maths chemistry biology a levels
I think I will have to take maths chem and bio a levels due to what I want to do in the future (biological natural sciences)...I know it's a very popular combo so I have a few questions:
1) Which one do you find easiest?
2) How different are they to GCSEs?
3) How hard is it to do well in these subjects, when compared to other subjects such as geography or economics?
4) Biggest tip?
Thanks!
1) Which one do you find easiest?
2) How different are they to GCSEs?
3) How hard is it to do well in these subjects, when compared to other subjects such as geography or economics?
4) Biggest tip?
Thanks!
(edited 5 years ago)
Im applying for medicine im in yr 13 and take bio chem and maths.
I found bio easiest in yr 12, but honestly its so much harder in yr 13 and u really have to consolidate everything cuz of the seer number of details u need.
All the subjects are different from alevels - every subject has a big jump and u just gotta be prepared to be quite stressed for the first term. If uve taken add maths at gcse then this will make the first bit of alevel maths better.
Idk compared to other subjs how hard it is to get a good grade. But with ur combo ull need to put in loooads of time for all ur subjects.
Biggest tip is to actually use ur frees (if u have any) to actually work instead of slacking off. This is a great habit to make from yr 12 cuz itll really pay off in the next yr.
Hope that helps x
I found bio easiest in yr 12, but honestly its so much harder in yr 13 and u really have to consolidate everything cuz of the seer number of details u need.
All the subjects are different from alevels - every subject has a big jump and u just gotta be prepared to be quite stressed for the first term. If uve taken add maths at gcse then this will make the first bit of alevel maths better.
Idk compared to other subjs how hard it is to get a good grade. But with ur combo ull need to put in loooads of time for all ur subjects.
Biggest tip is to actually use ur frees (if u have any) to actually work instead of slacking off. This is a great habit to make from yr 12 cuz itll really pay off in the next yr.
Hope that helps x
Original post by hl1479
Im applying for medicine im in yr 13 and take bio chem and maths.
I found bio easiest in yr 12, but honestly its so much harder in yr 13 and u really have to consolidate everything cuz of the seer number of details u need.
All the subjects are different from alevels - every subject has a big jump and u just gotta be prepared to be quite stressed for the first term. If uve taken add maths at gcse then this will make the first bit of alevel maths better.
Idk compared to other subjs how hard it is to get a good grade. But with ur combo ull need to put in loooads of time for all ur subjects.
Biggest tip is to actually use ur frees (if u have any) to actually work instead of slacking off. This is a great habit to make from yr 12 cuz itll really pay off in the next yr.
Hope that helps x
I found bio easiest in yr 12, but honestly its so much harder in yr 13 and u really have to consolidate everything cuz of the seer number of details u need.
All the subjects are different from alevels - every subject has a big jump and u just gotta be prepared to be quite stressed for the first term. If uve taken add maths at gcse then this will make the first bit of alevel maths better.
Idk compared to other subjs how hard it is to get a good grade. But with ur combo ull need to put in loooads of time for all ur subjects.
Biggest tip is to actually use ur frees (if u have any) to actually work instead of slacking off. This is a great habit to make from yr 12 cuz itll really pay off in the next yr.
Hope that helps x
thanks - I'm particularly stressed about chemistry because I really hate doing experiments - how important are they?
Hey, I'm also applying for medicine like the previous poster. Have taken bio, Chem and maths.
Found biology easiest at AS, but chemistry has by far been the easiest for me at A2 because biology is soooo difficult in year 2.
Personally find maths the hardest, found it hard in year 1 too but I think a large part of it was cos I don't really enjoy maths.
It's hard like every Alevel, can't speak from experience. These subjects aren't essay based so you've got alleviated stress in that retrospect. Won't ever have to spend your frees writing essays 😁
Biggest tip is don't mess about in year 1. Make mindmaps of every chapter after you finish one, do past papers and answer questions available in textbooks etc.
Make as much revision material for yourself as you can so when you enter year 2, you can focus instead of thinking you need to go back and solidify AS content.
Also, in response to you disliking the idea of practicals. They're honestly not that bad or hard, I have OCR for chemistry and biology and the practicals are easy to get help on if you suck at them.
