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A Level MOTIVATION thread B to A*??

I'm in year 12 and we took mocks for our A Level subjects throughout the past two weeks. My ambition is to study Medicine at Cambridge/UCL/Imperial yet after receiving my results, it looks like I need to seriously step my game up. I am very stressed right now. My A Levels/AS are Biology, Maths, Chemistry and Religious Studies.

The reason for this is that my results I received so far are...
Biology - a low A* (low 90's), Chemistry- a low B (69%)
I will receive my maths and RS results this week- my feeling is that for Maths I will get an fairly secure A*, and for RS an A/A*.
My plan is to carry on with Biology, Chem and Maths next year, dropping RS.

I'm really worried with regards to my chemistry grade. The test used the 2016 OCR new spec paper. The majority of marks lost were to do with chemistry related knowledge, for example, ionisation energy diagrams and equations. Some mistakes were careless, due to rushed timing. For example, I lost 7 marks from a pv=nrt question and a moles question, due to making silly errors in calculation and not having the time to check my work.

The reason for performing badly in this test were that I hadn't learnt all the content to an adequate depth. More specifically, this was because my general commitment throughout the last term was very poor. Whereas in Biology we have had topic tests so I learnt to get into the habit of consolidating, for chemistry, this was not the case. I did not pay attention in class, did not do homework properly, and also, did not looking over notes we did after class. This is appalling, I know.

Ideally I would like to gain an A* in Chemistry A Level, next year summer, yet to do so I clearly need to start working hard, from now. I'm already falling behind on learning the content. How many hours should I put in every day? I am willing to work extremely hard. My general working grade needs to go up, because all work will be used towards my predicted grade at the end of the year. I will apply to uni with the predicted grade I recieve- even an A is risky. There will be an internal assessment in May for my linear subjects- it is so important to do well in this!

Maths (Edexcel, non-linear) is going well. With my steady progress until now, I think I am on the right track to scoring full marks for the AS and A level units this summer/next. Study method= one hour a day before school, occasional homework after school, and in prep for the mock, I did around 10 for each unit covered so far (C1 and S1) past paper multiple times. I've got loads of papers yet to do, and also am yet to start any solomon papers. I will update on my maths mock result when received. Hopefully it is 95%+.

Biology is linear, and so all my exams will be in year 13. I have been consistent in learning content, and for preparation of my mock, I did every past paper for the OCR old spec. My worry is that there is little revision resources for the new spec, aside from the spec papers. I really need to up my game for biology too, through doing past papers from different exam boards and revising from a variety of sources. I've only been relying on one book and one exam board thus far. This is inadequate when exposed to new material in the actual exam, and need to apply my knowledge.

I'm barely keeping up with the A Level content- I also need to read widely around everything too, which I can't say I've been doing. This is so important for tackling the science-based interviews I will face if I choose to apply to the universities I have mentioned. I'm also doing a medically related EPQ, which I aim to complete by this academic year.

The purpose of this thread is to keep track of my progress, and also advice from others who have gone through the A Level experience similar to I have? Anyway, let the work commence...
How are you getting A*s in exams in year 12? You can't get A*s at AS?
Also a B at this time of year is good, I know loads of people doing Chem all at very simaler grades atm
Original post by princesshan
How are you getting A*s in exams in year 12? You can't get A*s at AS?


My school decided to give them out, to enable everyone to know what they'd likely get at A Level- so they know which subject to drop.

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