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Jump from a U grade to an A?

Ok so I did my mocks, got the results back, and they were horrific. I got a U in chemistry, E in biology, E in maths and a C in psychology, I'm especially worried about chemistry because my target grade is a B (in all subjects actually) and I have 3 months until the real exam. I do believe that anything can happen if you try so I know I can still get a B, but I just don't know how. Any advice? Does anyone know anybody or were maybe themselves in such a situation? I want to carry on chemistry for A2 but I just don't know how I can turn around with an A, or the very least a B.

I know there was a website at gcse which posted Lesson videos and notes on the whole exam board, but does anyone know such a website which would be of use to me now? Is there hope for me???? My exam board for chemistry and maths is edexcel, biology is ocr, and psychology is aqa? Any way I can succeed??

Thank you everyone :smile:

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relax, just eat a cookie :biggrin:
Original post by iamtitanium
Ok so I did my mocks, got the results back, and they were horrific. I got a U in chemistry, E in biology, E in maths and a C in psychology, I'm especially worried about chemistry because my target grade is a B (in all subjects actually) and I have 3 months until the real exam. I do believe that anything can happen if you try so I know I can still get a B, but I just don't know how. Any advice? Does anyone know anybody or were maybe themselves in such a situation? I want to carry on chemistry for A2 but I just don't know how I can turn around with an A, or the very least a B.

I know there was a website at gcse which posted Lesson videos and notes on the whole exam board, but does anyone know such a website which would be of use to me now? Is there hope for me???? My exam board for chemistry and maths is edexcel, biology is ocr, and psychology is aqa? Any way I can succeed??

Thank you everyone :smile:


https://www.youtube.com/alevelscientist

you may find this helpful.


In chem last year I went from an E to a B and in bio i went from a U to an A, I think it's quite possible.

id recommend testing yourself with papers and then studying the topics you didn't quite understand.
I got a U in History on one of my essays in December during my AS year. In August I got an A. Anything is possible
I wenr from a U to a D to an A in AS sociology then got an A* at A2 so its possible. You just need to put the hard work in :smile:
Got U in both my economics mocks twice (we did the mocks for each unit twice hence four papers), did the real exams and got nearly full ums, I have to say though that I just didn't take economics seriously enough until easter where that was the only thing I was studying.
A few years ago when I did GCSES. My mock English literature I got a U. I didn't bother revising for the real ones as I was bloody lazy lol and came out with A* so it is possible. All the way through year 10 I was getting U in biology, chemistry and physics and I got 1 C and 2 Bs good luck!
Original post by iamtitanium
Ok so I did my mocks, got the results back, and they were horrific. I got a U in chemistry, E in biology, E in maths and a C in psychology, I'm especially worried about chemistry because my target grade is a B (in all subjects actually) and I have 3 months until the real exam. I do believe that anything can happen if you try so I know I can still get a B, but I just don't know how. Any advice? Does anyone know anybody or were maybe themselves in such a situation? I want to carry on chemistry for A2 but I just don't know how I can turn around with an A, or the very least a B.

I know there was a website at gcse which posted Lesson videos and notes on the whole exam board, but does anyone know such a website which would be of use to me now? Is there hope for me???? My exam board for chemistry and maths is edexcel, biology is ocr, and psychology is aqa? Any way I can succeed??

Thank you everyone :smile:


Hopefully your dreams of avarice have now been punctuated. Maybe you simply do not have what it takes?
Reply 8
I got an E in my Chemistry mock and I need AAA to get into Uni...

Chill...a chapter a week then loads of questions at the weekend! Repeat until you have covered the content.. then bomb out the past papers a month/ 2months before the exam.
I got a ridiculous score of 8/75 in one of my Maths mocks in April last year, pulled it up and got a B in May. Anything is possible, just use this as motivation :smile:
OP: you can definitely do it. If you find out where you were going wrong and target your weaker areas. If you put the effort in then it should pay off. Everyone has low moments in education but there's no reason to not try again. :smile:
(edited 10 years ago)
I got Us in various Biology mocks and got a B overall (a mark of an A annoyingly) I am sure you can do it as long as you put in the work ofcourse.
(edited 10 years ago)
Original post by davidtyoember
https://www.youtube.com/alevelscientist

you may find this helpful.


