To those who got A*s (or are expecting to) at A-level - how many hours per week?

How many extra hours per week of revision/making notes/reading or whatever you did, did you do per week (on average) in order to get (or will get) those A* grades?

Please note down the subjects as well.

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Reply 1

Lyrical Prodigy

Sorry a bit irrelevant to your question but if you get an A for a subject as AS Level would it be possible to try and achieve an A* at A2? Even if you just scraped the A at AS? Just curious...Thanks.

Reply 2

CoffeeAndCake

I didn't really work consistently throughout the year, but I worked quite hard during the Easter Holidays and all through Study Leave :h:

Reply 3

acecahill39

Original post by Lyrical Prodigy

Sorry a bit irrelevant to your question but if you get an A for a subject as AS Level would it be possible to try and achieve an A* at A2? Even if you just scraped the A at AS? Just curious...Thanks.

It is possible that if you get an A in AS level you can try to achieve an A* at A2 but if you scrapped just to the A then you might need to get over 95% of UMS in A2 Level

You don`t necessarily have to revise for extra hours for your A-Level to get the A*. Just revise smartly with great timing keeping & try to understand the topic you are revising with lots of practice. I basically only revised up to 2 hours per day & it helped me to get A* in my exams.

(edited 10 years ago)

Reply 4

CoffeeAndCake

Original post by acecahill39

It is possible that if you get an A in AS level you can try to achieve an A* at A2 but if you scrapped just to the A then you might need to get over 95% of UMS in A2 Level

No, you would still only need 90% at A2, as to get the A* you need an average of 80% overall and an average of >90% at A2.

Reply 5

acecahill39

Original post by CoffeeAndCake

No, you would still only need 90% at A2, as to get the A* you need an average of 80% overall and an average of >90% at A2.

Really? Didn`t know that. My Head told us to get above 82% at AS level then it would be easier to score the A* in A2 Level by getting 90% or above. So I thought by getting 80% at AS Level, you might need more than 92% at A2 Level to get A* overall.

Reply 6

CoffeeAndCake

Original post by acecahill39

Your head teacher probably meant that students who get strong As at AS level are more likely to get A*s at A2, but its technically possible to get an A* with a C (60%) at AS and then full marks at A2.

Reply 7

Unkempt_One

Original post by acecahill39

The requirements are straightforward. You need 80% overall and 90% average at A2. So in an extreme scenario you could get an A* with 60% in AS and 100% UMS at A2.

Reply 8

Unkempt_One

I took my exams in 2011 and in a typical week I did no extra work outside of completing homework, and revising for short mock exams set by the departments (usually at most a few hours the night before). In retrospect I should have set aside a few hours per week for stretch-and-challenge type exercises since the homeworks were usually fairly easy.
I got 4 A*s, there isn't so much to remember for sciences.

(edited 10 years ago)

Reply 9

The Angry Stoic

What counts as extra? Outside of school time?

I got an A* in Biology.

I'd say the important thing is not how much you revise but how you revise.

Reply 10

im so academic

Original post by The Angry Stoic

What counts as extra? Outside of school time?

I got an A* in Biology.

I'd say the important thing is not how much you revise but how you revise.

Yep, outside of school time.

How do you revise then?

Reply 11

Shakespearian

I started revising for my A2s from February half term, starting with two hours per subject per week for extra revision alongside the normal homework hours (History, Music and French). When study leave started in May, I did six hours each day around my exams. Wouldn't have worked though for me without all those Doritos and custard creams I bought during revision breaks :P

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Reply 12

The Angry Stoic

Original post by im so academic

Yep, outside of school time.

How do you revise then?

Yay you have your lightsaber back!

What is best for me may not be best for you. It's all about finding the best techniques for you.

My biology could be broken down into,

Learning and understanding the key, overall concepts of the unit and how they fit in with my prior knowledge.

Memorising key phrases and words and how they interlink. Memorising biological process and mechanisms.

Then, and this is important for any subject, learning the exam questions and what the mark scheme looks for.

Plus I just love biology so that helps.

Reply 13

im so academic

Original post by Shakespearian

What about during the Autumn term?

Reply 14

TimmonaPortella

Until two and a bit months before exams, nought.

After that, around 10 hours per day.

Reply 15

MathsNerd1

I'm hoping to get 1-3 A*'s in Maths, Further Maths and Chemistry and I really only did about 2 hours outside of school hours for Maths and Further Maths but about 4-6 hours a week for Chemistry. Its more about learning the correct way that works for you instead of doing masses of hours revising as you'll just burn out. Also make sure to remain calm in your exams as they only really test your ability to remain calm and not panic under the pressure while writing down a few facts that the questions require.

Reply 16

Scott.M

I would do 5 hours per day including at weekends.

Final results:

Maths - A*

Chemistry - A (1 mark off an A*, would have been an A* as my teacher marked an ISA wrong so she offered me to appeal for free but I'd got onto my dentistry course so I thought nah I'll just look sad appealing when I've got on the course I wanted lol)

Biology - A (but I got an A* in all the exams which is I think what you want, it was those damn practicals that dragged me down :tongue:

)

Regarding those practicals (I think they're called ISAs and EMPAs), I'd be very careful if you take biology and/or chemistry, as our teachers didn't give us any extra help and so although myself and others got marks that would have got us an A* in normal exams, because of the fact a lot of schools cheat and give their pupils the answers the grade boundaries are sky high. No kidding, around like 97% is A*, 95% is A etc. 2 marks is the difference between the boundaries.

Gl!

Reply 17

depeche mode

Original post by CoffeeAndCake

I didn't really work consistently throughout the year, but I worked quite hard during the Easter Holidays and all through Study Leave :h:

I had a B in biology at AS, I had a C in a unit in history and I came out with 4A*s at A Level. I worked 7 hours a day every day since September, I read four different textbooks for each module (so, for history I made cards of all the historians mentioned in the course like Ian Kershaw. I remember writing in my exam that the historian quoted was an anglophile/anglophobe and therefore was unreliable etc. etc. which shows reading around the subject blah blah). At the weekends I worked 5 hours a day. I started my revisions notes in January and I read and made notes on everything before class so the class was just a revision class and I would check I learnt it correctly. I got 90% at least in all my exams and coursework and that's despite having three exams on one day too. It can be done, you just need to put in the work and look at useful stuff to do.

(In case you are wondering, I had nothing else better to do with my time. I was broke, in a small market town and I didn't really click with anyone. My parents never pushed education on me either, even though they're both illiterate, they thought I was ill.)

(edited 10 years ago)

Reply 18

im so academic

Original post by depeche mode

I had a B in biology at AS, I had a C in a unit in history and I came out with 4A*s at A Level. I worked 7 hours a day every day since September, I read four different textbooks for each module (so, for history I made cards of the historians so I remember writing that the history who provided one source of text was an anglophile/anglophobe and therefore was unreliable etc. etc.). At the weekends I worked 5 hours a day. I started my revisions notes in January and I read and made notes on everything before class so the class was just a revision class and I would check I learnt it correctly.

(In case you are wondering, I had nothing else better to do with my time. I was broke, in a small market town and I didn't really click with anyone. My parents never pushed education on me either, even though they're both illiterate, they thought I was ill.)