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How to cope with 4 alevels?

Hiya, im currently studying Maths, Chemistry, Biology and Psychology at alevel and I'm struggling in managing to find the time to revise for all of them. The only subject i'm actually doing well in is psychology and I want A's this year as I want to do medicine. How do you find the time to fit in all subjects? What are your current grades? What subjects do you take? I recently did a mock in biology and got a U which was extremely disheartening :frown: how do you revise for your subjects?
Quite a few questions I know but i really want to do well :smile:

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You just need to be on top of your work and revise thoroughly through out the year and you will be fine.
I'm studying 4 A levels too (Maths, Chem, Bio and Physics). Working towards uni is all the motivation I need.
Reply 3
Original post by MJ16
Hiya, im currently studying Maths, Chemistry, Biology and Psychology at alevel and I'm struggling in managing to find the time to revise for all of them. The only subject i'm actually doing well in is psychology and I want A's this year as I want to do medicine. How do you find the time to fit in all subjects? What are your current grades? What subjects do you take? I recently did a mock in biology and got a U which was extremely disheartening :frown: how do you revise for your subjects?
Quite a few questions I know but i really want to do well :smile:


Hi, are you in year 12?- I did Biology, Chemistry, Psychology, Geography at AS and now I'm doing all 4 at A2. I am finding it quite hard doing 4 A levels but I am coping. I think you should revise and write up notes before your lessons- you should use all free periods, lunch time and at least 2 hours every day to do work. Do exam papers/Questions, flash cards-constantly read through notes/ revision guide or text book and ask teachers for help in the stuff you don't understand- This is how I revise, find a technique that suits you- I'm sure you will get into medicine just keep focused- I got AAAC in AS and aiming for higher grades this year- Hope this helps :smile:
I'm studying five AS at the moment - maths, biology, chemistry, geography, general studies.
It is quite a juggle and I find my self putting priority on my sciences and maths more than the others...
Currently I'm on A's in biology and chemistry and B's in maths and geography. I plan on dropping geography next year.
I am planning on going into medicine as well.
The best thing is to do loads of past papers! I started on like an E in maths when I first did a past paper but gradually have gotten better with more practice.
I also read over my class notes everyday to make sure I understand everything very well!
I'm not doing so well in geography I don't think but really cannot be motivated in the subject at all.
Good Luck:biggrin:
Reply 5
Original post by 16Dan
Hi, are you in year 12?- I did Biology, Chemistry, Psychology, Geography at AS and now I'm doing all 4 at A2. I am finding it quite hard doing 4 A levels but I am coping. I think you should revise and write up notes before your lessons- you should use all free periods, lunch time and at least 2 hours every day to do work. Do exam papers/Questions, flash cards-constantly read through notes/ revision guide or text book and ask teachers for help in the stuff you don't understand- This is how I revise, find a technique that suits you- I'm sure you will get into medicine just keep focused- I got AAAC in AS and aiming for higher grades this year- Hope this helps :smile:

Yeah I am in year 12, thank you I will definitely try some of these methods :smile: I think that flash cards are a good technique, they helped me a lot at gcse. Thanks I really hope I do and congrats on your results they're really good, i'm sure you'll do even better this year! :smile:
Reply 6
Original post by MJ16
Yeah I am in year 12, thank you I will definitely try some of these methods :smile: I think that flash cards are a good technique, they helped me a lot at gcse. Thanks I really hope I do and congrats on your results they're really good, i'm sure you'll do even better this year! :smile:


What exam boards are u doing for Biology, Chemistry, psychology and what uni's r u thinking of applying to? :smile:
Reply 7
Original post by tcameron
I'm studying five AS at the moment - maths, biology, chemistry, geography, general studies.
It is quite a juggle and I find my self putting priority on my sciences and maths more than the others...
Currently I'm on A's in biology and chemistry and B's in maths and geography. I plan on dropping geography next year.
I am planning on going into medicine as well.
The best thing is to do loads of past papers! I started on like an E in maths when I first did a past paper but gradually have gotten better with more practice.
I also read over my class notes everyday to make sure I understand everything very well!
I'm not doing so well in geography I don't think but really cannot be motivated in the subject at all.
Good Luck:biggrin:


