Surviving year 13

I’m basically making this thread for Year 13 students like me who are crumbling under the pressure of their A-levels. I do A Level Biology, Chem and Spanish. Hoping for some support, revision tips and motivation so we can all do great. Also gonna write on here when I’m not feeling great like right now because I have so much 💩 to do😭😭😭

Scroll to see replies

Reply 1

username3444162

If you don’t mind could you tell me your experience with Biology so far, I’ll be taking it for A-Level and would like to know what to expect

Reply 2

enigmatic17

Original post by hanaahxox

samee matee!!! i take biology chemistry and maths all three are killing me, I find biology easy but need a lot of time for chem cuz it just doesn't get into my head and I also need to take time to practice maths which is all messed up and I can totally feel u rn

Reply 3

Shushaxx

I’ve got exams when I come back and we need to revise everything and I don’t know how to 😭😭😭 like with bio it’s always my stronger subject because the questions they give us are past paper questions but this time I’m not confident at all like I’m trying to do one topic bio and one topic chem a day and itslike impossible and I’m failing chem as well coz my teacher picks the hardest questions to give us and I mean the hardest 😭😭😭🤮 I honestly wouldn’t mind being hit by a car rn 😂😂🤔

Reply 4

enigmatic17

omgg that's exactly what's happening here all my teachers choose the hardest questions and put it in one paper thinking that we will be able to do it and when the grades come they put the blame on us saying that we don't study, I honestly break my head to go with all the three subjects at the same time but it seems impossible and yeah wouldn't mind either being hit by a car :biggrin:

Reply 5

Shushaxx

What exam boards do you do

IAL Edexcel, you?

AQA for Chem and OCR for bio x

Reply 8

Lucia12

Original post by Oneiropólos

If you don’t mind could you tell me your experience with Biology so far, I’ll be taking it for A-Level and would like to know what to expect

I did Biology for A level last year with Edexcel. I loved the material and I'd say it's nothing massively complicated, just a lot of material and specifics to learn. The last topic with grey matter was the hardest but really once you get your head around the basics it all falls into place. I would highly recommend this course. To revise just do every past paper including old spec coz the syllabus is near enough the same

Reply 9

Lucia12

Original post by hanaahxox

Hey, I'm a yr 13 surviver on a gap year resitting chemistry Aqa and learning ancient history Oct for next June as well. I did Biology edexcel, chem and Latin. I hated sixth form the entire time, partly due to the people I went to school with, partly due to poor teaching standards (it was a grammar school but only two A grades in chem for my year, one B a couple of C's and the rest failing is not an advert for a functioning department) and partly due to really cold weather but people always having windows open. From October till march I didn't learn much coz I was just shivering with a coat and a scarf coz it was so cold, there was literally snow on the ground and all windows wide open😠. So don't worry guys I survived and you will too. A levels aren't really the end of the world, depending on what career you want, coz you can always resit and maybe even change your mind after you get out into the world. For revision just do as many past papers as possible including old spec. If anyone needs help with chem or bio just let me know

Reply 10

username3444162

Original post by Lucia12

Thanks for the info

Reply 11

Shushaxx

I’m honestly procrastinating rn I need to do plant and animal responses but it’s so boring nothing’s going into my head 😩

Reply 12

electricraii

hi I did nothing this winter break and I got mocks and homework’s due soon aaaaaaaaaaa 😭

Reply 13

Lucia12

Original post by electricraii

hi I did nothing this winter break and I got mocks and homework’s due soon aaaaaaaaaaa 😭

not everyone will agree but I'd say do hw in private study or free periods and don't put in to much effort unless it's revision based as revision is far more important at this stage

Reply 14

Shushaxx

Original post by Lucia12

not everyone will agree but I'd say do hw in private study or free periods and don't put in to much effort unless it's revision based as revision is far more important at this stage

I agree sometimes the hwork teachers give is so useless br so time consuming, focus your priorities on revision but of course do ur hwork but don’t stress over it

Reply 15

Arifali4

I do AQA chem and bio, edexcel maths. I’m coping well with chemistry but biology and maths are proving quite difficult. I know I can improve maths easily by doing tons of past papers and exam questions (same for chem) but for bio you really need to understand the content and interpret it. Mark schemes can be so random sometimes it’s annoying. Also, anyone doing AQA bio have to do a long essay as well?

Reply 16

Fujoshi

Original post by hanaahxox

Just make sure you revise/know your benzene-rings because (well at least when I did a level chemistry 3 years ago) they show up a lot in the exam (learn from my mistake on this lol)

Reply 17

Issagoal28

Original post by hanaahxox

I do bio, Chem and English language. I have mocks on the first week back after Christmas and am dreading it, no like i haven’t revised but my teachers keep taunting me saying “if you fail these mocks you’re likely to fail your a levels”. Biology is going terrible but I somehow managed to get an A in the last 2 end of topic tests. Chemistry has always been my favourite since early year 12 and I don’t know about English

Reply 18

Lucia12

Original post by Issagoal28

Don't pay attention to your teachers scare mongering, summer exams are very different to the mocks and you'd have done a lot of proper revision. My teachers were more mad about our folders tbh. One kept saying if your folders are a mess then you'll fail, I never even looked at that thing for revision and I got some of the best grades in the school so 😂😂

Reply 19

Stormragexox

Original post by hanaahxox

Litterally so relatable. Year 13 is so much stress I have mocks in a week and I am so lost about what to revise :confused:

I feel like time is going so fast Chemistry is so hard my teacher also makes really hard questions too. I really want to do my best and I still don't lnow if I am revising the right way. But same with bio it is one of my plus subjects aswell but revising all the topics together is so hard