A and A* students... Share your revision tips
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So, I've done my A2 exams and now I'm looking forward to get my results but I kind of don't know what to do.
Last summer I did three maths modules on my own because I knew I wanted to do these exams later. But now I have no idea what I should do to help with my course if I get to my uni. I know you guys have been here as well. So let me know what you would do if you went back. especially if you're studying aerospace/ aeronautical engineering at uni.
Thanks in advance for all the advices you guys give. I really need it.
Last summer I did three maths modules on my own because I knew I wanted to do these exams later. But now I have no idea what I should do to help with my course if I get to my uni. I know you guys have been here as well. So let me know what you would do if you went back. especially if you're studying aerospace/ aeronautical engineering at uni.Thanks in advance for all the advices you guys give. I really need it.
Make a revision timetable, only do about 3/4 hours a day (don't overdo it), and just read through your notes, highlight key points etc
I like how everyone here is playing the smartass guy
to get high grades you must firstly enjoy your subjects. try to read beyond your syllabus, helps a lot when an unexpected exam question appears.
to get high grades you must firstly enjoy your subjects. try to read beyond your syllabus, helps a lot when an unexpected exam question appears.
Well, you could stick formulas or stuff that you need to remember around your rooms so you unconsciously remember it. Hope this helps!
Original post by 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 actually think your revision deserved good grades. maybe its more to do with anxiety on the day you took your exam. Did you feel nervous on the day? Did you find the paper difficult/easy? I see that you did a lot of past papers, but did you do them under timed condition?
Original post by 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.
You didn't have time to relax from what I can see. And you read for four hours without breaks? That's also bad as information is not sinking in if you read without breaks.
What I did for essay based subjects is that I didn't rely solely on the class material. I did further reading and used examples from that further reading. For example, child language acquisition for English. You are only given a few case studies. If you want more examples, you had to get a special book which has plenty more examples that you can use
I took notes and learnt all the extra case studies. Then, when I came into the exam, I thought about which case studies are relevant to the actual question and I applied them.
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I never really used my notes to revise, my technique was just to read through the textbook and do past papers. I guess we'll see on the 15th how good that technique is...
I graduated of 2012 from high school and took 3 intensive language courses over this past year and I will be starting university in the Fall. I know how annoying it is not to know "how" to study and I struggled with it a lot until my freshman year of high school. My Philisophy and religion teacher noticed I was struggling as I had spent most of my time working 12 hour shifts and attending school I barely had to to sleep let alone study. She started researching for study aids and found this great online course for me to watch on my free time and once I was done studying came easy. It's a little expensive but trust me the hours it saves on studying and the quality of the studying you do. All you learn stays with you as oppose to forgetting it the second you're done with your exam.
If you are interested the link below is the course I took. I really do recommend it to anyone and everyone who spends more time studying with little results.
http://cd48bdq8q3i6nndhov2i14bu8u.hop.clickbank.net/?tid=LEARNFAST
If you are interested the link below is the course I took. I really do recommend it to anyone and everyone who spends more time studying with little results.
http://cd48bdq8q3i6nndhov2i14bu8u.hop.clickbank.net/?tid=LEARNFAST
Guys what tips would you give to someone starting A2 in the new linear style exams. When to & how to revise. Thanks
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Original post by Thebest786
Guys what tips would you give to someone starting A2 in the new linear style exams. When to & how to revise. Thanks
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I recommend you look at the post on top of yours there's a great link for best studying techniques etc.
Original post by Thebest786
Guys what tips would you give to someone starting A2 in the new linear style exams. When to & how to revise. Thanks
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I did most of my A2 exams at the end of the A2 year anyway, and some people I know did their A2 and retook some AS exams as well, so you should be able to manage.
The best thing to do is to find the revision techniques that work for you. Do this throughout the year if you have end of topic tests (this does depend on subjects). Revise properly for these, including making notes. I found this to be very helpful as it meant when I actually got around to revising properly for exams I had notes there (but I have to rewrite them anyway) and I could already remember a bit.
Make a list of everything that you have to do (including subtopics) and then plan backwards as to when to start. Give yourself more time than you think you will need as people often underestimate the amount of time needed for revision and this way you have some leeway.
Honestly, I depends on the subject you have taken up but my secret was going through the syllabus as thoroughly as I possibly could and comparing my notes to it. If there are topics that are not as elaborated as the syllabus requires them to be then google it and add the extra information to your notes. That way you have all the knowledge the examiner requires you to have before you do the paper.
