The Official Cambridge Offer Holders Thread 2017 Entry

Last year's papers will be released later this spring on the website to give prospective applicants the chance to see them. When they're published then I think it's fine for them to be discussed here or anywhere else.

Last year's papers will be released later this spring on the website to give prospective applicants the chance to see them. When they're published then I think it's fine for them to be discussed here or anywhere else.

I'm so done.

is it true that the format for NSAA is subject to change?

Who else feels like they shouldn't have had an offer?

I'm so done.

Can any A-Level historians give me some help, or just any nice people haha? (@HolyRomanEmpire perhaps?)

Well, obviously I'm aiming for an A*. My offer is A*A*A with an A* in History. I am on the Edexcel exam board and my revision consists of flashcarding/timelining/etc my textbook in effective ways and doing practise essays. This is also what we have been told to do by teachers.

Last year on this paper I got 100%, which I was very proud of and I hope to replicate. I've finished Key Theme One, and I was feeling confident. My friend even quizzed me and I got everything right. I've also been doing practice essays and I've got high As or A*s in them all, as well as 'excellent' coursework according to my teacher.

Today, in class, we were given two essay plan writing frames and two questions from the sample assessment papers. My teacher also showed us the indicative content, and we filled it in and talked through those questions as a class. In the indicative content I noticed that there were some points I wouldn't have made, and I looked through the textbook and those points weren't mentioned in it either.

It's made me panic a little. I am probably being paranoid, but what if the exam rolls around and I get marked down for not putting these points in that weren't mentioned in the textbook (that is endorsed for my exam board)?

Should I find another textbook and start my revision again as to include these extra points in? The problem is that this opens up a blackhole of trying to memorise too much. I don't know what to do or think. I guess I am just scared I get to the exam, open up the paper, answer it and I get a low grade because I didn't know some magic piece of information!!

I do also read around my subject, obviously, but with so much content to learn you would expect the exam board to stick with what it provides. It is a bit unfair!

EDIT: Maybe I should find another textbook and read it just to 'top-up' my knowledge?

Can any A-Level historians give me some help, or just any nice people haha? (@HolyRomanEmpire perhaps?)

Well, obviously I'm aiming for an A*. My offer is A*A*A with an A* in History. I am on the Edexcel exam board and my revision consists of flashcarding/timelining/etc my textbook in effective ways and doing practise essays. This is also what we have been told to do by teachers.

Last year on this paper I got 100%, which I was very proud of and I hope to replicate. I've finished Key Theme One, and I was feeling confident. My friend even quizzed me and I got everything right. I've also been doing practice essays and I've got high As or A*s in them all, as well as 'excellent' coursework according to my teacher.

Today, in class, we were given two essay plan writing frames and two questions from the sample assessment papers. My teacher also showed us the indicative content, and we filled it in and talked through those questions as a class. In the indicative content I noticed that there were some points I wouldn't have made, and I looked through the textbook and those points weren't mentioned in it either.

It's made me panic a little. I am probably being paranoid, but what if the exam rolls around and I get marked down for not putting these points in that weren't mentioned in the textbook (that is endorsed for my exam board)?

Should I find another textbook and start my revision again as to include these extra points in? The problem is that this opens up a blackhole of trying to memorise too much. I don't know what to do or think. I guess I am just scared I get to the exam, open up the paper, answer it and I get a low grade because I didn't know some magic piece of information!!

I do also read around my subject, obviously, but with so much content to learn you would expect the exam board to stick with what it provides. It is a bit unfair!

EDIT: Maybe I should find another textbook and read it just to 'top-up' my knowledge?

Only if you include maths.

And, @DamnDaniel2 that also means the offer:acceptance rate for maths alone is a miserly 48% vs 85% for all other courses. Pity the STEPpers...

snip

I have a similar problem for English Language in that there's always more stuff to learn. But I've decided I have more than enough theorists now, and am working on learning how to use them to argue points. I've tried to read around like you say but I'm conscious it's a lot to remember! If History is anything like English Lang they might be looking for how you can argue points as well as having knowledge and even if you miss a point or so it shouldn't be too much of a problem. They can't expect you to know everything!

Thanks to others who have answered as well.

On a slightly related note, do you do English Lit? If so then Ibz Mo has done a nice long video about how he revised which might be helpful (can't remember if you were struggling with that or not?)

https://youtu.be/F2wAp0gVKcs

He also did one on Psychology and one on Sociology if anyone on here is doing those subjects/similar subjects. Worth a watch anyway if you have time 👍

Oh I do English language too! I agree there's a lot to remember, although I find it more manageable than lit. How do you revise English language?

Thanks so much for that video! I shall check it out during my next study time

At the moment I'm still compiling notes into a big revision pack. I'm writing out all the theories and concepts I need to know in a consistent format and using different colours for different units (I find it easier to remember colour). The aim is to reduce all the theorists I need to one word. Then I'll use Quizlet to test myself on the words and expand on them. So that's how I learn theorists (I just used Quizlet without reducing it down last year but there's too many theorists now for that to be feasible)

I'm also going to try and find some exam questions so I learn to apply the theorists and get good exam technique. But this is hard as there's only one specimen paper. So I'm not entirely sure what I'm going to do about that. I haven't been focusing much on the language analysis stuff recently though because they're skills we practised a lot last year and I know quite well, so I'll remind myself of them closer to the exam.

How about you? And glad you think the video will be helpful 😊

Edit: here is an idea of what my notes look like

Can any A-Level historians give me some help, or just any nice people haha? (@HolyRomanEmpire perhaps?)

Well, obviously I'm aiming for an A*. My offer is A*A*A with an A* in History. I am on the Edexcel exam board and my revision consists of flashcarding/timelining/etc my textbook in effective ways and doing practise essays. This is also what we have been told to do by teachers.

Last year on this paper I got 100%, which I was very proud of and I hope to replicate. I've finished Key Theme One, and I was feeling confident. My friend even quizzed me and I got everything right. I've also been doing practice essays and I've got high As or A*s in them all, as well as 'excellent' coursework according to my teacher.

Today, in class, we were given two essay plan writing frames and two questions from the sample assessment papers. My teacher also showed us the indicative content, and we filled it in and talked through those questions as a class. In the indicative content I noticed that there were some points I wouldn't have made, and I looked through the textbook and those points weren't mentioned in it either.

It's made me panic a little. I am probably being paranoid, but what if the exam rolls around and I get marked down for not putting these points in that weren't mentioned in the textbook (that is endorsed for my exam board)?

Should I find another textbook and start my revision again as to include these extra points in? The problem is that this opens up a blackhole of trying to memorise too much. I don't know what to do or think. I guess I am just scared I get to the exam, open up the paper, answer it and I get a low grade because I didn't know some magic piece of information!!

I do also read around my subject, obviously, but with so much content to learn you would expect the exam board to stick with what it provides. It is a bit unfair!

EDIT: Maybe I should find another textbook and read it just to 'top-up' my knowledge?

Can I ask what exam board you are doing?

she has been told by her teacher that if she knows everything in the specification and text book the best she can hope for is a C but if she wants a higher grade (and she needs at least an A) then she needs to do lots of extra reading around the topics. Does this sound right?

Does this sound right?