Target: straight As
For me, A-Levels hit me like a brick straight to my face. It was much harder than I expected and I was definitely not prepared. I'm currently in year 12, taking Maths, Physics, Chemistry and Art, and my recent grades in my mocks are:
Core 1 C (I was panicking at the start, messed up the first question which cost me 13 marks so I could've got an A
)
Mechanics C (1 mark off a B)
Physics B
Chemistry C (3 marks off a B, didn't revise much though)
Art (no idea because it's coursework based and we didn't have a mock)
As you can tell, these grades are not the best, especially in costrast to my GCSEs (7A*s ans 4As), your target grades are straight As and the entry requirements for my course is A*AA.
I hope that this blog will keep me motivated to work harder and procrastinate less so that I can achieve my target grades and get into the courses I want to get into.
Alice
Core 1 C (I was panicking at the start, messed up the first question which cost me 13 marks so I could've got an A
)Mechanics C (1 mark off a B)
Physics B
Chemistry C (3 marks off a B, didn't revise much though)
Art (no idea because it's coursework based and we didn't have a mock)
As you can tell, these grades are not the best, especially in costrast to my GCSEs (7A*s ans 4As), your target grades are straight As and the entry requirements for my course is A*AA.
I hope that this blog will keep me motivated to work harder and procrastinate less so that I can achieve my target grades and get into the courses I want to get into.
Alice
Original post by livinandlol
For me, A-Levels hit me like a brick straight to my face. It was much harder than I expected and I was definitely not prepared. I'm currently in year 12, taking Maths, Physics, Chemistry and Art, and my recent grades in my mocks are:
Core 1 C (I was panicking at the start, messed up the first question which cost me 13 marks so I could've got an A )
Mechanics C (1 mark off a B)
Physics B
Chemistry C (3 marks off a B, didn't revise much though)
Art (no idea because it's coursework based and we didn't have a mock)
As you can tell, these grades are not the best, especially in costrast to my GCSEs (7A*s ans 4As), your target grades are straight As and the entry requirements for my course is A*AA.
I hope that this blog will keep me motivated to work harder and procrastinate less so that I can achieve my target grades and get into the courses I want to get into.
Alice
Core 1 C (I was panicking at the start, messed up the first question which cost me 13 marks so I could've got an A
)Mechanics C (1 mark off a B)
Physics B
Chemistry C (3 marks off a B, didn't revise much though)
Art (no idea because it's coursework based and we didn't have a mock)
As you can tell, these grades are not the best, especially in costrast to my GCSEs (7A*s ans 4As), your target grades are straight As and the entry requirements for my course is A*AA.
I hope that this blog will keep me motivated to work harder and procrastinate less so that I can achieve my target grades and get into the courses I want to get into.
Alice
Good luck! I am also in year 12 and am doing similar subjects : Maths (in one year), Chem, Physics and Economics; what boards are you on? We also have the same target grades! Hopefully we can both achieve them!
Unless you revised for ages for these exams they don't mean a lot.
That said a lot of people especially girls for some reason (not sexist genuine stats at play here) do worse at A-Level compared to GCSE's
That said a lot of people especially girls for some reason (not sexist genuine stats at play here) do worse at A-Level compared to GCSE's
Original post by livinandlol
your target grades are straight As and the entry requirements for my course is A*AA.
If your desired course has entry requirements A*AA, then you need to aim a bit higher than straight As.
(edited 9 years ago)
Hiya,
I'm currently in year 13 and I had exactly the same experience as you. A Levels are sooooo different to GCSEs and they do take some time to get used to. Don't panic! Pretty much everyone feels the same
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I'm currently in year 13 and I had exactly the same experience as you. A Levels are sooooo different to GCSEs and they do take some time to get used to. Don't panic! Pretty much everyone feels the same
Posted from TSR Mobile
Original post by morgan8002
If you're desired course has entry requirements A*AA, then you need to aim a bit higher than straight As.
At AS you can only get As so she should be aiming for straight As...
Posted from TSR Mobile
Original post by Tilds1997
Apologies, I misunderstood.
I had the same intro. Scraped AABB at AS Level (both A's were borderline) after being predicted straight A's, ended up retaking a few modules and put more effort into my work, ended up with A*A*A*. Exam technique is soo important. Subjects were English Lit, Economics, Philosophy and Ethics (and Biology at AS which I dropped)
My exam boards are aqa for everything but physics, which is edexcel (kinda bad idea because different exam boards meant the majority of us who did aqa gcse need to adapt exam boards as well as the while as the AS level madness :/)
For revision tips, I'd say a good tip is revision cards. The way i do it is have one side where you ask a question along with the number of points you jave to make on one side, while you write the answer on the other side. I then test myself and have a good, ok and bad pile so that all the cards on the bad pile needs to be learnt first, and once learnt, goes into the ok pile. Repeat this for the ok pile and once learnt, place the cards on the good pile. I'd then test all cards again and repeat the whole thing if needed. It's sort of a lengthy process (30min-1hr for ~20 cards depending on content), but its very effective (for me at least, i still remember 240000 people died for the asian tsunami for my gcse geography exam ;b) and it should be adaptable for all subjects (maybe not maths and art).
