CALLING ALL NEW YEAR 12s - tips for AS levels (I got AAAA)

Okay, here are my tips for AS levels. Things that worked for me, and things I wish I'd known this time last year. Here we go!

Set yourself a goal and wrote it big on a piece of paper. Stick this up where you work. I just finished AS, and my paper said "GOAL = AAAA" and I saw it every. single. time. I worked and in those moments where all you want to do is crawl back into bed and forget revision, it reminds you why you're doing this and it keeps the end in sight. It really helped me!

Revise for your mocks. They're not a joke. They're there for a reason. Write down what chapters you need to work on and work on understanding them again. Stuck? ASK YOUR TEACHERS. That's what they're there for.

Practice, practice, practice makes perfect. And past papers are the only way you'll learn. DO THEM ALL. And then go back, make a list of every question you got wrong and do it again. Look at the markschemes and find patterns between similar questions. Get in the examiner's head so that when you're in that exam hall in May staring at the first question of the paper, you're attacking the question and answering it in a way that it's easy for you to get marks.

Yes, it's a drizzly November morning and you have a double free and a tear-inducing pile of work. But please for the love of god DO NOT be tempted by the common room with it's endless cups of tea/coffee, friends to talk to and comfy sofas. I would have been a LOT less stressed during exam time if I had actually productively used my frees. The library is your friend. Find a table, get out your work, stick in your headphones, block out the world and WORK YOUR ARSE OFF.

Get yourself organised. File your notes in order. Date your work, it makes life easier when your over-used, over-full ringbinder suddenly explodes all over the floor of the German classroom and you have no clue what goes where. Trust me, I speak from experience here...

Use a planner. Sixth form doesn't give you one? Buy one. They're a quid in Poundland and will save your life. Write down deadlines, test days and homework assignments. If you fall back on work, your grades will suffer.

You're also allowed to breathe. If you stay on top of work, reward yourself with a party on the weekend or going shopping. Sixth form is hard, hard work but if you learn to juggle your time right, it can be an incredible year.

It's not easy and you won't get it right the first time. September will b a bit of a shock. It's okay, don't panic. I got 20% in my first maths test and cried my eyes out all evening because I was convinced I'd fail. Everyone has that one day where it hits them. Rock bottom. But everyone recovers. Take the little fails as a kick up the backside to motivate you for the road ahead.

The bottom line is that hard work pays off. It's not about how many hours you spend revising, it's about making the hours that you do spend count. An hour making flashcards and testing yourself on a topic is more useful than staring blankly at an open textbook for two hours. I really wish I'd known this because my entire Easter was a colossal waste of time and the stress study leave was horrific.

I wish you all the best in Year 12! I did biology (AQA), chemistry (AQA), maths (Edexcel) and German (Edexcel). If you need specific help with any of those subjects or want advice in general about your AS year, feel free to drop me a PM and I'd be more than happy to help! Good luck!

I like the write your goal idea, I shall do this right now! These tips seem rather helpful.. Thanks

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Great post. Thanks for the advice

Ahh, good advice here, especially about hitting rock bottom. I did awfully in my mocks (BDUU, retook two to have BDDE), and I was especially gutted about getting a U in a Biology mock, which I then worked my ass off for a retake only to get a D. I came very close to just dropping out of Biology for the rest of the year and retaking all of Year 12.

I very much hit rock bottom around early February, and it really sucks. But it's really a case of sitting there and thinking that right, it might have all gone to ****, but you can pull it back together. Forget about the end of year exam, think about your end of topic test. Where did you go wrong? How can you put it right? And no matter how bad it seems, you can turn it around.

x

Okay, here are my tips for AS levels. Things that worked for me, and things I wish I'd known this time last year. Here we go!

Set yourself a goal and wrote it big on a piece of paper. Stick this up where you work. I just finished AS, and my paper said "GOAL = AAAA" and I saw it every. single. time. I worked and in those moments where all you want to do is crawl back into bed and forget revision, it reminds you why you're doing this and it keeps the end in sight. It really helped me!