Also, don't just do past papers, look at examiners' report and look at how they expect answers to be and sometimes there are scanned answer scripts so students can compare the answers of a person who scored an A and one who scored a C.
Next, understand, understand, understand. I cannot stress that enough! Long gone are the days when you could guess the answers to roughly about 90% of the paper and score an A. A-levels requires you to understand not memorize or cram what you have been taught because doing gazillion past papers is not going to help you if you are simply writing down answers you read from markin schemes. Understanding the content allows you to answer any question you are asked (question question within the syllabus, that is).
Stick to a study timetable and rather than allocating equal time for all your subjects, sit down and access what subjects need more effort and this should be reflected on your timetables as relatively more study sessions. If you find it hard to study and if you are a food lover do this: set a target, say if I read one chapter, I get to eat 3 cookies or something like that. Crazy, I know but believe you me it helps
If it is a subject like economics or geography read the case studies in the old gce past papers and try to remember the case study details. Examiners are impressed if students can support their arguments using examples. That is how I managed to score a 120/120 on my economics unit 4 paper
If anything else comes to mind, I'll be sure to post. Hope this helps you.
Also, don't just do past papers, look at examiners' report and look at how they expect answers to be and sometimes there are scanned answer scripts so students can compare the answers of a person who scored an A and one who scored a C.
Next, understand, understand, understand. I cannot stress that enough! Long gone are the days when you could guess the answers to roughly about 90% of the paper and score an A. A-levels requires you to understand not memorize or cram what you have been taught because doing gazillion past papers is not going to help you if you are simply writing down answers you read from markin schemes. Understanding the content allows you to answer any question you are asked (question question within the syllabus, that is).
Stick to a study timetable and rather than allocating equal time for all your subjects, sit down and access what subjects need more effort and this should be reflected on your timetables as relatively more study sessions. If you find it hard to study and if you are a food lover do this: set a target, say if I read one chapter, I get to eat 3 cookies or something like that. Crazy, I know but believe you me it helps
If it is a subject like economics or geography read the case studies in the old gce past papers and try to remember the case study details. Examiners are impressed if students can support their arguments using examples. That is how I managed to score a 120/120 on my economics unit 4 paper
If anything else comes to mind, I'll be sure to post. Hope this helps you.
Original post by pak1994
I did most of my A2 exams at the end of the A2 year anyway, and some people I know did their A2 and retook some AS exams as well, so you should be able to manage.
The best thing to do is to find the revision techniques that work for you. Do this throughout the year if you have end of topic tests (this does depend on subjects). Revise properly for these, including making notes. I found this to be very helpful as it meant when I actually got around to revising properly for exams I had notes there (but I have to rewrite them anyway) and I could already remember a bit.
Make a list of everything that you have to do (including subtopics) and then plan backwards as to when to start. Give yourself more time than you think you will need as people often underestimate the amount of time needed for revision and this way you have some leeway.
The best thing to do is to find the revision techniques that work for you. Do this throughout the year if you have end of topic tests (this does depend on subjects). Revise properly for these, including making notes. I found this to be very helpful as it meant when I actually got around to revising properly for exams I had notes there (but I have to rewrite them anyway) and I could already remember a bit.
Make a list of everything that you have to do (including subtopics) and then plan backwards as to when to start. Give yourself more time than you think you will need as people often underestimate the amount of time needed for revision and this way you have some leeway.
Nice one, my only real fear is the number of exams I'll be having & revising for all of them at once may not do it
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Original post by Thebest786
Nice one, my only real fear is the number of exams I'll be having & revising for all of them at once may not do it
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What subjects do you do, because this will make a difference? It depends on how you revise, but I would start early in making notes. Personally I found the Easter holidays to be the best time as I find it very hard to make notes whilst still going to lessons. I managed to do probably about 10 topics over the two weeks whilst it took me 5 weeks to do the remaining 3 topics once I was back at school. Planning is very important.
im lazy but tend to do well in whatever I set my mind to (8A*s 2As, waiting on aslevels)
the difference between the best and the average I've found, especially in scientific subjects is knowing and understanding
many people learn the textbook inside out and don't do as well, its sad to see that
learning to understand content is difficult, but doable
i tend to make notes or try to explain concepts to other people to help my understanding
good luck to anyone out there,
the difference between the best and the average I've found, especially in scientific subjects is knowing and understanding
many people learn the textbook inside out and don't do as well, its sad to see that
learning to understand content is difficult, but doable
i tend to make notes or try to explain concepts to other people to help my understanding
good luck to anyone out there,
Don't do too much.