Good luck.
Found biology easiest at AS, but chemistry has by far been the easiest for me at A2 because biology is soooo difficult in year 2.
Personally find maths the hardest, found it hard in year 1 too but I think a large part of it was cos I don't really enjoy maths.
It's hard like every Alevel, can't speak from experience. These subjects aren't essay based so you've got alleviated stress in that retrospect. Won't ever have to spend your frees writing essays 😁
Biggest tip is don't mess about in year 1. Make mindmaps of every chapter after you finish one, do past papers and answer questions available in textbooks etc.
Make as much revision material for yourself as you can so when you enter year 2, you can focus instead of thinking you need to go back and solidify AS content.
Also, in response to you disliking the idea of practicals. They're honestly not that bad or hard, I have OCR for chemistry and biology and the practicals are easy to get help on if you suck at them.
Good luck.
In year 13 doing those 3 subjects.
1) Maths is by far the easiest out of those subjects.
2) VERY different. Bare in mind that I, and other year 13 students, did old spec sciences at GCSE. As well as this, we're the first year (I think) to take the A2 exams for the new maths spec.
3) I would honestly find geography or other essay subjects, especially if it one of the Englishes, harder. But I'm abnormal in the sense that I can only think logical and, therefore, am only able to do well in STEM subjects.
4) Exam questions will be your best friend. Biology is only difficult because of the weird exam questions they throw at you. The actual content (both AS and A2) are relatively easy to remember no matter how much there is to remember. But the exam questions, my lord, will p*ss you off so much. You will start asking stuff like "How are we meant to know that?" at some questions. Chemistry is a matter of repetition and drilling each and everything into your brain to the point where you can apply it to every question. Maths is the same as Chemistry but obviously with little to none written answer questions. Maths, you can easily become better just by doing practice questions.
1) Maths is by far the easiest out of those subjects.
2) VERY different. Bare in mind that I, and other year 13 students, did old spec sciences at GCSE. As well as this, we're the first year (I think) to take the A2 exams for the new maths spec.
3) I would honestly find geography or other essay subjects, especially if it one of the Englishes, harder. But I'm abnormal in the sense that I can only think logical and, therefore, am only able to do well in STEM subjects.
4) Exam questions will be your best friend. Biology is only difficult because of the weird exam questions they throw at you. The actual content (both AS and A2) are relatively easy to remember no matter how much there is to remember. But the exam questions, my lord, will p*ss you off so much. You will start asking stuff like "How are we meant to know that?" at some questions. Chemistry is a matter of repetition and drilling each and everything into your brain to the point where you can apply it to every question. Maths is the same as Chemistry but obviously with little to none written answer questions. Maths, you can easily become better just by doing practice questions.
Maths
I try to finish the content and be thorough with it as fast as I could by reading the textbook examples and watching Examsolutions videos. I also have a school 'Integral Maths' login which is for the MEI exam board but I love practising from it because the questions are typically more difficult than the AQA ones.
After being thorough with the content, I try to do as many different types of questions for each topic but focus mainly on doing hard questions to prepare myself for worst case scenarios in the real exam. I also write down questions that I struggled with or made silly mistakes on, and I revise that topic again a few days using just the questions sheet. I also skim over this on the exam day, so I can familiarize myself with the hard questions and remember where I make silly mistakes so that I won't mess up and do this in the real exam.
Where I get my Maths practice questions:
• Past and Specimen Papers for all AQA, OCR, Edexcel and MEI.
• My AQA textbook exercises
• Physics&MathsTutor
• Madasmaths.com
• MathsMadeEasy
• Integral Maths
Biology
I learn the content from https://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/showthread.php?t=5062288 and check if it covers all the content from my textbook. I add some more detail to it (the 'HowScienceWorks' boxes that we all skip ) and then learn that too.
After doing that, all I do is PRACTICE QUESTIONS as I believe that this is the key to Biology as there are soo many application questions. I write down the questions that I got wrong and memorise them to prevent me from making that mistake in the future.
I memorise the Mark Scheme for as many questions as possible, as similar questions in biology will have an overlapping mark scheme which expects certain key words and won't give you the marks unless you state those 'exact words'.
