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STARTING AS LEVEL IN 3 DAYS - any last minute advice?

I start my first day of AS level on Monday and I just wanted to ask fellow A level/ex - A level students for some pointers on how to do really well in my first year. I just received my GCSE results and I did relatively well, but I know the gap from secondary school to sixth form is huge. :smile: Also I want to go into medicine in university so tips related to that would be much appreciated.

The subjects I am doing:
- Biology
- Chemistry
- Maths
- Psychology

If you've got any advice on how to smash those subjects, please let me know :smile:
(edited 7 years ago)

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I'm starting year 12 on Monday too. I'm taking maths, further maths, physics and chemistry. From what I've heard we need to make sure to do the same amount of revision as we have lessons e.g. 3 hours of lessons a week = 3 hours of revision a week. Also, study periods should actually be spent STUDYING instead of messing about.
Reply 2
Avatar for Hrdee
Hrdee
3
Original post by khatx
I start my first day of AS level on Monday and I just wanted to ask fellow A level/ex - A level students for some pointers on how to do really well in my first year. I just received my GCSE results and I did relatively well, but I know the gap from secondary school to sixth form is huge. :smile: Also I want to go into medicine in university so tips related to that would be much appreciated.


Personal advice rather than educational advice. Make the right friends and don't let anybody change you. I know from experience.
Reply 3
Avatar for metrize
metrize
18
Original post by Hrdee
Personal advice rather than educational advice. Make the right friends and don't let anybody change you. I know from experience.


I agree.


Do the work first as your priority and don't leave revision till later, revise as you go
Reply 4
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khatx
OP
9
Original post by AspiringUnderdog
I'm starting year 12 on Monday too. I'm taking maths, further maths, physics and chemistry. From what I've heard we need to make sure to do the same amount of revision as we have lessons e.g. 3 hours of lessons a week = 3 hours of revision a week. Also, study periods should actually be spent STUDYING instead of messing about.


We are doing similar subjects! I'm taking Biology, Psychology, Maths and Chemistry. And wow, I wish I had my sixth form lesson schedule so I could work out how many hours of lesson I've got for each lesson... That's great advice, thank you! I can get cracking on a revision timetable when I get my schedule.
Reply 5
Avatar for khatx
khatx
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Original post by Hrdee
Personal advice rather than educational advice. Make the right friends and don't let anybody change you. I know from experience.


Personal advice is just as appreciated as educational, so thank you. I don't intend to make my friend circle big; I learnt from secondary school that people have too much time to waste on unnecessary drama haha!
Reply 6
Avatar for khatx
khatx
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Original post by metrize
I agree.


Do the work first as your priority and don't leave revision till later, revise as you go


Trust me, school work is my number one priority for the next two years haha! In terms of revision, do you recommend that I make revision notes from the start of the year?
Reply 7
Avatar for metrize
metrize
18
Original post by khatx
Trust me, school work is my number one priority for the next two years haha! In terms of revision, do you recommend that I make revision notes from the start of the year?


honestly I find notes overrated, our Chem teacher gave us good notes and what I wrote in class was enough for physics and you didn't really need notes in maths (just practice) imo got A*AA (maths a2, physics as and Chem as)


The big thing is that you understand everything as you go along and you should be fine
Reply 8
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Simran04
6
Do not leave revision till last minute! I made that mistake and did not achieve the grades that i wanted at the end of my AS year.
Reply 9
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khatx
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Original post by metrize
honestly I find notes overrated, our Chem teacher gave us good notes and what I wrote in class was enough for physics and you didn't really need notes in maths (just practice) imo got A*AA (maths a2, physics as and Chem as)


The big thing is that you understand everything as you go along and you should be fine


You did great! And yes, that's true. I suppose everyone has a different method in the way they learn, as well as the pace that they learn at.
Reply 10
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khatx
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Original post by Simran04
Do not leave revision till last minute! I made that mistake and did not achieve the grades that i wanted at the end of my AS year.


Oh no, I hope you do better for the following year! When do you suppose I should begin revising?
Original post by khatx
Oh no, I hope you do better for the following year! When do you suppose I should begin revising?


Thank you! I say start revising from day 1 even if it is 30 mins after school. Maths is a subject that requires a lot of practice so make sure you start early and do a lot of past papers.
Original post by khatx
I start my first day of AS level on Monday and I just wanted to ask fellow A level/ex - A level students for some pointers on how to do really well in my first year. I just received my GCSE results and I did relatively well, but I know the gap from secondary school to sixth form is huge. :smile: Also I want to go into medicine in university so tips related to that would be much appreciated.

The subjects I am doing:
- Biology
- Chemistry
- Maths
- Psychology

If you've got any advice on how to smash those subjects, please let me know :smile:


Start revising now. Seriously.
Original post by AspiringUnderdog
I'm starting year 12 on Monday too. I'm taking maths, further maths, physics and chemistry. From what I've heard we need to make sure to do the same amount of revision as we have lessons e.g. 3 hours of lessons a week = 3 hours of revision a week. Also, study periods should actually be spent STUDYING instead of messing about.


Hey I did those subjects! Redox reactions in chemistry are a bit of a *****. The terminology of it is a little confusing.
Original post by Simran04
Thank you! I say start revising from day 1 even if it is 30 mins after school. Maths is a subject that requires a lot of practice so make sure you start early and do a lot of past papers.


do u have any resources or websites that are worth looking at as practise???
At the start of year 12 I re-wrote all my notes from each lesson but found this was too time consuming. Instead I made sure to make neat efficient notes which I then memorised at the end of each day (important for bio and chem especially!), so when it came to revision I didn't have loads at once to do because I had been revising through out the year.

Personally, I regret not taking enough time to socialise and go out with different people, hopefully I can find more of a balance for yr 13 but that is easier said than done!

Hope you enjoy yr 12 :smile:

btw, past papers are v important but I wouldn't bother with them too much until you have learnt at least half of the curriculum otherwise it gets confusing.
(edited 7 years ago)
'Suffer now and then live the rest of your life as a champion'.

Basically work your socks off for these 2 years because they are so goddamn important and the work you put in will deeply positively impact your life forever.

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Original post by khatx
I start my first day of AS level on Monday and I just wanted to ask fellow A level/ex - A level students for some pointers on how to do really well in my first year. I just received my GCSE results and I did relatively well, but I know the gap from secondary school to sixth form is huge. :smile: Also I want to go into medicine in university so tips related to that would be much appreciated.

The subjects I am doing:
- Biology
- Chemistry
- Maths
- Psychology

If you've got any advice on how to smash those subjects, please let me know :smile:


Revise for mocks, in class tests, quizzes - everything. It'll make April-June that bit easier!

Also remember to use past papers, YouTube videos, textbooks and find some extra reading - especially for psychology
Original post by OHH_MY_DAYZ:b
do u have any resources or websites that are worth looking at as practise???


physics and maths tutor has lots of papers that you can use as practice. It has papers by each module, each topic and it has solomon papers.
For Chemistry:

1) Get the calculations nailed from the start.
2) Make sure you make your own notes that you understand using teachers resources or notes.
3) Avoid doing past papers right now, use textbook questions. Start doing past papers nearer to the time.
4) Ditto the last guy, revise NOW.

:biggrin:

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