What do you look for in a revision guide?

A few weeks before I (hopefully) start my AS Levels in September, I am going to start to look at the range of revision guides available for the courses I am hoping to take next year. Based on your experiences at GCSE and/or AS/A2 level with regard to these, is there anthing specific you would look for in a revision guide before buying it?

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Reply 1

Mirageperhaps

For GCSEs I firstly asked other people who had already bought revision guides what they thought of theirs. Then when I go to actually buy one I check it follows exactly my specification, and then I look for something that has a lot of depth. A lot of revision guides may break it down for you a lot and make it really easy to understand, but for exams you need as much depth as you can. So I look for the more sophisticated stuff :cool:

Reply 2

trev

I would look in the revision guide to see if the topics relate to the specification and the exam board you are following. Some revision guides that are good are Letts, Phillip Allans, and CGP for example.

Reply 3

Don Corleone

Just make sure you understand what the guide is explaining... Whether that be in depth or shallow detail, they all explain what you need to know.

Reply 4

Cirsium

You ask the A-level Students and ask us to tell you :wink:

And Don Corelene... take regular biology - many many many unis won't accept human
And it's far more fun :biggrin:

Reply 5

Don Corleone

Bekaboo

And Don Corelene... take regular biology - many many many unis won't accept human
And it's far more fun :biggrin:

How sure are you of this?? Why wouldn't they accept human biology... Especially if I wanted to study medicine... I mean come on Human Biology is much more relavent than General Biology..

Reply 6

Cirsium

Because it's not nearly broad enough
Trust me i applied for Biology - i must have read the prospectus of the entire top 30 sci universities
It's like General Studies it's cursed - all of the league toppers reject it because it's seen as the easy option, unless you intend to study some kind of human bio course at uni
Because you don't cover plants at all or bacteria, or viruses or fungi - you've cut out a whole chunk and you're juts specialising on a tiny bit

Reply 7

Don Corleone

That sounds logical actually. I cannot thank you enough. You've saved my future as I was just about to post my application form to my college. Much love, thanks!

Reply 8

Cirsium

Ok so maybe not quite as bad as i made out but i just had a check and HB isn't accepted by Bath, Cardiff and Durham (they actually have a big note saying no human or enviro biology)
Birmingham do accept it though

(NB these are just the first four out of my alphabetical list - i cud name a load of others i'm pretty sure don't take it...)

Reply 9

mobb_theprequel

A receipt... so I can exercise my statutory rights after the exams finish. :wink:

Reply 10

Swinely

too much text will totally stop you revising with them, needs a good mixture of text and diagrams.

Reply 11

xlouisedoll

I like it when they keep to brief, but important facts..the bare bones of it really. It just gets too much when they start rambling off in detail - thats why I'm not too keen on the CGP ones.

Reply 12

SketchyCanvas~

I dont really like revision guides that are crammed pack with details and details! But it just got blurry :P i prefer revision guides which break up the topics and go through them one by one, i personally prefer CGP :biggrin:

Reply 13

firestone

I compare the same topic from different revision guides, and see which one gives you more and clearer information, and therefore which one I prefer. I also look for a clear worded revision guide that doesn't confuse me, looking at the way in which they get things across. I also look at whether they provide any sample questions.

Reply 14

Ste

The Lonsdale revision guides are absoloutly brilliant. Great for Science at least tell you everything that could possibly come up and nothing more. Puuuuurrrrrfect :biggrin:

Reply 15

Ste

Only just found out however that they don't do AS but for anyone taking GCSE or below.