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Pre A-Level

I'm in Year 11 and am going to be starting A-Level Maths, Biology, Chemistry, and Physics in September.

I've forgotten quite a lot of the content for the Sciences (not so much for Maths).

Is it important / how important is it to know all of the GCSE content inside out before starting these A-Level subjects?

Thanks :smile:
Original post by .SJ.
I'm in Year 11 and am going to be starting A-Level Maths, Biology, Chemistry, and Physics in September.

I've forgotten quite a lot of the content for the Sciences (not so much for Maths).

Is it important / how important is it to know all of the GCSE content inside out before starting these A-Level subjects?

Thanks :smile:

Hey! I studied Chem and Bio out of all of these.

You can purchase (for a small fee - £5 ish) a Head Start to Biology, Physics and Chemistry guides. These contain all the relevant content and some useful content going forward to A-Levels :smile: I found them very useful!

It is definitely useful knowing the GCSE content but not vital - it will definitely save you some time when you begin the A-Level content and adding more depth to the GCSE content.
I'd strongly suggest that you know your GCSE content well for these subjects. There won't be much that GCSE stuff doesn't come up in your A-levels, although not all right at the start...some stuff might not reappear until the second year.

It will come back to you quicker than you think when you revise, as long as you had been putting in effort in your GCSEs and not just letting things slide and try to do it all at the end. In that case you've got a bit of work to do :tongue:
Reply 3
Original post by scienceishguy
Hey! I studied Chem and Bio out of all of these.

You can purchase (for a small fee - £5 ish) a Head Start to Biology, Physics and Chemistry guides. These contain all the relevant content and some useful content going forward to A-Levels :smile: I found them very useful!

It is definitely useful knowing the GCSE content but not vital - it will definitely save you some time when you begin the A-Level content and adding more depth to the GCSE content.

Alright, thanks.

Just to check, do the CGP Headstart books contain all of the GCSE content that you need to know?
Reply 4
Original post by EierVonSatan
I'd strongly suggest that you know your GCSE content well for these subjects. There won't be much that GCSE stuff doesn't come up in your A-levels, although not all right at the start...some stuff might not reappear until the second year.

It will come back to you quicker than you think when you revise, as long as you had been putting in effort in your GCSEs and not just letting things slide and try to do it all at the end. In that case you've got a bit of work to do :tongue:

Okay, thanks - will do! I think I might try out the CGP HEadstart books in order to revise the GCSE content and to get a headstart on A-Level content simultaneously.
Original post by .SJ.
Okay, thanks - will do! I think I might try out the CGP HEadstart books in order to revise the GCSE content and to get a headstart on A-Level content simultaneously.

Some of those were free on kindle for a while, if memory serves. They're pretty good resources to just gently push things into A-level territory!
Reply 6
Original post by EierVonSatan
Some of those were free on kindle for a while, if memory serves. They're pretty good resources to just gently push things into A-level territory!

Ye I got the kindle versions for free a while back. Do you know if they cover/revise all of the essential GCSE content OR do I need to use my GCSE text books and revise everything from them?
Original post by .SJ.
Ye I got the kindle versions for free a while back. Do you know if they cover/revise all of the essential GCSE content OR do I need to use my GCSE text books and revise everything from them?

They recover the GCSE material needed for the start of the 'main branches' in each topic.

I wouldn't throw away your GCSE notes/textbooks away just yet :mmm:
Reply 8
Original post by EierVonSatan
They recover the GCSE material needed for the start of the 'main branches' in each topic.

I wouldn't throw away your GCSE notes/textbooks away just yet :mmm:

Alright thanks for your help!
Original post by .SJ.
I'm in Year 11 and am going to be starting A-Level Maths, Biology, Chemistry, and Physics in September.

I've forgotten quite a lot of the content for the Sciences (not so much for Maths).

Is it important / how important is it to know all of the GCSE content inside out before starting these A-Level subjects?

