Things you wish you knew before A-Level.

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Neither does Salters, OCR and Chemistry

It's a great course to be fair but you need some dedication, OCR don't even know where to start when it comes to straight forward questions haha

Reply 21

Id and Ego seek

Psychology at A Level isn't an accurate representation of the field and having an in-depth knowledge of it/doing further reading will only hinder your ability to do well (not catastrophically, but it sure as hell won't help).

Reply 22

ray_charlene

Original post by YB101

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

2 of my 3 A2 subjects(economics and Maths) are OCR and they are killing me. Especially econ

Reply 23

DCRichards

A level is a step into a world of working til 4am and procrastinating like you've never done before...

Reply 24

Pinkhead

Don't try to learn the whole of C3 and C4 maths in two weeks.
Finished C3 last week and now depriving myself of sleep to finish c4 before Thursday.

Reply 25

T_x

1) DON'T do too much extracurricular stuff as this will distract you from studies
2) Prepare HARD over L6 summer for UCAS - lots of reading, multiple drafts of personal statements, etc.
3) AS is harder than GCSE. REVISE.
4) Detailed notes and ORGANISATION.

Reply 26

YB101

Original post by Procrastination

I had OCR 21st century science for GCSE and thought they were great, what changes? :confused:

what changes ?

HAHAHAHAHAHAAHA YOU HAVE A LOT COMING FOR YOU MY FRIEND!

But seriously, the work load is ridiculous. The amount of work I had spilt my folder in half 3 times. better work on your organisation and time management skills.

AS is alright, A2 will make you regret taking the subject. The questions get weird and so "guessy" and synoptic I've never know for there to be a year were there hasn't been a massive uproar about some stupid question they OCR have thrown in. this year they repeated a question from a another paper and s**t went down.

You have no room for forgetting, because everything you learn from the start of AS WILL appear in your last exam

I wish you all the best on your journey. PM me for further information. I am an OCR Biology Survivor

:colondollar:

Reply 27

Jackfinance17

Nothing really, it's the same as GCSEs period, pretty normal :P

The syllabus.

1. OCR are the worst exam board ever
2. When teachers tell you to do something in a free, make sure you do it
3. Visit the common room on regular occasions to catch up and socialise
4. Visit teachers for help if you need it - don't suffer in silence
5. Try and do the best you can at AS as it can determine where you apply for Uni and also your end A2 grade. Saying that, you can significantly improve your AS grade, it is just harder (I speak from experience)

Fresher 2012 - Birmingham Conservatoire (Music, BMus Hons)

Reply 30

Helloworld_95

Frees are either extremely boring or full of revision.

Reply 31

jme18

I agree with YB101 - OCR Biology will require you to learn 100 pages in a textbook work perfect and read around the subject, but the exam will make you want to die no matter how much revision you've done.
GCSEs require some revision to get an A or A*. A-levels require you to work your ass off just to pass.

Reply 32

DeadGirlsDance

Take notes every lesson. If a teacher words something in a different way to the handout write it down, this way when it comes to the exams if you don't understand the original wording you have something to work with.

Reply 33

Captain Hindsight

Don't sit in the common room. Do work instead. The people in the common room are the ones who apply to study media at Bournemouth...

Also, do reading beyond lessons. Don't be afraid to do your own thing either and self teach modules. Chances are you'll do better because it interests you more.

Edit: thanks for the positive thumbs up. It may be blunt, but darn it, it's true :P

(edited 11 years ago)

Reply 34

sandy95

Don't do enrichments for the sake of looking well-rounded - nobody cares! Also, if your teacher is s**t, do your own work in the lesson and don't even bother attending the lesson a couple of weeks before your exam. Also, if your school doesn't give you a proper study leave - bunk! It's te best thing you can do to boost your grades. Trust me on this!

Reply 35

J.Nalbandian14

Its a big step up from gcse level and you are required to put more hours of revision in and be prepared to face extra hours of homework and effort

Reply 36

Agenda Suicide

That no matter how hard you revise you're going to get that one exam which just completely throws you and makes you panic.

That you need to mentally prepare for constantly using mental calculations to see what marks you get, what grades you get and if they will get you into your university.

Reply 37

YB101

Original post by jme18

You couldn't have said this any better. NOW SPREAD THE WORDDDDDDD :biggrin:

Reply 38

Mocking_bird

- If you want to do vet med or medicine, get work experience sorted ASAP. Use the summer holidays to your advantage.
- Don't worry if you don't make friends in the first week, I didn't settle down in a group until the 2nd week.
- Use the library as much as you can to revise, but save some time in the day to socialise still.
- Take full advantage of what college offers you! Whether it be library resources, work experience teams, university trips, etc.
- Be confident... answer questions in class and talk in tutorial, you will just seem more approachable and you won't sink into the background.

Those 5 are pretty minor compared to this though....
Revise as you go along!
Trust me, it's not like GCSE where you could get away with revising the night before.
Go over the work you did in the week on the weekend and begin going over everything again about a month before your first exam.
It sounds like alot, and obviously it may differ person to person, but I found it very helpful to revise like this as it meant I had sufficient time to go over everything I didn't know and didn't have to worry the night before.

It's all worth it in the end though :smile: