Advice for someone who's just started A-Level revision

You are better starting now than later, and universities should see that you had extenuating circumstances.

But, it can be done, I went from a C to an A in a level chemistry

Have a routine for revision so you have plenty of breaks inbetween so your head doesn't get frazzled. Small and often revision worked best for me, I shortened down all my notes to key points and went over and over them, so one topic I would revise for 20 minutes, take a small maybe 5 minute break and then recap to make sure I knew it. Keep building on this and it gets easier to recall

Also, past papers are your best friend! Keep practicing them so you know the styles of questions and you know what the examiner wants to see.

I would also recommend getting books relevant to the board, and as mentioned there are some good websites that help too.

Good luck!

I don't know how good the resources are on TSR but if anyone knows, then you could subscribe to TSR and access them, i believe as a member you can also do other cool things that are helpful like study groups or something

When i get my own money i'm going to subscribe, it's one nice big community full of help

So i did AS Chemistry (got a bad grade so dropped it), i think the main reasons were i didn't revise early enough, i didn't do enough practice questions (do looads, and under timed conditions too), because even if i understood the content, the exam questions weren't as easy as knowing the content, also i reccommend you go to the site called 'chemguide' particularly for halogen topics, they have explained it 10 times better than the textbook! And a lot of other things too

For biology i basically write my notes in condensed form, but i create a margin on the right, in there you make questions out of all your notes, so you can test if you can recall everything
then just do the whole past papers stuff, read examiners reports too!

I haven't done maths, but i guess the big factor would be to understand the meaning behind the numbers, i heard somewhere it becomes wordier at A2? And of course practice

I got a B in AS and I'm doing all of the A2 modules by self-study. Would you say these resources are enough to help me learn the content by myself without the assistance of getting tutors etc? What board did you do, if you don't mind me asking?

Yes, I did the entire A level, self taught on a gap year after I finished my a levels. It depends on entirely how you learn, for me it was enough, you may need less or more, whatever you feel comfortable with. If you need assistance is your school there to provide it?

I did chemistry with CCEA

Unfortunately my school has refused to provide assistance for private candidates and they didn't take me on. They've gone as far as saying teachers won't be allowed to help me either this year.....

Unfortunately my school has refused to provide assistance for private candidates and they didn't take me on. They've gone as far as saying teachers won't be allowed to help me either this year. I'm already revising quite a bit each day and almost finished my revision for CHEM1 and S2 so there's that, so I'll just have to see

Since my school isn't giving any help I'm having to consider tutors

Have you sorted out the exam centre where you'll sit these exams? What arrangements are available to retake Chem6X?

Thats a shame I had the offer of help but I couldn't get to the school a lot of the time and I wasn't actually a student, so I didn't get a lot. I didn't get a lot in he first place anyway

But you should be fine. You have sites like this to help and if you are really stuck you could get a tutor, or talk to other students from the school/friends who did the same subject?

So for biology it really is about the past papers and revision of mark schemes/examiner reports/extra resources more than the learning of the actual content? The notes I've got for Bio are fairly extensive and hefty covering a lot of content, but I'm not sure whether I should learn every single word on it?

Hi,
I'm resitting some A-Level modules in a third year as a private candidate after experiencing extenuating circumstances while I was at sixth form last year causing horrendous exam performance (I ended up with CCD after getting ABBC at AS). I've been dealing with some personal problems since September along with my UCAS application and now that my offers have come back I'm getting my head down with revision.

My highest offer is AAB and that's what I'm aspiring to get this year. I've been out of the studying game since June so my motivation's at an all time low and chances are I've forgotten a lot of course material in that time. I'm looking for tutors, but pricing's a problem and my parents can't afford good tutors so I'm really on my own. I'm resitting 9 modules in June:



Since I've only just started now and I've only got up until the end of May to cover everything, how would you guys suggest I go about things considering I'm self-studying? Thanks in advance.


EDIT: For clarity purposes, I got a C in Biology at AS (203/300 UMS) and that's the subject I'm planning to just get the B on because I only need 165/240 UMS to get a B overall.

In Chemistry I got a B at AS (233/300) and I'm resitting most of the modules there to get an A overall.

In MEI Maths I got a decent A at AS (266/300) and I need a B this year to get an A in that overall (at least 214/300).

What subjects would you recommend Youtube for? I've tried my hand with youtube before but often there's a lack of verified/decent material out there specific to A Level, let alone my exam board. Quite a lot of the time they pander to American users.