Thanks :smile:


Hey im in yr 11 too and im doing the same subjects as you. I started the Alevel content some time ago and i would say that it depends on the subject, whether u need to know the GCSE content inside out.
For bio, not really.
For chem, make sure you’re really good at ionic half equations and mole calculations, its gonna come up at Alevel quite a lot.
For maths, make sure u know the grade 7-9 topics, try some exam style questions and if u cant do them for a certain topic, then recap that topic.
For physics, i dont think you need to know gcse content inside out either but tbh, I haven’t done the Alevel Physics as much as the other subjects so idk. The 1st topic of physics really doesnt require much previous knowledge tho IMO.
Reply 10
Original post by Humairazaman
Hey im in yr 11 too and im doing the same subjects as you. I started the Alevel content some time ago and i would say that it depends on the subject, whether u need to know the GCSE content inside out.
For bio, not really.
For chem, make sure you’re really good at ionic half equations and mole calculations, its gonna come up at Alevel quite a lot.
For maths, make sure u know the grade 7-9 topics, try some exam style questions and if u cant do them for a certain topic, then recap that topic.
For physics, i dont think you need to know gcse content inside out either but tbh, I haven’t done the Alevel Physics as much as the other subjects so idk. The 1st topic of physics really doesnt require much previous knowledge tho IMO.

Okay, thanks very much! Do you have to know all of the specific GCSE Chemistry Chemical reactions etc.?
i did a level maths, didn't do much prep and i wouldn't worry about preparing really as you're eased into the subject quite nicely in my opinion. and this is coming from someone who's not naturally good at maths :h:
Original post by .SJ.
Okay, thanks very much! Do you have to know all of the specific GCSE Chemistry Chemical reactions etc.?

No ofc not but ik the main ones like carbonate + acid gives salt + water + carbon dioxide etc. You don’t need to know the specific examples but it’s good to know the general ones like the one stated. I wouldn’t worry too much about them tho but more about how to balance equations, mole calcs and writing half equations as I said before.
Obvs u don’t need to do full on revision, just recalling things you’re not too confident with.
Edit: what career/degree are u thinking of? I think a better use of ur time would be to do some research on that. There are plenty of courses on coursera for free. I’ve been doing them and they’re really helpful for wider reading on ur Alevel subjects too!
(edited 3 years ago)
Reply 13
Original post by Humairazaman
No ofc not but ik the main ones like carbonate + acid gives salt + water + carbon dioxide etc. You don’t need to know the specific examples but it’s good to know the general ones like the one stated. I wouldn’t worry too much about them tho but more about how to balance equations, mole calcs and writing half equations as I said before.
Obvs u don’t need to do full on revision, just recalling things you’re not too confident with.
Edit: what career/degree are u thinking of? I think a better use of ur time would be to do some research on that. There are plenty of courses on coursera for free. I’ve been doing them and they’re really helpful for wider reading on ur Alevel subjects too!

I’m split between a few degrees but I have a rough idea; Engineering mainly at the moment.

Alright thanks, I’ll have a look at coursera. Thanks!
Reply 14
Original post by absolutelysprout
i did a level maths, didn't do much prep and i wouldn't worry about preparing really as you're eased into the subject quite nicely in my opinion. and this is coming from someone who's not naturally good at maths :h:

Okay, thanks for your help! :smile:
Original post by .SJ.
I’m split between a few degrees but I have a rough idea; Engineering mainly at the moment.

Alright thanks, I’ll have a look at coursera. Thanks!

There are many physics courses on coursera that might be helpful, probably engineering ones too.

If you’re applying to top unis, you might want to look at their requirements as loads of them highly recommend further maths.
Reply 16
Original post by Humairazaman
There are many physics courses on coursera that might be helpful, probably engineering ones too.

If you’re applying to top unis, you might want to look at their requirements as loads of them highly recommend further maths.

Okay, thanks!

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