After achieving an A* in 2017, I am sharing my quality revision notes, essays, templates and tactics to help ambitious students reach their goals. These resources have proven a hit across the globe with students and teachers alike - download yourself to see why!
Chat with me on twitter @astarlevels or just drop me an email... happy revising!
After achieving an A* in 2017, I am sharing my quality revision notes, essays, templates and tactics to help ambitious students reach their goals. These resources have proven a hit across the globe with students and teachers alike - download yourself to see why!
Chat with me on twitter @astarlevels or just drop me an email... happy revising!
Top band, student written model answer for A Level English Language.
This essay demonstrates how to convey understanding of linguistic ideas by evaluating and challenging the views presented in the question and by other linguists. Students of all abilities will benefit from an example of effective essay writing which they can emulate in their own work. There is also an opportunity for students to plan their own answer to the question.
Why it works:
Shows how to select, arrange & argue the most important ideas in essays
Produced by a student who achieved an A* in 2017
Useful as a concise summary of key theories in essay format
Marking activity for student reflection
Can be reworked as a template for your future (brilliant!) essays
Follow my twitter to stay updated with more essential free resources and news - @astarlevels
Check out my shop for more essays and revision resources: https://www.tes.com/teaching-resources/shop/astarlevels
Written by an a student who got an A* in 2017 and download, used and loved by countless students and teachers across the country. Download to get the full essay PDF. Small sample section deliberately shown in preview
Top band, student written model answer for A Level English Language.
This essay demonstrates how to convey understanding of linguistic ideas by evaluating and challenging the views presented in the question and by other linguists. Students of all abilities will benefit from an example of effective essay writing which they can emulate in their own work. There is also a marking activity at the end & opportunity for students to plan their own answer to the question.
Why it works:
Shows how to select, arrange & argue the most important ideas in essays
Produced by a student who achieved an A* in 2017
Can be reworked as a template for your future (brilliant!) essays
Follow my twitter to stay updated with more essential free resources and news - @astarlevels
Check out my shop for more essays and revision resources: https://www.tes.com/teaching-resources/shop/astarlevels
A* notes for every topic in Paper 2 for A Level English Language!
I’ve created a comprehensive set of notes for every topic in A Level English Language. They are full of theorists, linguists, facts, stats, examples, real world application and more. I used these notes only alongside practice questions & achieved an A* in 2017.
Why they work:
Easy to learn, concise, bullet point revision notes
Omitted endless details on methodology and results
Replaced these with meaningful comments on each study to form the basis of your argument in the exam (crucial to enter top bands!)
Essentially, they includes lots of key studies/ ideas/ theories – a total set of notes for each topic. Read them, learn them, practice writing essays with them and use them in the exam - you’ll be on your way to success!
I also have model essays for every topic in this paper!
Model essays for all topics in A Level English Language
I’ve created a comprehensive set of notes for every topic in A Level English Language. They are full of theorists, linguists, facts, stats, examples, real world application and more. I used these notes only alongside practice questions & achieved an A* in 2017.
Why they work:
Easy to learn, concise, bullet point revision notes
Omitted endless details on methodology and results
Replaced these with meaningful comments on each study to form the basis of your argument in the exam (crucial to enter top bands!)
Summary sheet includes:
Fairclough on bosses
Covert power
Small talk (Holmes, Levine)
Face theory
Swales on discourse communities
Nelson, business language
Kim & Elder
Doctor slang!
Leidner on styling
Examples of jargon i.e. paramedics
Notes for all six topics in A Level English Language
Model essays for all topics in A Level English Language
I’ve created a comprehensive set of notes for every topic in A Level English Language. They are full of theorists, linguists, facts, stats, examples, real world application and more. I used these notes only alongside practice questions & achieved an A* in 2017.
Why they work:
Easy to learn, concise, bullet point revision notes
Omitted endless details on methodology and results
Replaced these with meaningful comments on each study to form the basis of your argument in the exam (crucial to enter top bands!)
Summary sheet includes:
definitions
opinions on accent inc: Giles, Ryan, COMRES, Montgomery
non std features inc: Petyt, Trudgill, is there a gender difference in the way we modify our accent?, code switching
Identity is closely linked inc: grime music, accommodation theory, Osborne in the 2013 election, Watson, real world application in school and work, policing language
Notes for all six topics in A Level English Language
Model essays for all topics in A Level English Language
Top band, student written model answer for A Level English Language. Language and social group/ sociolect.
This essay demonstrates how to convey understanding of linguistic ideas by evaluating and challenging the views presented in the question and by other linguists. Students of all abilities will benefit from an example of effective essay writing which they can emulate in their own work. There is also a marking activity at the end & opportunity for students to plan their own answer to the question.
