After school today I watched Cara Flanagan and Mike Cardwell's unit 3 revision conference, and picked up many useful revision and exam technique tips. The seminar was split into three half-hour sections: AO1, AO2, and putting them both together. A key point from the AO1 presentation was that less is more; it's important to explain what you know in detail, so it's better to give fewer points, but say more about them. This information should also be structured and organised into four paragraphs of roughly 50 words in length.
The AO2 content should be a maximum of eight 50-word points, no more than two of which should be IDA. Supporting studies suggest that the original study has good ecological validity an is externally reliable. This in turn suggests that the original research or theory is credible and valuable. Naturally, non-supporting research suggests the opposite. Moreover, a gender or culture differences point can become IDA if the link back states that the theory or explanation may not be universal and so is culture- or gender-biased.
In terms of writing a full answer, it is noteworthy that one theory or explanation can yield two thirds of the marks if the question specifically asks for two. This further stresses the "less is more" point, and Cara advised learning one theory in detail, and another in enough detail to write a third of an answer, to prepare for the possibility of a question like this coming up.
