My road to 3 A*s

I genuinely was surprised to start with, but of course you have coursework and no STEP

Have you run out of past papers yet?

Any super tips for getting the A* in Chemistry ?

Getting an A* in Maths, Further Maths and Physics are no problem; I could probably do them without putting in too much effort. Struggling with how I'm going to achieve 270 UMS in Chemistry though, it's just too easy to drop marks.

If still possible, try to get the highest you can in ISAs/EMPAs. I've got 40/40 in my chemistry ISAs () and I essentially need 210/240 UMS now.

For exams, keep going over conditions, mechanisms, chemical tests and equations. Organic chemistry can be so simple if you know the basics in a bit of depth. With physical chemistry, literally just go over model answers and mark schemes, and remember and practice calculations. There's a reason why enthalpy and entropy are my favourite topics The buffer and weak acid calculations can get a bit complex, but just keep at them. 6 markers on describing and explaining how a buffer works though ezpz

So I got my mock results back today and they were: A*AA in Maths, Chemistry and Biology (93 UMS in Maths, 86% and 80% in raw marks in Chem and Bio respectively)

Looking at grade boundaries, 86% in raw marks would usually be an A* in Chem, as would 80% in Bio, but I'm very determined to consistently hit 90% in raw marks in all my papers, just to be safe

Anyway, this is where I'll just waffle about what I'm going to do etc etc, so feel free to join in with me if you're in a similar position!

Plan for today: finish a C3 Solomon paper, revise the Muscles topic from Biology Unit 5 for an upcoming mini test

During, and from half term: make notes on all topics covered since the new year, do a past paper per subject every week

Wish me luck

I've only recently finished my coursework for Chemistry, and after doing almost 100 pages for that, I'm honestly not sure if I can be bothered making any possible extra changes just for a couple UMS .

This is what I hate most about Chemistry, the whole thing about model answers. My other subjects I can just roughly know the content and BS my way to full marks, but Chem you need to say precisely what they want you to be saying . Is learning this stuff just a case of endless past papers with a good emphasis put on learning the mark scheme? And for things like mechanisms and equations - is this again more past papers or do you simply just go over it repeatedly?

Luckily I don't have many problems with calculations - even if you don't know what exactly you need to do it's usually possible to make a logical guess and get it right .

It sounds to me like you don't know the content as well as you think you do - if you properly understand the content behind a question i would expect that in most cases your answer would include the points on the mark scheme, as well as some stuff that isnt on there

Yeah, I could definitely do with learning content better, I've been slacking a bit this year . But even for questions that I feel I fully know the answer to I've not always got all marks because I didn't know to include some of the points on the mark scheme, even if I did actually know that info. Learning model answers and just understanding the MS better in general definitely helps a lot with Chem for that reason, or at least it does for me .

No but I need them to get into my firm uni

I've only recently finished my coursework for Chemistry, and after doing almost 100 pages for that, I'm honestly not sure if I can be bothered making any possible extra changes just for a couple UMS .

This is what I hate most about Chemistry, the whole thing about model answers. My other subjects I can just roughly know the content and BS my way to full marks, but Chem you need to say precisely what they want you to be saying . Is learning this stuff just a case of endless past papers with a good emphasis put on learning the mark scheme? And for things like mechanisms and equations - is this again more past papers or do you simply just go over it repeatedly?

Luckily I don't have many problems with calculations - even if you don't know what exactly you need to do it's usually possible to make a logical guess and get it right .

They do? I guess the humanities subjects are more subject to change

Lol, I've started doing STEP papers twice too

Hey there,
If you don't mind me asking what did you get in your gcse's

What is your Firm uni?

I agree with everything samb said Go over all the content first

Haha
How are you feeling about STEP?


5A*s and 6As

Cambridge

WOW well done

Thanks haha

Not posted here in ages but I've officially learnt all of A Level Biology, Chemistry and Maths

Well I've finished making my 'official' notes on every topic - these are notes I use to help me complete past papers, and read the night before an exam.

A final bit of note making is left, though it's not based on a topic as such, rather bringing together areas from across Biology to help answer the 25 marker essay at the end of the unit 5 paper (got a whopping 11/25 marks on the last essay I did). Thankfully, BIOL5 grade boundaries are generally low (Max it's been is like 76/100 for A*)

But yeah, that's all. After today, I'll concentrate on the Biology EMPA written paper (exam in 10 days ) and going through past papers, making sure all the knowledge is in my head.

Customary pic of my exam timetable:

They do? I guess the humanities subjects are more subject to change

Lol, I've started doing STEP papers twice too

No worries how did you revise for them especially sciences, I mean you still revise for science now right ? Good luck in your exams

What did you get in your subjects that you are doing for AS? For GCSE Biology Chemistry and Maths?

. Gd luck ena !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! One step more to achive ur cambridge dream !!!!!!!!!!!!

The buffer and weak acid calculations can get a bit complex, but just keep at them. 6 markers on describing and explaining how a buffer works though ezpz

It's literally a cycle. I make notes on a topic to help me understand it, then I do past papers to see where I'm going wrong. I go back and go over topics I'm going wrong in, maybe make a different set of notes. I keep doing this until I'm comfortable with all the content

AAA
A*A*A*

I'm reasonably confident I can pass it

Tbh, I'd rather I could sit it next week, rather than 6-8 weeks time, because it'll be nice to get it out of the way, and to be able to do a mock every day as revision, rather than stretching a handful of papers out over 8 weeks

Not overly helpful, but it serves to refresh my memory



Pfft, you don't need luck