Why doesn't everyone who only has one exam in January get A's?

This is going to sound arrogant and I'll probably get negged for it but I don't understand. There are people at my sixth-form who only have one exam in january who complain about it and then still don't do as well they wanted :confused:

Surely if they have had all that time to prepare for one exam, they should ace it? If you look at people doing sciences; they have 5/6/7 exams within two weeks normally and have to grind through it. One exam can't be too much hassle?

EDIT: Yeah I know this is a typical "neg me" thread but I'm genuinely curious.

(edited 13 years ago)

Reply 1

raveen789

9

Maybe it is just a bad day mate, like i had 1 today with my D1 maths exam, i prepared so hard for it and in counting did well over 10+ past papers that my teacher marked, and it came down to the day, although my exam was a good paper, i simply ran out of time which was unusual, but who knows may have done well.

However i did have 5 AS exams in January, but that has nothing to do with it, simply how you feel on that day, or confidence slips, whatever it is. And it can equally be a case of not preparing. :smile:

Reply 2

infernalcradle

15

true...but rare is the person with only 1 exam in january, and if it is a humanity, then the subjectivity of it makes hard to do awesomely/revise

Reply 3

Hopple

18

What if they weren't just concentrating on that exam? They could well have coursework, or be trying to catch up with last term's stuff so they can learn the new term's stuff properly.

Reply 4

dothestrand

10

Maybe not everyone is capable of achieving A's, no matter how hard they revise. A-Levels seemed to me to be about how you answer the question, rather than the knowledge you put in your answer.

Reply 5

kerily

15

I actually have the same question. I only had two exams last January, and I got 99% in one and 100% in the other; if you have a small number of exams and paid attention during the term, there's not really much of an excuse for not doing as well as you're capable of. (Of course, there are some people who wouldn't be capable of an A even if they did every past paper known to man and copied out the textbook three times a day.)

Reply 6

lonely14

15

People who do essay based subjects (like History, English..) don't really have exams in January.

Tbh, if you have only one exam, it makes you laid-back (you think its only one, I still have loads of time.... :lazy:

)

But it gets too late. Procrastination is a bitch!

Reply 7

xPixie

Yeah even if you have one exam, procrastination will soon set in :smile:

Well, I procrastinate like a b***h :biggrin:

Reply 8

Genocidal

19

Despite what TSR says the majority of people just can't get A grades.

Reply 9

TheSmithsIndeed

14

I had a sociology exam- shock horror 'soft subject'!!!
But I do also have history coursework, english lit coursework and english language coursework.
It's very odd but I have found that I do better when I have more exams...

Reply 10

soutioirsim

OP

15

Original post by TheSmithsIndeed

I had a sociology exam- shock horror 'soft subject'!!!
But I do also have history coursework, english lit coursework and english language coursework.
It's very odd but I have found that I do better when I have more exams...

Actually yeah, I forgot about coursework :redface:

That must be annoying.

Reply 11

infernalcradle

15

cos even "the fear" cannot motivate me to revise, even the day before an exam....

Reply 12

CookieDoughLove

18

Nah. A person can know the course syllabus inside out and still do badly. You've got to have good exam technique otherwise it don't matter how much you know, you're gonna do ****. That was my downfall. I knew the knowledge but was **** at the essays.

Reply 13

TimmonaPortella

21

Original post by soutioirsim

This is going to sound arrogant and I'll probably get negged for it but I don't understand. There are people at my sixth-form who only have one exam in january who complain about it and then still don't do as well they wanted :confused:

Surely if they have had all that time to prepare for one exam, they should ace it? If you look at people doing sciences; they have 5/6/7 exams within two weeks normally and have to grind through it. One exam can't be too much hassle?

EDIT: Yeah I know this is a typical "neg me" thread but I'm genuinely curious.

edit: I decided I cba trolling and getting negged into oblivion.

In all seriousness, I think most of it is laziness. Obviously some people need to work more than others to get an A, but if they only have one, at the current level of A levels, I don't think lack of natural ability can in itself - for the vast majority - explain it.
I think a lot of it, tbh, is how much the person read at a young age. Some people didn't at all; they therefore have a poor grasp of English, and can't properly get things on the paper in the allocated time. They may also struggle to understand subtle differences in arguments due to a lack of comprehension of subtle differences in usage of words etc.
For sciences a lot of it could be how much attention they paid when learning the basics. Admittedly in these areas natural aptitude may have a little more to do with it.

tl;dr, more laziness than inherent ability, more nurture than nature.

(edited 13 years ago)

Reply 14

raveen789

9

For me it is nerves, a week a go i was overconfident with D1 maths exam getting A grades in past papers, with teachers marking, today i don't know why i felt so nervous, it just came upon me, i felt more nervous for this exam then chemistry despite being the most prepared for it. Things just happen i guess, i have 5 other exams so it was not my only one. As a result i ran out of time :frown:

but never mind we shall see in march.

The point I am trying to make it that you can under prepare, over prepare or just prepare, but in the end it comes down to the day, your either fine, over confident or just nervous. And it is human nature to feel that way. I no for a fact that there is people who did **** all and will probably come out with a 'high' A. :smile:

Reply 15

Muffinz

16

Procrastination. With regards to D1, they write the questions in a misleading way.

I took one Maths exam this January and I'm hoping for a B, but that's because I'm genuinely not that great at Maths and a B on C4 is all I need for an A.

Reply 16

scherzi

4

Doesn't really matter how many exams you have. People will do as well as they can hope in 5 exams if prepared, or screw their 1 exam if lazy. This would apply to both intelligent and unintelligent students, but if the latter doesn't do as well as they'd hoped after preparation, then they're probably just overestimating their potential.

Reply 17

Samz

14

Original post by CookieDoughLove

Nah. A person can know the course syllabus inside out and still do badly. You've got to have good exam technique otherwise it don't matter how much you know, you're gonna do ****. That was my downfall. I knew the knowledge but was **** at the essays.

Samee! That's what I hate about exams, you can know everything there is to know about a subject and still not do well. It should be about knowledge, not technique. :frown:

Fully embracing all the short answer questions I'm currently experiencing in my uni exams, seems like there is a lot less emphasis on the essay questions and the marks seem more easily spread. :smile:

Yay for life! Having said that though, I only had two exams this January and still found it too much to revise for! I fail at exam times :redface:

Why doesn't everyone who only has one exam in January get A's?

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