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A and A* students... Share your revision tips

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Reply 80
DPLSK
1) Make lots of notes.

2) Revise independently.

3) Do lots of past papers.

4) Stock up on stationery.

5) Work hard.

I'd say more... but I can't remember the post I made about this.

I hope it helps though!


i would just add to this, read and understand the specification
and relax, exams are important but there are other things in life
Reply 81
Take heed of my advice, take it in well. Work like a dog, a dog with nothing to live for, when it comes to the last 2 weeks- completely disregard social life and anything else- just revise i.e. go through all the textbooks thoroughly, grasp all the concepts, do all recent past papers. It doesnt matter what you did or did not do during the 2 years. The last 2 weeks are crucial, memory of the things you've learnt becomes hazy over the months and years (especially if you dndnt pay enough attention in class,) I went over all of my subjects in those 2 weeks, and learnt everything- IMO short term memory is amazing when you have an idea of all the concepts already. There you go, A's and A*'s will be yours :smile:
Reply 82
muffingg
This is what I did all:

Since in most of the subjects I was the highest achieving student in the class, I was often used as a 'teacher'. I helped a lot of students when they had problems. Believe it or not, but this is a great way of improving your knowledge of a subject. Helping out students, who are struggling, will not only help them, but also you. This worked great for me, because in Maths for instance, I sometimes had forgotten previous chapters, but by helping others, I managed to revise the previous chapters again and again.

Also do a lot of past papers (as you said), but only do them once you have finished the syllabus (book). Go through questions that you found hard in the past papers and keep re-doing them until you get full marks. (But don't just do it again and again, but leave gaps, as in don't do the same paper again and again, but do others in between.)

Try to finish your course as soon as possible. Try to learn the whole course with at least a month to go to the exams (I personally prefer 2 months). In those 1/2 months, do the past papers, do questions. Go to the library and find question books (you should be able to find books full of questions only) related to your course. Make sure you go through as many questions as possible. If you don't understand certain questions, ask your teacher.

Make sure you know EVERY question of past papers (no point remembering answers or something, but) make sure you know HOW to do each kind of question. I don't know what course you do, but in Maths, Physics, Chemistry, and Biology this is very helpful. Keep revising until you are 100% sure you KNOW it ALL!

Divide your time well. Don't do too much work at once. Have breaks and also create a time table. (If you send me your email address, I can send you a template of my revision time table in Excel.) Make sure you don't spend entire nights studying, because that's just pointless. People say don't do last minute revision, but if you haven't been doing any so far, I suggest you actually SHOULD do some last minute revision, especially if you are unsure about some topics (shouldn't be the case in the first place though). For me for instance it is extremely helpful.

If there are any formulas, etc to be remembered, make sure you learn them. If you just can't, just try to memorize them right before the exam and as soon as you enter the exam hall, just write it on the front cover of the exam paper. At the end of the exam you can just erase it or cut through. That's what I do to remember formulae when I simply can't memorize them.

I don't know what subjects you are doing, but if its a Science or similar subject, make sure you know WHY things are the way they are. Don't just accept it. For example in Maths, make sure you know WHY the integral of 1/x is ln(x) + c and don't just accept it because the teacher says it.

Make sure you have some images in your mind that tell you how things behave and WHY. A mind map is often very useful. It should be something where you have a visual image, because people tend to remember that a lot easier than simple text.

I hope it was helpful to you and all others that are interested in finding out how to improve their study skills.

Any questions, don't hesitate to ask :smile:

EDIT - btw I just realised how long my answer got. Sorry for the length.



Thank you this is so helpful! :biggrin:
I took Maths, Physics, History & Chemistry As's this year and your point about actually understanding a topic rather than accepting it is 100% true. This is where i bombed in the exam i could answer questions whilst revising but when it came to the real thing i felt like i knew nothing at all :| I need to find an effective way of revising for all the exams i'll be taking in January :frown:
I'm really sorry to hear that OP.

Maybe you got over confident? Or you didnt read the questions properly down to nerves? Maybe the examiners made a mistake, and you should get a remark. I really don't know, from what you said it seems like you did all the right things!
Vanny17
I worked very hard for my As level exams but came out with very bad grades. I read during every break/ lunch and sometimes 4 hours straight. I worked through EVERY past papers, made revision notes, cut out on social life and always read before every new chapter. My teachers and students said i had potential to get AAAB grades. How come i messed up? Please tell me what i did wrong. Share your revision tips as well! Please. My subjects are biology, chemistry, Religious Studies and sociology. Thanks.


i think you are trying too hard that it is having a negative effect
I finding having a really well-organised folder helps! Get about 200 plastic wallets and some dividers. Use the dividers for each subject, and then divide each subject up into its modules. I think that the reason this helps is that it helps you to know the course, and everything it encompasses...e.g. in Maths if you want to revise natural logarithms you'd know that they only come up in C3 (and C4? Haven't studied it yet), whereas normals logs are C2.

