Paper 1 Guidance (AQA A Level Sociology): Revision Note

What is examined in AQA A Level Sociology Paper 1?

• This paper focuses on education with theory and methods, which includes:

  • education

  • methods in context

  • theory and methods

• The paper's duration is 2 hours

• Paper 1

  • is worth a total of 80 marks

  • represents 33.3% of the A Level

  • is made up of three parts and six questions

• You must answer all questions, as there is no choice of question on this paper

Layout of Paper 1

• The layout of Paper 1 is the same every year:

• Throughout the paper, you are expected to:

  • link your answers to the two core themes of the course, which are:

    • socialisation, culture and identity

    • social differentiation, power and stratification

  • focus on UK society today, making comparisons with other societies and referring to globalisation where relevant

  • use sociological concepts, theories, research findings and the names of sociologists, as all of these are credited by examiners

• Answers to questions worth 10 marks or more should be written in continuous prose

Education (Questions 01 to 04)

• This part of the paper consists of the following types of questions:

  • Two short answer questions:

    • 'Outline two...' for 4 marks

    • 'Outline three...' for 6 marks

  • One 10-mark 'Analyse two...' question

    • This must be answered using material from Item A

  • One 30-mark 'Evaluate...' essay question

    • This must be answered using material from Item B and your own knowledge

• Any area of the education specification can be examined by any of these four question types

• The education questions are worth 50 marks in total

  • The 30-mark essay alone is worth more than a third of the marks on the whole paper

Key concepts and theories

• The specification does not name particular studies, but you need to know the sociological explanations of all of the content listed below:

  • The role and functions of the education system, including its relationship to the economy and to class structure

    • The functionalist, New Right, Marxist and feminist views of education

  • Differential educational achievement of social groups by social class, gender and ethnicity

    • External and internal factors for each social group

    • Reasons for boys' underachievement and gender differences in subject choice

  • Relationships and processes within schools

    • Teacher and pupil relationships, e.g. labelling and the self-fulfilling prophecy

    • Pupil identities and subcultures

    • The hidden curriculum

    • The organisation of teaching and learning, e.g. streaming and setting

  • The significance of educational policies

    • Policies of selection, marketisation and privatisation

    • Policies to achieve greater equality of opportunity or outcome

    • The impact of globalisation on educational policy

Methods in Context (Question 05)

• This part of the paper consists of one extended writing question

  • This must be answered using material from Item C and your knowledge of research methods

• Item C describes a particular issue in education that sociologists may want to research and names one research method

  • E.g. using unstructured interviews to investigate the effects of streaming on pupils

• You are asked to evaluate the strengths and limitations of using that method to investigate that issue

• This question assesses your ability to apply sociological research methods to the study of education

  • Knowledge of the method and application to the educational issue carry equal marks, so an answer about the method in general will not score well

Key concepts and skills

• Ensure that you know the characteristics of the research context, as these are what you apply the method to:

  • researching schools

  • researching teachers and classrooms

  • researching students and parents

• You also need to know how each research method can be used to investigate education:

  • questionnaires

  • interviews

  • participant and non-participant observation

  • experiments

  • official statistics

  • documents

• Strengths and limitations should be organised around practical, ethical and theoretical factors

Theory and Methods (Question 06)

• This part of the paper consists of one 10-mark 'Outline and explain two...' question

  • There is no Item for this question, so your answer comes entirely from your own knowledge

• The question can be on sociological theory or on research methods

  • Do not assume that it will be a methods question just because it follows Methods in Context

    • E.g. it could ask about the usefulness of a perspective, the nature of social facts or the advantages of a type of data

• Theory and Methods is also examined in Paper 3, so the content below needs to be revised for both papers

Key concepts and theories

• Ensure that you know all of the research methods content listed below that is named in the specification:

  • Quantitative and qualitative methods of research and research design

  • Sources of data, including questionnaires, interviews, participant and non-participant observation, experiments, documents and official statistics

  • The distinction between primary and secondary data and between quantitative and qualitative data

  • The relationship between positivism, interpretivism and sociological methods, and the nature of social facts

  • The theoretical, practical and ethical considerations that influence the choice of topic, the choice of method and the conduct of research

• You will also need to know the following sociological theory content that is named in the specification:

  • Consensus, conflict, structural and social action theories

  • The concepts of modernity and postmodernity in relation to sociological theory

  • The nature of science and the extent to which sociology can be regarded as scientific

  • The relationship between theory and methods

  • Debates about subjectivity, objectivity and value freedom

  • The relationship between sociology and social policy

How should I manage my time in Paper 1?

• You have 120 minutes to earn 80 marks

  • This works out at 1.5 minutes per mark

• The two essays (Questions 04 and 05) are worth 50 of the 80 marks, so they should take up around 75 minutes of your time

  • Both essays need a brief plan, which is included in the suggested times above

• Keep your answers to Questions 01 and 02 short and precise

  • State each point and develop it in a sentence or two, then move on

  • Examiners report that many students over-write these answers and then run out of time on the essays

• Do not spend more than 15 minutes on either 10-mark question