I once lost marks for describing some equipment as 'accurate' but I got it wrong because the mark scheme only accepted the word 'precise'.
Where I get my Biology practice questions:
• Past and Specimen Papers for all AQA, OCR and Edexcel
• Physics&MathsTutor
• SaveMyExams
• Ask your teachers for more questions
• pxs biology
• https://mrluckbiology.wordpress.com/exampro-questions/
Chemistry
This subject is actually the easiest and most straight-forward one to revise for. LITERALLY, the only studying I do is memorising the Chemrevise revision notes and then doing past paper questions. The AQA Chemistry questions are soo repetitive so memorising mark schemes helps a lot! I also note down the questions I got wrong and learn the mark schemes to them.
Where I get my Chemistry practice questions:
• Past and Specimen Papers for all AQA, OCR and Edexcel
• Physics&MathsTutor
• SaveMyExams
• Ask your teacher for more questions
• A-LevelChemistry.com
I try to finish the content and be thorough with it as fast as I could by reading the textbook examples and watching Examsolutions videos. I also have a school 'Integral Maths' login which is for the MEI exam board but I love practising from it because the questions are typically more difficult than the AQA ones.
After being thorough with the content, I try to do as many different types of questions for each topic but focus mainly on doing hard questions to prepare myself for worst case scenarios in the real exam. I also write down questions that I struggled with or made silly mistakes on, and I revise that topic again a few days using just the questions sheet. I also skim over this on the exam day, so I can familiarize myself with the hard questions and remember where I make silly mistakes so that I won't mess up and do this in the real exam.
Where I get my Maths practice questions:
• Past and Specimen Papers for all AQA, OCR, Edexcel and MEI.
• My AQA textbook exercises
• Physics&MathsTutor
• Madasmaths.com
• MathsMadeEasy
• Integral Maths
Biology
I learn the content from https://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/showthread.php?t=5062288 and check if it covers all the content from my textbook. I add some more detail to it (the 'HowScienceWorks' boxes that we all skip ) and then learn that too.
After doing that, all I do is PRACTICE QUESTIONS as I believe that this is the key to Biology as there are soo many application questions. I write down the questions that I got wrong and memorise them to prevent me from making that mistake in the future.
I memorise the Mark Scheme for as many questions as possible, as similar questions in biology will have an overlapping mark scheme which expects certain key words and won't give you the marks unless you state those 'exact words'.
I once lost marks for describing some equipment as 'accurate' but I got it wrong because the mark scheme only accepted the word 'precise'.
Where I get my Biology practice questions:
• Past and Specimen Papers for all AQA, OCR and Edexcel
• Physics&MathsTutor
• SaveMyExams
• Ask your teachers for more questions
• pxs biology
• https://mrluckbiology.wordpress.com/exampro-questions/
Chemistry
This subject is actually the easiest and most straight-forward one to revise for. LITERALLY, the only studying I do is memorising the Chemrevise revision notes and then doing past paper questions. The AQA Chemistry questions are soo repetitive so memorising mark schemes helps a lot! I also note down the questions I got wrong and learn the mark schemes to them.
Where I get my Chemistry practice questions:
• Past and Specimen Papers for all AQA, OCR and Edexcel
• Physics&MathsTutor
• SaveMyExams
• Ask your teacher for more questions
• A-LevelChemistry.com
Original post by Infinite Series
Maths
I try to finish the content and be thorough with it as fast as I could by reading the textbook examples and watching Examsolutions videos. I also have a school 'Integral Maths' login which is for the MEI exam board but I love practising from it because the questions are typically more difficult than the AQA ones.
After being thorough with the content, I try to do as many different types of questions for each topic but focus mainly on doing hard questions to prepare myself for worst case scenarios in the real exam. I also write down questions that I struggled with or made silly mistakes on, and I revise that topic again a few days using just the questions sheet. I also skim over this on the exam day, so I can familiarize myself with the hard questions and remember where I make silly mistakes so that I won't mess up and do this in the real exam.
Where I get my Maths practice questions:
• Past and Specimen Papers for all AQA, OCR, Edexcel and MEI.
