What's the essential piece of advice you'd give to someone starting their A-levels?
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Start revision or going over your notes when the teacher says you should have started 
Original post by AdeptDz
Even though my school is in London, we did the WJEC A-level biology whild all the other sciences were AQA/OCR
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Original post by Divine Turnip
Even though my school is in London, we did the WJEC A-level biology whild all the other sciences were AQA/OCR
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Posted from TSR Mobile
Yh I did wjec for history and I'm in London and cool
so I'm guessing I'll have no coursework, that's dead I like coursework Posted from TSR Mobile
Actually work
/thread
/thread
Work hard consistently through the two years but don't pass up any opportunities you get because of your A levels. No matter how much you revise it is so easy for an exam to go badly causing you to miss your grades, getting involved in other activities keeps other doors open for you if it all goes tits up! Also don't feel guilty about going out and having some fun, you will eventually burn out if you don't take a break making all your hard work pointless.
Revise consistently throughout the year so you don't have too much to do when exams come around
Try and do stuff outside if school so you have stuff to write on your ps
Research unis etc in year 12 but don't get too caught up in it
Take advantage of any opportunities open to you
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Try and do stuff outside if school so you have stuff to write on your ps
Research unis etc in year 12 but don't get too caught up in it
Take advantage of any opportunities open to you
Posted from TSR Mobile
- revise from day 1
- whatever you learn from school summarise the lesson into whatever revision style that suits you (e.g. posters, notes, power points) and you can do this daily or every weekend.
- when you finish a unit or topic do a practice praper/question or ask your techer to help you set one up.
- no matter how many times you go though something, go though it again and again even if it is something simple because you find that you spend so much time on the "harder" things, that lack of revision for what may seem obviously easy you end up forgetting
- take a break from time to time
- music is a lifesaver
This helped me a lot as I created a time table which would tell me what I need to have done by the end of the week. So Monday and Tuesday after school would be psychology, Wednesday = philosophy and Thursday Friday = biology. Whatever I had left to do or homework would be done on Saturday
Having my own notes for each subject made it a lot easier for me during exam time to go through rather than looking at heaps on endless work made in class. Having my on notes also meant I stopped carrying massive folders around so I only had concise notes I needed.
- whatever you learn from school summarise the lesson into whatever revision style that suits you (e.g. posters, notes, power points) and you can do this daily or every weekend.
- when you finish a unit or topic do a practice praper/question or ask your techer to help you set one up.
- no matter how many times you go though something, go though it again and again even if it is something simple because you find that you spend so much time on the "harder" things, that lack of revision for what may seem obviously easy you end up forgetting
- take a break from time to time
- music is a lifesaver
This helped me a lot as I created a time table which would tell me what I need to have done by the end of the week. So Monday and Tuesday after school would be psychology, Wednesday = philosophy and Thursday Friday = biology. Whatever I had left to do or homework would be done on Saturday
Having my own notes for each subject made it a lot easier for me during exam time to go through rather than looking at heaps on endless work made in class. Having my on notes also meant I stopped carrying massive folders around so I only had concise notes I needed.
Original post by BRONZEMEDAL1
Don't bother with Uni, it's a waste of money and time.
Original post by BRONZEMEDAL1
You can't get a good future with Philosophy. Sorry to bring you bad weather about your future. Languages yes, Philosophy is a deadweight.
whats wrong with philosphy a level/degree?
-Work hard from the BEGINNING. It's very tempting to think "oh, I have a whole year, it'll be fine." You'll be surprised just how quickly a year can go by. And I can guarentee you'll look back and think "ffs why was I doing xyz instead of revising earlier." Leaving things until last minute has always been my biggest problem, and take it from me, it's not worth the stress at the end of the year when you realise just how much you have to do in such little time
-I know it might sound weird, but don't get obsessed with UNDERSTANDING everything perfectly at first. Another thing I did wrong. You WILL understand it eventually by going through it over and over again, condensing your notes, doing papers, etc. If you focus on initially completely understanding it perfectly, you will slow down the progression of your revision. Even if you're not 100% clear on it, move on to the next spec point, etc. You will understand it when you keep coming back.
-PAST PAPERS PAST PAPERS PAST PAPERS. You'd be surprised just how strict the mark schemes are on terminology. You think you understand and are writing a perfect answer, only to read the mark scheme and see that you barely got any marks because of how they want you to word it. Especially for science subjects, you NEED to say what is on the mark scheme. DON'T rely on just your knowledge.
