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tips for 3A*

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Original post by Chemgawd99
either mech eng or chem eng. I'm now unsure to do 4 or drop FM or Chemistry. I guess doing 4 gives bragging rights and would allow me to have a chance at Oxbridge/imperial


If you have the drive, then do four.
Original post by Chemgawd99
should I do my revision in 2 or 3 sets of 1 hour bursts a day to minimize procrastination

Hand on heart, I could only manage 30 minute bursts before I had to have a 2-3 minute break (AT LEAST). The way you minimise procrastination is to time yourself (and stop the timer when you stop concentrating on your work). You'll be in for a nasty surprise. When I first started the method I could barely do 2 hours.
You don't actually need to spend all your free time revising. I got 2A* and 1A (the A was 2 UMS away from being A*) and this is what I did

Around the start of the year I just did classwork and homework, outside of school the only thing I did related to school was uni application
When it got to around January I had finished some modules so would do past papers to try and keep it fresh (baring in mind I was only doing maybe 1 per week for each module)
When it got to around March I started doing more revision outside of school but it wasn't every day, and the days that I did revision I only did 1-2 hours, this changed once it hit Easter, now I was revising almost every day and doing around 2 hours per day

Just make sure you do effective revision and try and stay on top of things during the year. If there's something you don't understand, make sure to ask the teacher to maybe explain again in your own time or at home try and find it out yourself.
Original post by ColossalAtom
I find it easier to procrastinate if I did your amount of hours of studying. The connection I have with my subjects starts to become deeper after 2-3 hours. It feels like I'm in another dimension. If I stopped everyday after 2-3 hours, then I'm more likely to procrastinate. It's like watching an episode of something with a cliffhanger, so of course you want to see the next episode immediately (continue to study).

Telling people in this thread they're immature without knowing them is immature in itself.


I was calling the people who were saying "have no friends blah blah blah" immature because it's an immature thing to say...
Reply 44
Avatar for BB8
BB8
10
Stay healthy. Don't pull all nighters, eat right and exercise. You'll be able to concentrate and focus better, and exercise will lower your stress levels. And don't withdraw from your social life altogether - keep facebook, twitter etc., but don't spend too much time on it. Go out with your friends every so often. Make sure you are as healthy and relaxed as you can be - at the same time as revising content every weekend and going over anything you don't get asap

Constant, steady revision over the entire year alongside a healthy life is your best bet :smile:

Also, use your free periods wisely.

Edit: I got A*A*A in Maths, History and Biology respectively
(edited 7 years ago)
Work smarter, not necessarily more. It's very easy to avoid revising a topic because you don't really like it, but ultimately 1 hour of working on a topic you don't like very much and are not as good at will be more useful than 3 hours spent doing topics you find easy. Just be honest with what your weaknesses are, don't pretend they don't exist and work at them to improve
One important thing to remember - time is very valuable.
Original post by BB8
Stay healthy. Don't pull all nighters, eat right and exercise. You'll be able to concentrate and focus better, and exercise will lower your stress levels. And don't withdraw from your social life altogether - keep facebook, twitter etc., but don't spend too much time on it. Go out with your friends every so often. Make sure you are as healthy and relaxed as you can be - at the same time as revising content every weekend and going over anything you don't get asap

Constant, steady revision over the entire year alongside a healthy life is your best bet :smile:

Also, use your free periods wisely.

Edit: I got A*A*A in Maths, History and Biology respectively


How did you achieve An A* in biology :smile:
Original post by goal101
How did you achieve An A* in biology :smile:


he didn't but yes I'd like to know how he got an A
You don't have to dedicate your whole everyday life to the cause. I got 3A* and even went out during my exams (not the day before an exam ofcourse, a couple of days) to clubs. What's most paramount, especially for things such as Chemistry (and so the rest of the sciences) is to revise from day 1. By the time we covered all the material, everybody had forgot the beginning of unit 4 but I knew it all and so when we had to then go back over it, it was solidifying in my memory from helping others.

Apart from that, do past papers. Every past paper, do them 3 times. Do different exam boards' papers if some questions are relevent, do text book questions, identify your weaker areas and find more material on them.

Having said that, take breaks. Free periods at school, chill in some of them or lightly read a textbook etc. Enjoy your half terms, but revise a little every day.

ps all the people saying eat healthy and sleeps loads are lying because I did neither lol

oh and read examiner reports after you do past papers, they literally tell you what people keep doing wrong.
(edited 7 years ago)
Reply 50
Avatar for _NMcC_
_NMcC_
15
Quality over Quantity
I would say focus on good quality revision that's consistent rather than trying to blast 4hrs straight over 1 or 2 out of 7 days. I did that at GCSE. Unless you have an eidetic memory, it won't work.

You will remember things far better if you read over the areas you revised yesterday or the day before for e.g 15 mins. Do short but consistent periods.

