Year 12s: what will be the first way you research your future options? >>

Mezmorised's Path to A level Success

Hello everyone!

Introduction

I've made a grow your grades thread in the past for GCSE's. It has helped me to achieve the best grades and also act as a log of my work and achievements.

My aim is to do the same for A levels and achieve the best results that I can. The A levels I have chosen and the MTG's(Minimum target grades, not predicted) I have for 2 years are:

Biology- A*
Chemistry -A*
Maths-A*
Physics.-A*

I know these are high so I need to work hard to achieve high A grades at AS year so that I have the best shot to achieve these.

Previous Qualifications

For my GCSE's I sat at summer 2016, I attained:
8A*'s, 3A's.

Final Comments

I will try to update every week or so with my progress although I get quite busy. I would love to tag everyone that helped me through GCSE's but there is so many of them! So I am sure you know who you are! :smile:

I will add onto the main post when reports, mock results and additional comments come in every term.

Again I thank everyone for their support and lets Grow some Grades!

Reply 1

UWS

Your GCSE grades and target grades are incredible :biggrin:

Good luck! Looking forward to see some updates!! Remember, nothing is out of reach, aim high and put your mind to it :smile:

Reply 2

MezmorisedPotato

Original post by UWS

Your GCSE grades and target grades are incredible :biggrin:

Good luck! Looking forward to see some updates!! Remember, nothing is out of reach, aim high and put your mind to it :smile:

Thank you very much for the comment! I'll be updating this thread tomorrow as I collate everything I've done this week! :smile:

I'll try my best !

Reply 3

username2312801

Yay you've made a gyg thread ! Good luck and make sure to keep us updating !! 😌🙏🏼

Reply 4

MezmorisedPotato

Original post by nisha.sri

Yay you've made a gyg thread ! Good luck and make sure to keep us updating !! 😌🙏🏼

First update will be coming out now

Reply 5

MezmorisedPotato

Update #1 26/11/16

1/ Biology notes on cells made.
2/ Chemistry moles review completed onto bonding
3/ Maths past paper questions completed on circles
4/ Physics revisit on electricity
Also my first report came out a week ago and here it is

Biology- A so far
Chemistry- A* so far
Physics- A* so far
Maths- A so far
Happy with the results so far although in maths I've only dropped a max of like 1 mark in tests with many 100%s but I guess they like to judge that's after mid year assessments.

Reply 6

username2312801

Original post by MezmorisedPotato

wow well done !!

Reply 7

MezmorisedPotato

Original post by nisha.sri

wow well done !!

Thank you! How are AS levels going for you? I'll check out the GYG for yours when I can today! :smile:

Reply 8

username2312801

Original post by MezmorisedPotato

Thank you! How are AS levels going for you? I'll check out the GYG for yours when I can today! :smile:

No worries :smile:

Good thank you and haha thanks https://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/showthread.php?t=4228678 this is my thread :biggrin:

Reply 9

MezmorisedPotato

Week 2 GYG Review
1/ Biology revision for cells test.
2/ Maths work on Core 1 and 2, differentiation and integration topics.
3/ Biology Exam Questions on cells and synoptic topics.
Might not seem like a lot but the test for biology was a priority as it is a big step up from GCSE in my opinion. Anyway, I'll be back next week and hopefully will have done significantly more work.

Reply 10

MezmorisedPotato

Week 3 GYG Review (10/12/16)
1/ Core 1 and 2 differentiation and work involving finding areas under a curve, stationary points and max and minimum points using the second derivative.
2/ Completed sets of past papers on these topics. Revisiting notes on the day before Calculus test on Friday.
3/ Chemistry work on bonding, periodicity and moles completed.
4/ Physics review of materials in progress.
5/ Electricity past papers completed and annotated.
6/ Biology revision started for final test next week.
Note making will resume from the Christmas break on-wards as at this point, I want to consolidate understanding rather than write things I don't understand yet. I will be back in another week, enjoy your day

Reply 11

PocketSized

Nice! You seem very productive and with this kind of organisation, you'll get far! All the best and keep me posted, yeah

Reply 12

MezmorisedPotato

BIG UPDATE :tongue:

Hello everyone! I know I haven't updated this blog in a long while. Mostly this is because of some personal issues as well as being extremely busy with arranging work experience, volunteering and revision in general. As a result, I unfortunately neglected this blog for 2 months which was irresponsible of me. I completely apologise for this!! That being said I plan to get this blog back on track and get back to updating at least once a week.

