Last Updated on August 17, 2026 by Karl Thompson

AQA A-Level Sociology Paper 3: Crime and Deviance with Theory and Methods

Paper 3 is six questions in two hours, and half the students I taught prepared properly for four of them. This post covers all six:

1. The 4 and 6 mark outline questions on crime
2. The 10 mark analyse question with the item
3. The 30 mark crime and deviance essay
4. The 10 mark theory and methods question
5. The 20 mark theory and methods essay
6. How long to spend on each

The advice below is my own interpretation, not endorsed by the AQA, but it comes from marking this paper for them between 2010 and 2018 and from teaching it for eighteen years.

For all three papers and every question type, see my main page on AQA A-level sociology exams and model answers.

Paper 3 at a glance

Code	7192/3
Length	2 hours
Marks	80
Weighting	33.3% of the A-level
Format	Write-in booklet — you write your answers in the gaps after each question
Questions	6, all compulsory

Section	Question	Marks	Time
Crime and Deviance	Outline two…	4	6 mins
Crime and Deviance	Outline three…	6	9 mins
Crime and Deviance	Applying material from the item, analyse two…	10	15 mins
Crime and Deviance	Applying material from the item and your knowledge, evaluate…	30	45 mins
Theory and Methods	Outline and explain two… (no item)	10	15 mins
Theory and Methods	Applying material from the item and your knowledge, evaluate…	20	30 mins

Crime and deviance is worth 50 marks. Theory and methods is worth 30 — more than a third of the paper, and the part students consistently underprepare.

Timings come from 1.5 minutes per mark. The trap on this paper is the same one as on paper 1 in a different place: you finish the 30-mark crime essay feeling like you’ve done the hard part, and then discover there are 30 marks of theory left and 45 minutes gone.

The crime and deviance section (50 marks)

4 and 6 mark outline questions

Point (1 mark) plus explanation (1 mark). Do that twice for the 4 marker, three times for the 6 marker.

Bullet-point each point and its explanation. No introduction, no evaluation. Six minutes and nine minutes, then move on.

These are the cheapest marks on the paper and the ones most often half-taken — students list four ways and explain none, and score half.

Model answers:

• Outline two differences in offending rates by ethnicity (4) — with a marked exemplar showing the standard
• Outline three functions crime may perform (6) — with a marked exemplar
• Outline three ways in which surveillance may be used to control crime in modern societies (6)
• Ethnicity and crime short answer questions

The 10 mark analyse question, with the item

Applying material from Item A, analyse two ways in which…

Read the item first. It will give you your two ways — and effectively limit you to them. The item is written with exactly two hooks in it, and those hooks are your two paragraphs.

For each point: make it, then make two further analytical points developing it, ideally evaluating as you go. Then do the same again for the second.

Fifteen minutes.

Model answers:

• Analyse two reasons for the formation of subcultures (10)
• Analyse two reasons why situational crime prevention strategies may not be effective (10)
• Analyse two ways in which crime has changed in response to postmodern society (10)
• Analyse two ways in which deviant subcultures may respond to the difficulties of achieving mainstream goals (10)
• Analyse two reasons why men might commit more crime than women (10)

The 30 mark crime and deviance essay

Applying material from Item B and your knowledge, evaluate…

Forty-five minutes, and the biggest single block of marks on the paper.

• Read the question. If it asks you to do two things, do both
• Read the item. At least two of your points should stem from it
• Make three to six points, depending on whether the question wants depth or breadth
• Use Point – Explain – Expand (analyse) – Evaluate
• If it’s a perspectives essay, evaluate using other perspectives towards the end, as you build to the conclusion
• Conclude by taking a position, not by summarising

Model answers:

• Evaluate the contribution of consensus theory to our understanding of crime and deviance (30)
• Assess sociological perspectives on prison as a form of punishment (30)

Whole crime and deviance topic notes

Theory and Methods on paper 3 (30 marks)

This is where theory and methods is really examined. It appears on paper 1 as well, but only as a single 10 marker worth an eighth of that paper. Here it’s 30 marks out of 80, split across two questions that are marked in opposite ways.

Frame your revision around paper 3. If you know this material well enough for paper 3, the paper 1 question looks easy. Revise it the other way round and you’ll be caught out.

What can come up

Any of the theory and methods specification content:

• quantitative and qualitative methods; research design
• sources of data — questionnaires, interviews, participant and non-participant observation, experiments, documents, official statistics
• the distinction between primary and secondary data, and between quantitative and qualitative data
• positivism, interpretivism, and the nature of ‘social facts’
• theoretical, practical and ethical considerations in choosing a topic and a method
• consensus, conflict, structural and social action theories
• modernity and post-modernity in relation to sociological theory
• the nature of science, and whether sociology can be regarded as scientific
• the relationship between theory and methods
• subjectivity, objectivity and value freedom
• the relationship between sociology and social policy

The last four are the ones that come up most often in the 20 mark essay and get revised least.

The 10 mark question (no item)

Outline and explain two…

No item, so both points come from your own knowledge. Pick two that are as different from each other as possible and develop each across a full paragraph, linking to different parts of the course where you can.

There are no marks for evaluation on this question. It’s the most confused distinction in the whole exam, made worse here by the fact that the very next question — same section, same page — rewards evaluation heavily. Do not let the habit from one bleed into the other.

Fifteen minutes.

This is the same question type that closes paper 1, so if you’ve sat paper 1 already you’ve met it. See paper 1: education with theory and methods, and the full set of model answers to the 10 mark no-item questions on my exam page.

The 20 mark theory and methods essay, with an item

Applying material from the item and your knowledge, evaluate…

The last question on the last paper, and the one that decides a lot of grades.

This is the only place in the qualification where the big theoretical debates get proper room — is sociology a science, can it be value free, does the shift to postmodernity make classical theory obsolete, should sociologists shape social policy. Twenty marks and thirty minutes is enough to build a real argument, which is exactly what the mark scheme wants.

• Read the item. It will point you at a position, and at least one of your points should come from it
• Three well-developed points beat five thin ones here
• Use Point – Explain – Expand – Criticise
• Evaluate using other theoretical positions. A question on positivism is answered partly through interpretivism; a question on value freedom is answered partly through Gouldner and Becker
• Conclude by taking a side

Thirty minutes. Which means that if you’re starting it with twenty minutes left, you’ve spent too long on the crime essay — and that is the single most common way students lose marks on this paper.

Model answers:

• Assess the strengths of using participant observation in social research (20)

Whole social theory topic notes · Research methods notes

Whole papers, worked through

• The 2018 crime and deviance paper
• The 2017 crime and deviance paper

Sociology Revision Resources for Sale

For more revision resources you might like my A level sociology revision mega bundle — designed to cover all three exam papers for the AQA A-level sociology specification, and costs £19.99.

The bundle covers the following topics:

• Paper 1 (7192/1): Education, including Methods in Context and Theory and Methods
• Paper 2 (7192/2): Families and Households, Beliefs, and Media
• Paper 3 (7192/3): Crime and Deviance with Theory and Methods

Overall the bundle contains:

1. over 200 pages of revision notes
2. 60 mind maps in pdf and png formats
3. 50 short answer exam practice questions and exemplar answers
4. Covers the entire A-level sociology syllabus, AQA focus

A separate theory and methods bundle is available at the same store.

Signposting and Related Posts

This post has been written for students sitting AQA A-level sociology paper 3, specification 7192/3.

• All three papers, all five question types, and model answers
• Paper 1: Education with Theory and Methods
• Paper 2: Topics in Sociology
• The AQA A-level sociology specification, all topics at a glance

Please click here to return to the homepage – ReviseSociology.com