I did 25 minute revision sessions each time using what's known as the 'Pomodoro technique'. You do 25 minutes revision, 5 minute break then another 25 minutes and then read over what you have revised. Then take a break and repeat. Worked really well for me. Try it.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pomodoro_Technique

Breaks

Take regular breaks to walk about, exercise, socialise etc. Breaks will keep your head fresh and help it to retain information better. I got A*AA and I found time to hang out with friends and exercise. I read books and played chess in some of my free periods. Keep your head clear.

Ask questions

Big one: Use your teachers well. Do not be afraid to ask questions, that's what they're there for. You don't have to ask in the middle of class. I went to my teachers at lunchtime and after school to get help on certain questions/areas of the course.

You have to be honest with yourself on what your weaknesses are or it'll be much harder to get the marks in the exam. Everyone has questions but not everyone asks them! This proved useful for Bio and Chem for me.

Following on, if you're good at something then put it on the back-burner and focus on your weaker areas. Keep the good areas ticking over (i.e 15mins each day doing questions, reading over) and then dedicate the core revision to areas where you are weaker.

Past-Papers

I did PPQs from Start to finish and then started doing full papers closer to the exams. Do as many questions as you can.

Examiner's reports are a free gift from god, use them and find out what areas people consistently make mistakes on. http://pastpapers.org/, This site provides legacy papers for lots of exam boards. You'll want all that you can find.

Plan

Make a plan. This helped me a lot as well. Even if you don't follow it religiously, at least you'll have a good idea in front of you on what areas you should be focusing on and not neglecting.


Revising 2/3 hrs everyday starting immediately will do wonders for you later on.
(edited 7 years ago)
Original post by Maths is Life
What course are you doing at Uni?!!

Universities only look at 3 A levels so in this case AAA which is pretty much the highest they consider.

That C shouldnt bring you down since you are resitting maths units.

What are you dropping?

4 A2s may be unecessary but you may regret only taking 3 - lol in the future you can tell people you did 4.

When I took 3 this year - although I found I had alot of extra time - I felt mad focusing on a couple subjects and thought I could spread myself more...


There is absolutely no need to take 4 A-Levels. Universities don't ask for it, and you're going to be severely curtailing the time available to focus in-depth on the other subjects compared to if you were to do just 3, OP.
I got A* AA and missed narrowly in other 2.

Didn't kill myself, worked at it bit by bit all year.
Accountingggo, don't agree completely with you. Regarding Further Maths, many engineering courses "prefer" or "strongly encourage" Further Maths, if not require it, such as some colleges in Cambridge.

Original post by Accountingggo
You need to revise from the start to the end. Be exam ready AT LEAST a month and a half before exams. Do every practice paper you can find. If I were you, I wouldn't redo further as it's meaningless in terms of uni offers- focus on your A2's as the work load is often 2x harder at least. Don't ever hesitate to ask for help if you're stuck- you've gotta be selfish if you wanna achieve the best you can. Don't think because you got good AS results, it means that you'll be fine- remember your AS results for the sciences don't matter, you NEED 90ums in A2 exams. Don't overwork and make sure you get a rest- before exams, you shouldn't be at all stressed as you should be ready from prior preparation.
Good luck.


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Reply 54
Avatar for cxcoaj
cxcoaj
2
AS grades: B in psychology, A in sociology, D in biology, D in chemistry. dropping psychology but need tips on getting myself to at least a B grade in biology and chemistry?
Original post by Chemgawd99
for AS I achieved AAAC in maths, physics, chemistry and further maths respectively. For my A2 year, I will be studying maths, physics and chemistry and retaking AS FM. I hope to get 3A* and an A. Do you have any tips on doing this task, plus are A2's harder than AS?


We are under reforms so you will have to work 10000x harder than A2 last year and before, as you will have to revise AS and A2 topics, unless you're under the Cambridge examining board. There is no point resitting your exams (why don't people listen *rolls eyes*). You will need to do the AGAIN anyway AS they are LINEAR, which mean AS DOESN'T COUNT!

A2 can be harder than AS, personally I found them the same but the work load is waaaaaay more demanding and it increases, so will have to try and cope with that.

Other than that all this info above is valid
(edited 7 years ago)
Original post by BunnyMidnight
We are under reforms so you will have to work 10000x harder than A2 last year and before, as you will have to revise AS and A2 topics


Frankly stupid exaggeration.
Reply 57
Avatar for Pluto1
Pluto1
1
Original post by Tsrsarahhhh
Don't have friends at sixth form


srsly? I'm about to start sixth form this sept, should I just stay away from social media and just knuckle down from day 1?
Reply 58
Avatar for math42
math42
20
Original post by Pluto1
srsly? I'm about to start sixth form this sept, should I just stay away from social media and just knuckle down from day 1?


lmao no
you can socialise. There's plenty of time in the day.
surprised at all of these responses

you don't need to compromise your social life to get 3A*s or whatever

obviously it depends on the person but most people go about it the wrong way and revise harder, instead of smarter. This is where the misconception comes in that you have to lose your social life

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