Can I achieve 3A*s at A-Level in 4 months?

Completely possible, although it's more likely the result will be in the region of A*AA to A*A*A if you work hard starting right now.

Working hard means being completely motivated, not just learning the basic requirements of a course specification and past papers, but actually understanding everything and doing extra questions out of textbooks. You need to be proactive with your learning style, especially with Chemistry - draw all the chemical reactions and tests out and their relationships. For History, you'll need to look at the past papers and look at the style of questions/dates they relate to and memorise every event for the main topics in chronological order to be able to justify each point you make in an essay.

You'll need to be strict with yourself, which means a timetable from getting home/what to do each day in your frees/ targets for each week for each subject. After each topic, a good way of testing your knowledge is to close your book and recite from memory what you just learnt.

This is what I did for two months straight during study leave. I did the sciences (Maths, Biology, History, Chemistry) which I daresay involves more work then your current subjects, and our biology module had no textbook so I wrote my own using other textbooks, detailed diagrams for every process, supplemented by questions asked in papers and the mark schemes to get the 'key words' they always look for. I studied math until I could do every single question in the textbook without getting stuck, and then moved onto past papers - which I couldn't do at first. In the end I got an A*A*A*A and in my first year, I was like you with my AS results.

It is hard work, but you just need to grit your teeth and do it, for these few months if you make it your only priority, it will definitely be worth it. Make sure you are harsh with yourself when marking and testing, getting an A* is more about knowing every single small detail and WHY, than simply just knowing your course. I would suggest you make your notes that you'll revise from (they need to be at the level where you don't need to refer to any other source) for the next two months - and especially re: chemistry, you should also make sure you re-learn your AS content as well. After this, you should do all the past papers, and add to your notes with exam questions. And then repeat, learning your notes again. 4 months is an incredibly long time, and there is absolutely no reason for you not to be able to get a minimum of AAA if you actually use all the time productively.

Think of it this way - it's just 4 months of your life to swap for those 3 letters on that paper, which will stay with you for the rest of your life. Are you really going to let your procrastination over useless things close doors for your future?

Best of luck.

Hi guys,
Bit of background knowledge. Last year I bummed off in my 1st year of A-Levels (if want for a better term). I hated college, struggled massively with motivation (to the point of considering dropping out) and my attendance was lying at around the 40% mark.
I have been playing a massive unfun, *****y game of catch-up for the last year as result. Procrastinate, work ridiculously hard, burn-out, hate college, don't attend.

Anywhoo, I am ridiculously motivated/scared now.
I want A*'s across all subjects come June...
Is it feasible?

I don't know if GCSE's are really indicative of anything with regards to A-Levels but I did well: 10A*s and an A
My current subjects are Chemistry, History and English Literature
And my current (respective) grades are: U, D/C and A*
English Lit isn't really a problem. I've gotten A*s consistently since starting the course; its just finding time to read supplementary texts that's the issue at the moment.
With regards to history and chemistry- although the grades shown don't instil great faith, I'm not entirely hopeless with chemistry. The results are mostly from a lack of revision and exam practise; but when working through papers I've found online with topic specific questions in an exam format, I'm understanding them completely. Just moreso a lack of application.

History is more to do with my lack of attendance: I have hardly any notes on the first section of the course (South Africa), raw knowledge of the USA section and a very scarce covering of the Tudor section.

With 4 months of persistent effort... do you realistically think that I would be able to achieve 3A*s?

And if so, do you have any tips that could help me with learning more efficiently?

Thanks :-)
Meg

You've already got a great start, I think it's more than possible .

But don't over stress yourself as you can end up wasting time - sometimes it's good to focus on your two strongest subjects more. Especially if you have less of an affinity for one subject. I focused more on Maths, Bio and History, and just made sure I would be able to get an A overall for Chem - not sure if this will still work for you with the new A-levels.

And I totally get the confidence thing, I felt like I had to prove myself to my teachers and everyone else after I failed. Our head of math even wouldn't let me take it first as she, I quote stated "You obviously do not have an affinity for this". I argued my case and obviously it hurt, but it made me swallow my pride and gave me that extra push in my head.

