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From ABB to AAA/A*AA?? Help please

Hi guys,

So last year I got ABB in Philosophy, Biology and Chemistry.
I got 225/300 UMS in Chem, 212/300 UMS in Biology - so just scraped a B for biology.
I want to apply for a course thats entry requirements are AAA.
I'm wondering can I get an AAA? Bearing in mind I have very poor teachers, so it'll all be self taught, honest yet helpful advice would be amazing.

Thank you :smile:

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Reply 1
Avatar for Asolare
Asolare
20
If you work your ass off and manage to get a predicted target grade of A, I see no reason why you can't achieve AAA :smile:
Original post by scapegoating
Hi guys,

So last year I got ABB in Philosophy, Biology and Chemistry.
I got 225/300 UMS in Chem, 212/300 UMS in Biology - so just scraped a B for biology.
I want to apply for a course thats entry requirements are AAA.
I'm wondering can I get an AAA? Bearing in mind I have very poor teachers, so it'll all be self taught, honest yet helpful advice would be amazing.

Thank you :smile:


Independent study. There's really no other way to do it if you have bad teachers. Start early, read ahead, start full-time exam revision around February/March so that you can afford to do it slowly. I recently learned about something called 'spaced memorisation' which really explains my exam failures in memorising stuff last minute at A-level.

Also, make sure you use a range of resources. Most exam boards will have their own specific revision guides/books so if you can get those, do so. If CGP makes books for your exam board, I'd recommend those as well because they're a little bit better at explaining things. Practice exam technique by doing past papers and make sure your wording is, at all times, consistent with past mark schemes (especially in biology and chemistry).

Qualification: I got ABBB at AS and finished with A*AAB at A2. Not stellar but not crap either. :smile:
Original post by scapegoating
Hi guys,

So last year I got ABB in Philosophy, Biology and Chemistry.
I got 225/300 UMS in Chem, 212/300 UMS in Biology - so just scraped a B for biology.
I want to apply for a course thats entry requirements are AAA.
I'm wondering can I get an AAA? Bearing in mind I have very poor teachers, so it'll all be self taught, honest yet helpful advice would be amazing.

Thank you :smile:


In theory, you can yes. You'd need to put in the effort and commit to fully learning the syllabus content and completing all past papers but if you've got the necessary basic intellect, going from a B to an A in two subjects is certainly possible.

Have you checked how the universities you're interested in view resits?
Reply 4
Avatar for scapegoating
scapegoating
OP
Original post by Hydeman
Independent study. There's really no other way to do it if you have bad teachers. Start early, read ahead, start full-time exam revision around February/March so that you can afford to do it slowly. I recently learned about something called 'spaced memorisation' which really explains my exam failures in memorising stuff last minute at A-level.

Also, make sure you use a range of resources. Most exam boards will have their own specific revision guides/books so if you can get those, do so. If CGP makes books for your exam board, I'd recommend those as well because they're a little bit better at explaining things. Practice exam technique by doing past papers and make sure your wording is, at all times, consistent with past mark schemes (especially in biology and chemistry).

Qualification: I got ABBB at AS and finished with A*AAB at A2. Not stellar but not crap either. :smile:


wow thats great!! Can I ask in what subjects? :smile:
Reply 5
Avatar for scapegoating
scapegoating
OP
Original post by Caitlan
In theory, you can yes. You'd need to put in the effort and commit to fully learning the syllabus content and completing all past papers but if you've got the necessary basic intellect, going from a B to an A in two subjects is certainly possible.

Have you checked how the universities you're interested in view resits?


yes they allow 1 module to be retaken! :smile:
It's definitely possible, with a bit of hard work and perseverance! I went from ABCC (Spanish English literature Geography Economics) to AAA :smile:
Original post by scapegoating
wow thats great!! Can I ask in what subjects? :smile:


It was A*AAB in chemistry, biology, physics and mathematics. :smile:
Reply 8
Avatar for asif118
asif118
10
U definetely can I got BBB in biology chemistry and maths to A*A*A
Reply 9
Avatar for scapegoating
scapegoating
OP
thats amazing well done!! did you retake anything in Bio/chem also was it OCR?
Thank you

@asif118
Original post by Hydeman
It was A*AAB in chemistry, biology, physics and mathematics. :smile:


thats amazing :smile: ! Any tips for chem/bio and did you retake anything? also OCR?

Thank you
Original post by scapegoating
thats amazing :smile: ! Any tips for chem/bio and did you retake anything? also OCR?

Thank you


Yes, I retook two exams: PH2 (physics) and CH2 (chemistry). The chemistry one proved unnecessary because I managed to get over 90 percent at A2 so the marks would've averaged out to 80 percent overall anyway. However, I couldn't have known this ahead of time so I resat anyway to boost my chances of getting an A just in case the A2 exams went pear-shaped.

Unfortunately, all my exams were with WJEC (I live in Wales) so I can't give you OCR-specific advice. However, the general rule is to remember standard mark scheme answers for recall questions (including key words - people tend to lose marks in biology by not including key words) and make sure you understand all of the content well so that you aren't swayed by application questions.

The best way to do this is to get an exam board-specific revision guide as well as a CGP one (or just one since you do OCR, for which there are CGP guides, I think) and work through them throughout the year, testing yourself all the way. Then start doing past papers around February/March time so that you have two to three months to do it at your own pace. With that, and a bit of luck, hopefully you'll come out with the grades that you want next August. :smile:
Original post by Hydeman
Yes, I retook two exams: PH2 (physics) and CH2 (chemistry). The chemistry one proved unnecessary because I managed to get over 90 percent at A2 so the marks would've averaged out to 80 percent overall anyway. However, I couldn't have known this ahead of time so I resat anyway to boost my chances of getting an A just in case the A2 exams went pear-shaped.

