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TIPS to get an A* in A-level (MATHS,CHEMISTRY,BIOLOGY)

So I got my AS results today, I got 3 A's & 1b. I got the A's in Maths, Chemistry and Biology. I really want an A* in all three next year. Does anyone have any tips for either Maths, Chemistry or Biology?
Original post by Naomi.B
So I got my AS results today, I got 3 A's & 1b. I got the A's in Maths, Chemistry and Biology. I really want an A* in all three next year. Does anyone have any tips for either Maths, Chemistry or Biology?


Have a look in Revision and study tips :smile: but basically read ahead and around the subject, keep up with AS content and make sure you understand everything before you start trying to build on it. In general just do everything as you go along- don't leave it all to the end. So easy to say and hard to do I know! But yeah, look in the forum above
Maths is probably the easiest of the three to get high grades in as you can easily do all of the past papers and there's huge amounts of resources available (I highly recommend the bronze-silver-gold papers on physics and maths tutor).

For chemistry and biology make sure you are very familiar with key terms and organic routes (when you get to that stage) and learn them as early as possible. Additionally I believe the key to success in science subjects is to make sure you fully understand each topic in depth, not just regurgitating the information like in GCSE and to some extent As level.

Good luck!
Reply 3
Original post by furryface12
Have a look in Revision and study tips :smile: but basically read ahead and around the subject, keep up with AS content and make sure you understand everything before you start trying to build on it. In general just do everything as you go along- don't leave it all to the end. So easy to say and hard to do I know! But yeah, look in the forum above


Thank you so much, I'm going to make sure that I do as much reading around the subject as possible. I really want these grades.
Original post by Naomi.B
Thank you so much, I'm going to make sure that I do as much reading around the subject as possible. I really want these grades.


You'll do it! Abby's advice is brilliant too. Good luck :smile:
Reply 5
I don't know which exam board you are taking but for CIE Chemistry and Biology, visit this website (http://znotes.org/) for super detailed and awesome notes. Even if it isn't CIE I think it's still worth a try to look through these notes (I practically survived my A Levels thanked to these notes :wink:). In addition to that, Organic Chemistry is gonna be tough (at least for me) so I recommend this summary of Organic Chemistry: http://owlcove.sg/notes/the-wtf-a-level-package-organic-chem-in-two-charts. My way of learning all these synthetic routes is to re-draw the mind-map over and over again + doing loads of past paper Qs.

As to extend the previous comment, Physics and Maths tutor is definitely the go-to site for Maths practicing and revision. I found that the detailed notes by Simon Baxter there are extremely useful. Also, ExamSolutions videos are great for when you don't know how to do a specific type of questions.

Best of Luck!!
Reply 6
Original post by Abby3112
Maths is probably the easiest of the three to get high grades in as you can easily do all of the past papers and there's huge amounts of resources available (I highly recommend the bronze-silver-gold papers on physics and maths tutor).

For chemistry and biology make sure you are very familiar with key terms and organic routes (when you get to that stage) and learn them as early as possible. Additionally I believe the key to success in science subjects is to make sure you fully understand each topic in depth, not just regurgitating the information like in GCSE and to some extent As level.

Good luck!


Thanks Abby :smile: I really need to work on my understanding of the science subjects. I realised that I didn't fully understand some of the topics during the exam season. I'm definitely going to work on that this year
Reply 7
Original post by sara1479
I don't know which exam board you are taking but for CIE Chemistry and Biology, visit this website (http://znotes.org/) for super detailed and awesome notes. Even if it isn't CIE I think it's still worth a try to look through these notes (I practically survived my A Levels thanked to these notes :wink:). In addition to that, Organic Chemistry is gonna be tough (at least for me) so I recommend this summary of Organic Chemistry: http://owlcove.sg/notes/the-wtf-a-level-package-organic-chem-in-two-charts. My way of learning all these synthetic routes is to re-draw the mind-map over and over again + doing loads of past paper Qs.

As to extend the previous comment, Physics and Maths tutor is definitely the go-to site for Maths practicing and revision. I found that the detailed notes by Simon Baxter there are extremely useful. Also, ExamSolutions videos are great for when you don't know how to do a specific type of questions.

Best of Luck!!


Thank you for all of the resources Sara :biggrin: I'm doing AQA for all of my subjects, but the notes will still be relevant. Organic Chemistry is definitely tough, so I will be using the summary.

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