In chem last year I went from an E to a B and in bio i went from a U to an A, I think it's quite possible.

id recommend testing yourself with papers and then studying the topics you didn't quite understand.



you sir have my respect! if you can turn those E and U grades into A's and B's it makes me feel as if i can achieve anything! but then again you could have been a genius with a lot of potential but didnt bother revising in which case i dont think that would be possible for everyone
Original post by somethingunique
I got Us in various Biology mocks and got a B overall (a mark of an A annoyingly) I am sure you can do it as long as you put in the work ofcourse.
PS: I wonder if the person who's anti-resits is trolling or not?


how on earth did you revise for bio to get that b? would you say that past papers is key? congratulations on the turnaround grade btw :biggrin:
Original post by TheGameOfScience
you sir have my respect! if you can turn those E and U grades into A's and B's it makes me feel as if i can achieve anything! but then again you could have been a genius with a lot of potential but didnt bother revising in which case i dont think that would be possible for everyone



lol, thank you sir, I don't think I'm a genius, BTW even after the exams were done, for my report I was predicted a D in chemistry and a D/E in biology before the results came out. If I can do it, you can most likely do it too.
Original post by TheGameOfScience
how on earth did you revise for bio to get that b? would you say that past papers is key? congratulations on the turnaround grade btw :biggrin:


Thanks a bunch! I didnt get straight Us in my mocks I also got E's and D's, anyway the reason I flopped my mocks was because I have a crappy short term memory. I revised for mocks and still failed (which is embarrassing).

Luckily, it motivated me further to continue revising. So I remembered it well in the long term since I revised then re-revised(?)
I read the books a whole lot. I'd say read it and actually understand it instead of memorizing. Make cue cards, mind maps, posters etc. Do topic by topic then test yourself using exam q's or what I do is make up qs for example: describe the process of glycolysis then make model answers on a computers(I think that's one of the best ways)

OR scribble it down on a big white board and put in corrections, try again etc. Always switch up your game. I'd say understanding is KEY because then you actually remember and can also do applied qs. Oh and make sure you go over it again and again and again!

*No pun attended (with the games thing)
(edited 10 years ago)
Original post by davidtyoember
lol, thank you sir, I don't think I'm a genius, BTW even after the exams were done, for my report I was predicted a D in chemistry and a D/E in biology before the results came out. If I can do it, you can most likely do it too.


your welcome dude:biggrin: i hope so!!:frown: i am hitting b's and c's at the moment, do you have any revision tips on how you brought those grades up and in general too? :colondollar: was past papers your main source of revision or did you note take a lot? lool you must have been so happy when you saw what your predicted after you got the grades :lol:

but still i think you need really high intelligence to bring your grades up that high, so maybe your a secret genius.
Original post by TheGameOfScience
your welcome dude:biggrin: i hope so!!:frown: i am hitting b's and c's at the moment, do you have any revision tips on how you brought those grades up and in general too? :colondollar: was past papers your main source of revision or did you note take a lot? lool you must have been so happy when you saw what your predicted after you got the grades :lol:

but still i think you need really high intelligence to bring your grades up that high, so maybe your a secret genius.


Everyone has a hint of genius in them in some way, what I did during march/april was I did past papers but them I got frustrated because I was getting inconsistent grades in biology and I was hitting a kind of ceiling at D/C in chemistry,and so I knew that there must be something I'm not getting.

So what I did from that point is that I did questions in an AS chemistry book that I had and made different kinds of notes (mindmaps etc),answered questions and eventually I got past the ceiling and moved up to the higher grades.

During the time when I was making the improvements I was using some online sources as well so that I could develop better intuitions for concepts etc.

I'm working on a website and a youtube channel to help people with A Level Science, I think it will help provide a platform where people can practice developing their skill/understanding.
Original post by somethingunique
Thanks a bunch! I didnt get straight Us in my mocks I also got E's and D's, anyway the reason I flopped my mocks was because I have a crappy short term memory. I revised for mocks and still failed (which is embarrassing).

Luckily, it motivated me further to continue revising. So I remembered it well in the long term since I revised then re-revised(?)
I read the books a whole lot. I'd say read it and actually understand it instead of memorizing. Make cue cards, mind maps, posters etc. Do topic by topic then test yourself using exam q's or what I do is make up qs for example: describe the process of glycolysis then make model answers on a computers(I think that's one of the best ways)

OR scribble it down on a big white board and put in corrections, try again etc. Always switch up your game. I'd say understanding is KEY because then you actually remember and can also do applied qs. Oh and make sure you go over it again and again and again!

*No pun attended (with the games thing)


your welcome!!:biggrin: what do you mean by revising then re-revising, do you just mean going over what you did when revising for that particular mock? but surely in order to understand something you have to remember it right? how would you say i try to understand it? making up my questions sounds like a great idea! i'll defo try it out as well as making mindmaps and cue cards!:biggrin: so do you take notes on the computer or just make the model answers on it? thank you soo much for the advice!!:biggrin: my main fear is forgetting, i am always scared that i might forget:frown:
My mocks were Ds for most subjects at the start of year 12 and I finished alevel with 3A. Just make notes over and over again and learn from past papers


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