I reached some points where I lost motivation for revision and now I believe I am back on track. Generally I am working on notes and completing homework and past papers to nail that exam technique. This is going to be a big update thread that will include my work done so far, mock results and an evaluation.

Work Done:
Maths :biggrin:

1. Core 1- 9 past papers completed. Review of core 1 completed with a few sticking points to go over. These include circle theorem applied questions and sketching polynomials.
2. Core 2- revision posters completed for differentiation + integration. Completed review of all topics and finishing off sequences and self study of radians. Doing past paper questions on each topics and will be asking questions on things I struggle with on the first week back.
3. Completed further 2 sets of past papers for core 2 for sequences, trapezium rule and trigonometry.
Biology :smile:

1. Completed notes for biology for both the Biological molecules module + Cells (Normally 130 pages condensed to about 70).
2. Completed question packs, Approximately 7 sets of past papers completed from old spec while doing all 3 new spec AS papers.
3. Further reading on genetics in progress. Working on mock results and improving on certain types of application questions.
4. Started work on gas exchange topic but at this point I'm reading over content and making notes as I begin to fully understand it.
Chemistry :smile:

1. Started Organic Chemistry revision. Made notes for all topics from Inorganic up to the haloalkanes topics.
2. Started notes on alkenes and mechanisms.
3. Reviewed knowledge of stereo-isomerism.
4. 4 sets of old spec past papers done while completing all of the new spec past papers. Need to find more past papers for new spec as the styles seem quite different.
5. Looked over old past questions completed to aid recall + finer knowledge.
Physics :s-smilie:

1. Completed notes for topics including : particle physics, electricity part 1 + 2, materials.
2. Completed 80% of mock paper review for physics.
3. Completed some past paper work.
However, I believe I need to apply more effort for physics in general to improve my grades further since application is vital. That is why I am going to be dedicating a day to physics tomorrow after completing some homework, simple chemistry review and biology introductions.

MOCKS
In our college mocks, the maximum you can get are A's. The grade boundaries are near the range of last summers exams. So overall my results were A(Maths)A(Biology)A(Chemistry)B(Physics). :biggrin:

Overall I am fairly satisfied with my results. However physics may be a cause of concern as if the grade boundaries moved a bit, I could have got a C. I have learnt the content but I'm not applying myself well enough to exam questions since I'm not doing enough of them. That is why I'm starting intense practise and revision of physics concepts so everything is ready for the actual AS exams and so I am confident I can get AAAA. These are my aspirations for AS.

Other work
1. Gained 2 work experience placements. An ongoing 6 month one from April and a week placement in a hospital in July.
2. 2 volunteering opportunities have been gained as well.
3. Started some preparation for medicine entrance exams (UKCAT) although it is extremely light as I don't want to run out of resources. Generally I am finding it alright but AR requires a bit of practise.
4. Started reading more e-books and getting into some Harlan Coben thrillers. :biggrin:

Conclusion
So generally, you can see I have been busy doing work and preparations. However I don't plan to abandon this blog again as I am thankful for how well it worked out for me in my GCSE's in terms of motivating me. I will try to update once every week and more if I've done lots! :smile:

I can't wait for this to be a regular thing again like the past!

Reply 13

AbiLab

Glad your back!! :smile:

Reply 14

MezmorisedPotato

Original post by AbiLab

Glad your back!! :smile:

Thank you!
And my messages aren't working properly but I am on AQA for Chem

Reply 15

AbiLab

Original post by MezmorisedPotato

Thank you!
And my messages aren't working properly but I am on AQA for Chem

Thank you.
How have you been working around the new exam style questions in a level chemistry?

Reply 16

MezmorisedPotato

Original post by AbiLab

Thank you.
How have you been working around the new exam style questions in a level chemistry?

I've tried although there isn't much to go off? What about you?

Reply 17

username2312801

Your back !! What are you using for your light revision for ukcat ?
Also well done on your achievements x

Reply 18

MezmorisedPotato

Original post by nisha.sri

Your back !! What are you using for your light revision for ukcat ?
Also well done on your achievements x

Thank you! x
For UKCAT I'm consolidating mental maths and basic skills such as how percentages work and apply it in functional maths. This prepares me well for the QR section since it's fast paced with a lot of maths. I also do several practise questions online from the official Pearson practise test but I'm not doing too much so I don't run out of resources or burn out :smile:

How is college going for you?