I dealt with it by not talking about exams to my friends, not talking about revision and not comparing myself to others. Just work hard, keep your head down and keep quiet. When you need help - ask the teacher or someone you know who has done the question, but don't brag about how much revision or ask what grades people are getting. You'll get there if you make use of all your time - that includes frees - stick to your plan, push through, and always stay humble.

There will be a stage where you just *know* for sure whether your answer is right or wrong, don't question it. Easier said than done I know - when I walked out of my C4, everyone was discussing what they got, how they got x y z answer. I didn't talk, I just listened and thought I screwed up completely. I got home that day and cried my eyes out, I thought I had failed and that was my future gone, but then I realised there's absolutely no point on dwelling, you can't change anything and you're wasting time that could be used to revise for your next exam to make up for this one. So I took that afternoon off to get over myself, and got my head back in gear for my revision schedule next morning.

And on results day? I was shaking when I picked them up at school. Some people that had been going on and on validating themselves/showing off in front of other people were crying on the day. When I opened them, I just burst into tears on the spot, and I remember that the teacher who had completely dismissed me, came over and personally apologised and congratulated me. I didn't brag about them afterwards either, my parents reactions were enough and the sense of self-satisfaction. (and UCAS status change to "unconditional"

People have different ways of dealing with their stress and exams, but you sound like your personality similar to mine, so really, don't compare yourself to anyone else and do this for you and only you - only then you won't feel bad. Because you'll know you tried your absolute best and there are never regrets as long as you do that.

This has motivated me beyond belief! Thank you so much for your words of encouragement, I feel as though our personalities are very similar, I stress myself out a lot! I've got my mock results, and they weren't great at all, however, I know I am around A/B in the sciences regardless of the mocks, because they were down to lack of revision and insecurity! My maths, however, was an absolute trainwreck! I revised differentiation and trig and didn't look at anything else so I did terribly, as much as I try not to worry it just seems impossible to get the grades! But, I am going to work as hard as possible to get the 3A*, thank you so much

Completely possible, although it's more likely the result will be in the region of A*AA to A*A*A if you work hard starting right now.

Working hard means being completely motivated, not just learning the basic requirements of a course specification and past papers, but actually understanding everything and doing extra questions out of textbooks. You need to be proactive with your learning style, especially with Chemistry - draw all the chemical reactions and tests out and their relationships. For History, you'll need to look at the past papers and look at the style of questions/dates they relate to and memorise every event for the main topics in chronological order to be able to justify each point you make in an essay.

You'll need to be strict with yourself, which means a timetable from getting home/what to do each day in your frees/ targets for each week for each subject. After each topic, a good way of testing your knowledge is to close your book and recite from memory what you just learnt.

This is what I did for two months straight during study leave. I did the sciences (Maths, Biology, History, Chemistry) which I daresay involves more work then your current subjects, and our biology module had no textbook so I wrote my own using other textbooks, detailed diagrams for every process, supplemented by questions asked in papers and the mark schemes to get the 'key words' they always look for. I studied math until I could do every single question in the textbook without getting stuck, and then moved onto past papers - which I couldn't do at first. In the end I got an A*A*A*A and in my first year, I was like you with my AS results.

It is hard work, but you just need to grit your teeth and do it, for these few months if you make it your only priority, it will definitely be worth it. Make sure you are harsh with yourself when marking and testing, getting an A* is more about knowing every single small detail and WHY, than simply just knowing your course. I would suggest you make your notes that you'll revise from (they need to be at the level where you don't need to refer to any other source) for the next two months - and especially re: chemistry, you should also make sure you re-learn your AS content as well. After this, you should do all the past papers, and add to your notes with exam questions. And then repeat, learning your notes again. 4 months is an incredibly long time, and there is absolutely no reason for you not to be able to get a minimum of AAA if you actually use all the time productively.

Think of it this way - it's just 4 months of your life to swap for those 3 letters on that paper, which will stay with you for the rest of your life. Are you really going to let your procrastination over useless things close doors for your future?

Best of luck.