I also find myself prioritizing my sciences and maths, i'm not sure if i'm going to drop anything but I think for me it may be best to drop one maybe maths. Your current results are really good! I'm definitely more determined to get my grades up, its not the content I struggle with it's more just memorizing it all. I'm not doing so well with maths: core is going okay but I seriously hate mechanics. Thanks for your help and good luck to you too! :smile:
Reply 8
Original post by 16Dan
What exam boards are u doing for Biology, Chemistry, psychology and what uni's r u thinking of applying to? :smile:


For Chemistry and Psychology i'm doing the OCR exam board and for Biology I'm doing AQA. Ermm i'm not really sure, I was looking at the University of Birmingham but after seeing the entry requirements i'm not so sure about applying there anymore, i'm currently looking at uni's such as Nottingham, Liverpool and Warwick which seem really good, what uni's have you applied to? :smile:
Reply 9
Original post by Gott
I got a U in Chemistry more revision is the only option, it helps to make it as apparent to yourself as possible that if you don't you will fail, perhaps make a poster (although that might conservative your parents)

I'll try the poster aha :rolleyes: thank you, I do try to motivate myself but it is disheartening when you don't get the grades
Reply 10
Original post by MJ16
For Chemistry and Psychology i'm doing the OCR exam board and for Biology I'm doing AQA. Ermm i'm not really sure, I was looking at the University of Birmingham but after seeing the entry requirements i'm not so sure about applying there anymore, i'm currently looking at uni's such as Nottingham, Liverpool and Warwick which seem really good, what uni's have you applied to? :smile:


I've applied for pharmacy and I have offers from University of Bath, Reading and Keele, which I'm really happy about and can't wait till I start Uni- Those are really good Uni's that you want to apply to, do your research and apply to the uni's that you really like when the time comes :smile:
(edited 9 years ago)
Original post by MJ16
Hiya, im currently studying Maths, Chemistry, Biology and Psychology at alevel and I'm struggling in managing to find the time to revise for all of them. The only subject i'm actually doing well in is psychology and I want A's this year as I want to do medicine. How do you find the time to fit in all subjects? What are your current grades? What subjects do you take? I recently did a mock in biology and got a U which was extremely disheartening :frown: how do you revise for your subjects?
Quite a few questions I know but i really want to do well :smile:

I will end up with 5 A-levels by the end of the year, plus STEP I-III and FP3, FP4.

Taken:
Maths: A*

To take:
Further maths: A*
Physics: A*
Chemistry: A-A*
Biology: A-A*
STEP I-III: not sure, aiming for at least 1, 1
Extra maths modules (FP3, FP4, maybe M3): 95-100%

I work 37.5 hours at college including lessons, then work as much extra time as I need at home. Generally this totals around 50-55 hours.

Maths/further/STEP/extra maths/physics: Practice questions 35+ hours per week.
Biology: Reading notes, doing some questions and reading the mark schemes afterwards.
Chemistry: Reading notes and doing questions.
Reply 12
Original post by Gott
Really? I meant it as a bit of a joke but it would be if you put: 'REVISE OR YOU SHALL FAIL IN LIFE', which would be quite motivating in a humourous way, perhaps a poster from the university you want to go to (depending on how your parents would respond to the first idea). I wouldn't be able to do that because I can't rule out the possibility that I'd get into Cambridge (I'm more of an optimist than a realist) and that would just feel presumptuous to me lol


Lol no i'm joking but it would be funny to do so, i'm not quite sure exactly what uni I want to go to but i'm sure there's chance you'd get into Cambridge, i'm also an optimist well I try to be :smile:
Reply 13
Original post by 16Dan
I've applied for pharmacy and I have offers from University of Bath, Reading and Keele, which I'm really happy about and can't wait till I start Uni- Those are really good Uni's that you want to apply to, do your research and apply to the uni's that you really like when the time comes :smile:


Wow congrats that's really good, i'm also looking at Keele university as well! Yeah I agree, I'm planning to go to as many open days and master classes as I can so I can choose the right uni for me :smile:
Reply 14
Original post by morgan8002
I will end up with 5 A-levels by the end of the year, plus STEP I-III and FP3, FP4.