Make your notes uber neat and even colourful - anything to make text on a page look more exciting!

What someone said earlier about helping people is true, I think. People say the best way to learn is to teach, and I guess that holds up. I find it refreshes my memory on how to do something and, when asked by an exam paper, I can do it again.

Good luck next year :smile:
Reply 86
Sub Zero
i would just add to this, read and understand the specification
and relax, exams are important but there are other things in life


Agree with the last part. My only quarm with the first part is that it's like throwing a dart in the dark. Although you think you understand it, you may have no idea what it actually is.

I got really lucky when I did Applied Business. The specification pulled up my coursework, but pulled down my exam. Fortunately I had more coursework than exams! :P

TheDannyManCan
I finding having a really well-organised folder helps! Get about 200 plastic wallets and some dividers. Use the dividers for each subject, and then divide each subject up into its modules. I think that the reason this helps is that it helps you to know the course, and everything it encompasses...e.g. in Maths if you want to revise natural logarithms you'd know that they only come up in C3 (and C4? Haven't studied it yet), whereas normals logs are C2.


OMG - I actually did that too. My teachers were so impressed with my folder they used it on open evenings! It helps to stay organised. :smile:
Reply 87
Depends upon subject:
Maths, all you can do is past questions and exam papers. That works though, cos all the questions are the same.
History: Understand the basic "story" of the era, then learn the key dates and corresponding event titles. Then write loads of answers till you find a style that works for you. With this, I came out with one of the highest History A2 marks in the country.
Economics: God knows...I learned all the tutor2u notes and did past papers but still wasn't confident, but I got the A* somehow. I'm not good at the subject at all. Hope for the right questions?
Reply 88
I gave my advice earlier OP - but I think I'll only be of real help to anyone who needs help in Law, Psychology and English. Feel free to ask :h:
I read the textbook over and over. No not memorising it, but in order to understand as deep as I could. You build up a picture in your head of the system, adding extra layers of depth with each read. Question yourself continually, apply your ideas to familiar concepts. Eg: Thinking about the electrons in a wire, how their individual motions affect the motions of the others etc, how this applies to resistance, heating, temperature etc. I don't know if I've explained it very well, but this is what I do. Just keep pushing your understanding, testing yourself - all in your head.
Reply 90
When reading a source/handout/chapter etc, re write the information in your words, i find as it's more personal that i remember it better, lay the information out on the page in smaller sections, highlight the most important bits and link it to other relevant info on the page. Quiz yourself on it too.
Spider diagrams and dodgy pills from the internet that help you concentrate.

Not speaking from experience of course...
Reply 92
mel0n
I gave my advice earlier OP - but I think I'll only be of real help to anyone who needs help in Law, Psychology and English. Feel free to ask :h:


Those were my subjects as well (although i wish to god psychology hadn't been)! You studying Law at uni?
To be honest, I didn't actively revise. I had a pretty **** time tbqh around exams season, and I'm still utterly surprised that I got two A*s...

My only tip is probably not to worry. If you go in stressed out, you'll probably make a lot of mistakes. I was convinced of failure having not revised, and (I kid you not!) in my History exam I spent my time just thinking to myself "Once this is over, you can go home and play GTA". I felt that it was a predetermined fact that I would fail, so my mind was a lot clearer than thinking that I should do well and stressing over the possibility of failing.

Other than that, just read the book. Seriously, that's all I ever do and I've gotten As in those exams.
By doing stuff other than past papers. I spent more time reading Michio Kaku, Stephen Hawking, Brian Greene and Manjit Kumar this year than I did actually doing 'exam prep' for physics. I find stuff sticks better the more I'm able to understand it in contexts other than that of a past paper answer scheme.
-Study Study Study.
-Revise in time.
-Distance yourself a bit from friends.
-Reduce night-outs. You'll have the last laugh later.
-Make a plan and stick to it.
-Study everyday even if its just 10 minutes. I revised German grammar whilst on the train journey home from school everyday. Aced my German A Level.
-Marathon sessions are good only if you know everything to start with.

Have goals that you wish to work towards.

Should work :smile:
Reply 96
I read my notes aloud in my room with funny voices/accents (i dont know why this works lol!), sometimes in a normal voice, like i'm giving a lecture to a lot of invisible people in my room. That helps a lot!! then the standard "READ TAKE NOTES READ TAKE NOTES" strategy...
Reply 97
start your revision early
subscribes....
Yagami
Maths- past papers for breakfast,lunch and dinner. :smile:
Biology- I seriously duno how I got an A* in AQA Biology jumping from a C in AS :dontknow:
What I did though is learn everything first...then past papers.
Chemistry- I got a B :getmecoat:

Main things:
Time. Give yourself a good time period for revision- I think I started revising beginning of April.
Exam technique. Learn the Mark scheme terminology, understand what the question is asking etc
Don't study for hours and hours...take regulary breaks. I played COD in my breaks. :yes:
Confidence. Believe you can do it. :smile:


Yeah what this guy said. Word for word. :awesome:

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