But my best advice is to teach someone else. My girlfriend was having trouble with Biology and I hardly did any revision other than pretty much teaching her the entire course over and over again. Worked really well.
But my best advice is to teach someone else. My girlfriend was having trouble with Biology and I hardly did any revision other than pretty much teaching her the entire course over and over again. Worked really well.
For me, I'm an incredibly lazy student and can be a massive liability (which is one of the things that could potentially pull me down in my reference for applying to Uni).
I'd say the key to revising is understanding. Reading the textbook and copying it over and over will never work. It may for GCSE but definitely not for AS/A2 Level. When revising for an exam, try to focus on the learning rather than the actual mark/grade. From what I've seen from my friends, they'll have calculated all of the marks and UMS scores before we go into the exam and they'll read enough of the textbook to get that mark which is obviously the wrong approach (and yes, they failed miserably).
If you have a genuine interest in something, it's not hard to learn it as you can easily process it and make sense to it. I'd say this is one of the flaws of education in general in the 21st Century; Education emphasises good grades is the key and not learning.
For my GCSE results, I achieved 6 A*s and an A.
I'd say the key to revising is understanding. Reading the textbook and copying it over and over will never work. It may for GCSE but definitely not for AS/A2 Level. When revising for an exam, try to focus on the learning rather than the actual mark/grade. From what I've seen from my friends, they'll have calculated all of the marks and UMS scores before we go into the exam and they'll read enough of the textbook to get that mark which is obviously the wrong approach (and yes, they failed miserably).
If you have a genuine interest in something, it's not hard to learn it as you can easily process it and make sense to it. I'd say this is one of the flaws of education in general in the 21st Century; Education emphasises good grades is the key and not learning.
For my GCSE results, I achieved 6 A*s and an A.
Original post by pak1994
What subjects do you do, because this will make a difference? It depends on how you revise, but I would start early in making notes. Personally I found the Easter holidays to be the best time as I find it very hard to make notes whilst still going to lessons. I managed to do probably about 10 topics over the two weeks whilst it took me 5 weeks to do the remaining 3 topics once I was back at school. Planning is very important.
I do chemistry, biology, maths & history. I normally dont make new notes. Just use my class ones. I'd like to imply the best revision techniques. But I'm unsure, what is the true difference between knowing & understanding? People say if you understand in class, come revision time you won't need to really need to push yourself & it falls into place. A little confused...
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Original post by Thebest786
I do chemistry, biology, maths & history. I normally dont make new notes. Just use my class ones. I'd like to imply the best revision techniques. But I'm unsure, what is the true difference between knowing & understanding? People say if you understand in class, come revision time you won't need to really need to push yourself & it falls into place. A little confused...
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Then those subjects aren't too bad. I did Biology and Maths A2, and my friend did both those and Chemistry as well. Both of us were quite prepared in terms of revision as we started before and over the Easter holidays, which is the best time to do work. I assume that you do end of topic tests, in which case I would really advise that you try very hard for them and properly revise. Everything seems to stick much easier if you've already learnt it once before.
What they mean is that there is a difference between memorising something and actually understanding it. In Biology they have started to ask a lot more application questions which means that you have to use what you have learnt to answer questions which you have not directly been taught about before.
With Maths I found past papers to be the best sort of revision. I made summary notes with the key points in each topic and then just did past papers. My exam board (OCR MEI) have about 15 papers for each module, which is very useful.
Original post by pak1994
Then those subjects aren't too bad. I did Biology and Maths A2, and my friend did both those and Chemistry as well. Both of us were quite prepared in terms of revision as we started before and over the Easter holidays, which is the best time to do work. I assume that you do end of topic tests, in which case I would really advise that you try very hard for them and properly revise. Everything seems to stick much easier if you've already learnt it once before.
What they mean is that there is a difference between memorising something and actually understanding it. In Biology they have started to ask a lot more application questions which means that you have to use what you have learnt to answer questions which you have not directly been taught about before.
With Maths I found past papers to be the best sort of revision. I made summary notes with the key points in each topic and then just did past papers. My exam board (OCR MEI) have about 15 papers for each module, which is very useful.
What they mean is that there is a difference between memorising something and actually understanding it. In Biology they have started to ask a lot more application questions which means that you have to use what you have learnt to answer questions which you have not directly been taught about before.
With Maths I found past papers to be the best sort of revision. I made summary notes with the key points in each topic and then just did past papers. My exam board (OCR MEI) have about 15 papers for each module, which is very useful.
Thanks. By the way, what are you doing now? Have you finished uni?
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