Its do able
Don't let anyone tell you otherwise, prove this geyser who commented before that it is , there is no substitute for hard work , work like crazy for these 4 months and 3A*s are achievable, that is more then enough time to revise , I know people who startEd 2 months before and got A*A*A and they were smart but you seem like it too , your gcse's show that , make a plan , wake up at 6am every mourning do 2 hours revision before school/college , find a efficient way to revise , get your notes done fast then focus on learning them , I am going to try to get 3A*s myself this year , I won't let anything stop me , stand in my way , people think you need to be a genius to get these grades? , being smart and hardwork will do it , making good service of your time and being motivated , don't give up , when things get hard , push yourself , never let anything put you off your goal , I'm stop sure you will and rendering can do it with hard work , bare in mind you stopurehould Ryan to spend most of your free time revising , I'll do 8 hours on Weekdays and 10-12 weekends , nothing is more powerful than motivation. You can do anything, achieve anything , if you worknow hard , find your motivation and smash these exams, be confident when it comes to exams you will do better this way
Best of luck and work hard and it is achievable!

ty

Interested to see how the OP actually got on.

From their post history:

https://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/showthread.php?p=73297186&highlight=

Interested to see how the OP actually got on.

Good news... slightly at least
A* in history (unbelievable)

My English teacher contacted the exam board and it turns out they made an error on my results slip (thank god), so my grade has now been altered to an A* would you believe it lool

And chemistry I accept was an abysmal failure but slightly annoyed as it was more to do with the pressure of making a comeback- my teachers allowed me to teach myself the course as opposed to attending lessons, so in my first paper, when I didn't get a question straight away, I panicked and lost my ****.
So for the successive papers, knowing full well I'd resit if I got anything less than an A, I went in blind and focused my revision on history and english instead.

Chem papers came back as U, A, B; which came out overall as a D...

So, the 3 A*'s is technically possible but not when you factor in that the student in question is a chronic procrastinator

I was revising on a night-before exam basis and went into my history exam after learning only half of the Tudor course and into my english literature exam without ever completing any of the assigned texts

I am not saying this with pride. I'm hopefully sharing this a deterrent.
Anyone seeing this- don't be a **** like I was/am

Keep studying my g's

Good news... slightly at least
A* in history (unbelievable)

My English teacher contacted the exam board and it turns out they made an error on my results slip (thank god), so my grade has now been altered to an A* would you believe it lool

And chemistry I accept was an abysmal failure but slightly annoyed as it was more to do with the pressure of making a comeback- my teachers allowed me to teach myself the course as opposed to attending lessons, so in my first paper, when I didn't get a question straight away, I panicked and lost my ****.
So for the successive papers, knowing full well I'd resit if I got anything less than an A, I went in blind and focused my revision on history and english instead.

Chem papers came back as U, A, B; which came out overall as a D...

So, the 3 A*'s is technically possible but not when you factor in that the student in question is a chronic procrastinator

I was revising on a night-before exam basis and went into my history exam after learning only half of the Tudor course and into my english literature exam without ever completing any of the assigned texts

I am not saying this with pride. I'm hopefully sharing this a deterrent.
Anyone seeing this- don't be a **** like I was/am

Keep studying my g's

Hi guys,
Bit of background knowledge. Last year I bummed off in my 1st year of A-Levels (if want for a better term). I hated college, struggled massively with motivation (to the point of considering dropping out) and my attendance was lying at around the 40% mark.
I have been playing a massive unfun, *****y game of catch-up for the last year as result. Procrastinate, work ridiculously hard, burn-out, hate college, don't attend.

Anywhoo, I am ridiculously motivated/scared now.
I want A*'s across all subjects come June...
Is it feasible?

I don't know if GCSE's are really indicative of anything with regards to A-Levels but I did well: 10A*s and an A
My current subjects are Chemistry, History and English Literature
And my current (respective) grades are: U, D/C and A*
English Lit isn't really a problem. I've gotten A*s consistently since starting the course; its just finding time to read supplementary texts that's the issue at the moment.
With regards to history and chemistry- although the grades shown don't instil great faith, I'm not entirely hopeless with chemistry. The results are mostly from a lack of revision and exam practise; but when working through papers I've found online with topic specific questions in an exam format, I'm understanding them completely. Just moreso a lack of application.

