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How do I balance out my A-levels?

I am currently studying Biology, Chemistry and Psychology. I am aiming for A*’s, but I’m finding it hard to balance out my subjects and I’m basically neglecting psychology. I’m in year 13 so I also need to keep up on AS content. Is there any advice for balancing out three subjects and getting good grades in all of them? Thanks for the help :smile:

Reply 1

cheesecakelove

When you study outside of school, do you find you spend more time on Biology and Chemistry then Psychology? How much study do you do after school?

I would suggest making a study timetable to make sure you get more time to study Psychology. You can arrange your free time into blocks, and then divide those blocks to make sure you get equal time for each subject. Some weeks you might find you need to devote more time for one subject (such as homework or assignments) but generally try to balance your time. If there are weeks where there are less assignments, you could spend some time revising what you have learnt and identifying areas you struggle with to target for improvement. Make sure your notes are organised and coherent.

Reply 2

HeyC97

Don't put too much stress on keeping up with everything from AS, A2 is basically just building on that knowledge and remember it's application so don't try to memorise all the tiny little details, that's what I tried to do and it didn't help me in the exams. I would recommend trying to go over each lesson at the end of the day for each of your subjects and making some notes it will help to keep you on top of it, hope that helps :smile:

Reply 3

bhavik-

Original post by georgelagalle

One of the things I'd recommend is using videos online. One in particular is Crash course, it really helps your understanding and involvement in the subject and lets you enjoy what you're learning. Try to find real life applications for the things you're studying and understand the topics in depth because that's how exam questions are structured.

Reply 4

C_Yap

I'm also in year 13, and here is the advice I would give:

- Print out specification to check how much you know, and which subject is your weaker subject.

- Plan your study periods of time. Don't be like "I will just do some Biology revision", but instead something like "I will revise by making flash cards on the topic of natural selection in the next hour". In other words, be specific as to what you want to accomplish by the end of the hour/day.

- Make sure not to do something like 3 hours of chemistry in one go, or 4 hours of Psychology in one go. Space it out more like 1 hours bio, 1 hour chem, 1.5 hour Psychology.

- Make sure you are in a good environment for study. For me, my home is a really big distraction, so I tend to go to the local library instead and I usually spend about 4-5 hours there.

Reply 5

Retired_Messiah

A lot of A2 topics tend to incorporate the AS stuff into them so you effectively are reminded of the AS stuff again when you learn new things. I remember Biology in particular did that for quite a few topics. So check where that happens before you worry yourself too much about your yr 12 stuff.

If you want to balance all 3, a timetable is by the far the easiest way to organise it so long as you're able to stick to timetables. I wasn't.....