Help with AS's ? Any advice top students? :-)

Hello everyone :smile:

I am in my AS year right now and I am really aiming to achieve AAAA at the end of the year. In my GCSEs I have had 2 As 7Bs and 2Cs I know, they're not the greatest however I had some language difficuties during that time since English is not my first language. I feel much more confident right now...Could anyone please give me some tips on how they studied or what they did in order to achieve top grades? :smile:

Thank you

)

Reply 1

Sparta_Kane

All the past papers you can get your hands on. And - especially for science - look at the mark schemes too as that will tell you what answers they were expecting.

What subjects are you doing?

Reply 2

tmorrall

I got similar GCSEs. I wouldn't call myself a top student but I did get what you are hoping for at AS, so here's a tip:
Do every past paper from the start of the century to now
Oh and if its maths do other exam boards papers. If you are doing i.e OCR you can do the solomon papers for each unit (from Edexcel or some derivative of it). Means you have like 10+ on your board and like another 10+ on another. Do them twice/thrice
Watch videos online if you get something. There are fantastic guys for sciences and maths on YouTube.
If you are doing essay based subjects I cant help I am a pure science + maths kind of guy

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Reply 3

TSR561

Read above. Past papers, past papers, past papers. Keep on top of all your work, read the textbook and just practice. That's really it. Practice whatever you're doing to perfection.

Reply 4

Daisy0610

All the past papers you can get your hands on. And - especially for science - look at the mark schemes too as that will tell you what answers they were expecting.

What subjects are you doing?

I am doing English Lit, Law, French and Buisness Studies :smile:

Reply 5

Daisy0610

Original post by tmorrall

Thank you guys so much :-)) Thats what I needed, good practical advice, even though i am doing more essey based subject I think it is still useful :smile:

Reply 6

Mike_123

Original post by Daisy0610

Hello everyone :smile:

Thank you

)

Right now and over Christmas you should be writing notes using the textbook and also looking at the syllabus you can find online. It doesn't matter if you haven't covered it in class, try to learn most if not all of the course over the next few months.

Also, take your mocks seriously. If you can do well in the mocks then you know you have the capacity to do even better in the real exams.

The key to getting top grades is to practice past papers and (I know it sounds bad, but) learn mark schemes.

If you want some motivation, AS is the most important exam period.
Why?
AS grades get you A2 predictions, which get you university offers.

(edited 10 years ago)

Reply 7

coolteen

Original post by Daisy0610

Hello everyone :smile:

Thank you

)

go through the past papers
set a revision time table and follow it
no compromise on the no of hours you sleep
=getting good grades

Reply 8

Daisy0610

Thanks guys :smile:

I'll definitly take this Christmas half term to revise and organise myself...Ill prepare for for mocks in January :smile:

Also do you have any 'organisational' advise, did you get yourselves timetables of when to study when to rest etc.? This is something that causes a little struggle for me sometimes

Reply 9

xoxAngel_Kxox

Revise as you go. If you create summary sheets for each topic it will be a lot easier come exam time.

At exam time, do as many past papers as you can, starting off casually and then progressing to as close to exam conditions as possible.

Don't burn out. I have friends who've worked tremendously hard and then suffered breakdowns near to exams because of the stress (and there's really no need for that).

If you're lucky enough to be doing a subject that includes a coursework element, do your absolute best in it. You'll often get the chance to go over it a few times and improve it - a luxury that doesn't extend to the exam hall.

Make a revision timetable. Try an hour per subject per day and see how well that works for you. You may find that you can do a lot of that in your frees at college. If you're worked properly through the year you should find that it doesn't take hours and hours and hours.. revision should be reminding yourself of material, not learning it.

Reply 10

tmorrall

Original post by Daisy0610

Thanks guys :smile:

I'll definitly take this Christmas half term to revise and organise myself...Ill prepare for for mocks in January :smile:

Also do you have any 'organisational' advise, did you get yourselves timetables of when to study when to rest etc.? This is something that causes a little struggle for me sometimes

I am generally quite unorganised since I don't take notes as such, so I don't have a "beautiful" file of notes. I focus on what the teacher is saying and ask questions. Try and get some sort of context to what they are teaching. I gain more from this than note taking, but that's personal preference.

I followed a revision timetable i made on 'Get Revising' for AS (study planner as it is now known). I followed this roughly don't get me wrong. My life and probably most people's are too erratic for a strict timetable, a nice guide nonetheless to make sure you are top of the quantity of revision you want to have accomplished come exam time.

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