Well, I have seen many threads asking about 'what subject should I choose?' and 'how do I keep myself organised?' Well, here are a few tips
CHOOSING A SUBJECT
For AS students, picking a subject can be the most difficult thing for them to do, so the following steps may help them with their choices:
1) Do subjects that you ENJOY, not what you are GOOD at (to some extent that is). If you pick a subject you are good at but dislike it, you won't be motivated to do well in it.
2) Plan out your career/education path. This would help you choose the subjects you need to do the course. E.g: Maths to study economics, yet you may still want to pick economics to learn the foundations of the subject. Maybe a another arts subject, such as history or politics to compliment economics, and you are all kitted up for the subject
3) ALWAYS have a back-up plan, espcially if you change what you want to do in the future half way through the course, or think you won't do what you want to do. So if you decide not to do economics for Uni, then choose a science so you can go into the science filed if necessary.
4) Do research on the A level courses, just so you know what is going to come up.
ORGANISATION
Another problem that people face, the fact that they cannot keep organised. Organisation is ESSENTIAL for achieving top grades at A level, as it is not GCSEs anymore.
1) Let's say you have picked 4 subjects, buy FIVE folders: one for each subject, and one to carry notes etc. to school when needed. Purchase plastic wallets to protect your notes, and dividers to prevent confusion.
2) Use your free time for STUDYING. This is the most important thing. You could use those 6 hours a week (more or less) to write up notes, which you could be incapable of doing as home is generally a distraction for most people (even me, I won't lie).
3) Practice papers, the most important thing when it comes to exams. The more papers you practice, the better your exam technique, and knowledge of how the paper would be set out. Also, there may be certain trends in each paper (e.g: final question in maths paper would be a simultaneous equation, thus being the hardest). Getting used to mark schemes are also important.
4) Revision is done through homework. You do not need to overload yourself too much, unless you have no work to do. At least do 30 minutes a day MINIMUM (including homework).
5) Wider reading (espcially for English Lit) are 100% essential. You would get to know some topics of the course better, as well as refer to current affairs, espcially in things such as Economics and Politics, and, currently Physics.
AS Levels
One word of advice: Study your rears off for AS levels, because doing well and getting the most marks as possible would ease the pressure of achieving grades in A2.
A2 LEVELS by Jeh Jeh
HOW TO CHOOSE WHAT TO DROP
So, most people will drop a subject when it comes to A2. Don't stress yourself by trying to predict what you think your AS grades will be before exams - just wait 'til after results day. Generally, drop the subject that you got the lowest grade in. The only real exception to this is if you take a language and are retaking some AS modules. I, for example, took Italian and got a C at AS and retook two of them in the summer of my A2s. Because language learning is quite progressive, and there's no compartmentalised things to learn, you can go up a grade or two by retaking. I came out with an A at AS and a B overall. But, in my opinion, if you're doing a science subject, then the chances are that you're not gonna go up from Lower Sixth to Upper. (Fifty percent of people stay the same, a quarter go up and a quarter go down from AS to A2).
THE TRANSITION FROM AS TO A2
I'm not gonna lie, the final year of 'A'-Levels is a lot of hard work (yet, at the same time, it rather feels like a waiting year for uni). I didn't find the actual step-up in the difficulty of the work that great (although you do have to contend with
synoptic papers ), there's just a lot more of it. And, there's obviously more pressure when you know you need certain grades to go where you wanna go next. But, in a way, that can be a pretty good motivation 'cause you feel like you're working towards some kind of aim. You don't just do your homework 'cause you have to, you do it 'cause you want good grades.
ORGANISATION
This is really no different from AS. Well organised files are so helpful when it comes to revision.
REVISION
Very, very important! (Unfortunately...) Everyone works in different ways, but however you do it, you just have to learn it all thoroughly. Some of my friends found revision cards or notes useful, and others had hours of audio to listen to.
UNI APPLICATIONS (scary music...)
Yep, this is it - the result of your two years of hard work pretty much depends on how you fill this in (so no pressure, then!) The online form is pretty straight forward - you enter your personal details; grades and five choices of institution.
PERSONAL STATEMENT
This is the thing where you can inject a bit of you into your application. Don't aim to be overly witty, intelligent or clever. Just be yourself. You need a strong opening first of all, which relates to your subject, and then preferably your closing line should refer back to this (although there's no strict formula). You need to infer passion for the subject, anything you've done that backs this up (for languages, for example, I'd visited the target language country), any extra-curricular activities that can show your commitment, and stuff. Just basically sell yourself, without appearing too arrogant!
CHOOSING A UNI
Just go and visit as many as you possibly can. Try to aim for a range of places with different grades.
N.B.
SYNOPTIC PAPER: The sixth (or fourth, for new syllabuses) paper of 'A'-Level combines skills that you've acquired over the two years to do a paper that links everything together. There's technique to doing them, though, and teachers are usually pretty useful.
Discussion about A Level exams and choosing A Level courses, including VCEs.
Useful Resources:
AS and A Level guide: helping you achieve high grades
Re: AS and A Level guide: helping you achieve high grades
