The Student Room Group

Moving from straight Ds to an A

I got my second grades update recently and it hasnt really changed since I started this year, I get the jump from Y11 to Y12 is huge but I went from grade 8s to straight Ds and I need to get As by May; im doing chemistry, biology, maths and english. I think English and Biology are things I can fix by just working.. harder but I really dont know where to begin with chemistry and maths.

Starting with maths; it looks like im swapping from Cs to Ds to Us and its always alternating, point is that all of the practice questions I do end up not really cementing the methods in my head and I need a new solution.

Chemistry yeah I have no clue where to begin with that

Just wanted to see what other people here are doing, like super secret sites or resources idk; I struggle alot with procrastinating and even rn all I'm rlly doing is asking for help from strangers instead of well fixing my grades

thanks in advance tho guys
For mathematics it generally is the same sitting down and doing it. However you need to be using exercise books and looking at solutions after going through questions to really Improve. If you completely don't understand something I tend to use youtube and search up the topic along with the exam board name text to it. To stop the procrastinating I would recommend motivating yourself by reminding why you want to get those grades and what you could do as a result so that you make yourself want to study.
Same here, no matter how much work i do, i can never seem to get higher than a D :frown: any tips would be greatly appreciated
Original post by russell2007
I got my second grades update recently and it hasnt really changed since I started this year, I get the jump from Y11 to Y12 is huge but I went from grade 8s to straight Ds and I need to get As by May; im doing chemistry, biology, maths and english. I think English and Biology are things I can fix by just working.. harder but I really dont know where to begin with chemistry and maths.
Starting with maths; it looks like im swapping from Cs to Ds to Us and its always alternating, point is that all of the practice questions I do end up not really cementing the methods in my head and I need a new solution.
Chemistry yeah I have no clue where to begin with that
Just wanted to see what other people here are doing, like super secret sites or resources idk; I struggle alot with procrastinating and even rn all I'm rlly doing is asking for help from strangers instead of well fixing my grades
thanks in advance tho guys
I'd consider dropping one ...

Which board is your maths?
Original post by russell2007
I got my second grades update recently and it hasnt really changed since I started this year, I get the jump from Y11 to Y12 is huge but I went from grade 8s to straight Ds and I need to get As by May; im doing chemistry, biology, maths and english. I think English and Biology are things I can fix by just working.. harder but I really dont know where to begin with chemistry and maths.
Starting with maths; it looks like im swapping from Cs to Ds to Us and its always alternating, point is that all of the practice questions I do end up not really cementing the methods in my head and I need a new solution.
Chemistry yeah I have no clue where to begin with that
Just wanted to see what other people here are doing, like super secret sites or resources idk; I struggle alot with procrastinating and even rn all I'm rlly doing is asking for help from strangers instead of well fixing my grades
thanks in advance tho guys
hi! first off I'd say don't stress too much, it's very common for ppl to drop grades in y12 simple because of the jump between y11+12 and I myself experienced this last year- you're not alone!

I'm not sure what exam boards you do for chem and maths but I personally do Edexcel maths and OCR chem but I'm sure most of this will still apply if your exam boards are different.

for maths I'd agree with the others on this thread, the subject is all about practice- if you have a topic you struggle on I'd recommend either asking a teacher or a friend to go through it with you and ask any questions you have, of course if this isn't possible I'd also recommend referring to the following channels on YouTube- TL Maths (he has great vids that vary from 5-15 mins, I quite like how short and concise the vids are) and GCSE Maths Tutor (I found the topic videos very helpful in y12 as he goes through the concepts and most variations of exam questions that could be asked). I think often when I make mistakes its because I have a gap in my understanding on how to apply a certain topic so I'd definitely make sure to thoroughly practice simple 'recall' questions before moving onto trickier practice papers. For maths practice questions the textbook is usually very helpful as well as websites such as Naiker Maths, PMT and MyMathsCloud

chemistry is personally my hardest subject, I began y12 with straight Cs/Ds and recently got an A in my mock, if I can do it so can you! The first thing I'd recommend doing is finding a way to properly understand the topic, I personally use flashcards for this but use whatever method best suits you for memorising content. After you have a decent understanding of a topic the next thing to do is practice questions, PMT is usually very helpful for this as they are organised by chapters. If you make any mistakes the most important thing to do in order to improve is to read the mark scheme, try and understand what went wrong and keep that in mind when doing a similar style question. I also like to keep a note of questions I found difficult and what papers they were in so I can refer back to them a couple of weeks later to make sure I have thoroughly learnt from my mistake. I'd also recommend watching AlleryChemistry and MachemGuy on YouTube as their vids are also very helpful to explain content.