Why it works:
Shows how to select, arrange & argue the most important ideas in essays
Produced by a student who achieved an A* in 2017
Can be reworked as a template for your future (brilliant!) essays
Follow my twitter to stay updated with more essential free resources and news - @astarlevels
Check out my shop for more essays and revision resources: https://www.tes.com/teaching-resources/shop/astarlevels
6 top band, model articles and a worksheet helping students create engaging headlines, straplines and openings. Produced by a student who achieved an A* in 2017.
Why they work:
* Shows how to assess ideas from the texts within your own article
* Demonstrates how to balance engaging writing with linguistic content
* Produced by a student who achieved an A* in 2017
* Can be reworked as a template for your future (brilliant!) articles
Includes:
- 4 example articles (gender, occupation, sociolect, accent & dialect)
- 1 article on language diversity that draws on ideas in Text A & B
- 1 article on world English & non std varieties
- 1 article revision sheet helping students plan engaging openings
For AQA A Level Psychology Research Methods. This is a revision poster that helps students answer exam questions requiring them to identify a statistical test, to justify the use of a certain test or to decide if a result from a test is significant.
Brightly coloured, clear, big, with an acronym and instructions. Best used looked at regularly i.e. on classroom or bedroom wall.
If you’re studying A Level Psychology or English language, you need astarlevels!
Chat on twitter @astarlevels
Follow my tes https://www.tes.com/teaching-resources/shop/astarlevels
25 practice essay questions for A Level English Language covering gender, accent & dialect, sociolect, world English & ethnicity and language change.
Neat & tidy table checklist design so takes up little space and easy to keep track of how many answers have been planned/ written.
You may also be interested in an essay question workbook with space to plan each answer. Find it here: https://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/english-language-practice-essay-question-workbook-11877669
I’ve created a comprehensive set of notes for every topic in A Level Psychology. They completely cover the specification, condensing all the key theories, studies, applications and evaluations into one booklet. I used these notes only alongside practice questions & achieved an A* in 2017.
Why they work:
> Organised according to, and covering entirely, the AQA specification.
> All AO1 and AO3 ready to answer exam questions
> Presented in a concise and memorable way - easy to learn
It covers every topic in this area of the spec:
* The evolutionary explanations for partner preferences, including the relationship between sexual selection and human reproductive behaviour.
• Factors affecting attraction in romantic relationships: self-disclosure; physical attractiveness, including the matching hypothesis; filter theory, including social demography, similarity in attitudes and complementarity.
• Theories of romantic relationships: social exchange theory, equity theory and Rusbult’s investment model of commitment, satisfaction, comparison with alternatives and investment. Duck’s phase model of relationship breakdown: intra-psychic, dyadic, social and grave dressing phases.
• Virtual relationships in social media: self-disclosure in virtual relationships; effects of absence of gating on the nature of virtual relationships.
• Parasocial relationships: levels of parasocial relationships, the absorption addiction model and the attachment theory explanation.
Check out my shop for more AQA A Level Psychology: https://www.tes.com/teaching-resources/shop/astarlevels
Top band, student written model answer for A Level English Language Paper 2 Question 3 on Language Discourses. Includes full essay & marker annotations with overall feedback.
This essay demonstrates how to analyse the way two texts use language to present ideas, attitudes and opinions in similar and different ways. Students of all abilities will benefit from an example of effective essay writing which they can emulate in their own work.
Why it works:
Shows how to structure an answer to this question that addresses all 3 AOs
Examiner commentary highlights successful elements
Produced by a student who achieved an A* in 2017
This particular response was awarded 34/40
Can be reworked as a template for your future (brilliant!) essays
To find the texts used to write this essay download my free mock exam
This is how I revised and practiced for Paper 1 before achieving an A* in 2017.
Revise every section of paper 1 in full with this bundle! Includes:
Child spoken language acquisition summary sheet
Written and multi modal acquisition summary sheet
CLA transcript analysis guided activity and mock question
CLA student example essay answer
2x model essays for question 1, 2 and 3 to accompany the mock paper with data included
Why they work:
Notes are easy to learn, concise, bullet points without sacrificing interesting and meaningful information on CLA
Child language activity shows you how to approach the initially daunting task of combining data analysis with linguistic theory
Essays are top band and student written so show you how to structure your future (brilliant!) essays!
Notes for all six topics in paper 2
Model essays for all topics in A Level English Language
Complete revision for language & gender. This resources includes the revision NOTES so you can revise the theory and then an example student ESSAY so you can see how to tackle the exam. Produced by a student who achieved an A* in 2017.
Why they work:
Easy to learn, concise, bullet point revision notes
Essays show how to structure a top band response
Feel confident for your exam
Chat with me on Twitter @astarlevels
Top band, student written model opinion article for A Level English Language. Produced by a student who achieved an A* in 2017.
This model article demonstrates how to convey understanding of linguistic ideas by evaluating and challenging the views presented in the text and by other linguists. Students of all abilities will benefit from an example of effective article writing which they can emulate in their own work.
