If you are going into Year 12, welcome! You are about to take a very unique course, an A Level just in Philosophy. You won’t find many other courses around the world like it. Sit back, relax (but work hard) and enjoy.

Year 13s and those of you re-taking, revision can feel a long way off, but it’s best spread throughout the year because as we both know, there is A LOT of content. It is best to start now and plan your year. Divide up the content into chunks, mark your calendar, set task reminders. You can do this!

Tips:

1. Try doing every essay. Draft and re-draft them. There are not that many essays – for each theory you study you could be asked whether it is a convincing/successful account of xyz. In many cases, your essay will have much the same content even if the question is worded differently. For example, in practising an essay on Indirect Realism, you are also revising Direct Realism!
2. Hand write notes, as this helps you commit them to memory.
3. With your mind maps start big – on the biggest sheet of paper you can find in your college Art department – and map out the whole course or each of the four sections: Moral Philosophy, Epistemology, Metaphysics of Mind and Metaphysics of God.
4. Make notes on each section, one A4 page each. Then reduce it to a paragraph each. Then bullet points. Then a sentence each. Try to get it down eventually to just a trigger word or phrase so before each exam you have a small sheet of paper (don’t take it into the exam of course!) with Epistemology/Moral Philosophy or Metaphysics of Mind/Metaphysics of God on each side which reminds you of all of the content – in just a few words.
5. Reward yourself after revision!

Best of luck for the year ahead,

Dr Hyde