A-level head-start and sixth form advice

CGP books are useful, they have short ones bridging the content from a level and gcse to make it a bit easier! But just use this time to rest mainly and do any summer work set by your college/sixth form.

A-level content is quite rigorous, and as you haven't got your GCSE results, i'm assuming, it probably is not wise to go over specific details in the specification and start learning the course, but just briefly touch the surface of most year 1 chapters, and give yourself an introductory crash course in each subject. This is more for humanities than sciences. Also, for advice, free periods are not suppose to be fun, and knowledge attained from effective revision, should not be forgotten after sitting year 1 exams. Also, picking subjects that are not just easy, but your interested in, and achieve higher grades, is equally as important than picking a subject like History (for example, because of an unexpected grade 9 at results day). It's probably appropiate to say that it is better to go straight to A-level content, (that is just my opinion, other people may approach it differently), as GCSE gives you a simple broad understanding of topics, and in A-level it is structured slightly differently. (I sat mostly A*-G legacy exams, so 9-1 grading system/specifications possibly has prepared you for this (I dont know??!)). Good luck with your results and have a great holiday.

Some advice I can give you is don't just do the work and then once you've done the test forget about it. Go back to it repeatedly, rather than end up with one heap of stuff you're confused on for revision at the end of the 2 years; I wish I'd done this, as I found when it came to revision I finally understood things that had baffled me since I was first taught them, but didn't go over them for a long period of time as (I felt) I didn't need to. This happened a lot with Geography, and the concept of the demographic dividend I only just 'got' the day before the exam!

With regards to doing stuff over the holidays, you don't necessarily need to, but you could look over the specifications and past papers for the subjects you may want to do so you can make a more informed choice come results day and registering with your sixth form (so you're not blindly choosing a subject, which you, consequently, may regret taking).

Thank you so much! Do you have any specific advice for more logic based subjects like FM, CS?

Would be extremely thankful if anyone has links for materials I can use to re-cap GCSE content or start learning A-level content during the holidays. Also, any advice for starting sixth form is welcome

Are the CGP guides for the A-level courses helpful to use in y12 and y13 or are they too brief?

Unfortunately, i don't do any of those subjects, so I will answer this giving advice to mathematics (As this is an A-level I do)

Maths revision normally consists of going over past paper questions, focusing specifically on time management (with time to check for any mistakes), and exam papers (as a whole).

In terms of content, it is very packed, and will not be as intense in the first year (I can image for further maths, it will be.)
Revision will probably need to be extremely active for logic based subjects, so the method, and thought process for contextualised questions are not too challenging for brighter students.

Understanding the theory of maths/logic based subjects, and why there are limitations and special cases where certain methods will not work when approaching specific questions is important. In reduced terms, Rote learning < Meaningful learning. Maths exams have range, meaning, statistics and mechanics are now compulsory elements rather than only doing statistics or mechanics with pure maths. This increases the rigorous nature of mathematics, because those not doing physics are minimally disadvantaged, and just have to work harder, in terms of learning the concepts and terminology of laws in mechanics.

Overall, it is more exam technique orientated for logic based subjects, and having more knowledge on WHY this method works, and not HOW to use this method in a specific example.
(Examples, of things to look at for Further Mathematics/Mathematics, Probably be STEP papers, MAT papers, International Mathematical Olympiad and even UKMT math challenge questions? - (Probably whilst doing the course, rather than in preparation))

I'm sorry I can't be extremely specific, because I am literally an arts/humanities/maths mix, so essays is literally my life, at the moment, rather than problem solving and logic.

(I do have e-inspection copies of maths and further maths textbooks, possibly computer science *unsure*, (If you would like to see what they look like) so if you would like I think I could be able to provide you with a link.)

What subjects are you doing?

What a levels are you thinking of doing?

The copies would be great help if you wouldn't mind. Thank you so so much for your help!