Advice for starting A levels?

What are your top 5 tips for starting A levels as well as your top 5 tips for revision that has worked for you?

Great tips! Thank you..

I didn't do well at AS and had many resits for my second year with a total of a dozen exams this summer so I've learnt many tips over the past year and my grades (at least in class, hopefully in exams too!) have soared. The most important thing, and I cannot stress this enough, is to start working early. And I mean start preparing revision materials this side of Christmas for what you've covered so far. I started revising for my resits in October half term for summer exams, and I was doing past papers for subjects from the day that we finished the unit in class. Believe me, I was actually looking forward to some of my exams because I felt so prepared! I had done every single past paper several times, made up my own questions, written essays etc so many times that I was hardly nervous at all and it was all down to preparing early. Secondly, start teaching yourself not to procrastinate NOW! Ever go on Facebook or another social media intending to spend two minutes but end up spending ages? If so, do what I did and set five minutes in the morning and five in the evening to check things so that you don't waste time. You need to become more efficient with your time and that way you can have a great social life whilst still having plenty of time to revise. Don't think 'oh I can't go out on Sunday because I have loads of work to do', You can go out with your friends for a few hours but get in an hour or two of work in the morning before you leave and then a bit more in the evening.My next suggestion would be to make sure you become a good independent learner. If you miss a lesson, make sure you catch up on it. If you can't answer a question for homework and don't understand it, go ask your teacher to explain the topic to you again because at A-Level, every mark counts and you can't just hope that the things you don't like won't come up in the exam because chances are they probably will. This may be the opposite of what you'll hear from your teachers and possibly from others on this website but don't worry about making a 'revision timetable' if they don't work for you. For some people they do but for others they don't so don't stress out over one. I've spent so many hours making a revision timetable which I'll never follow. Something always comes up and you can't always plan in advance. If you can't stick to a timetable, just work when you feel you should work. Aim for about 4-5 hours of work per subject per week as a minimum but I never did a certain subject at a certain time each week, I just studied when I had the time and was in the mood to do so. Finally, work out what time of day your mind is suited to work. I know some people who can sit down at 8pm and go on to work past midnight and be fine at college the next day and they aren't sitting at their desk yawning whilst working. I on the other hand work best around late morning and afternoon and I know some people who set their alarms for 4am and get a few hours of work before college so that they can go out with their friends after college. Try to find what works for you fairly soon after starting college. You might find you can work any time but I find that my brain is useless early in the morning and late at night so it would be pointless to work then so it's possible you may find a time of day that you're more motivated to work than another time. I hope that helps, good luck with your A-Levels