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A-level (final year) A2 exam pressure?! :(

Hi everyone, so basically I'm in year 13 and obviously this year is going to be the toughest year of my life as I desperately want to get into university and therefore the pressure is totally on me to revise a lot

So the problem is this. Obviously from September 2014 I started year 13 and so I had a lot of stress regarding UCAS. You know how it is, working on personal statement, deciding for unis and etc, etc... all this took me until November 6th to complete which is when I finally submitted off my UCAS. Luckily for me, I received all my offers within 2 weeks, my final offer from University of Birmingham was received on November 22nd. Now at this point I'm really happy because I can finally dedicate my time and onwards to exams only. However, 2 months have gone by without me even doing any revision whatsoever and now it's suddenly the end of January and I realise the very little amount of exam prep I have done :frown: I am crying as I type this because it's my fault for wasting all this time doing absolutely nothing :frown: I guess I was trying to give myself like a 2 month break or something due to the UCAS stress so I dunno, please don't ask about this, I know it's my fault... but seriously for the past 3 days I have been thinking about my future and whether or not I will get good grades...I'm crying because I feel like I'm not gonna achieve atleast grades ABC (this is what I need to get into Uni of Birmingham from the A2B offer).. you won't believe it, I am under so much stress and I'm crying because I feel as though I have not got enough time to get through all the revision :frown: I do a-level law, philosophy/religion, and ict... I need advice... with just over 90 days to go, will I be able to revise for my exams? I have 3 resits from AS, and an additional 4 A2 exams... ICT is only coursework and I'm okay with that because I should get a B by the end of this year...but seriously, why do I feel so depressed? I literally cannot stop crying, like I have been having a headache all day today and just yeah, I can't describe how depressed I feel :frown: also, please don't tell me how I can retake the year because I'm not willing to do that...I just want to ace my exams this year and get into uni..:frown:

oh and by the way my predictions for the end of my a-level examinations is AAB
(edited 9 years ago)

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Reply 1
Original post by theTeddyBearx
Hi everyone, so basically I'm in year 13 and obviously this year is going to be the toughest year of my life as I desperately want to get into university and therefore the pressure is totally on me to revise a lot

So the problem is this. Obviously from September 2014 I started year 13 and so I had a lot of stress regarding UCAS. You know how it is, working on personal statement, deciding for unis and etc, etc... all this took me until November 6th to complete which is when I finally submitted off my UCAS. Luckily for me, I received all my offers within 2 weeks, my final offer from University of Birmingham was received on November 22nd. Now at this point I'm really happy because I can finally dedicate my time and onwards to exams only. However, 2 months have gone by without me even doing any revision whatsoever and now it's suddenly the end of January and I realise the very little amount of exam prep I have done :frown: I am crying as I type this because it's my fault for wasting all this time doing absolutely nothing :frown: I guess I was trying to give myself like a 2 month break or something due to the UCAS stress so I dunno, please don't ask about this, I know it's my fault... but seriously for the past 3 days I have been thinking about my future and whether or not I will get good grades...I'm crying because I feel like I'm not gonna achieve atleast grades ABC (this is what I need to get into Uni of Birmingham from the A2B offer).. you won't believe it, I am under so much stress and I'm crying because I feel as though I have not got enough time to get through all the revision :frown: I do a-level law, philosophy/religion, and ict... I need advice... with just over 90 days to go, will I be able to revise for my exams? I have 3 resits from AS, and an additional 4 A2 exams... ICT is only coursework and I'm okay with that because I should get a B by the end of this year...but seriously, why do I feel so depressed? I literally cannot stop crying, like I have been having a headache all day today and just yeah, I can't describe how depressed I feel :frown: also, please don't tell me how I can retake the year because I'm not willing to do that...I just want to ace my exams this year and get into uni..:frown:

oh and by the way my predictions for the end of my a-level examinations is AAB


Firstly relax dear , relax if your stressing yourself that is the first bad sign
Just do it, start now GO ... don't say, I'll leave it for later
Do have breaks while studying
Of course you can get alot done now - It's still early but you should be doing some work everyday at least 2 hours after school etc
Original post by davidtyoember
what are your grades like at the moment?


In my recent mock exams I achieved BCD but that's because I put in NO effort as I never do for mock exams... I don't seem to take them seriously enough as I do for the real exams
Original post by theTeddyBearx
In my recent mock exams I achieved BCD but that's because I put in NO effort as I never do for mock exams... I don't seem to take them seriously enough as I do for the real exams


You should put your mind on A2 much more than when you did AS. I remember when I did AS I used to get like a mixture of grades for mocks and even got a D once! But I cant recall getting below an A for any mock when I did A2.

Also to mention, I didn't hold any university places when doing A2.
Original post by davidtyoember
well you do have enough time...
I guess I do when I come to think about it, I'll start revising from tomorrow
Original post by theTeddyBearx
In my recent mock exams I achieved BCD but that's because I put in NO effort as I never do for mock exams... I don't seem to take them seriously enough as I do for the real exams

You should be able to do it. You only have a few exams this year, so it shouldn't be too hard to get your grades up. Once you stop stressing, you should be ok if you put enough work in.
Original post by Raymat
You should put your mind on A2 much more than when you did AS. I remember when I did AS I used to get like a mixture of grades for mocks and even got a D once! But I cant recall getting below an A for any mock when I did A2.

Also to mention, I didn't hold any university places when doing A2.

