 2015

All rights reserved; no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any other form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise without either the prior written permission of Hodder Education or a licence permitting restricted copying in the United Kingdom issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency Ltd, Saffron House, 6–10 Kirby Street, London EC1N 8TS.

This Guide has been written specifically to support students preparing for the AQA AS and A-level Sociology examinations. The content has been neither approved nor endorsed by AQA and remains the sole responsibility of the author.

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Getting the most from this book

Exam tips

Advice on key points in the text to help you learn and recall content, avoid pitfalls, and polish your exam technique in order to boost your grade.

Knowledge check

Rapid-fire questions throughout the Content Guidance section to check your understanding.

Knowledge check answers

Turn to the back of the book for the Knowledge check answers.

Summaries

•  Each core topic is rounded off by a bullet-list summary for quick-check reference of what you need to know.

About this book

This guide is for students following the AQA AS and A-level Sociology courses. It deals with the topics of education and sociological theory and methods. At AS these are examined in Paper 1 Education with methods in context and Paper 2 (Section A) Research methods. At A-level they are examined in Paper 1 Education with theory and methods.

There are two main sections to this guide.

•  Content Guidance — this provides details of the topics of education and sociological theory and methods. Topic areas on education and theory and methods examine key ideas and arguments, stating the main points of evaluation and listing the key concepts and key thinkers. The defined words are key words for this specification.

•  Questions and Answers — this shows you the kind of questions you can expect in the AS Paper 1 and Paper 2 Section A examinations and in the A-level Paper 1 examination. The first three test papers are followed by two sample answers: Candidate A (A-grade response) and Candidate B (C-grade response). The fourth test paper has practice AS and A-level papers for you to attempt yourself with guidance on how to answer.

How to use this guide

When you study education topics and theory and methods in class, read the corresponding information from the Content Guidance section to become familiar with the topic. You should use this information to complete your own revision notes, for example on each method and topic within education. If you are doing the AS exam, you can complete Test Paper 1 practice exam questions after completing the education topic and Test Paper 2 when you have finished the methods topic. You will need to complete the question on methods in context after you have finished both topics. It is advisable to focus on one essay question at a time. After you have completed your own answers you should compare them with the answers from Candidates A and B. These and the commentary can be used to amend your revision notes. If you are doing the A-level exam, you can go through the same process with Test Paper 3. While Test Paper 3 has A-level exam questions, question 05 is in the same format as the Methods in Context question in AS Paper 1 and so will also be useful when revising for this exam.

The AS and A-level specifications are shown in detail on the AQA website: www.aqa.org.uk/7912. Follow the links to Sociology AS (7191) and A-level (7192).