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Get A* in all A Levels. Help me achieving the best!

I am going to start A Level. I have decided (from a very early time) that I will take Physics, Mathematics and Further Mathematics.

Would you please give me some good tips to achieve the best results in those subjects. How to start from the beginning? How to practice? What should be studied? Which books? Helpful websites, scientific portals, useful resources? Libraries? How to revise, take the exam, etc.

Another question - Where should I study sixth form? I live in London (West London, specifically Hounslow).

Reply 1

TSR Jessica

Sorry you've not had any responses about this. :frown:

Are you sure you've posted in the right place? :smile:

Here's a link to our subject forum which should help get you more responses if you post there. :redface:

Reply 2

Yasuda

watch some youtube vids about it, they're helpful

Reply 3

user3286757

Could go very in depth with study methods and such but frankly don't have the time or do any of the subjects you're taking so wouldn't be able to offer specific advice anyway- there will be so many youtube videos for general tips. The only thing I will say, as it sounds like you're very motivated (which of course is great!!) but though you should be taking the course seriously and putting effort in from day 1, don't burn yourself out! The first year you should be working hard of course but don't sacrifice your social life and other things you enjoy because two years is a long time to be putting constant effort in. I would recommend to wait until a few months before your mocks before you really start putting time and effort into achieving your grades.

Just my opinion, of course and good luck in whatever way you choose to go about it!

Reply 4

SRN306

Original post by YasudaSayo

watch some youtube vids about it, they're helpful

Any suggestion?

Reply 5

Nay30

Coming to the end of my time in sixth form, one of the biggest pieces of advice I can give you is to start revising early. Start making notes early, start practising early, do past papers, test yourself with flash cards/revision cards, get a friend/family member to test you with the cards too. I haven't taken the subjects you have listed above but I've had friends who study mathematics and the best way to achieve well in that area is to practice with as many questions as you can.

Best of luck! :smile:

Reply 6

SRN306

Original post by Nay30

Thanks for your advice.

Reply 7

SRN306

It would be more helpful if adviced for Phys, Maths and Further maths particularly.

Reply 8

D.SHA64

Stay consistent.
Dont slack for a year like i did and then catch up during summer, that was no fun

Reply 9

koala789

Original post by Rajbir Nahin

It would be more helpful if adviced for Phys, Maths and Further maths particularly.

I'm in yr 12 & do physics, maths, chemistry & history - might pick up FM AS as am applying for an engineering degree.
I just did my summer exams (internal equivalent to AS which is used for making predicted grades) and got 4 As; you can't get A* at AS.

For maths all I did was practice questions. I would do probably 1hr of questions a day in the weeks leading up to exams, varying between pure, stats & mechanics topics - making sure to be doing a variation of topics in each session as to actively recall methods rather than repeat the same style of answers again and again.
Then of course closer to the exams I did actual past papers under timed conditions - marking any mistakes in all the questions i did in bright colours. This meant the day before the exam I could make a list of all the mistakes I made throughout revision. Would say that method worked quite well - got 97% in both maths papers.

For physics I similarly did practice papers in the week just before exams (2/3 2hr papers per day!) But in the month before that I compiled notes from not only the exam board textbook, but also from one called 'Advanced Physics for You' - would highly recommend. Rather than just writing notes, before starting going through past papers, I went through my textbooks and consolidated each topic with exam style questions.
Can't stress how important it is to highlight every mistake you make so that you can LEARN from it; even if it's embarrassing at times when you get 65% in a pp, at least you know you're learning. Then just as in maths, 2 days before the exam I wrote up a list of model answers - styles of questions that kept on reoccurring which are easy marks in an exam. For physics and maths pps is the best thing you can do - with this method I managed to get the highest physics score in my school.

Good luck & if you have any qs let me know

Reply 10

Mesopotamian…

Start on past papers as soon as possible. Useful websites for maths and physics include:
- Physics and maths tutor where you'll find a huge wealth of past papers
- Exam solutions: this is for maths. It has video tutorials for topics you're stuck on and video tutorials for past paper questions too (so if you're marking a paper and you don't understand how they've come to the answer, this is the place to go to)

Also, do the practice questions in the text books - especially maths because they give you decent preparation.