There are valid reasons not to revise for A2 mocks. For example, I had an interview for Cambridge a few days before my mocks, so had to spend all of my time for months before doing maths. I couldn't revise for my fourth and fifth subjects. I was also exhausted by the time the mocks came around. Hence my biology and chemistry in particular didn't go well (AB).
Reply 7
Original post by theTeddyBearx
Hi everyone, so basically I'm in year 13 and obviously this year is going to be the toughest year of my life as I desperately want to get into university and therefore the pressure is totally on me to revise a lot

So the problem is this. Obviously from September 2014 I started year 13 and so I had a lot of stress regarding UCAS. You know how it is, working on personal statement, deciding for unis and etc, etc... all this took me until November 6th to complete which is when I finally submitted off my UCAS. Luckily for me, I received all my offers within 2 weeks, my final offer from University of Birmingham was received on November 22nd. Now at this point I'm really happy because I can finally dedicate my time and onwards to exams only. However, 2 months have gone by without me even doing any revision whatsoever and now it's suddenly the end of January and I realise the very little amount of exam prep I have done :frown: I am crying as I type this because it's my fault for wasting all this time doing absolutely nothing :frown: I guess I was trying to give myself like a 2 month break or something due to the UCAS stress so I dunno, please don't ask about this, I know it's my fault... but seriously for the past 3 days I have been thinking about my future and whether or not I will get good grades...I'm crying because I feel like I'm not gonna achieve atleast grades ABC (this is what I need to get into Uni of Birmingham from the A2B offer).. you won't believe it, I am under so much stress and I'm crying because I feel as though I have not got enough time to get through all the revision :frown: I do a-level law, philosophy/religion, and ict... I need advice... with just over 90 days to go, will I be able to revise for my exams? I have 3 resits from AS, and an additional 4 A2 exams... ICT is only coursework and I'm okay with that because I should get a B by the end of this year...but seriously, why do I feel so depressed? I literally cannot stop crying, like I have been having a headache all day today and just yeah, I can't describe how depressed I feel :frown: also, please don't tell me how I can retake the year because I'm not willing to do that...I just want to ace my exams this year and get into uni..:frown:

oh and by the way my predictions for the end of my a-level examinations is AAB


I am also in year 13 and understand how you feel, searching for universities and completing your ucas application squeezes the last inch of energy you had left. There is no point in getting stressed out as this will just make revision a whole lot worse. Just start revising from tomorrow you still have plenty of time. It's the quality that matters not the quantity of your revision. I've heard there are also really good universities available through ucas clearing aswell so even if you end up getting C's or something you may still end up at a decent university.


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Original post by umutalberts
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I feel like I have a lot to get through... I mean, because my subjects are essay based I have made model answers and it comes to about 89 model answers in total, all subjects combined. So far I have learnt 1 model answer and it seems impossible to learn 88 more by June :frown:
Original post by r-t
I am also in year 13 and understand how you feel, searching for universities and completing your ucas application squeezes the last inch of energy you had left. There is no point in getting stressed out as this will just make revision a whole lot worse. Just start revising from tomorrow you still have plenty of time. It's the quality that matters not the quantity of your revision. I've heard there are also really good universities available through ucas clearing aswell so even if you end up getting C's or something you may still end up at a decent university.


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thanks, you're right. it's about the quality of revision too. i guess i'm just gonna have to learn about 3 model answers a day to give me enough time to go over revision near to the exam dates
Original post by davidtyoember
you have to memorize model answers??
yeah that's how I like revising. By making top marked model answers and then memorizing them off by heart so I gain the maximum marks
has it been effective so far? also, how long did it take you to learn the 1 you have learned so far?
Original post by davidtyoember
has it been effective so far? also, how long did it take you to learn the 1 you have learned so far?


it took me about 1 hour to learn it, but i spent 1 hour extra re-writing it until it stuck in my brain. do you think it's realistic for me to learn 3 essays a day?
Original post by theTeddyBearx
it took me about 1 hour to learn it, but i spent 1 hour extra re-writing it until it stuck in my brain. do you think it's realistic for me to learn 3 essays a day?


well perhaps the question to ask is there an alternative way to get the result you want without memorizing 89 essays?
Original post by davidtyoember
well perhaps the question to ask is there an alternative way to get the result you want without memorizing 89 essays?


no lol, i literally want to memorise them word for word so that when i go into the exam hall, i can go in knowing that i have banked those marks already...plus, if i memorise bullet pointed notes, i know that ill screw up in the exam because under timed pressure im not good at improvising
Original post by theTeddyBearx
yeah that's how I like revising. By making top marked model answers and then memorizing them off by heart so I gain the maximum marks


Doesn't sound like an effective and efficient way to revise tbh
Original post by theTeddyBearx
no lol, i literally want to memorise them word for word so that when i go into the exam hall, i can go in knowing that i have banked those marks already...plus, if i memorise bullet pointed notes, i know that ill screw up in the exam because under timed pressure im not good at improvising


isn't it articulation and making things relevant to what is at hand as opposed to simply improvisation?

Also, is the essay thing just one part of the exam?
Original post by Nameless Knight
Doesn't sound like an effective and efficient way to revise tbh

How so?
(edited 9 years ago)
Original post by davidtyoember
isn't it articulation and making things relevant to what is at hand as opposed to simply improvisation?

Also, is the essay thing just one part of the exam?


I do law and RE, both these subjects ask essay styled questions. Pretty much every year they ask similar questions, so why not make model answers for every possible question and then memorize them? As for the questions asked, I will relate my model essay to the question to show the examiner that I am actually answering the question set. Get it?

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