-If you're doing an essay-based subject, ESSAY PLANS ESSAY PLANS ESSAY PLANS. These are probably the most useful things you can spend your time doing. For English, e.g. plan your essays around THEMES. Make them detailed and separate them by paragraph - topic sentence, key points, key quotes and then closing sentence. This is basically your essay, but so much easier to practise and memorise for the exam.
-Don't beat yourself up. If you're tired, take a break - you won't retain any information if you're not focused. If you fail a past paper, go through it again with the mark scheme and annotate it - more often than not, it's small mistakes that can be easily rectified, like terminology, lack of detail, etc. Being harsh and angry at yourself will only make things worse. Be kind to yourself and tell yourself you CAN do better and that you WILL succeed because you can
-I know it might sound weird, but don't get obsessed with UNDERSTANDING everything perfectly at first. Another thing I did wrong. You WILL understand it eventually by going through it over and over again, condensing your notes, doing papers, etc. If you focus on initially completely understanding it perfectly, you will slow down the progression of your revision. Even if you're not 100% clear on it, move on to the next spec point, etc. You will understand it when you keep coming back.
-PAST PAPERS PAST PAPERS PAST PAPERS. You'd be surprised just how strict the mark schemes are on terminology. You think you understand and are writing a perfect answer, only to read the mark scheme and see that you barely got any marks because of how they want you to word it. Especially for science subjects, you NEED to say what is on the mark scheme. DON'T rely on just your knowledge.
-If you're doing an essay-based subject, ESSAY PLANS ESSAY PLANS ESSAY PLANS. These are probably the most useful things you can spend your time doing. For English, e.g. plan your essays around THEMES. Make them detailed and separate them by paragraph - topic sentence, key points, key quotes and then closing sentence. This is basically your essay, but so much easier to practise and memorise for the exam.
-Don't beat yourself up. If you're tired, take a break - you won't retain any information if you're not focused. If you fail a past paper, go through it again with the mark scheme and annotate it - more often than not, it's small mistakes that can be easily rectified, like terminology, lack of detail, etc. Being harsh and angry at yourself will only make things worse. Be kind to yourself and tell yourself you CAN do better and that you WILL succeed because you can
Original post by sky-blue
know your goals, use it as your motivation to work your balls off.
repeat, repeat, repeat, for the rest of your life.
you will reap the rewards.
repeat, repeat, repeat, for the rest of your life.
you will reap the rewards.
This is good advice, ever since I found a career I was into I've been revising, and I usually never revise, not even for GCSE but my career aim and people on tsr motivate me
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Original post by GradeA*UnderA
Don't take A Level Maths without at least an A at GCSE. Do not do Further Maths without an A*. Lastly, Don't do A2 Physics without at least AS Maths.
P.S R.I.P ****ers
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P.S R.I.P ****ers
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Well if it's edexcel, going A2 physics without maths was not a problem at all, IMO. Cause it has very little maths in it.. nothing that a bit of reading up couldn't solve. Dunno about other boards though.
Original post by moeshaaodonkorr
-Work hard from the BEGINNING. It's very tempting to think "oh, I have a whole year, it'll be fine." You'll be surprised just how quickly a year can go by. And I can guarentee you'll look back and think "ffs why was I doing xyz instead of revising earlier." Leaving things until last minute has always been my biggest problem, and take it from me, it's not worth the stress at the end of the year when you realise just how much you have to do in such little time
-I know it might sound weird, but don't get obsessed with UNDERSTANDING everything perfectly at first. Another thing I did wrong. You WILL understand it eventually by going through it over and over again, condensing your notes, doing papers, etc. If you focus on initially completely understanding it perfectly, you will slow down the progression of your revision. Even if you're not 100% clear on it, move on to the next spec point, etc. You will understand it when you keep coming back.
-PAST PAPERS PAST PAPERS PAST PAPERS. You'd be surprised just how strict the mark schemes are on terminology. You think you understand and are writing a perfect answer, only to read the mark scheme and see that you barely got any marks because of how they want you to word it. Especially for science subjects, you NEED to say what is on the mark scheme. DON'T rely on just your knowledge.
-If you're doing an essay-based subject, ESSAY PLANS ESSAY PLANS ESSAY PLANS. These are probably the most useful things you can spend your time doing. For English, e.g. plan your essays around THEMES. Make them detailed and separate them by paragraph - topic sentence, key points, key quotes and then closing sentence. This is basically your essay, but so much easier to practise and memorise for the exam.
