tupac makaveli (Offline)

Hey its fine man hope your SJA application is processed smoothly and you enjoy your training. Keep us up to date on your progress in the SJA society thread. Would love to hear how it goes and if you have any more problems there are many members who will be able to help.

No problem Don't worry about rep, I appreciate the gratitude

Sure, I will have a look in a second and no problem

Chemistry: is very much the same, but is probably the most difficult to revise because I found the mark scheme stricter than Biology (eg a 5 mark questions requires you to get exactly the 5 points written on the mark scheme). So it's even more important to pay attention to the mark scheme and where you can get marks. Again, condense your notes down (either handwritten or from the text book) but also pay attention to where you get the marks in the mark scheme - if they seem to have asked a particular question a few times in the past, chances are you will get marks for saying a few specific things - and these were the same in both papers. In that case, it's worth learning the mark scheme.

Best of luck, please msg back if you have more questions.

Physics is so much like Maths. If you are decent at Maths, Physics should come quite naturally. When I did the course, around 50% of the marks in the exam were calculation based, the other 50% theory. So you do need to make condensed notes onto less than (say) 10 sides of A4. Then make sure you are comfortable with all the calculations that you might need to do. The formula sheet is your saviour - a lot of the formulae can be found, or derived from the formula sheet. Make sure you have it on hand in every lesson, if you have one that isn't on there, then can you form it from some that already are? Also know how to calculate units from formulae - eg if you divide metres by seconds then you get meters per second - ie velocity - is velocity what you are looking for? Any unknown formulae that you can't derive is something you should learn and add on your condensed notes.


Biology - a lot of work. The first stage was to condense my notes down to fewer than a 10 sides of A4. If you have a process - eg how signals are sent across the synaptic cleft, write down the (say) 8 steps and learn them all. Do the same with all other 'process' type examples. I've found the Biology mark scheme very broad - for a 8 mark question you might have 15 marking points, including one or two 'AVP' - any valid points. So a lot of biology is common sense and applying knowledge you have already learnt. Again, past papers are useful at the end to see if what you are writing is correct.

I didn't use any additional books for any subject, just the standard textbooks set by the school. The internet (Google, or just TSR) can be useful if you do get stuck.

In all subjects, being able to get your hands on a good series of past papers and mark schemes is key - you should aim for a minimum of 5 for each module, but for example in Maths there are 12 years of papers = 24 C1 papers (for example). In the 'revision' period, it's best to do as many as you can, mark them, see where you dropped marks or what you are doing wrong, and change your strategy for the next paper you attempt. The key thing to realise is that you are working to please the mark scheme - because that ultimately determines what marks you get and what marks you don't.

In Maths it's all about practice. Do exercises in the textbook, know how to approach every time of question and learn all the tricks required. This is something you should do all year, so that you are primed when the exams season starts. If you get stuck, your teacher is there to help you out. Work outside of class to try get ahead/find questions you can't do. When it comes to exams, start doing past papers and just do as many as possible so that you are confident going into the exam.

Thank you! Where abouts in Manchester are you from? I live in Sale I didn't want to apply to Manchester personally cause it's a bit too close to home. What are you hoping to study?

I was studying English language, English literature and religious studies, with the intention of going to the university of Sheffield to study English lit However I'm now taking a gap year so will be staying in Manchester.

That's really nice of you! Thanks!
Good luck to you, too!