Last Updated on October 15, 2026 by Karl Thompson

AQA A-level sociology · specification 7192

A-Level Sociology Revision Help: Resources for Success

Free revision notes, model answers and exam advice for all three AQA A-level sociology papers.

Choose your paperExam help

Written and maintained by Karl Thompson, MA in Sociology and Social Research, who taught A-level sociology for eighteen years and spent twelve as an AQA examiner, marking all three papers on the current specification.

Choose your paper

AQA A-level sociology is three two-hour exams, each worth 80 marks and a third of the final grade. Pick a paper to go straight to the revision notes for its topics.

Paper 1 · 7192/1

Education with Theory and Methods

Education50 marks · perspectives, class, gender, ethnicity, policy Methods in Context20 marks · research methods applied to education Theory and Methods10 marks

Paper 2 · 7192/2

Topics in Sociology

You answer on one topic from Section A and one from Section B, 40 marks each.

Section A

Families and Households Culture and Identity

Section B

Beliefs in Society The Media Global Development

Paper 3 · 7192/3

Crime and Deviance with Theory and Methods

Crime and Deviance50 marks · theories, class, gender, ethnicity, control, victims Theory and Methods30 marks Research Methods

Most Theory and Methods marks are on this paper: 30 here, against 10 on Paper 1.

Start here

Everything on this site is written for the AQA specification (7192). You will find revision notes on every compulsory topic and on five of the eight Paper 2 options, model answers to the 10, 20 and 30 mark questions, and the evaluation points that make the difference between a description and an answer that scores AO3 marks.

An introduction to A-level sociologyWhat sociology is, the main perspectives, and how the A-level is structured. Start here if you’re new to the subject. Key concepts and definitionsSociological terms explained, with examples of how each one is used in an exam answer. Exam and revision adviceAdvice on all three papers, with model answers for both types of 10 mark question and the essays. Sociology revision gamesArcade, dance and maze games on the perspectives, education, crime and research methods. A quick way to check what has stuck.

Revision notes by topic

Each topic has its own page of revision notes, model answers and exam questions, organised to follow the AQA specification.

Paper 1Sociology of EducationPerspectives, in-school factors, class, gender, ethnicity, education policies.Go to the notes → Paper 2 · Section AFamilies and HouseholdsPerspectives, marriage and divorce, family change and diversity, childhood, family policies, demography.Go to the notes → Paper 2 · Section ACulture and IdentityTypes of culture, the self and socialisation, consumption and identity; age, disability, ethnicity, sexuality, social class and identity.Go to the notes → Paper 2 · Section BBeliefs in SocietyReligion, science, ideology, social change, cults and sects, secularisation, globalisation and fundamentalism.Go to the notes → Paper 2 · Section BSociology of the MediaOwnership and control, who makes the news, theories of audience effects, representations, and new media.Go to the notes → Paper 2 · Section BGlobal DevelopmentTheories of development, globalisation, aid and trade, NGOs, urbanisation and industrialisation, war and conflict, the environment.Go to the notes → Paper 3Crime and DevianceFunctionalist, Marxist, labelling and realist theories of crime; class, gender and ethnicity; punishment and social control; global, green and state crime.Go to the notes → Papers 1 and 3Research Methods in SociologyQualitative and quantitative, primary and secondary: surveys, interviews, participant observation, experiments, official statistics.Go to the notes → Papers 3 and 1Sociological TheoriesFunctionalism, Marxism, feminisms, social action theories, post and late modernism, positivism and interpretivism, and social policy.Go to the notes →

2027 exam dates

AQA has provisionally timetabled the three A-level sociology papers as follows. Dates can change, so check them against the timetable your school gives you.

Paper 1 · 7192/1

Friday 14 May 2027Afternoon · 2 hoursEducation with Theory and Methods

Paper 2 · 7192/2

Friday 21 May 2027Morning · 2 hoursTopics in Sociology

Paper 3 · 7192/3

Thursday 10 June 2027Morning · 2 hoursCrime and Deviance with Theory and Methods

Model answers

Every paper mixes short questions with extended writing, and each question type rewards a different technique. These are the mark values you will meet and where they come up.

4 and 6Papers 1 and 3. Short answers: outline and explain.
10All three papers. Two types: with an item and without one.
20Methods in Context on Paper 1, both sections of Paper 2, Theory and Methods on Paper 3.
30The essays on Education (Paper 1) and Crime and Deviance (Paper 3).

The exam page has model answers for both types of 10 mark question and for the essays, written by a former AQA examiner, with notes on where the marks are won and lost.

See the model answers

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One email a month through the school year, with extra ones in the weeks before each paper: what to revise now, a model answer worth studying, and the mistakes examiners see most. Free, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

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Revision bundles

Everything on this site is free to read. The bundles put the revision notes into downloadable packs you can print, annotate and revise from offline, with exam questions answered in full.

Mega bundle · all three papers A-level Sociology Revision Mega Bundle Everything in the module bundles, in one download. Over 200 pages of revision notes, mind maps and exam questions with full answers, covering all three AQA A-level sociology papers and most of the Paper 2 options. From £24.95 See the mega bundle →

The bundles are being rebuilt. Crime and Deviance, and the research methods section of Theory and Methods, are fully updated for 2026. Education, Families and Households, Beliefs in Society and the theory section of Theory and Methods are planned for release by the end of March 2027. Buy any of those bundles, or the mega bundle, before 31 March 2027 and you’ll get the updated versions free when they’re released. The Media bundle isn’t part of this round of updates.

Updated 2026Crime and DeviancePaper 3Over 100 pages of in-depth notes, 39 pages of mid-depth notes and 20 colour at-a-glance sheets, with mind maps and 12 exam questions answered in full.From £6.99 Update due March 2027EducationPaper 1Revision notes and exam questions with full answers for AQA Paper 1.From £6.99 Update due March 2027Families and HouseholdsPaper 2, Section ARevision notes and exam questions with full answers for AQA Paper 2.From £6.99 Update due March 2027Beliefs in SocietyPaper 2, Section BRevision notes and exam questions with full answers for AQA Paper 2.From £6.99 Methods updated 2026Theory and MethodsPapers 3 and 1Fully updated research methods notes, and sociological theory notes in a new interim edition, with at-a-glance sheets and a booklet of Theory and Methods exam questions. The full theory update is due by March 2027.From £6.99 The MediaPaper 2, Section BRevision notes and exam questions with full answers for AQA Paper 2.From £6.99

Written by Karl Thompson: eighteen years teaching A-level sociology and twelve as an AQA examiner, marking all three papers.

About the author

ReviseSociology is written and maintained by Karl Thompson, who has run the site since 2014. He has an MA in Sociology and Social Research and taught A-level sociology for eighteen years.

Karl was an AQA examiner for twelve years, marking all three papers, including the first two years of the current 7192 specification, which is still the one students sit today. That is where the exam advice on this site comes from: knowing what examiners reward, and where students lose marks.

More about Karl Thompson →

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