Hi! These are my A-Level notes, essays and resources I used to sit the 2018 summer exams, in AQA Psychology, AQA Economics and AQA English Literature (achieving A*A*A). Hope you find these useful.
Hi! These are my A-Level notes, essays and resources I used to sit the 2018 summer exams, in AQA Psychology, AQA Economics and AQA English Literature (achieving A*A*A). Hope you find these useful.
AQA Economics A-level (specification 7135, 7136)
Includes:
Theory of Demand - downward slope curve, exceptions to law of demand
Price elasticity of demand and determinants
Income elasticity of demand and determinants
Cross elasticity of demand and determinants
Theory of Supply
Price elasticity of supply and determinants
Market equilibrium and disequilibrium
For AQA Economics A-level (specification 7135, 7136)
Specification points: 4.1.1.1 - 4.1.2.4
Includes:
Economic methodology - positive and normative statements
Economic problem - needs, wants, scarcity etc.
Choice and opportunity cost
Economic sectors and units
Factors of production
PPF graphs and explanations of shifts
Consumer behaviour - utility theory, rationality, imperfect/asymmetric information
Behavioural economic theory and economic policies - choice architecture, framing, nudges etc.
Evaluation of behavioural economics
AQA Economics A-level: specification 7135, 7136
*I sat my Economics exam in summer 2018 and achieved A star grades across all three papers. Here is a bundle of all my content/theory notes and 25 mark essay examples and plans!
Includes:
Paper 1 - Micro
Economic Problem and Methodology
Supply and Demand
Production, Costs and Revenue
Market Structure
Labour Market
Income and Wealth
Market Mechanism, Market Failure and Government Intervention
Paper 2 - Macro
Macroeconomic performance
Aggregate Demand and Aggregate Supply
Economic Performance
Financial Markets
Fiscal and Supply Side
International Economy
Paper 3 - Synoptic
Synoptic practice questions
AND *A Example 25 mark essays and practice questions covering:
**
Includes 25 mark essays:
Assess whether you agree that governments should subsidize companies who are developing cars which run on clean fuels such as hydrogen (25 marks)
Assess whether you agree that the government should give financial assistance to firms producing cars in the UK to increase their competitiveness (25 marks)
Assess whether you agree that the implementation of pollution permits could play a role in reducing global warming (25 marks)
Discuss the view that falling unemployment will inevitably lead to trade-offs with other macroeconomic policy objectives (25 marks)
Evaluate policies that the government could use to reduce obesity, referring to classical solutions such as taxes, subsidies and regulations, and behavioural solutions such as nudges and default choice (25 marks)
Using your knowledge of behavioural economics and neoclassical economics, evaluate the possible policies that could be used to reduce congestion in the UK’s cities. (25 marks)
Evaluate the view that imposing a tax is the most effective government policy for reducing the market failure arising from overconsumption of unhealthy food and drink (25 marks)
Using the extracts and your economic knowledge, assess whether you agree that fixing a maximum price for energy that is sold households is the best way of dealing with market failure in the UK energy industry (25 marks)
Using the extracts and your economic knowledge, assess the view that inequality is ‘good for us all’ (25 marks)
9 and 15 mark essays:
With the help of a diagram, explain how export subsidies may help promote economic growth in India (9 marks)
Explain how government policies can reduce the natural rate of unemployment (15 marks)
Explain why, in a free market, sugary drinks may be overconsumed (15 marks)
Essay plan
To what extent do you agree that expansionary monetary policy is always effective in creating economic growth? (25 marks)
AQA Economics A-level (specification 7135, 7136)
Includes:
Types of goods; public, quasi-public and private
Allocation of resources - price mechanism; rationing, signaling, incentive, allocative functions
Market failure - examples and eliminating failures
Merit and demerit goods
Positive and negative externalities in production and consumption
Imperfect and asymmetric information
Monopoly power
Immobility of factors of production
Government intervention - arguments for and against
Methods of intervention; indirect taxes, subsidies, minimum/maximum price, regulation
Cont. information provision, pollution permits etc.
Supply-side intervention - free market vs interventionist policies (and evaluation)
Government failure; causes, examples, overcoming government failure
Competition policy; monopolies, mergers, public ownership
Privatisation and evaluation
Regulation and deregulation
AQA Economics A-level: Synoptic (paper 3) preparation questions, specification 7135, 7136
I achieved an A in my Economics a-level in 2018, across all three papers. This document is an example of potential synoptic content, practice exam questions*
Based on brazil synoptic:
Includes example 10 mark, 15 mark and 25 mark planned essay
Othello AQA English Literature A; Love through the ages (7711, 7712) - I sat my A-levels in June 2018 and achieved an A grade in English Literature
Here is a list of scholarly criticisms of Othello, great for using in essays to engage in wider debate (and achieve higher band answers). Includes:
Commentary from Godfrey, Leavis, AC Bradley, Samuel Coleridge and various others
Critical approaches; post-colonial, new historicist, feminist, marxist
Analysis of Othello as a protagonist, themes of justice and revenge, marriage and women etc.
