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Need help with A-levels

Hello, I am currently in my first year of college and the subjects I have chosen to study are Biology and Chemistry. I have been really struggling with Biology and Chemistry. I just want to know how have/do you revise for these subjects. In every Biology exam I have got a U and in every Biology exam and in Chemistry all U's except for a D one time. I really want to change this but I don't know where to start. Any feedback would be kindly appreciated.
In my mock exam in biology and chemistry I got an E and a D I ended up finishing AS with A grades in both. My advice would be go through the specification and look at what you do know and what you don't know. Then what you do is you go through everything that you don't know slowly over the next few weeks I used to do an hour on a particular subject a day. One way of revising would be to make flashcards that have quite some detail on them but are also condensed as in the process you'll end up retaining the information as you make the flashcards. Also do past papers the Biology and Chemistry specs have not changed that much so you can still use the old spec papers for practise, always look at reasons you're not picking up marks on particular questions, if it's knowledge then revise that topic if it's the way you wrote it then look at the mark scheme points and try to structure your answers that way so you don't end up waffling especially on extended writing questions. When revising unless you're doing a paper revise in 20-30 minute periods with a 5 minute break in between so if you had an hour on biology you'd have 2-3 periods of 20-30 minutes with a break in between each one.
Reply 2
Original post by Boredomstrikes
In my mock exam in biology and chemistry I got an E and a D I ended up finishing AS with A grades in both. My advice would be go through the specification and look at what you do know and what you don't know. Then what you do is you go through everything that you don't know slowly over the next few weeks I used to do an hour on a particular subject a day. One way of revising would be to make flashcards that have quite some detail on them but are also condensed as in the process you'll end up retaining the information as you make the flashcards. Also do past papers the Biology and Chemistry specs have not changed that much so you can still use the old spec papers for practise, always look at reasons you're not picking up marks on particular questions, if it's knowledge then revise that topic if it's the way you wrote it then look at the mark scheme points and try to structure your answers that way so you don't end up waffling especially on extended writing questions. When revising unless you're doing a paper revise in 20-30 minute periods with a 5 minute break in between so if you had an hour on biology you'd have 2-3 periods of 20-30 minutes with a break in between each one.


Thank you for your reply, I will begin working on it as I really want to achieve something from doing these subjects.
Reply 3
Original post by A1i
Hello, I am currently in my first year of college and the subjects I have chosen to study are Biology and Chemistry. I have been really struggling with Biology and Chemistry. I just want to know how have/do you revise for these subjects. In every Biology exam I have got a U and in every Biology exam and in Chemistry all U's except for a D one time. I really want to change this but I don't know where to start. Any feedback would be kindly appreciated.
Hey, I took biology and chemistry A-Levels too. They're both quite content heavy, so make sure you go through the specification and make notes accordingly using your textbook and class notes. During this, it's important you don't just copy what the textbook says word for word - you have to go through everything ensuring you understand it (you may need additional resources if you can't understand at first - e.g. internet, teachers) and then write it down in your own words, in a way that's easy for you to understand later when exams come. This is especially important in chemistry, as there are often tricky concepts you need to get your head around. Make your notes concise too, meaning they're easy for you to memorise during exam season. If you follow the spec, you can ensure you've covered all topics you can be tested on. Especially for chemistry, you may need to do calculation questions as well- best strategy for these is to actually do questions until you know and understand what the steps are.
Reply 4
Original post by Amboxo
Hey, I took biology and chemistry A-Levels too. They're both quite content heavy, so make sure you go through the specification and make notes accordingly using your textbook and class notes. During this, it's important you don't just copy what the textbook says word for word - you have to go through everything ensuring you understand it (you may need additional resources if you can't understand at first - e.g. internet, teachers) and then write it down in your own words, in a way that's easy for you to understand later when exams come. This is especially important in chemistry, as there are often tricky concepts you need to get your head around. Make your notes concise too, meaning they're easy for you to memorise during exam season. If you follow the spec, you can ensure you've covered all topics you can be tested on. Especially for chemistry, you may need to do calculation questions as well- best strategy for these is to actually do questions until you know and understand what the steps are.


Thank you for your reply, with Chemistry questions I have problems picking out key information such as in Titration questions, but I will take onboard your advice.
Reply 5
Original post by A1i
Thank you for your reply, with Chemistry questions I have problems picking out key information such as in Titration questions, but I will take onboard your advice.


By looking through the specification, it'll tell you the key information that you need to know- maybe the process of titration, equations etc. Also with titrations, there's a lot of calculations involved (using moles etc.), so definitely practice different types of questions.
Reply 6
Do many many questions. Know the textbook inside out. I started off with solid Ds at the beginning of year 12 and my teacher had no hope left for me xD. Ended up with an A.

You know what you have to do. If you put in the hard work. You'll start to understand why people around you are failing, it's not because of intelligence level, it's simply laziness.

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