The Student Room Group

2 months until A levels - BCC to AAA

i made a post a few months ago about improving in 5 months... well in my recent mock in january that we got back in march, i ended up with a BCC... (bio, chem, maths). the highest grades i have ever gotten for those subjects are BBA respectively.

don't think i haven't been revising, i have been since the start of year 13 but my grades are not improving. i think i'm also experiencing burn out..

so i used to wake up at 3-4am to do 2 past papers for a subject before school, then repeat the paper again the following day, then the next if i haven't achieved at least 80%. then during the day, i would do homework etc and focus on the areas i got wrong, ask for help, do more questions. sometimes i could only do one paper or none if i felt too tired.

my plan now is to spend the mon-wed doing as many papers for one subject (atleast 2) then thur-sat i would deep dive into the analysing of the paper.

but im definitely doing something wrong if i haven't improved in 3 months :/ what is everyone routine like? can someone who was perhaps in my position give insight of what they did?

i do OCR A biology, chemistry and EDEXCEL maths. I'd like at least an A on all three, im willing to wake up early and sleep late, i still have school until hopefully 8 may so 7-4pm (including travel and getting ready)

thank you 😭😭 if it's hopeless though then i suppose i wold have to convince myself.. i don't really want to resit either.. i'd rather i not mwah tyy
Reply 1
why are my questions always so long omg i deeply apologise
Original post by i25410
i made a post a few months ago about improving in 5 months... well in my recent mock in january that we got back in march, i ended up with a BCC... (bio, chem, maths). the highest grades i have ever gotten for those subjects are BBA respectively.
don't think i haven't been revising, i have been since the start of year 13 but my grades are not improving. i think i'm also experiencing burn out..
so i used to wake up at 3-4am to do 2 past papers for a subject before school, then repeat the paper again the following day, then the next if i haven't achieved at least 80%. then during the day, i would do homework etc and focus on the areas i got wrong, ask for help, do more questions. sometimes i could only do one paper or none if i felt too tired.
my plan now is to spend the mon-wed doing as many papers for one subject (atleast 2) then thur-sat i would deep dive into the analysing of the paper.
but im definitely doing something wrong if i haven't improved in 3 months :/ what is everyone routine like? can someone who was perhaps in my position give insight of what they did?
i do OCR A biology, chemistry and EDEXCEL maths. I'd like at least an A on all three, im willing to wake up early and sleep late, i still have school until hopefully 8 may so 7-4pm (including travel and getting ready)
thank you 😭😭 if it's hopeless though then i suppose i wold have to convince myself.. i don't really want to resit either.. i'd rather i not mwah tyy


past papers!! these are so helpful bc u can look up the grade boundaries after. Do them blind without any notes, and keep doing them. Each of those subjects have like 10 sets of past papers each, so make the most of everything available to you. ☺️☺️
What time are you going to bed to be waking up at 3-4am? That’s probably part of the issue, your brain likely isn’t fully awake yet so isn’t taking the past paper in, and then you’re already going to school on a tired brain. Could never catch me waking up that early to do revision.
Reply 4
Original post by t_revision
past papers!! these are so helpful bc u can look up the grade boundaries after. Do them blind without any notes, and keep doing them. Each of those subjects have like 10 sets of past papers each, so make the most of everything available to you. ☺️☺️

thank youuu although i've been doing past papers ever since, but i think im going about them wrong. could you possibly tell me how you would use them to their potential 😭😭 i go through the questions i got wrong and try to understand and i would do more questions like the one i got wrong, i think my only problem is i don't look over my mistakes or the topic again 🫠 i would usually do a paper then do the same paper the next day until i get an A
Reply 5
Original post by RambleAmple
What time are you going to bed to be waking up at 3-4am? That’s probably part of the issue, your brain likely isn’t fully awake yet so isn’t taking the past paper in, and then you’re already going to school on a tired brain. Could never catch me waking up that early to do revision.

fair point but i really wanted to utilise every hour 😭i aimed to sleep at about 7pm but it usually was about 8-9pm
Original post by i25410
thank youuu although i've been doing past papers ever since, but i think im going about them wrong. could you possibly tell me how you would use them to their potential 😭😭 i go through the questions i got wrong and try to understand and i would do more questions like the one i got wrong, i think my only problem is i don't look over my mistakes or the topic again 🫠 i would usually do a paper then do the same paper the next day until i get an A


after u mark them make a list of topics u did badly on and then focus ur other revision time on these topics. It's important to go over content before trying past papers, but at the same time sometimes just "brute force" just doing loads of past papers things eventually stick
Original post by i25410
fair point but i really wanted to utilise every hour 😭i aimed to sleep at about 7pm but it usually was about 8-9pm

There is definitely such a thing as revising too much. If it’s affecting your sleep then you’re essentially self sabotaging as you won’t take in near as much through the day.
Original post by i25410
i made a post a few months ago about improving in 5 months... well in my recent mock in january that we got back in march, i ended up with a BCC... (bio, chem, maths). the highest grades i have ever gotten for those subjects are BBA respectively.
don't think i haven't been revising, i have been since the start of year 13 but my grades are not improving. i think i'm also experiencing burn out..
so i used to wake up at 3-4am to do 2 past papers for a subject before school, then repeat the paper again the following day, then the next if i haven't achieved at least 80%. then during the day, i would do homework etc and focus on the areas i got wrong, ask for help, do more questions. sometimes i could only do one paper or none if i felt too tired.
my plan now is to spend the mon-wed doing as many papers for one subject (atleast 2) then thur-sat i would deep dive into the analysing of the paper.
but im definitely doing something wrong if i haven't improved in 3 months :/ what is everyone routine like? can someone who was perhaps in my position give insight of what they did?
i do OCR A biology, chemistry and EDEXCEL maths. I'd like at least an A on all three, im willing to wake up early and sleep late, i still have school until hopefully 8 may so 7-4pm (including travel and getting ready)
thank you 😭😭 if it's hopeless though then i suppose i wold have to convince myself.. i don't really want to resit either.. i'd rather i not mwah tyy

I think the others gave pretty good advice, but I just want to input my grades:
Getting CC and need AA...Barely passed Chem Paper 2 on the March mocks, got 35/100 and a D is like 30/100...bro I was 5 marks away from an E...I dont know what that paper was, I was so sure I'd done alright and then it's like "HI, you got a D...just about.". Felt sorry for the people who did these papers last year
Maths & physics tutor always have good sets of questions by topic. Would also be good to make a 'mistake list' to revise on, highlighting what you did wrong and what is the right answer/thought process for that
Reply 10
Original post by i25410
thank youuu although i've been doing past papers ever since, but i think im going about them wrong. could you possibly tell me how you would use them to their potential 😭😭 i go through the questions i got wrong and try to understand and i would do more questions like the one i got wrong, i think my only problem is i don't look over my mistakes or the topic again 🫠 i would usually do a paper then do the same paper the next day until i get an A

You’ve got to do the paper again after to forget the mark scheme cause you will subconsciously try to remember what the answer was instead of actually trying to find the answer you know?

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