The Student Room Group

Am I fighting a losing battle?

Okay, so I've worked so hard this year - infinitely harder than last year at AS level - and I really want to get the best grades I can and get into a fairly decent uni. However the workload is just so much as I am retaking the majority of last years exams on top of this year because I messed up last year. I work for so many hours but it's just so hard to balance my time and I feel like even with all this work that I am making no progress in my grades, and that's really getting me down at the moment. My subjects are Maths, Psychology and Economics. Has anybody got any tips for these next few weeks that might save me from failing horribly again? (P.S - I have no idea where this will post or if I'm doing this right because I've never done this before and the website isn't very mobile friendly)
Original post by mattyt307
Okay, so I've worked so hard this year - infinitely harder than last year at AS level - and I really want to get the best grades I can and get into a fairly decent uni. However the workload is just so much as I am retaking the majority of last years exams on top of this year because I messed up last year. I work for so many hours but it's just so hard to balance my time and I feel like even with all this work that I am making no progress in my grades, and that's really getting me down at the moment. My subjects are Maths, Psychology and Economics. Has anybody got any tips for these next few weeks that might save me from failing horribly again? (P.S - I have no idea where this will post or if I'm doing this right because I've never done this before and the website isn't very mobile friendly)


What exam board for Psychology?
I completely get you, i'm resitting a few of my exams from last year and i feel like i'm doing worse. I just made a revision timetable and tried to stick with it, i'm making sure i focus on my A2 exams just as much because i need to do well in them and to be honest i really cant do any worse in my As' than last year. At the minute i'm revising 8 hour days, its not for everyone but i cover so much more work that way.
Reply 3
Original post by emiloujess
What exam board for Psychology?


Ocr :frown: wbu?
Reply 4
Original post by phoenix1911
I completely get you, i'm resitting a few of my exams from last year and i feel like i'm doing worse. I just made a revision timetable and tried to stick with it, i'm making sure i focus on my A2 exams just as much because i need to do well in them and to be honest i really cant do any worse in my As' than last year. At the minute i'm revising 8 hour days, its not for everyone but i cover so much more work that way.


That's good! Keep up the good work! But it is a lot to handle for anyone. Honestly I think the key to getting good A2 results is to simply do well in AS so that you don't have any resits and can solely focus on A2 exams. Just wish I'd thought a bit harder about that last year 😂 Good luck in your exams, you'll do great!
Original post by mattyt307
Okay, so I've worked so hard this year - infinitely harder than last year at AS level - and I really want to get the best grades I can and get into a fairly decent uni. However the workload is just so much as I am retaking the majority of last years exams on top of this year because I messed up last year. I work for so many hours but it's just so hard to balance my time and I feel like even with all this work that I am making no progress in my grades, and that's really getting me down at the moment. My subjects are Maths, Psychology and Economics. Has anybody got any tips for these next few weeks that might save me from failing horribly again? (P.S - I have no idea where this will post or if I'm doing this right because I've never done this before and the website isn't very mobile friendly)


You have to prioritise.
Concentrate on your A2 exams, if you do well in those no one is going to ask too many questions about your AS levels. If you fluff your A2s, it really doesn't matter how good your retakes are does it?
Hang on in there.
Reply 6
Original post by Ringstone
You have to prioritise.
Concentrate on your A2 exams, if you do well in those no one is going to ask too many questions about your AS levels. If you fluff your A2s, it really doesn't matter how good your retakes are does it?
Hang on in there.


Thanks buddy, you're right. I definitely need to focus on my A2s and make sure they're decent over my retakes. I'll keep you posted :smile:
Reply 7
I essentially failed all my AS exams except German which I dropped before results day. (Ooops!) I re-sat my Biology and Chemistry AS alongside my A2s and whilst I pulled up my AS grades in the resits, I ended up totally neglecting my A2 exam revision and messed those up.

