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Prep work for sixthform

Has anyone been given preperation work for their subjects at A level? If so what have they given you and for what topic. I haven't been given any and I would like to be prepared for the lessons. Thanks

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When I started, I didn't get any prep work. What subjects are you planning on taking?
Reply 2
Avatar for Omega3!
Omega3!
6
Original post by SFarooq
Has anyone been given preperation work for their subjects at A level? If so what have they given you and for what topic. I haven't been given any and I would like to be prepared for the lessons. Thanks

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What? Aint nobody got time for that bro. Life is short, too short some say. Definitely too short to be PREPING for boring stuff that you're already going to learn.

A-levels are all about mastering the exam rather than the subject, so just wait until your courses start and spam past paper questions, don't waste your life on them now! Go have some fun!
Reply 3
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SFarooq
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5
Original post by Protoxylic
When I started, I didn't get any prep work. What subjects are you planning on taking?


Biology, chemistry, history, psychology and maybe maths. Did uou find your a levels easy then.

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Original post by SFarooq
Biology, chemistry, history, psychology and maybe maths. Did uou find your a levels easy then.

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AS isn't challenging if you are willing to put the effort in. There are two parts to A levels. Learning the theory (most important) and then learning exam technique. If you learn the theory back and front then it shouldn't be a problem to drill exam technique after and more towards the exam season. For Chemistry you need a good memory and for maths you need to be up to scratch with A* GCSE maths. I can't speak for history, biology or psychology, but I imagine it to be analogous.
Reply 5
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Omega3!
6
Original post by Protoxylic
AS isn't challenging if you are willing to put the effort in. There are two parts to A levels. Learning the theory (most important) and then learning exam technique. If you learn the theory back and front then it shouldn't be a problem to drill exam technique after and more towards the exam season. For Chemistry you need a good memory and for maths you need to be up to scratch with A* GCSE maths. I can't speak for history, biology or psychology, but I imagine it to be analogous.



Knowing the theory is secondary to exam technique I reckon.

There were people in all of my classes at college that could answer any question about the course you asked them at the click of a finger. Did they get A? A* maybe? Nope - they got Ds and Cs.

They always requested their papers back too, so they could check where they went wrong and their exam technique is just piss poor.
Original post by Omega3!
Knowing the theory is secondary to exam technique I reckon.

There were people in all of my classes at college that could answer any question about the course you asked them at the click of a finger. Did they get A? A* maybe? Nope - they got Ds and Cs.

They always requested their papers back too, so they could check where they went wrong and their exam technique is just piss poor.


From my experience. If you rely on exam technique you postulate to yourself that the next exam is going to be exactly the same as the previous years. This year's S1 exam was contrary to that idea and so many people failed, whereas the candidates who knew the maths were able to answer the questions. In my eyes, you need knowledge before you apply exam technique, otherwise you will blind yourself of the subject. I agree that in order to get an A* you need good exam technique, however, new questions types are set every year and you cannot just rely on exam technique then.
Reply 7
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Omega3!
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Original post by Protoxylic
From my experience. If you rely on exam technique you postulate to yourself that the next exam is going to be exactly the same as the previous years. This year's S1 exam was contrary to that idea and so many people failed, whereas the candidates who knew the maths were able to answer the questions. In my eyes, you need knowledge before you apply exam technique, otherwise you will blind yourself of the subject. I agree that in order to get an A* you need good exam technique, however, new questions types are set every year and you cannot just rely on exam technique then.


I didn't say that knowledge wasn't important, I just think that

Beast exam technique + decent knowledge > decent exam technique + beast knowledge
Original post by Omega3!
I didn't say that knowledge wasn't important, I just think that

Beast exam technique + decent knowledge > decent exam technique + beast knowledge


Give me an example question that would demonstrate that.
Reply 9
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Omega3!
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Original post by Protoxylic
Give me an example question that would demonstrate that.



Life is too short to prep for A levels before they even start, but it's even shorter to sift through A level exam papers when I already have A*A*A*A using the protocol that I've already talked about.

I know nothing about biology, psychology, chemistry or maths but got those grades - what I DO know is how to pass exams on those subjects, there is a massive difference, suggesting otherwise is just stupid.
Original post by Omega3!
Life is too short to prep for A levels before they even start, but it's even shorter to sift through A level exam papers when I already have A*A*A*A using the protocol that I've already talked about.

I know nothing about biology, psychology, chemistry or psychology but got those grades - what I DO know is how to pass exams on those subjects, there is a massive difference, suggesting otherwise is just stupid.


Learning is individual. And besides, what I said was my opinion.
Reply 11
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Omega3!
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Original post by Protoxylic
Learning is individual. And besides, what I said was my opinion.


I appreciate that and you are, of course, entitled to your opinion. I would however say that when it comes to something as standardized as A-level exams, individual differences plays a very minor role and is vastly over-exaggerated, particularly by lower achievers.
Original post by Omega3!
I appreciate that and you are, of course, entitled to your opinion. I would however say that when it comes to something as standardized as A-level exams, individual differences plays a very minor role and is vastly over-exaggerated, particularly by lower achievers.


Then I guess we agree to disagree. Congratulations on your results.
Original post by SFarooq
Has anyone been given preperation work for their subjects at A level? If so what have they given you and for what topic. I haven't been given any and I would like to be prepared for the lessons. Thanks

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What exam board are you with for History? I'm with OCR and I've been told to read books on the topics and I've written down the specification. I'm now trawling the internet for exam 'tips and tricks' to get a grip on exam technique now...

Hope I helped lovely x
Reply 14
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jjjan
Hi, I have just completed my AS and am now selling my notes:
Maths Edexcel S1;
Economics AQA ECON;
History AQA HIS1B, HIS2C;
English Lit OCR Yeats, Jane Eyre.
I got pretty good results for them, high As of 95% UMS with full marks for HIS2C, S1, C1 and Eng Lit Coursework. Notes are in pdf format and previews are available. For further details, please private message me.


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