Is it possible to teach yourself an ALevel subject in one month?

A full A-level subject in 1 month, is it possible? And the key word here is 'teach yourself' as in not revising but simply making all your notes and understanding the subject. This is self taught so the factor of sole focus on the subject has to be considered.

Reply 1

gdunne42

21

Original post by Brendan0686

A full A-level subject in 1 month, is it possible? And the key word here is 'teach yourself' as in not revising but simply making all your notes and understanding the subject. This is self taught so the factor of sole focus on the subject has to be considered.

No

If you already knew the content through studying for IB or other equivalent or higher qualification and just needed exam prep then maybe.

Reply 2

the_queen

20

Original post by Brendan0686

A full A-level subject in 1 month, is it possible? And the key word here is 'teach yourself' as in not revising but simply making all your notes and understanding the subject. This is self taught so the factor of sole focus on the subject has to be considered.

No.

Reply 3

Brendan0686

OP

13

Original post by the_queen

No.

elaborate?

Reply 4

Pangol

15

Original post by Brendan0686

A full A-level subject in 1 month, is it possible? And the key word here is 'teach yourself' as in not revising but simply making all your notes and understanding the subject. This is self taught so the factor of sole focus on the subject has to be considered.

If you are starting from scratch, then definitely no. Nothing to do with the level of inteligence or aptitude of whoever is studying, there is simply not enough time to digest and master the content.

Reply 5

bingbong654

13

Depends on the subject. If it's knowledge based like history or Spanish then you just learn the stuff and you're done.
If it's skill based where you need to be able to apply the stuff on the syllabus like Maths or Physics then no. You need to practice skills like maths so would probably take more than a month... if you wanted to do well.

But I guess you'd have to work 10months*2years/4subjects = 5 times harder than anyone else... Yeah, there's probably not enough hours in a day for that to happen. It's probably impossible unless you have photographic memory or something...

Reply 6

Danny_Man

12

Anything is possible, so I would say yes.

Reply 7

Brendan0686

OP

13

Original post by Pangol

If you are starting from scratch, then definitely no. Nothing to do with the level of inteligence or aptitude of whoever is studying, there is simply not enough time to digest and master the content.

I am not looking to master the content, I am just looking to simply understand it, as in create notes on the whole spec, it is important to understand that I am not looking to know it all off by heart or even know parts of it, just simple note taking and understanding with an average of 8 hours a day being put into it.

Reply 8

Pangol

15

Original post by Brendan0686

I am not looking to master the content, I am just looking to simply understand it, as in create notes on the whole spec, it is important to understand that I am not looking to know it all off by heart or even know parts of it, just simple note taking and understanding with an average of 8 hours a day being put into it.

Are you intending to actually take the A Level, or just to study for it? I would still claim that there is not enough time to do this, but as mentioned above, it will depend to some extent on the subject. Which is it?

Original post by Danny_Man

Anything is possible, so I would say yes.

"Anything is possible" is clearly incorrect, so I wouldn't take this advice...

Reply 9

DrSocSciences

19

Why are you asking, OP?

Reply 10

Apachecow

19

Which subject?

There is no way I spent more than the equivalent of 8 hours X 30 days on any of my individual subjects.
If you are bright, interested and keen then yes. Try. What have you got to lose

Reply 11

User135792468

19

It’s possible to learn all the content but not enough time to do exam practise and revision.

If you did 6 hours a day, 5 days a week then I think it’s possible depending on the subject. And then you could use the weekends to fit in around 3 hours of exam practise on Saturday and 3 hours on Sunday.

You’d be spending 42 hours a week just on that one A level subject. If you still go to school and study two other A levels then your brain will explode

Reply 12

Danny_Man

12

Original post by Pangol

Are you intending to actually take the A Level, or just to study for it? I would still claim that there is not enough time to do this, but as mentioned above, it will depend to some extent on the subject. Which is it?

"Anything is possible" is clearly incorrect, so I wouldn't take this advice...

How is it "clearly incorrect? If anything, it's actually clearly correct.

Reply 13

Pangol

15

Original post by Danny_Man

How is it "clearly incorrect? If anything, it's actually clearly correct.

I am thinking of a whole number. Can my number be both odd and even?

Reply 14

bingbong654

13

Original post by Danny_Man

How is it "clearly incorrect? If anything, it's actually clearly correct.

No matter how fast you run, you'll never move faster than the speed of light. That's impossible

Reply 15

Danny_Man

12

Original post by bingbong654

No matter how fast you run, you'll never move faster than the speed of light. That's impossible

It's not impossible. There's always a way to achieve something.

Reply 16

bingbong654

13

And in this particular situation, would would the way be?

Original post by Danny_Man

It's not impossible. There's always a way to achieve something.

Reply 17

humble heroics

10

Yes it is. Biology example - 30 days average in a month. 8 topics, 8 hours a day.
First week/8 days: go through the spec and make notes (1 topic a day)
Second week/ 8 days: Revise over each topic and do quiz/ recall style questions
Third week/ 8 days: Practice exam style questions and analyse mark schemes.
Final week/ 6or7 days: Revisit areas of weakness and improve them.

Impossible is nothing.

Original post by Brendan0686

I am not looking to master the content, I am just looking to simply understand it, as in create notes on the whole spec, it is important to understand that I am not looking to know it all off by heart or even know parts of it, just simple note taking and understanding with an average of 8 hours a day being put into it.