Revision Tools: targeted, efficient and effective revision

We built Revision Tools to help you find the gaps in your knowledge and make your revision more efficient, targeted, and effective. Based on the principles of SMART targets (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, Time-bound) and the prior experience of many A Level students, these are the tools we’d recommend to unlock a higher grade!

Planning Grids

Essay planning grids are a great way of planning the structure of your arguments and what you’ll discuss in an essay. It’s a great habit to draw up a quick plan in an exam to outline what you’re going to discuss and to make sure you don’t miss any points.

AQA 9 mark
AQA 25 mark extract
AQA 25 mark essay
Edexcel 30 mark Source
Edexcel 30 mark Essay
Edexcel 24 mark Ideology
Edexcel 12 mark Examine
Edexcel 12 mark Analyse (USA)
Edexcel 12 mark Analyse (Global)

Revision Checklist

Making sure your revision notes are complete and you have revised everything is a must-have. We created these checklists to help you identify weaknesses in your studies and make more effective and targeted use of revision time.

AQA A Level Revision Checklist
Edexcel AS Revision Checklist
Edexcel A Level Revision Checklist

Test Tracker

Tracking your in-class test results can help make your revision more efficient by focusing on topics you find more difficult. Our Test Trackers also include a list of common mistakes and how to fix them. We recommend having a copy of this Test Tracker in your folder with your notes and class tests, and particularly in with your revision materials.

Test Tracker

Exam Topic Tracker

We’ve written the Exam Topic Tracker so you can see which topics have previously come up in exams, and focus your revision on topics that haven’t been seen before.

These should not be taken as advice for what topics will/may come up on future exams.

AQA A Level
Edexcel AS Level
Edexcel A Level

Making Synoptic Links

A lot of the Politics course requires the use of synoptic links. This means that various parts of the course link together in content and exam technique. Identifying where you can use a synoptic link in essays and how to use a range of political information will help increase your exam marks.

Edexcel Synoptic Links
AQA Synoptic Links

We’ve also written a blog article about synoptic links, which we’d recommend you read to fully understand synoptic links.

Keyword Portfolio

The Key Word Portfolio helps you keep track of key political definitions, which demonstrate thorough knowledge of topics. We’ve added some extra pages at the end if you need to keep track of additional definitions. Keep this portfolio up to date to kick-start your revision.

Key Word Portfolio