Revise for your mocks. They're not a joke. They're there for a reason. Write down what chapters you need to work on and work on understanding them again. Stuck? ASK YOUR TEACHERS. That's what they're there for.

Practice, practice, practice makes perfect. And past papers are the only way you'll learn. DO THEM ALL. And then go back, make a list of every question you got wrong and do it again. Look at the markschemes and find patterns between similar questions. Get in the examiner's head so that when you're in that exam hall in May staring at the first question of the paper, you're attacking the question and answering it in a way that it's easy for you to get marks.

Yes, it's a drizzly November morning and you have a double free and a tear-inducing pile of work. But please for the love of god DO NOT be tempted by the common room with it's endless cups of tea/coffee, friends to talk to and comfy sofas. I would have been a LOT less stressed during exam time if I had actually productively used my frees. The library is your friend. Find a table, get out your work, stick in your headphones, block out the world and WORK YOUR ARSE OFF.

Get yourself organised. File your notes in order. Date your work, it makes life easier when your over-used, over-full ringbinder suddenly explodes all over the floor of the German classroom and you have no clue what goes where. Trust me, I speak from experience here...

Use a planner. Sixth form doesn't give you one? Buy one. They're a quid in Poundland and will save your life. Write down deadlines, test days and homework assignments. If you fall back on work, your grades will suffer.

You're also allowed to breathe. If you stay on top of work, reward yourself with a party on the weekend or going shopping. Sixth form is hard, hard work but if you learn to juggle your time right, it can be an incredible year.

It's not easy and you won't get it right the first time. September will b a bit of a shock. It's okay, don't panic. I got 20% in my first maths test and cried my eyes out all evening because I was convinced I'd fail. Everyone has that one day where it hits them. Rock bottom. But everyone recovers. Take the little fails as a kick up the backside to motivate you for the road ahead.

The bottom line is that hard work pays off. It's not about how many hours you spend revising, it's about making the hours that you do spend count. An hour making flashcards and testing yourself on a topic is more useful than staring blankly at an open textbook for two hours. I really wish I'd known this because my entire Easter was a colossal waste of time and the stress study leave was horrific.

I wish you all the best in Year 12! I did biology (AQA), chemistry (AQA), maths (Edexcel) and German (Edexcel). If you need specific help with any of those subjects or want advice in general about your AS year, feel free to drop me a PM and I'd be more than happy to help! Good luck!

Awesome advice, thank you so much! I actually went on a little bit of a Staples and Poundland shopping spree the other day, so I think I'm pretty prepared in that respect! Just out of interest, did you do Stats, Mechanics or Decision for your Maths AS?

Well done on the amazing results by the way, I can tell you worked super hard for them

Aww thank you! To be honest I slacked and didn't work as hard as I should have most of the year, and then really upped my game in study leave because I knew I was in deep **** if I didn't - it's not a method I'd recommend, hence this thread

Ooooh a stationery spree! Love it

I did Stats and hated it with a burning passion, I'm sorry to say I'm dropping maths found it unbelievably difficult but worked my arse off for it because I had 6 whole days just to revise stats before the exam and somehow got full UMS...

Ah, I'll be doing Stats too (college gives students no choice ), I was just wondering if you had any tips on how to make it any less painful

I had no choice either... apologies if I put you off! Just do every past paper... that's all I did. It was painful but you'll get through it. If your exam board is Edexcel, use www.examsolutions.net - bloody lifesaver! He has video worked solutins and explanations to ALL past paper questions.

Good luck!

Okay, here are my tips for AS levels. Things that worked for me, and things I wish I'd known this time last year. Here we go!

Set yourself a goal and wrote it big on a piece of paper. Stick this up where you work. I just finished AS, and my paper said "GOAL = AAAA" and I saw it every. single. time. I worked and in those moments where all you want to do is crawl back into bed and forget revision, it reminds you why you're doing this and it keeps the end in sight. It really helped me!