Why it works:
Shows how to assess ideas from the texts within your own article
Demonstrates how to balance engaging writing with linguistic content
Produced by a student who achieved an A* in 2017
Can be reworked as a template for your future (brilliant!) articles
Easily turned into an assessment because text A & B are included. The model article can be used for reflection afterwards
I have also included a powerpoint that encourages students to look at each text in detail, make meaningful comments on it & then use these ideas to plan an opinion article answer. Would work well as the premise of a lesson but is not a full lesson powerpoint.
Model essays for all topics in A Level English Language
Write an opinion article about language diversity and variation in which you assess the ideas and issues raised in Text A and Text B and argue your own views.
Complete revision notes including a range of exciting studies, concepts and theories. I achieved an A* in 2017 using these notes alongside practice questions
Why they work:
Easy to learn, concise, bullet point revision notes
Show different lines of arguments that can be used to ‘evaluate’ an idea which is crucial to enter the top bands
Omitted endless details on methodology and results
Replaced these with meaningful comments on each study to form the basis of your argument in the exam (crucial to enter top bands!)
It includes information on:
Early writing
Stages of writing development
Spelling
Types of spelling mistake
Overcoming these challenges
The effects of accent and dialect on spelling
Hand writing development
Socio economic issues surrounding child language development
The ways parents can support children
Scaffolding
The influence of technology
Phonics
Genre
Practice essay questions
Notes on Spoken CLA
Model essay for CLA
Check out my shop for more
I’ve created a comprehensive set of notes for every topic in A Level Psychology. They completely cover the specification, condensing all the key theories, studies, applications and evaluations into one booklet. I used these notes only alongside practice questions & achieved an A* in 2017.
Why they work:
> Organised according to, and covering entirely, the AQA specification.
> All AO1 and AO3 ready to answer exam questions
> Presented in a concise and memorable way - easy to learn!
Includes:
• Problems in defining crime. Ways of measuring crime, including official statistics, victim surveys and offender surveys.
• Offender profiling: the top-down approach, including organised and disorganised types of offender; the bottom-up approach, including investigative Psychology; geographical profiling.
• Biological explanations of offending behaviour: an historical approach (atavistic form); genetics and neural explanations.
• Psychological explanations of offending behaviour: Eysenck’s theory of the criminal personality;
cognitive explanations; level of moral reasoning and cognitive distortions, including hostile attribution
bias and minimalisation; differential association theory; psychodynamic explanations.
• Dealing with offending behaviour: the aims of custodial sentencing and the psychological effects
of custodial sentencing. Recidivism. Behaviour modification in custody. Anger management and restorative justice programmes.
Check out my shop for more AQA A Level Psychology resources: https://www.tes.com/teaching-resources/shop/astarlevels
Data analysis combined with theory application to prepare for A Level English Language, in particular the Year 1 exam. Includes three tasks all based around consolidating theory learning and data analysis skills.
Task 1: glossary of 9 language and gender theory cards to be sorted under the model that they fit best with. Useful activity to consider which theories fit together and can be used to discuss a certain idea.
Task 2: a transcript of men and women discussing marriage that students should label with relevant theories i.e. a woman saying “jolly good” can be labeled with Lakoff’s ideas about empty adjectives as a feature of women’s inferior language.
Task 3 and 4: four different pieces of data - a very versatile task. Students can analyse each piece of data, match it up to one of the four exam questions and then pick one to write an essay answer to.
The poster included complements the activities pack. It is a straightforward resource giving a bedrock of theories, can be used for reference, revision or to support class/ home work.
Used in relation to AQA A Level English Language to get discussions going on the way different occupational groups may use language. Would make a good starter…
A little freebie to say ‘thank you’ to everyone that has supported the shop!
Follow my twitter to stay updated with more essential free resources and news - @astarlevels
Everything I think that I did, that others might not have, that helped me achieve an A* in 2017. Techniques and advice, student to student, to make revision effective, efficient and relevant to the exam. I truly believe that anyone can do well with the right approach. So here we go!
My article links you to other free resources i have, like mock exams, templates and essays, which can be downloaded with a TES account.
I have written five pages that explain my unique approach to:
saying something useful about studies/ theories
analysing data/ grammar
getting AO3 marks
planning essays and using these to hack the exam <-- game changer!
reducing workload
memorising theory
Follow my twitter @astarlevels and check out the linked resources at the end that will no doubt help you revise.
Good luck you can do it!!! :-)
“blank canvas” revision - a wacky font on a blank canvas for every topic.
Encourage students to try out different ways of filling each poster. Experimenting with a variety of techniques will keep them interested and starting to think about the topics in different ways.
Just delete the irrelevant topics on the last three slides (covering paper 3) ;)
Follow my twitter to stay updated with more essential free resources and news - @astarlevels