| AQA Sociology AS: Student's Book (Aqa As Level): Student's Book (Aqa As Level) | 
 enlarge | Authors: Patrick Mcneill, Circe Newbold, Liz Swann, Mark Peace, Mike Wright
Publisher: Nelson Thornes Ltd
Category: Book
List Price: £17.99
Buy New: £12.89
You Save: £5.10 (28%)
New (16) from £12.89
Avg. Customer Rating:  2 reviews
Sales Rank: 1938
Media: Paperback
Pages: 256
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.5
Dimensions (in): 10.3 x 7.7 x 0.6
ISBN: 0748798307
EAN: 9780748798308
ASIN: 0748798307
Publication Date: March 10, 2008
Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days
Condition: Brand New. Shipped from UK Mainland. Delivery is usually 2 - 3 working days from order by Royal Mail, International Delivery is by Airmail.
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| Customer Reviews:
Very disappointing September 2, 2008
4 out of 4 found this review helpful
I have to agree with the review by the Coventry teacher. This AQA-endorsed text just doesn't seem to cover the AQA course in enough detail, and as a former AQA sociology examiner, I just can't see students producing very good quality examination answers using this book. Unless teachers want to do a lot of topping up work, they'd be better off using something like Webb et al. if they want to do just families and households, methods and education, or Moore, Browne and Haralambos if they want to choose from other options. This book might look quite pretty, but the glitter is not coming from gold.
The collusion of exam boards with corporate publishing interests seems to be a growing phenomena, as OCR are also doing the same thing with Heinemann (I think), but I believe they're getting their own examiners to write the books. What is bizarre is this AQA book is actually competing with those produced by AQA examiners, including the Chief Examiner, and as the previous reviewer suggests, these books by examiners themselves are produced at a much higher level in terms of theory, depth, and detail. What on earth was the AQA thinking of? What do other teachers think who have seen this book?
Inadequate for AS. Don't waste your money August 30, 2008
9 out of 10 found this review helpful
I'm amazed that this is the AQA-approved text, as it doesn't cover all the things mentioned even in the AQA's own published specification or scheme of work for AS Sociology. It lacks breadth and depth, and is very weak on theory. In many ways it seems to be pitched more at top-end GCSE than AS level, and it is hard to imagine any student using this book doing better than scraping an E grade. It seems to be in a different academic universe from the established texts by Browne, Webb, Moore and Haralambos, all of which include substantially more theory, research evidence,detail and evaluation, and provide a strong basis for students getting decent grades and progressing to A2. It is difficult to imagine students who use this for AS being adequately prepared for progression to A2. We hear much about dumbing down these days, most of it unjustified, but if the AQA really do see this as the standard-setting textbook, which presumably they do since it is the only text that has their seal of approval, then I think there's something to worry about. I've given it a generous one star for effort, but I'd advise teachers and students to avoid this book, and stick to the established favourites if they hope to achieve success at AS and eventually A2.
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