Revise for your mocks. They're not a joke. They're there for a reason. Write down what chapters you need to work on and work on understanding them again. Stuck? ASK YOUR TEACHERS. That's what they're there for.

Practice, practice, practice makes perfect. And past papers are the only way you'll learn. DO THEM ALL. And then go back, make a list of every question you got wrong and do it again. Look at the markschemes and find patterns between similar questions. Get in the examiner's head so that when you're in that exam hall in May staring at the first question of the paper, you're attacking the question and answering it in a way that it's easy for you to get marks.

Yes, it's a drizzly November morning and you have a double free and a tear-inducing pile of work. But please for the love of god DO NOT be tempted by the common room with it's endless cups of tea/coffee, friends to talk to and comfy sofas. I would have been a LOT less stressed during exam time if I had actually productively used my frees. The library is your friend. Find a table, get out your work, stick in your headphones, block out the world and WORK YOUR ARSE OFF.

Get yourself organised. File your notes in order. Date your work, it makes life easier when your over-used, over-full ringbinder suddenly explodes all over the floor of the German classroom and you have no clue what goes where. Trust me, I speak from experience here...

Use a planner. Sixth form doesn't give you one? Buy one. They're a quid in Poundland and will save your life. Write down deadlines, test days and homework assignments. If you fall back on work, your grades will suffer.

You're also allowed to breathe. If you stay on top of work, reward yourself with a party on the weekend or going shopping. Sixth form is hard, hard work but if you learn to juggle your time right, it can be an incredible year.

It's not easy and you won't get it right the first time. September will b a bit of a shock. It's okay, don't panic. I got 20% in my first maths test and cried my eyes out all evening because I was convinced I'd fail. Everyone has that one day where it hits them. Rock bottom. But everyone recovers. Take the little fails as a kick up the backside to motivate you for the road ahead.

The bottom line is that hard work pays off. It's not about how many hours you spend revising, it's about making the hours that you do spend count. An hour making flashcards and testing yourself on a topic is more useful than staring blankly at an open textbook for two hours. I really wish I'd known this because my entire Easter was a colossal waste of time and the stress study leave was horrific.

I wish you all the best in Year 12! I did biology (AQA), chemistry (AQA), maths (Edexcel) and German (Edexcel). If you need specific help with any of those subjects or want advice in general about your AS year, feel free to drop me a PM and I'd be more than happy to help! Good luck!

Thanks for the advice Do you have any advice for biology and chemistry?

Also congrats on your 4 A's.

What was your opinion on As Level Maths. I got a B in November of Y11 when I took it so I resat in June to hopefully get an A. If I got a B again would you still recommend it to get a B/A in A-Level (AS only, I'd drop it after)

Thank you! You're very kind

Chemistry is a matter of understanding the concepts when you are taught them, and if you don't, talk to your teacher as soon as possible. I made the mistake of not understanding redox when it was taught in class, ignoring the problem and then frantically trying to teach it to myself at 8pm the night before my exam. Not good. Not recommended! Only once you've understood the concepts should you begin past papers. Then it's just a matter of practicing writing your answers the way the examiner likes them, because after a while you begin to see that the questions are very, very similar.

Biology I actualy find unbelievably difficult and even when opening my results envelope I was convinced I had a B (which I'd have been pleased with!) so I'm not the best person to ask, to be perfectly honest. I'd say what's key is ensuring precision in your answers. Use the correct terminology, because if you look at markschemes, it's what gets you the marks at the end of the day!

I hope that's helpful

With math I found it really helpful to practice questions topic-wise, rather than doing past papers in full. So I'd print off all the questions to say 3 or 4 papers, and then split them up by topic and work through them one by one. That way it's much easier to pinpoint exactly where you're going wrong, and work on that aspect specifically.