Taken:
Maths: A*

To take:
Further maths: A*
Physics: A*
Chemistry: A-A*
Biology: A-A*
STEP I-III: not sure, aiming for at least 1, 1
Extra maths modules (FP3, FP4, maybe M3): 95-100%

I work 37.5 hours at college including lessons, then work as much extra time as I need at home. Generally this totals around 50-55 hours.

Maths/further/STEP/extra maths/physics: Practice questions 35+ hours per week.
Biology: Reading notes, doing some questions and reading the mark schemes afterwards.
Chemistry: Reading notes and doing questions.


Wow that's dedication at it's finest, I'll definitely try taking a leaf out of your book! Congrats on your maths result and current grades, i'm going to try and do as many practice questions as I can, thanks for your help and good luck! (not that you'll need it aha) :smile:
I did 4 A-Levels and wouldn't recommend it unless your offer specified such grades. I did Maths Chemistry Physics and Politics. I was fairly good at Politics and it was comparatively straight forward so that got sidelined for much of Year 13.
Maths and Physics were fairly similar (which helped) and revision methods for both tended towards completing past papers and targeting revision on questions where I went wrong (unless it was just stupid mistakes that I was usually competent with).
Chemistry was probably hardest to revise for due to the massive variation of topics and questions. I stuck to revision guides/text books, read through a page and answered summary questions. When I was fairly confident I'd move onto past papers.
Started revising properly for Politics about a month before the exam, which was probably a bit late, but any earlier than that would have taken time off the other subjects.
In the end I ended up with AAAB (B in Maths) from AAAA at AS. In hindsight I wish I'd dropped Maths at the end of Year 12 cause I'm pretty sure I could have got A*s in Physics and Politics with that extra revision time as I wasn't far off any way.
Having said all that, I was a lazy Year 13 so I'm sure if you're really committed you can handle it. Just don't over-face yourself with work cause that's when you start to panic and that's no good for anything. There's plenty of time yet to boost up your grades, best of luck!x
Reply 16
Original post by Fender7535
I did 4 A-Levels and wouldn't recommend it unless your offer specified such grades. I did Maths Chemistry Physics and Politics. I was fairly good at Politics and it was comparatively straight forward so that got sidelined for much of Year 13.
Maths and Physics were fairly similar (which helped) and revision methods for both tended towards completing past papers and targeting revision on questions where I went wrong (unless it was just stupid mistakes that I was usually competent with).
Chemistry was probably hardest to revise for due to the massive variation of topics and questions. I stuck to revision guides/text books, read through a page and answered summary questions. When I was fairly confident I'd move onto past papers.
Started revising properly for Politics about a month before the exam, which was probably a bit late, but any earlier than that would have taken time off the other subjects.
In the end I ended up with AAAB (B in Maths) from AAAA at AS. In hindsight I wish I'd dropped Maths at the end of Year 12 cause I'm pretty sure I could have got A*s in Physics and Politics with that extra revision time as I wasn't far off any way.
Having said all that, I was a lazy Year 13 so I'm sure if you're really committed you can handle it. Just don't over-face yourself with work cause that's when you start to panic and that's no good for anything. There's plenty of time yet to boost up your grades, best of luck!x


Congrats on your results! I think I probably will drop something next year maybe maths just so that I can concentrate on my other subjects more, I've got a chemistry mock tomorrow so I will try some past papers today. What books did you use to revise for chemistry? Thanks for your help :smile: x
Original post by MJ16
Congrats on your results! I think I probably will drop something next year maybe maths just so that I can concentrate on my other subjects more, I've got a chemistry mock tomorrow so I will try some past papers today. What books did you use to revise for chemistry? Thanks for your help :smile: x


Cheers! I went for the slimline CGP revision guide aha, I always found the official AQA a bit hard going - I'm a slow reader with a short attention span. The AQA endorsed one is good though especially if there's a whole topic that you're totally confused about as it is more thorough than the revision guide. Probably just stated the obvious there but yeah. Get your mechanisms and buffers sorted and the rest might just fall into place :wink: x

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