My other method is just practice and exam (past paper) questions. Since i get bored easily, any other forms of revision will end up with me being extremely bored and distracted.
I hope these methods will help, and i hope this answered your question ^^
Anyhow, what revision techniques do you use and how to you keep yourself from procrastinating and/or distracted?
Ps sorry for the late reply and the waffling.
*High fives* to everyone who are or were in the same situation as me
Thanks for the encouragement and advice ^-
For revision tips, I'd say a good tip is revision cards. The way i do it is have one side where you ask a question along with the number of points you jave to make on one side, while you write the answer on the other side. I then test myself and have a good, ok and bad pile so that all the cards on the bad pile needs to be learnt first, and once learnt, goes into the ok pile. Repeat this for the ok pile and once learnt, place the cards on the good pile. I'd then test all cards again and repeat the whole thing if needed. It's sort of a lengthy process (30min-1hr for ~20 cards depending on content), but its very effective (for me at least, i still remember 240000 people died for the asian tsunami for my gcse geography exam ;b) and it should be adaptable for all subjects (maybe not maths and art).
My other method is just practice and exam (past paper) questions. Since i get bored easily, any other forms of revision will end up with me being extremely bored and distracted.
I hope these methods will help, and i hope this answered your question ^^
Anyhow, what revision techniques do you use and how to you keep yourself from procrastinating and/or distracted?
Ps sorry for the late reply and the waffling.
*High fives* to everyone who are or were in the same situation as me
Thanks for the encouragement and advice ^-
This post is to confirm that livinandlol's grades have been verified! 
Original post by xMr_BrightSide
I had the same intro. Scraped AABB at AS Level (both A's were borderline) after being predicted straight A's, ended up retaking a few modules and put more effort into my work, ended up with A*A*A*. Exam technique is soo important. Subjects were English Lit, Economics, Philosophy and Ethics (and Biology at AS which I dropped)
How did you revise for English Lit and Philosophy?
Months before the exam, I just go over my notes in class and do past papers, as well as looking at past paper analysis with sample answers for both subjects.
One month (or few days if you're terribly unorganised like I am - I would not recommend this though) I did the following for my subjects:
English lit: I summarised the key info on one side; eg. for of mice and men, my flash cards would have "what are the views of the ranch workers have on Curley's Wife?" and bullet point several points that you think can be developed most easily in depth with originality on the other side, possibly with a keyword to go along, such as "jail bait", society's view on women in the 1930's etc. Then it's a case of repeated testing and taking the cards with me so I can revise on the go. This method works for me in English because I don't need a full plan to start writing an essay, hence if I know the basic points, the rough quote and how the points can be developed, I will have a pretty good idea of what to write in the exam.
RE (we didn't have philosophy, so this is the closest one): I've written the main issue (e.g. abortion) on one side along with the groups associated with it (e.g. Christians, Muslims, atheists, then into for and against). Again, after this it's just a case of testing myself repeatedly with the questions/instructions on the cards until I fully remembered and understood them.
On top of this, I go on YouTube to watch videos that sums up important points for my syllabus, making notes on points I consider important. This will just re-enforce the memory.
Hope this helps
One month (or few days if you're terribly unorganised like I am - I would not recommend this though) I did the following for my subjects:
English lit: I summarised the key info on one side; eg. for of mice and men, my flash cards would have "what are the views of the ranch workers have on Curley's Wife?" and bullet point several points that you think can be developed most easily in depth with originality on the other side, possibly with a keyword to go along, such as "jail bait", society's view on women in the 1930's etc. Then it's a case of repeated testing and taking the cards with me so I can revise on the go. This method works for me in English because I don't need a full plan to start writing an essay, hence if I know the basic points, the rough quote and how the points can be developed, I will have a pretty good idea of what to write in the exam.
RE (we didn't have philosophy, so this is the closest one): I've written the main issue (e.g. abortion) on one side along with the groups associated with it (e.g. Christians, Muslims, atheists, then into for and against). Again, after this it's just a case of testing myself repeatedly with the questions/instructions on the cards until I fully remembered and understood them.
On top of this, I go on YouTube to watch videos that sums up important points for my syllabus, making notes on points I consider important. This will just re-enforce the memory.
Hope this helps
Just an update on how I'm doing - not too good. I am currently procrastination central and the exams are in just a few weeks. My grades have improved a tiny bit, but without the exam practice, it's still not enough to get into the course I needed.
So, can anyone send motivations for all of us so we can stay motivated and we can go through this together?
Alice
So, can anyone send motivations for all of us so we can stay motivated and we can go through this together?
Alice
Original post by livinandlol
So, can anyone send motivations for all of us so we can stay motivated and we can go through this together?
Alice
So, can anyone send motivations for all of us so we can stay motivated and we can go through this together?
Alice
"Effort will never betray you"
It's a cheesy quote but I have it pinned to my twitter so everytime I'm procrastinating I get back to working
...maybe I'll try that. currently I got myself a timetable as well, so hopefully that will keep me working! :b
currently I got myself a timetable as well, so hopefully that will keep me working! :bQuick Reply
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