Unfortunately, all my exams were with WJEC (I live in Wales) so I can't give you OCR-specific advice. However, the general rule is to remember standard mark scheme answers for recall questions (including key words - people tend to lose marks in biology by not including key words) and make sure you understand all of the content well so that you aren't swayed by application questions.

The best way to do this is to get an exam board-specific revision guide as well as a CGP one (or just one since you do OCR, for which there are CGP guides, I think) and work through them throughout the year, testing yourself all the way. Then start doing past papers around February/March time so that you have two to three months to do it at your own pace. With that, and a bit of luck, hopefully you'll come out with the grades that you want next August. :smile:



Thank you so so much for your help, I will definitely let you know how I get on come next August :smile:)
Original post by scapegoating
thats amazing :smile: ! Any tips for chem/bio and did you retake anything? also OCR?

Thank you


Hi I did OCR for maths but AQA for both biology and chemistry. I got 225 ums in biology and 224 ums in chemistry at AS. I resat unit 1 in biology to get from a C to an A and resat chemistry unit 2 and the ISA, I got exactly the same result in the ISA when I resat which was a C but I got the B in unit 2 to an A 1 mark off full marks so it gave me a lot of ums.

At AS I used the CGP revision books which are good for GCSE but not for A-level in my opinion. So at A2 I used the nelson thornes books. I also did every past paper for chemistry and a lot of similar questions came up and I did quite a lot of past papers for Biology but not all of them.

This should be good for chemistry notes I used the same thing but for AQA
http://chemrevise.org/ocr-revision-guides/

I have never used these books but they are from the same author that I used for AQA
Biology- http://www.amazon.co.uk/Essential-Biology-OCR-Student-Book/dp/0748785116
Chemistry- http://www.amazon.co.uk/Essential-Chemistry-OCR-Student-Book/dp/0748785051
(edited 8 years ago)
Original post by Hydeman
Yes, I retook two exams: PH2 (physics) and CH2 (chemistry). The chemistry one proved unnecessary because I managed to get over 90 percent at A2 so the marks would've averaged out to 80 percent overall anyway. However, I couldn't have known this ahead of time so I resat anyway to boost my chances of getting an A just in case the A2 exams went pear-shaped.

Unfortunately, all my exams were with WJEC (I live in Wales) so I can't give you OCR-specific advice. However, the general rule is to remember standard mark scheme answers for recall questions (including key words - people tend to lose marks in biology by not including key words) and make sure you understand all of the content well so that you aren't swayed by application questions.

The best way to do this is to get an exam board-specific revision guide as well as a CGP one (or just one since you do OCR, for which there are CGP guides, I think) and work through them throughout the year, testing yourself all the way. Then start doing past papers around February/March time so that you have two to three months to do it at your own pace. With that, and a bit of luck, hopefully you'll come out with the grades that you want next August. :smile:


Sorry one more thing guys.
As im on 211 UMS (just a B), and need 240 next year for A. Should I retake F211 (unit 1 from AS) to make things easier or no?
Original post by scapegoating
Sorry one more thing guys.
As im on 211 UMS (just a B), and need 240 next year for A. Should I retake F211 (unit 1 from AS) to make things easier or no?


Actually, you'll need 269 UMS next year to get an A because the overall UMS must be a minimum of 480/600 UMS for an A. If you feel that you could do better, go for it. But you should also keep in mind that any retakes will have to be sat in June alongside your A2 exams so you don't want to make too large a burden for yourself.

If it was me, I would resit, because 269 UMS is way too much and would stress me out a lot during exam time if I mucked up so much as a single paper. Incidentally, my biology AS (my only A) was the other way around; I had 269 UMS in the AS and, because of that, I could afford to muck up as badly as I did at A2 and still get an A. So yeah, a strong AS is useful, but only if you think it won't affect your A2s.

Also, I forgot to mention it earlier but www.chemguide.co.uk is a great website for A-level chemistry.
Original post by scapegoating
Sorry one more thing guys.
As im on 211 UMS (just a B), and need 240 next year for A. Should I retake F211 (unit 1 from AS) to make things easier or no?


Yes I agree with Hydeman, you will definelty improve ur grade because u have already learnt the content before.
Ok thank you v.much.

How about in regards to chem, 225UMS, thus 255 for an A, would you recommend retaking unit 1?

Posted from TSR Mobile
Original post by scapegoating
Ok thank you v.much.

How about in regards to chem, 225UMS, thus 255 for an A, would you recommend retaking unit 1?

Posted from TSR Mobile


It depends on how confident you feel about the A2 exams in chemistry. You have a bit of time for this: the deadline for most summer exam entries isn't until March so, if you find by then that you're struggling with the A2 material, then you might just want to chuck in a retake to give yourself some peace of mind. But only do it if you're sure it won't affect your other exams!
Original post by scapegoating
Ok thank you v.much.

How about in regards to chem, 225UMS, thus 255 for an A, would you recommend retaking unit 1?

Posted from TSR Mobile


I think u should, I don't know about OCR units and exams but I was a few marks off an A in my unit 2 chem around 93 ums and resat it to get 138 ums out of 140 ums which pushed my grade a lot higher and meant I could get low B's in my other units and still get an A. I just learnt all of it again which didn't take me too long then did every single past paper.

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