A* and A students

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Original post by Prose Before Hoes

For GCSE I did barely any unless it was for science subjects- then I'd revise intensely for a couple of days before the exam.

For A-level...I revised here and there, and then intensely the night before.

A2- I'm revising like mad.

Sounds like me,
A2s are so much harder :/
What subjects you taking?

Reply 21

Etoiliege

Uhm, I type up my notes from subjects everyday religiously now. Last year I let all my files become a huge mess and that got confusing for revision.. No matter how many times I say otherwise, homework is always done on the day before it's due.

And I revise a little at a time but lots. That said, my friends and I are quite good at testing each other and we had revision sessions whilst sunbathing for the whole of may-july last year..

Reply 22

ddrrzzeerr

I average 1-2 hours a night. I think I could get As with no work at home but the difference between an A and an A* is massive.

Reply 23

Prose Before Hoes

Original post by EM:)

Sounds like me,
A2s are so much harder :/
What subjects you taking?

I'm doing English Literature, History and Business Studies ( waiting for the latter to get bashed on here :wink:

) I dropped French at As :biggrin:

Yourself?

Reply 24

Got the tshirt

I suppose it depends on the subject - maths/further maths and physics don't require much more than lots of past papers in the week before. Most work I do during free periods at school.
DT requires more work as there is a lot to memorise. Pity none of my offers need it! :frown:

I need an A* in FM and I shall see if there is anything else I can do to achieve it. Once you understand it it is just practise I think.

(edited 13 years ago)

Reply 25

Tateco

Realistically, I do 1-2 hours each night (not structured, just going over notes reading ahead and doing homework), but then about 3-4 months before the exams I'll start revising slowly, going over notes I've read and making sure it's all impaled into my brain, about 1-2 months from the exam I'll do about 3 hours a night and a lot more at the weekends. I find it best to do things without structure though, I'm motivated enough to get the work done that I need to so having a structure bores me and puts me off, I guess you need a structure if you're not motivated though...

Reply 26

Huskaris

Nothing I had a rule which said no work at home, we got a few free periods in the week, I did my homework then.

Also, revision, cramming works best for me, so for AS levels, a monring exam I would start the afternoon before revising, afternoon exam, would spend the morning.

A2, Start day before.

Reply 27

norbury

Original post by LufcEllandRoad

How much work do you do at home on a school night and how much revision do you do for an exam?

I think there have been dozens of threads like this already, but anyway Ill answer it for you, too.

I'm not an A* student, more of an A student. On a school day I do around 2 hours a day and for exams I do like 4-6 hours on a non-school day. Spread over the entire day with lots of breaks and never more than 1 hour without a small break.

Reply 28

Kappayi

Zilch at home.

But my school day is 8.30am to 6.00pm.

Reply 29

big-boss-91

Original post by LufcEllandRoad

How much work do you do at home on a school night and how much revision do you do for an exam?

i got A* in both GCSE and A levels art with 100% on both, i didn't revise since its art, i just have to be creative

Reply 30

Crazy Paving

Back in my A Level days, I did basically **** all extra at AS and just revised the night before. Then, in my second year, I went to the library on most frees and did work after college until about 5/6 when I had an early finish. Though, this is totally subjective.

Reply 31

rob...

Since the start of the Christmas holidays, most of my free time has been devoted to study. However, I paid attention in lessons so 95%+ on maths & science exams is pretty much guaranteed; I put in so much time at home in an attempt to achieve perfection. I am doing six A levels at a state school though. Everything's relative :smile:

Reply 32

Blah12345678

Quite a few people will have barely revised for GCSE and got good grades but the majority of people getting good grades in A-levels have revised a lot.

For A-levels, I start doing about 5+ hours a day 2-3 weeks before the exam and don't really do much revision during normal school days - just do my homework. Has worked pretty well for me but I have no life for the month or so of my exams :P

Reply 33

Uzzy?

For A levels: I didn't work in college...I get easily distracted. I worked at home and made notes about a week before the exam, i then made spider diagrams and memorised them. Some people may think a week is too late or too early but it works well for me.

Reply 34

Aspiringlawstudent

I honestly do very little. The night before an exam I re-read my essays, but don't read through textbooks. Again on the morning of an exam I will go through in my head what I know and any gaps I fill by quickly looking them up.

Reply 35

draikzer

Depends on the subject.

I didn't do any extra work after lessons unless we actually had homework. But before the exam (pretty much 3 weeks before) I revised pretty much everyday except weekends.

Reply 36

Bobbler

Not being funny, but some people can just do it without doing any work -.-.

I hate it when people are like "you obviously did loads of revision." Some people just don't and can retain information & blurt it out in an exam, whether thats through a photographic memory or anything.

Personally, I didn't revise at all for my AS's & got 196/200,193/200 & 192/200, French was a **** & I got a B cuz I wanted to drop it. But like I don't ever do homework until 6am the morning it's due in & I didn't start revising for an exam today until Monday. So yeah, it does depend on the student. I think this year though, definitely need to put the work in :/

Reply 37

Lilli1994

Original post by big-boss-91

i got A* in both GCSE and A levels art with 100% on both, i didn't revise since its art, i just have to be creative

Hi, I am currently doing art GCSE, and I basically don't have a clue what I am doing! I am fine with my final exam prep and stuff, but what coursework did you do? And did you include alot of observational drawings/artist research and annotations on everything? Thanks :smile:

Reply 38

big-boss-91

Original post by Lilli1994

oh god it was years ago! GCSE art brings back wonderful memories...

i looked at traditional japanese art (not manga rubbish) which was fairly hard as i attempted to recreate several art pieces using japanese traditional methods and modern western methods and compared the two or 16, i made several mistakes but i included it all in my coursework and wrote about how i improved on it etc. i did simple annotations on each picture i did, just explaining what method i used to create the piece, how and why its art to me. i didn't do much "observational" drawings as i like to jump into the deep end and create my own work.

i split my coursework into 4 sections, the first 3 sections would explore a certain theme and then create a "final piece" for that section. The forth section is basically my own project but using the things i learnt from the 3 sections... damn the final piece was huge.

it was fun! i would pick a topic that interests you the most, that interest does helps.