If you could have been told one thing before starting your A-Levels what would it be

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I wish I'd been told my teacher was going to leave one month before the exam and basically be a rubbish teacher for most of the year. Absolutely ruined Law.

Reply 461

welldoesntthissuck

Don't take maths. No matter how much you like it. You will fail.

Reply 462

Lana_07

Never underestimate how much work you will do in History A Level.
So painful.

Reply 463

Bright.Inspiration.

DONT DO AN EPQ. Everyone I know who did it HATED it. I found it super annoying to do, especially when you've got work for exams, etc to get on with. Most unis don't even value it that much to be honest.
Just. Dont. Do. It.

Reply 464

TimmyBurch

Only take maths at A level if you got an A or an A* at gcse

seriously it is so hard, i got a B at gcse and i looked at the overview of the A level course, and after 2 weeks i dropped maths and picked up psychology instead as i knew i would fail maths

if i couldn't even get an A at gcse which is easier how will i pass a level

Reply 465

Emma:-)

Entertainment Forum Helper

Dont try a-level maths.
I know some people find it easy, but i found it mega hard.

Reply 466

such_a_lady

Me personally? Hmm:

- Find out earlier that Oxford's MFL course is all literature, pick up a few books and realise this is what you want to do IN SEPTEMBER, NOT IN MAY.
- Get on with reading Thomas Mann, Lorca and Goethe as early as you can. Read tons of stuff in translation, whatever, just START IT EARLIER.
- Look after your notes! Get a separate folder for each TEACHER, not for each subject!
- Just because you're learning independently, you should still do all your homework. All of it. Even the pointless little analyses for Lang.
- Do much more wider reading from the Victorian Era for Lit. Stop putting off making quotation banks until the week before the exam and make them from the start of the year. Don't neglect the sciencey category- your teachers are wrong. It will come up in the exam and you will be so grateful you read French Lieutenant's Woman.
- Again for Lit, don't leave it to the week before to analyse 75 Bronte poems. Do one a week, at least! And do practice questions and hand them in. Otherwise you will have a meltdown in the exam and write a ton of unstructured crap.
- LEARN YOUR VOCAB for German and Spanish! It's not fun to get embarrassingly low marks in little vocab tests, but trust me, it's also so helpful in exams to know the words!
- Actually remember to use statistics in your oral exams...
- That boyfriend you'll spend six months with? You're not going to be with him forever. Your time might be better spent reading Schiller. Although you learnt a lot. Additionally, even though that is ruining your relationship with your mother, it WILL get better, I promise.
- The girl who's been one of your best friends for five years will suddenly have you tearing out your hair at her laziness and irresponsibility. Don't make plans with her because she'll stand you up.
- Keep your damn room tidy.
- You thought you couldn't live without Facebook but you've had no account since January and still going strong. Get rid of it as soon as you can.
- Don't take your beloved Thomas Mann book with you to Oxford on the 10th of June.
- Wear something warmer to your very first trip to Oxford in September 10!
- Buy an unbreakable umbrella NOW.
- Don't waste all your money on random crap, seriously. Save it all, because your EMA will stop at the end of the year.
- Don't bother with the SATs and applying to America; it'll waste you about £60 and you'll realise that in spite of the £9k fees, you actually do quite want to study here after all.
- Start driving lessons earlier and don't lose your provisional license!
- That thing about cute boys being in your college? It's a big fat lie.
- That T shirt you really like in H+M in Stuttgart? Buy it, ignore the fact that Kathi's standing there looking bored. BUY IT. Don't listen to your dad in T5 when he tells you to move your money OUT of your purse.
- College isn't going to be a massive great social experience, nor will you become closer with those girls you hoped you would, simply because they're staying on too. As rubbish as you feel having no social life, you'll feel a little smug when it comes to exam time.
- Start nagging your teachers for a Spanish exchange partner in winter, not the next summer.

:smile:

Reply 467

Obtas

This should be called the A level horror thread! Its actually making me afraid of starting my A level courses in September!

Reply 468

Jampolo

They're easier than you think. I had floods of people telling me to do easier a levels saying that mine were quite demanding. Well, dont let people tell you this. I only do 4 AS levels, just do the work.

Reply 469

infernalcradle

do some bloody work at AS...so you don't feel suicidal when waiting for your A2 results

Reply 470

.snowflake.

Original post by such_a_lady

Agreed. I'm all 'ARGh, maybe I should be reading more stuff in German??' Then I remeber that the local library is rubbish, doesnt have any of this in, so will have to wait until september to see what sirs got/ what the school library has.

This thread :cool:

Don't listen to most of the advice on this thread. I remember reading the equivalent thread before my A levels and getting nervous about the huge jump, and huge amounts of work, but A levels are designed to come after GCSEs and the work is a natural progression. You won't suddenly be out of your depth if you've chosen subjects you're good at. Speaking of which I did all essay subjects and didn't drown in the workload, and I'm incredibly disorganised/lazy/good at procrastinating - you just get on with it.

I would say be proactive about the uni stuff earlier - start researching courses now so you have a fuller picture, because all of a sudden you're supposed to know exactly where and what you're applying for and there's a huge amount of stuff out there. Added bonus here is if you know what you're working for you know exactly what you need to do, and it becomes easier to do it if you're working towards something specific.

Simply don't expect too much of it - I hated my sixth form, they treated us like kids and the A level courses were boring as hell. It's the same as GCSE in that you turn up, do a bit of work, learn how to jump through all the right hoops and try your best to do it in the exam. Nothing new, just something to get through so you can get onto a university course you love.

And finally - at any point in the course where you start to flag, start slacking, skipping things, getting bored with interminable lessons full of idiots - try to put yourself in my shoes right now. Anyone in my year's shoes. Waiting for results, postcards from our university towns on the wall, desperately thinking about every dropped mark, every screwed question - make yourself feel a tenth as sick and scared and fretful and uncertain as we do now and GET TO WORK.

Reply 473

Cleoleo

Don't slack. You'll regret it... like me.

Reply 474

Americaniamh

Original post by Xhotas

You were right about that Spanish chick.

So why did you still do what you did.

You sicken me.

I legitimately just lol'ed at this.

Reply 475

Irishta

Put the PS3/ Wii / X-box / PC controller down and do some study! :eek:

(for OCR subjects)

Just cause the Sociology module in Psychology was great fun doesn't mean that the Sociology A level will be anything other than boring and full of waffle and easily disproved meaningless statistics.

Oh and don't let people give you flack for taking Critical Thinking. It was fun and it made you far better at arguing :colone: