When to start revising for AS level exams in May?

Hi, thanks for your input. I appreciate your questions and I hope the below will be satisfactory and convincing!
Since maths is my favourite A-Level subject, I happen to also be taking further maths. I find the best way to "revise" for maths is by practising. I have put revise in quotation marks because I don't think revise is the correct word to use when referring to maths exam preparation because all that's required is the completion of all past papers and the completion of all book questions (if possible). The moment you finish all book questions as well as past papers, you should feel prepared. The only time I would use revise is when referring to statistics or mechanics (mainly statistics though!) as these are the applied modules that require you to learn specific formulae, etc.

To be more clear, maths preparation is quite simple. Sit down, read and copy down the examples (with understanding, not just copy/paste. In fact, I would recommend that you look at the example and attempt the question before actually reading the worked solutions) and then do the exercises. I'm not sure about which modules you're sitting for which exam board, but I can tell you that you should finish all the questions/past papers at least a week before your exams. This will leave you some time to ask any teachers for any problems you're facing so that everything's sorted before the exam.

Another tip: Maths is more to do with understanding than memorising. I feel that sometimes you have to memorise steps to understand why you have to take them to reach a solution. This is how my brains work at times - I have to memorise how to get a solution to a particular type of question in order to understand why certain steps need to be taken. Then, after memorising and understanding, attempt the questions, then do past papers. This will consolidate your understanding and will make you able to recall how to answer that type of question during the exam. If you can't understand something, always ask. The answers to your questions will also be recalled during the exam, trust me!

Good luck! If you have any more questions, just ask!

My first exam is on the 14 May (USA History). I started some light revision 14 March (2 months before exam) and plan to start full-on Easter. Is that ok? Or should I start full on now, bearing in mind we haven't been taught the courses fully yet.

Is it bad then I set my alarm for 7am and got working until now with a 3hour interval of divided breaks throughout the day? Personally I like the feeling of getting caught up, and rarely I get frustrated with my revision. But at the moment all I do is copy each lesson we do in neat and with added information (as often in lessons you'll fall behind due to the overwhelming amount of content. I think my problem is though mastering what exam boards want me to do, with maths its straight forward; they want the answer with history and economics its really hard to figure out.

(I was getting A's before the exam then got B and C) Do you know anyway I can prevent that this time? I worked since September had all the content down, supposedly had the exam technique down according to breakdown of mock marks but then it didn't show up A on my results paper (when I was expecting A that is due to the hard-work).
Hopefully I'm not going of on a tangent, but what would you recommend to do well in the actual exam, It seems like each time they're looking for something different

Seriously? Full on revision today? You are a year younger than me so how do you know?

Thanks for your response.
Well, I'm doing Edexcel and doing stats modules and fp2 as well and decision. So roughly when would you say I should get the content done by? End of March or?

Same with Economics...when would I have to finish the content by in terms of writing notes?

Hi, I appreciate your question.

Well, to address your first concern, what you are doing when you work for very long hours is very respectable and I would advise you to continue like that. I am also a very hard worker, especially because I do 4 A2s. Don't think it is bad, it is actually one of the best things you can do for your future, so keep it up!

When I was talking about frustration, I was referring to the frustration you get when you become stressful about exams approaching if you haven't done a satisfactory amount of revision. I personally don't get this because I ensure that I do enough revision before I walk into the exam hall to sit my exam. Others who leave revision too late often get this frustration, so I was warning OP about the possibility of frustration if revision was left too late and if one day OP decided to start revising when he's simply not used to it.

The fact that you are copying down your notes in neat is also very advantageous because it not only allows you to refresh your memory and recall certain concepts, it also allows you to have easy to read notes when revising for exams a few days before you sit them. This is also early revision which you are possibly doing instead of watching the telly and playing video games, so it is good that you are not wasting your time.

As for your problem with mastering exam techniques, everybody has this same problem. It is only through past papers that you pick those up, and possibly also from quality teaching. The same applies for physics; one year they ask a question and expect a set of answers, and another year they ask a very similar question and expect a completely different set of answers. I suppose they achieve this "trickery" by creating subtle differences in the wording of the questions to confuse as many candidates as they possibly could to filter out "good" candidates from "bad" candidates. This then brings forth the idea of unfairness, etc.. but you should always keep in mind that you have to get it right on the day, no matter how smart you are.

Just do as many past papers as possible, memorise key words, make notes and read your book/notes more than once. This is why you shouldn't leave it till Easter, it's a lot of work to get done!

Good luck! If you have any other questions, please do ask!

Cheers for the informative post, its not maths I have problems with its those heavy exam technique subjects; but I'm getting my scripts back so I should be able to see where I went wrong especially history which was low C

I love it! Want to study US history with Modern history at UEA!!!

Is it bad then I set my alarm for 7am and got working until now with a 3hour interval of divided breaks throughout the day? Personally I like the feeling of getting caught up, and rarely I get frustrated with my revision. But at the moment all I do is copy each lesson we do in neat and with added information (as often in lessons you'll fall behind due to the overwhelming amount of content. I think my problem is though mastering what exam boards want me to do, with maths its straight forward; they want the answer with history and economics its really hard to figure out.

(I was getting A's before the exam then got B and C) Do you know anyway I can prevent that this time? I worked since September had all the content down, supposedly had the exam technique down according to breakdown of mock marks but then it didn't show up A on my results paper (when I was expecting A that is due to the hard-work).
Hopefully I'm not going of on a tangent, but what would you recommend to do well in the actual exam, It seems like each time they're looking for something different