History is more to do with my lack of attendance: I have hardly any notes on the first section of the course (South Africa), raw knowledge of the USA section and a very scarce covering of the Tudor section.

With 4 months of persistent effort... do you realistically think that I would be able to achieve 3A*s?

And if so, do you have any tips that could help me with learning more efficiently?

Thanks :-)
Meg

Hi guys,
Bit of background knowledge. Last year I bummed off in my 1st year of A-Levels (if want for a better term). I hated college, struggled massively with motivation (to the point of considering dropping out) and my attendance was lying at around the 40% mark.
I have been playing a massive unfun, *****y game of catch-up for the last year as result. Procrastinate, work ridiculously hard, burn-out, hate college, don't attend.

Anywhoo, I am ridiculously motivated/scared now.
I want A*'s across all subjects come June...
Is it feasible?

I don't know if GCSE's are really indicative of anything with regards to A-Levels but I did well: 10A*s and an A
My current subjects are Chemistry, History and English Literature
And my current (respective) grades are: U, D/C and A*
English Lit isn't really a problem. I've gotten A*s consistently since starting the course; its just finding time to read supplementary texts that's the issue at the moment.
With regards to history and chemistry- although the grades shown don't instil great faith, I'm not entirely hopeless with chemistry. The results are mostly from a lack of revision and exam practise; but when working through papers I've found online with topic specific questions in an exam format, I'm understanding them completely. Just moreso a lack of application.

History is more to do with my lack of attendance: I have hardly any notes on the first section of the course (South Africa), raw knowledge of the USA section and a very scarce covering of the Tudor section.

With 4 months of persistent effort... do you realistically think that I would be able to achieve 3A*s?

And if so, do you have any tips that could help me with learning more efficiently?

Thanks :-)
Meg

Its do able
Don't let anyone tell you otherwise, prove this geyser who commented before that it is , there is no substitute for hard work , work like crazy for these 4 months and 3A*s are achievable, that is more then enough time to revise , I know people who startEd 2 months before and got A*A*A and they were smart but you seem like it too , your gcse's show that , make a plan , wake up at 6am every mourning do 2 hours revision before school/college , find a efficient way to revise , get your notes done fast then focus on learning them , I am going to try to get 3A*s myself this year , I won't let anything stop me , stand in my way , people think you need to be a genius to get these grades? , being smart and hardwork will do it , making good service of your time and being motivated , don't give up , when things get hard , push yourself , never let anything put you off your goal , I'm stop sure you will and rendering can do it with hard work , bare in mind you stopurehould Ryan to spend most of your free time revising , I'll do 8 hours on Weekdays and 10-12 weekends , nothing is more powerful than motivation. You can do anything, achieve anything , if you worknow hard , find your motivation and smash these exams, be confident when it comes to exams you will do better this way
Best of luck and work hard and it is achievable!

ty

Its do able
Don't let anyone tell you otherwise, prove this geyser who commented before that it is , there is no substitute for hard work , work like crazy for these 4 months and 3A*s are achievable, that is more then enough time to revise , I know people who startEd 2 months before and got A*A*A and they were smart but you seem like it too , your gcse's show that , make a plan , wake up at 6am every mourning do 2 hours revision before school/college , find a efficient way to revise , get your notes done fast then focus on learning them , I am going to try to get 3A*s myself this year , I won't let anything stop me , stand in my way , people think you need to be a genius to get these grades? , being smart and hardwork will do it , making good service of your time and being motivated , don't give up , when things get hard , push yourself , never let anything put you off your goal , I'm stop sure you will and rendering can do it with hard work , bare in mind you stopurehould Ryan to spend most of your free time revising , I'll do 8 hours on Weekdays and 10-12 weekends , nothing is more powerful than motivation. You can do anything, achieve anything , if you worknow hard , find your motivation and smash these exams, be confident when it comes to exams you will do better this way
Best of luck and work hard and it is achievable!

ty