Studying three/four A Level is a huge accomplishment yet being at a certain centre for just two years means that you must be money smart and buy certain/limited number of resources in order to minimise how much clutter you'll be chucking away at the end of the two years. Aside from handouts from teachers, below I have complied a list of resources for Edexcel Geography, AQA English Literature B and AQA Government & Politics. These will help you achieve the best from your A Levels.
A Level AQA English Literature B:
Aspects of Tragedy - William Shakespeare - Othello:
- Your teacher may give you a copy of the Oxford School Shakespeare play and this is vital. First read the play with this resource before any re-read. ISBN-13: 978-0198328735
- York Notes Othello: ISBN-13: 978-1447982258. Useful but the study guide is £6 for 80 pages of plot summary. Useful in your first year and on first read but I personally found no use for it afterwards.
- Oxford World Classics: ISBN-13: 978-0199535873. Good on second read which should be done during summer.
- Arden Shakespeare: ISBN-13: 978-1903436455. Good on second read if OWC is not your preferred choice but has lots of footnotes. More notes than actual play however, the essays at the front and back are very good and can be used for AO5 content.
Aspects of Tragedy - William Shakespeare - Richard II:
- Your teacher may give you a copy of the Oxford School Shakespeare play and this is vital. First read the play with this resource before any re-read. ISBN-13: 978-0199137008
- Oxford World Classics: ISBN-13: 978-0199602285. Useful for a second read.
- Arden Shakespeare: ISBN-13: 978-1903436332. Useful for a second read.
- The biggest problem with Richard II is that you're likely to start it in your second year of classes which means that you should read the play in summer before you return in September. This means that when you gain the play in September, it should be your first re-read.
Aspects of Tragedy -F. Scott Fitzgerald - The Great Gatsby:
- Your teacher may give you a copy of the Wordsworth edition and this is vital. First read the novel with this resource before any re-read. ISBN-13: 978-1853260414
- York Notes: ISBN-13: 978-1447982289. Again useful on first read but mainly plot summary.
- It is important to re-read The Great Gatsby over summer along with Othello, The Kite Runner and Richard II.
Elements of Social & Political Protest - Khaled Hosseini - The Kite Runner:
- Your teacher may give you a copy of the Wordsworth edition and this is vital. First read the novel with this resource before any re-read. ISBN-13: 978-1408824856
- York Notes: ISBN-13: 978-1447913160. Good when reading but again is mainly plot summary.
- Make sure this is kept blank as it must be taken into the exam. Perhaps you should look into buying one of your own to write notes in and keeping the one your teacher may give blank for the exam.
Elements of Social & Political Protest -
Henrik Ibsen - A Doll's House:
- Centres are told that they must use the Bloomsbury Student Edition, as the play's first language is not English. You have to use this one and take it into the exam. ISBN-13: 978-1408106020
- Make sure this is kept blank as it must be taken into the exam. Perhaps you should look into buying one of your own to write notes in and keeping the one your teacher may give blank for the exam.
Elements of Social & Political Protest - William Blake - Songs of Innocence & Experience:
- Centres are given the AQA Poetry Anthology which has the selection of Blake poems.
- Finding the poems online are pretty easy as they're in the public domain if you do want your own copy. Here is one example.
A Level Edexcel Geography:
- Book 1: Hazards, Coasts, Globalisation & Regeneration are covered in this book. This book is quite expensive and your teacher may provide it for you. A very good book which explains lots of the content in detail (sometimes too much). ISBN-13: 9781471856549
- Book 2: Water & Energy, Superpowers & Migration Identity & Sovereignty. Again some of the details that apply to the first book apply this one book too. ISBN-13: 9781471856532
- Student guides for this subject are available and are useful. Whilst they are cheaper than the textbook themselves, most of the details inside them are lifted directly from the textbooks which means that I personally would not use them however, I will give the ISBN-13 number in case you would like to do your own research.
- 9781471863158 (Hazards & Coasts), 9781471864094 (Globalisation & Shaping Places), 9781471864087 (Water, Energy & Superpowers), 9781510448025 (Health & MI&S) and 9781471864070 (Fieldwork skills - useful for paper 3)
- My Revision Notes: All the topics from both AS and A2 are covered here. The notes are less detailed and have lots of exam questions. I highly recommend this book. ISBN-13: 9781471886744
- Knowing the spec from the Edexcel website is especially useful as the exam questions have been lifted directly from wording in the spec.
A Level AQA Government & Politics:
- Being a new spec means that there are limited resources but there are a few which will help you.
- UK Government & Politics Fifth Edition: You're likely to get this from your teacher but it is very useful and has everything you need for the AQA spec. ISBN-13: 9781471889233
- USA Government & Politics Fifth Edition: Again, you're likely to get from your teacher but it is useful and has everything you need for the AQA spec. ISBN-13: 9781471889363
- Political Ideologies: You must find out which optional ideology you'll be studying because the books will vary. This book has everything you need for the AQA spec. ISBN-13: 9781471889509 or 9781471889547
- The student guides are useful in case the textbook is too much for you (it is pretty long and boring as you start to read it.) This book has condensed notes and directly answers the key concepts from the spec. ISBN-13: 9781510447653 (UK), 9781510447660 (USA) and 9781510447677 (Ideologies - covers all the optional ideologies so one will be enough).
- BBC News is useful for keeping up to date with the latest news. The Guardian also remains a popular choice for extract sources to crop up from. Both of these are good because they do not require a subscription.
- Keeping up with the news and using recent examples is very good for this course. You will be expected to do so. Watch the evening news or read it and try and link it back to the course.
- Podcasts for this subject are also useful in case you do not like the vast amount of reading you will have to do. Just a few I listened to whilst studying this course and will continue to do so long after because they're quite good: Radio 4's Six o Clock News, Radio 4's World at One, Radio 5 Live's Brexitcast. The Guardian's Weekly Politics Roundup & NPR Politics Podcast (useful for USA Politics) are just to name a few.