As others have said, focus on your A2 and don't get too hung up on AS grades. If you've been working much harder, you are likely to have improved them. :smile:

If you don't get the grades you need, it doesn't have to be the end of the world. I have just finished a Bioscience degree after doing a Foundation year as part of my course, making it 4 years.

Good luck with everything and I hope you get the grades you want. :smile:
Original post by mattyt307
Ocr :frown: wbu?


A2 OCR? Yeah same! The amount of studies are insane but I've been doing fairly well in mocks actually, no idea how. I've been making mind maps. There are 3 studies in each subsection so I've put 3 studies per mind map :smile:
Reply 9
Original post by fc93
I essentially failed all my AS exams except German which I dropped before results day. (Ooops!) I re-sat my Biology and Chemistry AS alongside my A2s and whilst I pulled up my AS grades in the resits, I ended up totally neglecting my A2 exam revision and messed those up.

As others have said, focus on your A2 and don't get too hung up on AS grades. If you've been working much harder, you are likely to have improved them. :smile:

If you don't get the grades you need, it doesn't have to be the end of the world. I have just finished a Bioscience degree after doing a Foundation year as part of my course, making it 4 years.

Good luck with everything and I hope you get the grades you want. :smile:


That sounds quite similar to me 😂 I definitely will focus on my A2 exams then. A foundation year sounds like a good back up plan, I never thought of that.

I hope you enjoyed your degree and good luck with the next steps of your life :smile:
Reply 10
Original post by emiloujess
A2 OCR? Yeah same! The amount of studies are insane but I've been doing fairly well in mocks actually, no idea how. I've been making mind maps. There are 3 studies in each subsection so I've put 3 studies per mind map :smile:

Yeah I am hating psychology because while the techniques of evaluating the sub-sections are important it's just about memory at the end of the day, for someone who regularly walks into their bedroom to get something and then totally forgets what is when I get there and just walk out again, it's not ideal XD mind maps sound like a good idea, I've tried flash cards but their too tedious for me personally, maybe I'll give your mind maps a go :smile: thanks for the reply and good luck with all your exams!
Original post by mattyt307
Yeah I am hating psychology because while the techniques of evaluating the sub-sections are important it's just about memory at the end of the day, for someone who regularly walks into their bedroom to get something and then totally forgets what is when I get there and just walk out again, it's not ideal XD mind maps sound like a good idea, I've tried flash cards but their too tedious for me personally, maybe I'll give your mind maps a go :smile: thanks for the reply and good luck with all your exams!


Yep I tried cue cards too and couldn't remember a thing :colondollar: Thanks, best of luck to you too! :smile:
Reply 12
Original post by mattyt307
That sounds quite similar to me 😂 I definitely will focus on my A2 exams then. A foundation year sounds like a good back up plan, I never thought of that.

I hope you enjoyed your degree and good luck with the next steps of your life :smile:


Foundation years can be really great. Just make sure that it is an integrated year (so a four year course) because if you do a standalone one, it can be hard to get a student loan for it.

Whilst it felt kind of annoyingly easy at first (because we just covered all the A-level stuff again) it gave me the opportunity to get a good grade and get some academic confidence back. :smile:

Anyway this is all a back-up plan! I'm sure your hard work will pay off and there is always Clearing! :smile:
Reply 13
Original post by emiloujess
Yep I tried cue cards too and couldn't remember a thing :colondollar: Thanks, best of luck to you too! :smile:


Thank you! :smile:
Reply 14
Original post by fc93
Foundation years can be really great. Just make sure that it is an integrated year (so a four year course) because if you do a standalone one, it can be hard to get a student loan for it.

Whilst it felt kind of annoyingly easy at first (because we just covered all the A-level stuff again) it gave me the opportunity to get a good grade and get some academic confidence back. :smile:

Anyway this is all a back-up plan! I'm sure your hard work will pay off and there is always Clearing! :smile:


Yeah that does sound good! I'll have a little look online and find out some more about it :smile: thanks for the support!

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