Help!! A-Level preparations!!

1 ringbinder per unit (I had 9 in total), each divided into topics with dividers (paperchase do some nice plastic ones!). This was required of me for all my teachers - yours might prefer something different, but I think this is pretty standard.

You'll have loads of handouts (eg articles, PowerPoint slides) so make sure you hole punch all of these and file them accordingly. I usually did this in class, but if I was lazy I'd just chuck the papers in the folder and organise them on the weekend

As for revision, using those little index cards were great for me. This will vary from subject to subject though. Mind maps were also great for getting a topic all on a sheet of A4. As a final note: make revision materials as soon as you can! I made revision material in November and December for my mocks and found that I barely had to revise come May

What A Levels did you do? Also what did you get?


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I've only just finished AS (so unsure of grades until Thursday ah!) but I did Psychology, Biology, Geography and English Literature.

I'm not the OP but I'm doing Biology, Geography and Psychology next year, what are your predicted AS results? What course are you planning to study at Uni? How are the three subjects? (Sorry for loads of questions)

Haha it's no problem! I'm predicted AAA in those three subjects and I'm planning to study Psychology at uni.

Psychology is by far my favourite! My course (Edexcel) only had one essay per exam worth 12 marks, so don't worry about doing loads of essays It's most comparable to Biology (I'd say) as many questions are 2, 3, 4 or 5 marks which are your basic 'write what you know' answers. You'll learn a few theories, concepts and case studies, as well as psychological methodology, and how to evaluate these. Evaluation is a little tricky at first, but once you've got the hang of it you'll have evaluations coming out of your ears

Biology was really fun and you really go in-depth with the concepts you learnt at GCSE (and new ones, too). You'll notice that a lot of the questions come up again and again in each year of exams, and it's literally just remembering the mark scheme! However, applying your knowledge to new scenarios can be really tricky - so make sure you really learn your stuff! The content ranges from plants to the human heart (at least for Edexcel) and is a really rewarding course

Geography AS was somewhat different to GCSE. In my AS exam I had 4 essays to do (15 marks each) and a few 2-8 mark questions. I learnt about rivers, coasts, population and global health and all were really interesting! You'll have your usual 'describe process X' and 'define Y', but at A-Level across most subjects there's an emphasis on critical thinking and evaluation. For example, a question on coastal management schemes could look like 'using a case study, evaluate the effectiveness of two coastal management schemes'. Overall it's a pretty cool subject if you like Geography and I'm definitely glad I chose it

Sorry if this was a bit long and wasn't what you were looking for! If you have any more questions be sure to ask

I really appreciate such a thorough response, thank you so much! What GCSE grades did you get in Geography/Biology? I think my sixth form is doing AQA for Psychology and Biology... Ugh.... I much prefer edexcel, less writing!

I've only just finished AS (so unsure of grades until Thursday ah!) but I did Psychology, Biology, Geography and English Literature.

I am going into year 11. When I make my choices I was thinking of taking: English lit, Maths, History and Psychology. Did you have many case studies for Psychology?

That's a good bunch of subjects There was a quite a few... off the top of my head I think there was around 5 in Unit 1 and 6 in Unit 2. You have to be able to describe the aim, procedure (what the experiment did), results and conclusion of each study and then evaluate it. Only 1-2 case studies/experiments usually come up though and knowing them becomes second nature, so don't be put off!

Honestly, it's no trouble

In Geography I got an A, 2UMS from an A* (I'm still not over it ) and in Biology I scraped a B (if I got 1 mark lower I would have got a C!)

Ah, that's a shame I prefer Edexcel too. The content of both is pretty similar though from what I've seen! And at A2 for Psychology exams you get to use that pink paper I only got to use for English... not sure if that's a pro though

Haha! That's excellent, it's great to see how much you've improved from scraping a B at GCSE to *touch wood* getting an A at AS. Impressive! Thanks again for your help.