How long do you revise for your A levels?

Biology, Chemistry, Maths and Further Maths. Biology is still not easy, despite taking 3 other subjects which are considered 'conceptually challenging'. It's not just a case of memorising a sheer amount of content (some concepts are quite difficult to get your head around too), but also being able to apply this knowledge to cases, as it is much more application-heavy in the new spec. In addition, the mark scheme is so specific that you can write exactly what's in the textbook but still not get any marks because its not phrased in the way the exam board have specified this time in the mark scheme.

I’m doing bio, chem, politics, and an EPQ. Getting most of your EPQ done over the summer would definitely put you ahead but you need to make sure you’re doing what you’re expected to. I did my EPQ as it was given to me and I still had to re-do a lot of it since teachers don’t tend to give much guidance on it. Just getting a solid question down will give you a head start.

Not gonna lie, if you gave up on gcse biology for the content then you’re not going to have a fun time at a level. It is extremely content heavy with a lot of complex processes to learn (some 20+ steps long) and vocab is a huge part of it. However, the good thing about biology (and what makes it the easiest science imo) is that the exams are mostly application based rather than straight knowledge, so you can kind of get away with knowing slightly less detail.

Chemistry is the hardest for me without a doubt. There is a lot of detail, all of which you have to know since the exams are almost 100% straight knowledge-based questions rather than application, so you if you don’t know something then you have no way of getting the marks. Depending on how you work this could be a good thing though. It is also a lot more abstract so can be difficult to get your head around. You essentially get told everything you learned at gcse was wrong (or massively over simplified) and you have to re-learn huge amounts of theory so you have to build a new foundation too. All in all it’s pretty intense.

If you do put in the hours you’ve said you will, you will most likely do well. However, it will be hard to maintain, and sixth form is much more social than lower school, especially once everyone starts turning 18 so it could get difficult. Good luck with sixth form!

Thanks for telling me man! Tbh i already knew about chemistry and how everything we learn is extremely simplified or wrong, and funnily enough, most of the A level concepts are half truths/over simplified compared to Degree level chemistry at Uni, so it's kind of an endless cycle i guess.

I don't understand why people keep reading it wrong, so i'm just going to edit it lol. Like previously specified, i do not at all find biology difficult and said that i found it difficult to go through the syllabus in the few hours i gave myself before the exam, therefore i just left it, hence why i only achieved a 7!!!

Bruh this is some hard core sweat-ery here. Enjoy your last Summer of freedom.

During the initial few months of sixth form I worked long nights to keep up with the work but I'm chilling now, when the lesson content clicks, the classwork clicks, and your hwk clicks, it diminishes your workload significantly. No need to spam flashcards or anything. Though, the spec may prove to be your best friend, and in any case, your calculator.

-Maths, FM, Physics, Chemistry.

Do you use flash cards? How did you manage to keep up?

Don't use flashcards no, just do the past papers I'm set and again, reading and re-reading of the spec, that's all there is to it really.

Oh fair enough! I was exactly the same, I revised for about a day for each of my science GCSEs lol I obviously took them very seriously. I feel like I can assume you are the type of person that just sailed through secondary school without much effort? I was like that but you most definitely cannot get away with that at a level unfortunately. I would if I could and sometimes I try to but it usually backfires haha

Nice to see i'm not alone man ahah. PM me if you have any questions because i've done a lot of research on it lol. What you thinking of studying at uni?

You could say so lol! I would say i find most things relatively easy, but don't want to be shocked at A level, as i like order, preparation and perfection. It's actually annoying. Looking through the A level syllabus and past papers, i don't think it's as hard as some people make it out to be, as first of all applying concepts to knew questions won't be a challenge if you have a strong grasp of the idea, as i found. GCSE's don't prepare you enough for the step up and are almost a complete mockery of what lies a head. Hence, i feel sorry for some people who just going into A levels not knowing what to expect lol. On the contrary, i think A level is also not so hard and although you have to put the work in then; it seems to just be advanced GCSE and just and extended/deeper understanding of GCSE concept(with a few new ones) especially in chemistry. What do you think?

at the moment Biochemistry or Natural Sciences but I might like Psychology and study that (I'm not sure - I've never studied it at school). I used to want to to do medicine at cambs too (it was my dream!) but in the last couple years I've realised it's not for me. Best of luck in A-Levels!!

I think the content itself for a level doesn’t actually become difficult to understand until year 13. The year 12 content definitely just feels like an extended gcse, and to be honest I don’t think the step up is that severe. For me the step from year 12 to 13 was much harder, since they don’t ease you into it and they expect much more from you from the get-go which is quite hard to adjust to, and the workload almost doubled for me. As long as you keep on top of things throughout the year, make sure you understand everything, and prepare well for all of your tests you’ll most likely be fine. One of the major differences in our school was the number of tests. In the sciences we have an hour test about every 3-4 weeks which sounds a lot (and it is) but it’s actually really useful. The hardest thing for me about a level hasn’t necessarily been the content, it’s been the workload and time management - I’ve had to force myself into a good work ethic which I absolutely did not have at gcse. If you’ve got that then you probably won’t have many issues, especially if you’re the kind of person that just absorbs things.

Yeh, so if i buy the c1 new spec book it will have everything i need, including stuff that have been added..?

This is the book you need https://www.amazon.co.uk/Edexcel-level-Mathematics-Textbook-Further/dp/129218339X

I understand. That's the thing, you learn the content and then start banging out loads and loads of past, practice and specimen papers, then you won't make those errors in an exam.

no offence but you can't say that if you haven't actually done it yet - whilst that's the idea, it's a lot harder to pull off when there's so much to cover.

How did AS Maths and FM go for you?

Really enjoyable actually I know you guys don't do modules anymore, but if it makes any sense, I did C1, C2, C3, S1, M1, FP1 in year 12.
I found that AS core maths wasn't really much of a jump from GCSE, with the big new things being very simple differentiation and integration for me. Statistics is fine as long as you're okay with all the GCSE probability etc, again, it's not too difficult conceptually either so you'll be fine on that too. Mechanics has a lot of overlap with physics, it's mainly things like force diagrams, constant acceleration formulae, Newton's laws etc. Some problems can be pretty tricky but it eventually all comes together with practice.
FP1 is the further maths module, and for me it was definitely the most enjoyable. You're introduced to imaginary numbers and matrices, and start to learn how to prove and derive things which is more fun than it sounds If you're good at algebraic manipulation and that sort of stuff, you should be okay. Some of it can be a little tricky to get your head around at first but, like with all maths, you will get it with practice.
Hope this helps