-Don't beat yourself up. If you're tired, take a break - you won't retain any information if you're not focused. If you fail a past paper, go through it again with the mark scheme and annotate it - more often than not, it's small mistakes that can be easily rectified, like terminology, lack of detail, etc. Being harsh and angry at yourself will only make things worse. Be kind to yourself and tell yourself you CAN do better and that you WILL succeed because you can
-I know it might sound weird, but don't get obsessed with UNDERSTANDING everything perfectly at first. Another thing I did wrong. You WILL understand it eventually by going through it over and over again, condensing your notes, doing papers, etc. If you focus on initially completely understanding it perfectly, you will slow down the progression of your revision. Even if you're not 100% clear on it, move on to the next spec point, etc. You will understand it when you keep coming back.
-PAST PAPERS PAST PAPERS PAST PAPERS. You'd be surprised just how strict the mark schemes are on terminology. You think you understand and are writing a perfect answer, only to read the mark scheme and see that you barely got any marks because of how they want you to word it. Especially for science subjects, you NEED to say what is on the mark scheme. DON'T rely on just your knowledge.
-If you're doing an essay-based subject, ESSAY PLANS ESSAY PLANS ESSAY PLANS. These are probably the most useful things you can spend your time doing. For English, e.g. plan your essays around THEMES. Make them detailed and separate them by paragraph - topic sentence, key points, key quotes and then closing sentence. This is basically your essay, but so much easier to practise and memorise for the exam.
-Don't beat yourself up. If you're tired, take a break - you won't retain any information if you're not focused. If you fail a past paper, go through it again with the mark scheme and annotate it - more often than not, it's small mistakes that can be easily rectified, like terminology, lack of detail, etc. Being harsh and angry at yourself will only make things worse. Be kind to yourself and tell yourself you CAN do better and that you WILL succeed because you can
Great advice
; thanks for taking your time to write this master piece Posted from TSR Mobile
Original post by AdeptDz
No worries! I hope it helps anyone who needs it
Original post by moeshaaodonkorr
No worries! I hope it helps anyone who needs it
basically, I started revising FM and I done a past paper question and I forgot and didnt understand some things then I got angry but now I realise I have a lot of time to go over it and understand, so you definitely helped me
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Original post by GradeA*UnderA
Really? 3/4 of my papers was just maths.
I would say it's manageable maths, and the rest was more description answers required :/
(Me says manageable to maths really means something, cause I'm terrible at maths and didn't choose it in the first place cause I disliked it so much :P So i think it's quite all right)
You'll feel like giving up come November.. Just stick with it. It starts to get better again after Christmas. That winter half term is just a mad cram work load wise before mocks.
Be organised, time manage and just do your homework. It sounds obvious but if you just get on with it, night it's set bla bla bla, it really helps.
DO NOT do more than 4 AS'.
Good luck😊
Be organised, time manage and just do your homework. It sounds obvious but if you just get on with it, night it's set bla bla bla, it really helps.
DO NOT do more than 4 AS'.
Good luck😊
I DO APOLIGISE, that this reply is not that concise
My advice would be, when you have decided on your 4 A Levels (or 3), to start preparing for them as soon as you have recieved your GCSEs and you are sure that you are going to do A Levels.
The best ways to prepare are:
1 - Checking to see what the preparation tasks have been set for your subject. These give you an insight into whether the subject is the right one for you.
2 - Start reading and working through workbooks for your subjects.
3 - Do further reading, by reading books related to your subject. E.g. for Maths: 'Fermatt's Last Theorem', Physics: 'Why does E=mc^2'
Useful threads for point 3 are: http://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/wiki/Recommended_Physics_Reading#Quantum_Physics, etc.
Why should you start work before the year starts?
It gets you in the hardworking frame of mind, so you can hit the ground running when the year starts. For example, When your teacher is going through a concept, you will already know some of the answers (or have a good idea). This is especially helpful when the HW starts piling up.
My advice would be, when you have decided on your 4 A Levels (or 3), to start preparing for them as soon as you have recieved your GCSEs and you are sure that you are going to do A Levels.
The best ways to prepare are:
1 - Checking to see what the preparation tasks have been set for your subject. These give you an insight into whether the subject is the right one for you.
2 - Start reading and working through workbooks for your subjects.
3 - Do further reading, by reading books related to your subject. E.g. for Maths: 'Fermatt's Last Theorem', Physics: 'Why does E=mc^2'
Useful threads for point 3 are: http://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/wiki/Recommended_Physics_Reading#Quantum_Physics, etc.
Why should you start work before the year starts?
It gets you in the hardworking frame of mind, so you can hit the ground running when the year starts. For example, When your teacher is going through a concept, you will already know some of the answers (or have a good idea). This is especially helpful when the HW starts piling up.
Make sure you choose the right subjects for you, bot just because your friends are doing those subjects - there is no point in choosing a subject which you hate and don't understand because you are then stuck with it and this could affect your future as you wouldn't be getting the grades you need for university.
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