People who have done their A-Levels how long before your exams did you start revising

I wanna know when you started revising, how much you did per day and what grades you came out with please. I am currently in year 13 and doing my A-Levels.

Reply 1

cherrycosmos

17

Original post by sammyalbert88

I wanna know when you started revising, how much you did per day and what grades you came out with please. I am currently in year 13 and doing my A-Levels.

Yeah i wanna know too bc i have my mocks coming up and i'm not feeling great about them rip

Reply 2

kijeta

11

Original post by TomokoRainMaker

Yeah i wanna know too bc i have my mocks coming up and i'm not feeling great about them rip

I'm not either... In a way, I want to get it over and done with, but I'm simultaneously dreading the imminence of them

(edited 3 months ago)

Reply 3

sammyalbert88

OP

10

Original post by TomokoRainMaker

Yeah i wanna know too bc i have my mocks coming up and i'm not feeling great about them rip

Yeh same mine are in two weeks

Reply 4

máni

8

I'm also in Yr 13 but I'm mostly going to base my revision off of the length of time that I used for GCSE. Obviously there's a lot of differences between GCSE's and A Levels, but I'm doing 6 weeks of revision for mocks (as I did revision the night before for GCSE mocks which didn't go particularly great but did 6 weeks for the real thing and I'm really happy with my grades) and if it's too much or too little then I'm going to adjust it for summer. Also I only did 1 hour a day per subject (2 or 3 subjects a day for GCSE) which I'm obviously not going to do for A Level, I'm splitting it up into 1 paper per day, but probably sticking to 1 or 2 hours of revision.
I think 6 weeks might be a bit too much, but there are some things that I really want to just reteach myself.

Reply 5

cherrycosmos

17

Original post by kijeta

I'm not either... In a way, I want to get it over and done with, but I'm simultaneously dreading the imminence of them

I currently have the mindset of "their mocks they're not the real thing, they dont matter" but i defo know i will cry myself to sleep for a month if i get Cs. Probably not the best mindset to have but seeing as their in 3 days and i've pretty much done nothing - it seems like a good one for this moment in time

Reply 6

kijeta

11

Original post by TomokoRainMaker

I currently have the mindset of "their mocks they're not the real thing, they dont matter" but i defo know i will cry myself to sleep for a month if i get Cs. Probably not the best mindset to have but seeing as their in 3 days and i've pretty much done nothing - it seems like a good one for this moment in time

I guess, if anything, getting Cs in mocks would (might) motivate us for the real thing.

I'm betting on the very low (<1%) chance I'll get an unconditional offer. That said, seeing as my personal statement and predicted grades aren't brilliant by any stretch of imagination, I doubt I'll even get a conditional one.

Reply 7

furtherfrommaths

9

Original post by kijeta

I guess, if anything, getting Cs in mocks would (might) motivate us for the real thing.

I'm betting on the very low (<1%) chance I'll get an unconditional offer. That said, seeing as my personal statement and predicted grades aren't brilliant by any stretch of imagination, I doubt I'll even get a conditional one.

I wouldn’t count on unconditional offers — I was predicted 43/45 on my IB and didn’t receive any unconditionals. Unconditional offers tend to be for people who have already got the qualifications they need to enter the course, e.g. someone who took a gap year applying with A-levels they already have. Unis don’t give them out for other circumstances these days as far as I know.

Regarding revision, I would suggest doing at least something every day for one of your subjects. 10 minutes recall. 15 minutes on some practise questions. Then closer to exams do some longer, more focused revision — but how long before will depend on how much revision you generally need to do. I know for me that if I start revising intensely more than a month in advance, I’m gonna burn out before we’ve even started. Some people are fine to start 2 months before and continue through to their actual exams. It all depends on you, your revision stamina, and how comfortable you are with the material.

I would suggest trying to do little things whenever you can. We’re on our phones all the time, so making some flashcards and looking through them while you’re waiting for things is good and keeps the material in your head (and is better than mindless scrolling). Make revision as easy as possible for yourself so that when the time comes for intense revision (~2hrs per day minimum would be my suggestion, provided that it’s focused), it won’t feel so daunting because the information won’t be completely new.