AQA Economics A-level: International Economy, specification 7135, 7136
I achieved an A in Economics A-level in 2018, across all three papers. These notes helped form an understanding of economic theory and a critical evaluation of it*
Globalisation: characteristics and causes of globalisation
Role of MNCs - benefits and drawbacks (evaluation)
Costs and benefits of globalisation (evaluation)
Trade: static vs dynamic gains, changing patterns of UK trade and World Trade Organisation (WTO)
Theory of competitive advantage, assumption, sources, absolute advantage
Specialisation and division of labour
Trade in developing countries - advantages and risks
UK membership of EU evaluation - arguments for and against
Policies to improve trade in the long run vs short run and supply side policies
Protectionism: graphs and evaluation of tariffs, quotas, export subsidies and dumping
Arguments against protectionism
The balance of payments and current account - components
Factors influencing current account deficit and balance of payment deficit
Impact of trade imbalances (evaluation)
Policies to reduce deficit - expenditure-reducing and expenditure-switching
Exchange rates - determinants, fluctuations, depreciations etc
Exchange rate equilibrium, excess demand vs excess supply
Effects of currency fluctuations on growth, inflation, employment etc.
Benefits and limitations of weaker currency
Evaluation of a devaluation - Marshall Lerner, J curve
Currency systems, free-floating, managed floating and fixed (and evaluation of each)
Global influence of currencies, brexit impact
Benefits and drawbacks of currency unions
Economic growth and development, indicators of development
Objectives of development, barriers to development
Private sector and development
Role of trade/aid in development
AQA Psychology A-level: Attachment, Memory, Psychopathology and Social Influence
From specification 7181, 7182 - Introductory topics in Psychology (I achieved an A* in Psychology A-level in 2018, across all three papers. I prioritised revision on evaluation, necessary for accessing higher grade!)
-> These are FULL 16 mark example essays I created for revision, which helped me get my A*!
Attachment:
Discuss research into early infant-caregiver interaction (16 marks)
Outline and evaluate research by Schaffer and Emerson into attachment (16 marks)
Outline and evaluate research into the stages of attachment (16 marks)
Outline and evaluate research the role of the father (16 marks)
Outline and evaluate animal studies into attachment (16 marks)
Outline and evaluate learning theory as an explanation for attachment (16 marks)
Outline and evaluate Bowlby’s monotropic theory as an explanation for attachment (16 marks)
Outline and evaluate Ainsworth’s ‘Strange Situation’ research (16 marks)
Outline and evaluate cultural variations of attachment (16 marks)
Outline and evaluate Bowlby’s theory of maternal deprivation (16 marks)
Discuss research into the effects of institutionalization (16 marks) / Outline and evaluate Rutter’s study of Romanian orphans (16 marks)
Discuss research into the influence of early attachment (16 marks)
Memory:
Outline and evaluate the multi-store model of memory (16 marks)
Outline and evaluate the working memory model (16 marks)
Outline and evaluate the types of long-term memory (16 marks)
Outline and evaluate interference theory as an explanation for forgetting (16 marks)
Outline and evaluate retrieval failure as an explanation for forgetting (16 marks)
Outline and evaluate the effect of misleading information on eye witness testimony (16 marks)
Outline and evaluate the effect of anxiety on eye witness testimony (16 marks)
Outline and evaluate the use of the cognitive interview in improving the accuracy of eye witness testimony (16 marks)
Psychopathology:
Outline and evaluate two ways of defining abnormality (16 marks) x2
Outline the characteristics of phobias (6 marks)
Outline the characteristics of OCD (6 marks)
Outline the characteristics of depression (6 marks)
Discuss behavioural explanations for phobias (16 marks)
Outline and evaluate the behavioural approach to treating phobias (16 marks)
Outline and evaluate one or more biological explanation for obsessive-compulsive disorder (16 marks) x2
Discuss the biological approach for treating OCD (16 marks)
Outline and evaluate one or more cognitive explanations for depression (16 marks) x2
Discuss the cognitive approach to treating depression (16 marks)
Social Influence:
Outline and evaluate explanations for conformity (16 marks)
Discuss research by Asch into conformity (16 marks)
Discuss research by Zimbardo into conformity (16 marks)
Discuss research by Milgram into obedience (16 marks)
Outline and evaluate the situational factors affecting obedience (16 marks)
Outline and evaluate legitimacy of authority and the agentic state (16 marks)
Outline and evaluate Adorno’s authoritarian personality (16 marks)
Discuss social support as an explanation for the resistance to social influence (8 marks)
Outline and evaluate Rotter’s LOC as an explanation for resistance to social influence (16 marks)
Discuss research into minority influence and its implications on resistance of social influence (16 marks)
Outline and evaluate social change and its implications on resistance to social influence (16 marks)