Did any of you A/A* students do pre AS preparation??

I'm starting sixrh form in september and I'm gonna do a bit. Im only gonna learn somw physics, though, because my school's department is mind-blowingly bad

I also plan on learning grade 5 music theory, so that i can take the exam in the winter term, when my studies aren't massively important.

I'm also thinking about learning a language too, maybe mandarin. On side note, does anyone have any experience of those rosetta stone programs? They're reaaaally expensive so getting a tutor may be more cost-effective (i wish i'd done it at school)

I'm in the same position as you (Just finished GCSE's).

From all the people i've asked who have gotten A*'s at A-Level, they've all said that they started early. Two reasons; 1) To stay ahead of the class, therefore they find classwork much easier. 2) Because of their passion for the subject(s), they said that unless you're a born genius you're not going to get A*'s without dedicating huge amounts of extra time towards the subject.

As a result, I'm spending a large proportion of my time this summer learning AS Physics and AS/A2 Maths, I may aswell do something productive instead of just watching rubbish on TV that wont help me one bit.

I'm in the same position as you (Just finished GCSE's).

From all the people i've asked who have gotten A*'s at A-Level, they've all said that they started early. Two reasons; 1) To stay ahead of the class, therefore they find classwork much easier. 2) Because of their passion for the subject(s), they said that unless you're a born genius you're not going to get A*'s without dedicating huge amounts of extra time towards the subject.

As a result, I'm spending a large proportion of my time this summer learning AS Physics and AS/A2 Maths, I may aswell do something productive instead of just watching rubbish on TV that wont help me one bit.

What if Im doing Further Maths as a Independent study subject? Any suggestions

That's not true at all....You don't need to be a genius to get A*s, just to listen in class, make sure you understand everything and then revise properly, for however long you feel you need to. Could be a month, could be 3 days. All this "staying ahead" nonsense is just...nonsense. Unless you have REALLY BAD teachers, there's no way you need to do that.

What if Im doing Further Maths as an independant study subject

I use the german one, well basically it's a total immersion program, as if you've just been in the country and have no experience of the language, it's pretty good, but i'd say try it out and if it's the way you like learning languages then go for it!