Survive Sociology
Some basic rules for
the lesson.
Examine your attitudes




It is time to grow up now.
Examine your attitudes to school and to
teachers carefully. Do they need adjusting?
People who work hard do well.
Rules are a chore, but they are there for very
good reasons – so follow them.
Change your thinking



The subjects you study should affect the way
that you think about the world.
Subjects are known as disciplines because
they discipline your mind to think along certain
modes of thought.
Get into the hang of applying insights from
lessons into your real life – and vice versa.
Effort



You should work at your own success harder
than your teacher does.
You will get out of a subject the amount of
effort that you put into it.
The more time you spend on it, the more
relaxed you will be and the more successful
you will become.
Set personal targets



The person who benefits from your learning is
you …
Don’t leave it to other people to organise your
work for you.
Decide what it is you want to gain from the
course and then organise yourself to achieve
whatever is needed for personal success.
Independent learning



Whatever is set in class is the basic minimum
needed.
Do whatever it is you have been set without
putting it off or making excuses.
Try and do a bit more as well so that you are
learning for yourself and not just because your
teacher told you to.
Using books






You are learning the norms and values of
literate and educated people. Behave like
these people.
Buy books
Read books
Add notes to books.
Go to the LRC and photocopy books.
Think about the ideas in books.
Be prepared for lessons





Make sure that you have been to the toilet, are
not hungry, have had a drink and have slept
enough.
Get your books and notes sorted the night
before.
Bring a pen and paper to lessons.
Check where you are on the topic and refresh
your memory of the previous lesson.
Turn your mobile off.
Work planning




You will forget most of what happens in
lessons. This is natural and inevitable.
Revise from the beginning.
Set aside time for revising and reviewing.
Plan your time carefully so that you can do this
as well as your set work.
Organising your learning





Buy folders and dividers of different colours.
Look at the schemes of work to see what
topics are being covered.
Keep all notes and exercises together.
Use the subject specifications or your teacher’s
scheme of work as a guide to what you should
know.
Cross reference notes.
Revision cards



Buy some index cards and index files from a
stationer.
Develop a set of revision cards with a glossary
of terms and another for lists of studies as you
go along.
You will find these invaluable for revision and
for organising yourself.
Notes



The purpose of notes is so that you will read
them and revise from them.
Make sure that they are neat and well ordered
or you won’t have a clue what it was that you
did in lessons.
Use colours, space them out and make sure
that they are clear and easy to understand.
Be nice to the teacher




If there is a problem, let your teacher know
straight away.
Most problems can be solved very easily.
They usually arise from lack of confidence or
very basic misunderstanding.
Be grown up – go and have a chat with
someone and get the issue sorted.
Attendance





Poor attendance demotivates both you and your
teachers.
It affects the learning of the whole class who will have
to spend time recapping material that you missed.
You will lose the plot in lessons very quickly if you don’t
attend.
Go to all of your lessons.
When you are in the lessons, stay on task and
concentrate.
Study buddy




You cannot and will not learn everything there
is to know, so be selective in what you learn.
Spend as much time as possible with a study
friend and share some of the tasks.
Spend time together discussing ideas and the
content of lessons.
Share notes and essay planning sessions.
Current affairs






Try and know what is going on in the world.
This is the purpose of PSE and General
Studies lessons.
Read newspapers.
Watch the news.
Talk to people.
Listen and think about what it is you have
learned.
Relax




Build in some time for relaxation and fun.
Do sport, go out and do your job if you have
one.
Get the fun thing into perspective – you have
the rest of your life for fun so prioritise work.
Being a student at college should be when the
real fun begins!