How I self-studied my way to 4 A*s + a Cambridge offer

Lol I always dothat too 😁 I hope you'll enjoy your revision (no sarcasm, I actually often do maths past papers to run away from doing other work!) and hood luck! 🙂

Lmao so do I!! I have 2 other exams which I always dread doing but love how challenging maths is. You doing/done step/aea? They are a great way to further master edexcel papers because its harder core questions
And thanks!

Hey everyone

Two years ago I made the decision to quit school.

I was predicted Ds and Us by my teachers, I couldn’t understand what was going on in class, I wanted to ask questions but was too afraid of looking “stupid”... and I forgot almost everything I did learn anyway.

So I decided to leave school and self-study. And last year, I achieved 4 A*s at A Level + an offer to read Economics at Cambridge.

I’ve received SO many questions asking “HOW DID YOU DO IT!?” so in this thread I just wanted to share EVERYTHING - all the strategies and resources I used to achieve 4 A*s.

Some motivation first:



General revision:



Maths and Further Maths (Edexcel):



Economics (Edexcel):



Geography (AQA):



...I hope this helps you! Please let me know if you have any questions, I’ll be posting more and more resources to this thread over the next few weeks

Hey everyone

Two years ago I made the decision to quit school.

I was predicted Ds and Us by my teachers, I couldn’t understand what was going on in class, I wanted to ask questions but was too afraid of looking “stupid”... and I forgot almost everything I did learn anyway.

So I decided to leave school and self-study. And last year, I achieved 4 A*s at A Level + an offer to read Economics at Cambridge.

I’ve received SO many questions asking “HOW DID YOU DO IT!?” so in this thread I just wanted to share EVERYTHING - all the strategies and resources I used to achieve 4 A*s.

Some motivation first:



General revision:



Maths and Further Maths (Edexcel):



Economics (Edexcel):



Geography (AQA):



...I hope this helps you! Please let me know if you have any questions, I’ll be posting more and more resources to this thread over the next few weeks

Hey everyone

Two years ago I made the decision to quit school.

I was predicted Ds and Us by my teachers, I couldn’t understand what was going on in class, I wanted to ask questions but was too afraid of looking “stupid”... and I forgot almost everything I did learn anyway.

So I decided to leave school and self-study. And last year, I achieved 4 A*s at A Level + an offer to read Economics at Cambridge.

I’ve received SO many questions asking “HOW DID YOU DO IT!?” so in this thread I just wanted to share EVERYTHING - all the strategies and resources I used to achieve 4 A*s.

Some motivation first:



General revision:



Maths and Further Maths (Edexcel):



Economics (Edexcel):



Geography (AQA):



...I hope this helps you! Please let me know if you have any questions, I’ll be posting more and more resources to this thread over the next few weeks

Hey man, I used a lot of study techniques and memorisation strategies.

I never reread notes or highlighted or read textbooks.

I've linked to free resources which explain how humans actually learn (like Coursera's learning how to learn course) which explains this really well - check out my original post for the details. There's also an e-book which you should read.

But another technique I used with the flaschards is "visceralisation" .

So let's say I'm trying to memorise "pregunta" (Spanish for question).

On the front of my flashcard I write out "pregunta". Now I need to link "pregunta" to its meaning - question, in English.

So I close my eyes, "What does pregunta connect with in my brain?"

Pregnant! Pregunta reminds me of pregnant

So I draw a pregnant lady next to the word pregunta.

Now I need to connect the pregnant lady to the actual meaning: question.

So the pregnant lady is being asked all of these questions: how many months? Boy or girl? Who's the father? Did you cheat on your husband? I thought he was infertile?

Now I have a vivid image in my mind: whenever I hear "pregunta", I think pregnant woman being asked questions...oh yeah pregunta means question!

There's research which shows this technique can increase memory 9.5x above just rewriting/rereading notes.

Even more interesting, students who used visceralisation thought it was a waste of time, and preferred rereading...but one week later when they were tested, the visceralisation group performed 9.5x better!!

Hey man, I used a lot of study techniques and memorisation strategies.

I never reread notes or highlighted or read textbooks.

I've linked to free resources which explain how humans actually learn (like Coursera's learning how to learn course) which explains this really well - check out my original post for the details. There's also an e-book which you should read.

But another technique I used with the flaschards is "visceralisation" .

So let's say I'm trying to memorise "pregunta" (Spanish for question).

On the front of my flashcard I write out "pregunta". Now I need to link "pregunta" to its meaning - question, in English.

So I close my eyes, "What does pregunta connect with in my brain?"

Pregnant! Pregunta reminds me of pregnant

So I draw a pregnant lady next to the word pregunta.

Now I need to connect the pregnant lady to the actual meaning: question.

So the pregnant lady is being asked all of these questions: how many months? Boy or girl? Who's the father? Did you cheat on your husband? I thought he was infertile?

Now I have a vivid image in my mind: whenever I hear "pregunta", I think pregnant woman being asked questions...oh yeah pregunta means question!

There's research which shows this technique can increase memory 9.5x above just rewriting/rereading notes.

Even more interesting, students who used visceralisation thought it was a waste of time, and preferred rereading...but one week later when they were tested, the visceralisation group performed 9.5x better!!

but... they entered you for the exams?

And last year, I achieved 4 A*s at A Level + an offer to read Economics at Cambridge.

Hey everyone

Two years ago I made the decision to quit school.

I was predicted Ds and Us by my teachers, I couldn’t understand what was going on in class, I wanted to ask questions but was too afraid of looking “stupid”... and I forgot almost everything I did learn anyway.

So I decided to leave school and self-study. And last year, I achieved 4 A*s at A Level + an offer to read Economics at Cambridge.

I’ve received SO many questions asking “HOW DID YOU DO IT!?” so in this thread I just wanted to share EVERYTHING - all the strategies and resources I used to achieve 4 A*s.

Some motivation first:



General revision:



Maths and Further Maths (Edexcel):



Economics (Edexcel):



Geography (AQA):



...I hope this helps you! Please let me know if you have any questions, I’ll be posting more and more resources to this thread over the next few weeks

I did like no extracurriculars, and for the interviews I listened to about 4 hours of economics podcasts everyday, made notes, then tested myself on the notes to make sure I could remember all the statistics and stories.

I also specifically applied for a college (Christ's) that wanted an essay, and then spent days and days perfecting the essay - they really like it.

I don't think extracurriculars matter much at all...I wasn't even asked about them at interview, more important to have top grades and be super passionate about your subject.