Things you wish you knew before A-Level.

Discussion for A-Level students and for those choosing their A-Level subjects.

This thread is sponsored by:
Announcements Posted on
Important: please read these guidelines before posting about exams on The Student Room 28-04-2013
Sign in to Reply
  1. Procrastination's Avatar
    • Junior Member
    • Posts: 53
    Things you wish you knew before A-Level.
    I am currently coming towards the end of year 11, which seems to have flown by, and thus sixth form is rapidly approaching.

    I have no idea what I am about to face, and therefore I would love people to share their mistakes, secrets to success and general tips and information that a year 11 may not know about sixth form.

    Thank you

    ps. good luck with exams, results , university places or whatever is to come.
  2. Giant's Avatar
    • Adored and Respected Member
    • Posts: 422
    • Warning points: 10
    Re: Things you wish you knew before A-Level.
    That doing nothing all year and cramming in study leave will come back to bite you
  3. mkhan9035's Avatar
    • Benevolent Member
    • Posts: 615
    Re: Things you wish you knew before A-Level.
    That picking an A Level that you got an A at GCSE would be seem reasonable to pick at AS Level! I got an A for GCSE English Lit and did at AS and it was the biggest mistake I made because I hated it as it was so difficult to do! Only pick subjects in A Levels that you will enjoy and want to get good grades in!!
  4. englishmad's Avatar
    • Full Member
    • Posts: 134
    Re: Things you wish you knew before A-Level.
    That all the extra curricular activities you do throughout year 12, distracting you from your actual a levels, because some teacher told you you'd need them for your PS are pointless (except for medicine). Just focus on the a levels.
    Last edited by englishmad; 18-06-2012 at 20:38.
  5. shmuxel's Avatar
    • Exalted and Worshipped Member
    • Location: London, England, UK
    • Posts: 1,144
    Re: Things you wish you knew before A-Level.
    I swear there was already a thread for this? I'll find it...
  6. Tench's Avatar
    • Adored and Respected Member
    • Location: London
    • Posts: 423
    Re: Things you wish you knew before A-Level.
    (Original post by englishmad)
    That all the extra curricular activities you do throughout year 12, distracting you from your actual a levels, because some teacher told you you'd need them for your PS are pointless. Just focus on the a levels.
    Unless you want to do Medicine...
  7. magap's Avatar
    • Full Member
    • Posts: 120
    Re: Things you wish you knew before A-Level.
    Physics is a nightmare. Only do it if you like it.
  8. kittyb99's Avatar
    • Benevolent Member
    • Location: The Ether
    • Posts: 685
    Re: Things you wish you knew before A-Level.
    Actually doing extra reading around the subjects you study would have been a brilliant idea... Oh, and that journal article reading is a great way to prepare for university. Reading around certainly makes a personal statement stronger though
  9. englishmad's Avatar
    • Full Member
    • Posts: 134
    Re: Things you wish you knew before A-Level.
    (Original post by Tench)
    Unless you want to do Medicine...
    true - I'm speaking as a hopeful English literature student who was gullible enough to believe that if I played tennis twice a week universities offers would be flooding in.
  10. NaaderBajwa's Avatar
    • Full Member
    • Posts: 143
    Re: Things you wish you knew before A-Level.
    That OCR and Biology do not mix.
  11. Beanz123's Avatar
    • Adored and Respected Member
    • Location: London
    • Posts: 415
    Re: Things you wish you knew before A-Level.
    Do all the UCAS stuff early -don't leave it till the last minute like I did!
  12. BeccaAnne94's Avatar
    • Benevolent Member
    • Location: Stoke-on-Trent
    • Posts: 605
    Re: Things you wish you knew before A-Level.
    Don't take chemistry!
  13. Billton's Avatar
    • Exalted and Worshipped Member
    • Location: Manchester
    • Posts: 1,334
    Re: Things you wish you knew before A-Level.
    Don't waste it! If you have homework, then do it! Actually attend your lessons because if you try and read up on it later, it will make a hell of a lot more sense.
    Also, don't hang around with idiots. :yep:
  14. ray_charlene's Avatar
    • Exalted Member
    • Location: Leicester
    • Posts: 392
    Re: Things you wish you knew before A-Level.
    Do not treat it like GCSE, A-level is very different and at least 10 times harder. If you spend an hour doing revision for GCSE per week, you need to do at least 3 hour of revision for each subject per week. This will make you feel a lot confident and also help you in getting better grades.

    Most of us won't have the patience to follow our timetable 100% tightly, so push yourself a bit harder at the beginning is ok IMO.
  15. Tench's Avatar
    • Adored and Respected Member
    • Location: London
    • Posts: 423
    Re: Things you wish you knew before A-Level.
    (Original post by NaaderBajwa)
    That OCR and Biology do not mix.
    Neither does Salters, OCR and Chemistry
  16. Procrastination's Avatar
    • Junior Member
    • Posts: 53
    Re: Things you wish you knew before A-Level.
    (Original post by shmuxel)
    I swear there was already a thread for this? I'll find it...
    Darn, there's me thinking I'm all original and creative.
  17. YB101's Avatar
    • Exalted and Worshipped Member
    • Posts: 1,203
    Re: Things you wish you knew before A-Level.
    1. That every single aspect of my social life and mental functioning would be violated and corrupted. This one goes out to the triple science students.

    2. you can never have too many bic biro pens

    3. freshers 15 - unlimited access to shops during free periods = rapid weight gain

    4. when teachers tell you to make detailed notes in the lesson YOU BETTER DO IT

    5. Don't let friends and parties distract you from anything, because at the end of the day it's YOUR life and education at stake.

    6. OCR is a mofo
  18. YB101's Avatar
    • Exalted and Worshipped Member
    • Posts: 1,203
    Re: Things you wish you knew before A-Level.
    If you are doing biology, every animal or species that appears in your exam, you will develop an increased hatred for. I can never look at cats and pandas in the same way.
  19. Luna.'s Avatar
    • Exalted Member
    • Posts: 356
    Re: Things you wish you knew before A-Level.
    Facebook, TSR, Youtube .. they're not your friends.
  20. Procrastination's Avatar
    • Junior Member
    • Posts: 53
    Re: Things you wish you knew before A-Level.
    (Original post by YB101)
    6. OCR is a mofo
    I had OCR 21st century science for GCSE and thought they were great, what changes?:confused:
Sign in to Reply
Share this discussion:  
Article updates
Moderators

We have a brilliant team of more than 60 volunteers looking after discussions on The Student Room, helping to make it a fun, safe and useful place to hang out.

Reputation gems:
The Reputation gems seen here indicate how well reputed the user is, red gem indicate negative reputation and green indicates a good rep.
Post rating score:
These scores show if a post has been positively or negatively rated by our members.