• My AQA textbook exercises
• Physics&MathsTutor
• Madasmaths.com
• MathsMadeEasy
• Integral Maths
Biology
I learn the content from https://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/showthread.php?t=5062288 and check if it covers all the content from my textbook. I add some more detail to it (the 'HowScienceWorks' boxes that we all skip ) and then learn that too.
After doing that, all I do is PRACTICE QUESTIONS as I believe that this is the key to Biology as there are soo many application questions. I write down the questions that I got wrong and memorise them to prevent me from making that mistake in the future.
I memorise the Mark Scheme for as many questions as possible, as similar questions in biology will have an overlapping mark scheme which expects certain key words and won't give you the marks unless you state those 'exact words'.
I once lost marks for describing some equipment as 'accurate' but I got it wrong because the mark scheme only accepted the word 'precise'.
Where I get my Biology practice questions:
• Past and Specimen Papers for all AQA, OCR and Edexcel
• Physics&MathsTutor
• SaveMyExams
• Ask your teachers for more questions
• pxs biology
• https://mrluckbiology.wordpress.com/exampro-questions/
Chemistry
This subject is actually the easiest and most straight-forward one to revise for. LITERALLY, the only studying I do is memorising the Chemrevise revision notes and then doing past paper questions. The AQA Chemistry questions are soo repetitive so memorising mark schemes helps a lot! I also note down the questions I got wrong and learn the mark schemes to them.
Where I get my Chemistry practice questions:
• Past and Specimen Papers for all AQA, OCR and Edexcel
• Physics&MathsTutor
• SaveMyExams
• Ask your teacher for more questions
• A-LevelChemistry.com
I try to finish the content and be thorough with it as fast as I could by reading the textbook examples and watching Examsolutions videos. I also have a school 'Integral Maths' login which is for the MEI exam board but I love practising from it because the questions are typically more difficult than the AQA ones.
After being thorough with the content, I try to do as many different types of questions for each topic but focus mainly on doing hard questions to prepare myself for worst case scenarios in the real exam. I also write down questions that I struggled with or made silly mistakes on, and I revise that topic again a few days using just the questions sheet. I also skim over this on the exam day, so I can familiarize myself with the hard questions and remember where I make silly mistakes so that I won't mess up and do this in the real exam.
Where I get my Maths practice questions:
• Past and Specimen Papers for all AQA, OCR, Edexcel and MEI.
• My AQA textbook exercises
• Physics&MathsTutor
• Madasmaths.com
• MathsMadeEasy
• Integral Maths
Biology
I learn the content from https://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/showthread.php?t=5062288 and check if it covers all the content from my textbook. I add some more detail to it (the 'HowScienceWorks' boxes that we all skip ) and then learn that too.
After doing that, all I do is PRACTICE QUESTIONS as I believe that this is the key to Biology as there are soo many application questions. I write down the questions that I got wrong and memorise them to prevent me from making that mistake in the future.
I memorise the Mark Scheme for as many questions as possible, as similar questions in biology will have an overlapping mark scheme which expects certain key words and won't give you the marks unless you state those 'exact words'.
I once lost marks for describing some equipment as 'accurate' but I got it wrong because the mark scheme only accepted the word 'precise'.
Where I get my Biology practice questions:
• Past and Specimen Papers for all AQA, OCR and Edexcel
• Physics&MathsTutor
• SaveMyExams
• Ask your teachers for more questions
• pxs biology
• https://mrluckbiology.wordpress.com/exampro-questions/
Chemistry
This subject is actually the easiest and most straight-forward one to revise for. LITERALLY, the only studying I do is memorising the Chemrevise revision notes and then doing past paper questions. The AQA Chemistry questions are soo repetitive so memorising mark schemes helps a lot! I also note down the questions I got wrong and learn the mark schemes to them.
Where I get my Chemistry practice questions:
• Past and Specimen Papers for all AQA, OCR and Edexcel
• Physics&MathsTutor
• SaveMyExams
• Ask your teacher for more questions
• A-LevelChemistry.com
this is so in depth - thank you so so so much! you really reassured me and this really helped. thanks!
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