if you need any more help/have any questions feel free to pm me! :smile:
(edited 1 month ago)
Reply 5
Original post by Muttley79
I'd consider dropping one ...
Which board is your maths?
lol I really was thinking of it but after spending all that time so far, I want to at least do the mocks to see what I get
Reply 6
Original post by jadeiscool
hi! first off I'd say don't stress too much, it's very common for ppl to drop grades in y12 simple because of the jump between y11+12 and I myself experienced this last year- you're not alone!
I'm not sure what exam boards you do for chem and maths but I personally do Edexcel maths and OCR chem but I'm sure most of this will still apply if your exam boards are different.
for maths I'd agree with the others on this thread, the subject is all about practice- if you have a topic you struggle on I'd recommend either asking a teacher or a friend to go through it with you and ask any questions you have, of course if this isn't possible I'd also recommend referring to the following channels on YouTube- TL Maths (he has great vids that vary from 5-15 mins, I quite like how short and concise the vids are) and GCSE Maths Tutor (I found the topic videos very helpful in y12 as he goes through the concepts and most variations of exam questions that could be asked). I think often when I make mistakes its because I have a gap in my understanding on how to apply a certain topic so I'd definitely make sure to thoroughly practice simple 'recall' questions before moving onto trickier practice papers. For maths practice questions the textbook is usually very helpful as well as websites such as Naiker Maths, PMT and MyMathsCloud
chemistry is personally my hardest subject, I began y12 with straight Cs/Ds and recently got an A in my mock, if I can do it so can you! The first thing I'd recommend doing is finding a way to properly understand the topic, I personally use flashcards for this but use whatever method best suits you for memorising content. After you have a decent understanding of a topic the next thing to do is practice questions, PMT is usually very helpful for this as they are organised by chapters. If you make any mistakes the most important thing to do in order to improve is to read the mark scheme, try and understand what went wrong and keep that in mind when doing a similar style question. I also like to keep a note of questions I found difficult and what papers they were in so I can refer back to them a couple of weeks later to make sure I have thoroughly learnt from my mistake. I'd also recommend watching AlleryChemistry and MachemGuy on YouTube as their vids are also very helpful to explain content.
if you need any more help/have any questions feel free to pm me! :smile:
o yh prolly should've mentioned that but I do edexcel maths + OCR B chemistry too, I'll definitely take a look at TL maths and buy a decent textbook (the school ones arent amazing, for chemistry I'll try doing the flashcards and practice+ videos

thanks for the motivation, I'll keep everyone updated with how everything goes bc I have more in-class tests upcoming; like you said, if you can do it so can I (hopefully)!
Reply 7
Original post by Combatant
For mathematics it generally is the same sitting down and doing it. However you need to be using exercise books and looking at solutions after going through questions to really Improve. If you completely don't understand something I tend to use youtube and search up the topic along with the exam board name text to it. To stop the procrastinating I would recommend motivating yourself by reminding why you want to get those grades and what you could do as a result so that you make yourself want to study.
thanks for the reply; I'll definitely make sure to get a decent textbook for the correct board (edexcel), the procrastination fix I'll start trying too, I reckon I'll just have to force myself to start and find some sort of way to stay engaged
Original post by russell2007
o yh prolly should've mentioned that but I do edexcel maths + OCR B chemistry too, I'll definitely take a look at TL maths and buy a decent textbook (the school ones arent amazing, for chemistry I'll try doing the flashcards and practice+ videos
thanks for the motivation, I'll keep everyone updated with how everything goes bc I have more in-class tests upcoming; like you said, if you can do it so can I (hopefully)!
I'd also take a look at Dr Frost for Maths: https://www.drfrost.org/courses.php?coid=29

I also like MathsMadeEasy: https://mmerevise.co.uk/a-level-maths-revision/ [worksheets and revision]
Original post by russell2007
lol I really was thinking of it but after spending all that time so far, I want to at least do the mocks to see what I get
SAME.im doing bio chem math & psych. chem is my weakest subject and recently I've been flopping maths,I want to study med so I think I'll have to drop math to focus hard on chem

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