I hope this helps! I’m also in Year 13 but doing the IB (6 subjects, all with coursework, someone please save me) has meant that I had to work this out quickly if I wanted any chance of success at anything 😅

Reply 8

furtherfrommaths

9

And to clarify, each IB subject is marked out of 7 with 3 points for an essay and 2 theory of knowledge papers. 777776+2 is incredibly good, and I was applying for Creative Writing which isn’t a particularly competitive course. Unconditionals unfortunately don’t happen as much as they used to, no matter how good your predicted results are. If you don’t already have qualifications, you likely won’t get one.

Reply 9

spooky123

12

I’m in year 13 and is it just me who did absolutely no work at all over the holidays. I planned to at least get through majority of AS content but I did nothing and I’m so stressed bc I’ve been seeing people doing like 8 hrs a day over the holidays.

Reply 10

kijeta

11

Original post by furtherfrommaths

I wouldn’t count on unconditional offers — I was predicted 43/45 on my IB and didn’t receive any unconditionals. Unconditional offers tend to be for people who have already got the qualifications they need to enter the course, e.g. someone who took a gap year applying with A-levels they already have. Unis don’t give them out for other circumstances these days as far as I know.

Regarding revision, I would suggest doing at least something every day for one of your subjects. 10 minutes recall. 15 minutes on some practise questions. Then closer to exams do some longer, more focused revision — but how long before will depend on how much revision you generally need to do. I know for me that if I start revising intensely more than a month in advance, I’m gonna burn out before we’ve even started. Some people are fine to start 2 months before and continue through to their actual exams. It all depends on you, your revision stamina, and how comfortable you are with the material.

I would suggest trying to do little things whenever you can. We’re on our phones all the time, so making some flashcards and looking through them while you’re waiting for things is good and keeps the material in your head (and is better than mindless scrolling). Make revision as easy as possible for yourself so that when the time comes for intense revision (~2hrs per day minimum would be my suggestion, provided that it’s focused), it won’t feel so daunting because the information won’t be completely new.

I hope this helps! I’m also in Year 13 but doing the IB (6 subjects, all with coursework, someone please save me) has meant that I had to work this out quickly if I wanted any chance of success at anything 😅

That's fair.

I'm too burnt out to revise, at least that's the excuse I tell myself.

Reply 11

kijeta

11

Original post by spooky123

I’m in year 13 and is it just me who did absolutely no work at all over the holidays. I planned to at least get through majority of AS content but I did nothing and I’m so stressed bc I’ve been seeing people doing like 8 hrs a day over the holidays.

I'm in y13 too, and definitely in the same boat. I did no work at all over holidays, not even coursework.

Reply 12

Lkathryn08

19

It's been a while since my a-levels (I did the old spec where AS exams counted towards your final grade) but when I was in year 13, I started my revision for January mocks and basically didn't stop.

I don't mean that I was doing intensive revision each day, but I would try and do something extra each day on top of my normal classes or homework. This may be some revision notes or past paper questions, just some regular practice each day. I found it made revision a lot less daunting as I felt that I was still making progress by doing it 'little and often'. It's actually something that I continued throughout university and other assignments, start early and try to tackle something every day (give yourself breaks and rest-days too as well.)

Reply 13

spooky123

12

Original post by kijeta

I'm in y13 too, and definitely in the same boat. I did no work at all over holidays, not even coursework.

I feel so guilty for not revising but I’m just gonna have to start thinking of it as a chance to restart and regain my focus bc I can’t go back now

Reply 14

kijeta

11

Original post by spooky123

I feel so guilty for not revising but I’m just gonna have to start thinking of it as a chance to restart and regain my focus bc I can’t go back now

I know I'm meant to feel guilty, but tbh, I'm struggling to.

Reply 15

spooky123

12

Original post by kijeta

I know I'm meant to feel guilty, but tbh, I'm struggling to.

I think we’re just burnt out. Like after gcse I just can’t force myself or motivate myself to do any revision. Literally nothing is working on me anymore 😭