The Student Room Group

3 A's at A-Level?!?!?

I am about to start my second year of A-Levels in September and I am STRESSED.
By the end of first year I'm just barely hanging on. I'm getting my high grades but I'm convinced its just luck bc truth my told my revision ethic is trash.

I'm a month into the summer holidays and i haven't revised once. Partly bc I can barely find the motivation to get out of bed let alone pick up a book. But its also the fact that the few instances i have gotten my revision stuff, I become so overwhelmed on where to start i end up putting it all away.

My main issue is biology of which is my worst out of the three of my subjects. While the others ( chemistry and psychology ) i have mustered up the strength to at least complete the summer hw, I haven't even touched the biology hw.

I'm hoping to study optometry at university but regardless of course, I'd still like to achieve triple A's. How do I do it? How do i get motivated? Where do I start?

To be honest, my method of revision current is rewriting my notes on my laptop in short hand, reading over it, deleting it, then retyping it all from memory then going back over it to see what has been missed. I do this repeatedly until nothing has been missed. I also have trouble understanding exam questions, what they want from me.
Original post by Sammy_789
I am about to start my second year of A-Levels in September and I am STRESSED.
By the end of first year I'm just barely hanging on. I'm getting my high grades but I'm convinced its just luck bc truth my told my revision ethic is trash.

I'm a month into the summer holidays and i haven't revised once. Partly bc I can barely find the motivation to get out of bed let alone pick up a book. But its also the fact that the few instances i have gotten my revision stuff, I become so overwhelmed on where to start i end up putting it all away.

My main issue is biology of which is my worst out of the three of my subjects. While the others ( chemistry and psychology ) i have mustered up the strength to at least complete the summer hw, I haven't even touched the biology hw.

I'm hoping to study optometry at university but regardless of course, I'd still like to achieve triple A's. How do I do it? How do i get motivated? Where do I start?

To be honest, my method of revision current is rewriting my notes on my laptop in short hand, reading over it, deleting it, then retyping it all from memory then going back over it to see what has been missed. I do this repeatedly until nothing has been missed. I also have trouble understanding exam questions, what they want from me.


Typing isn't a very effective way of revision - there's been research done on this!!

With Biology, it's all about looking through the mark scheme and noting down any words that are underlined. Those words are necessary in order to achieve marks. Have a look at Examiner's Reports too for common mistakes.
Reply 2
Original post by Blue_Cow
Typing isn't a very effective way of revision - there's been research done on this!!

With Biology, it's all about looking through the mark scheme and noting down any words that are underlined. Those words are necessary in order to achieve marks. Have a look at Examiner's Reports too for common mistakes.

I mean typing has been doing pretty well for me thus far. Classroom tests where I simply revise from reading notes / doing past papers etc. I tend to achieve E-C's ( excluding psych where I consistently maintain A's ) however whenever I use the typing method for big mock exams I achieve A's and B's. But ofc with the abundance of content I have now, typing is becoming a bit too long and tiring for me.

As for looking thru mark schemes, it ahain comes back down to me becoming overwhelmed on not knowing where to start. Truth be told, I don't understand a lick of biology so I'm in a constant state of ????
Original post by Sammy_789
I mean typing has been doing pretty well for me thus far. Classroom tests where I simply revise from reading notes / doing past papers etc. I tend to achieve E-C's ( excluding psych where I consistently maintain A's ) however whenever I use the typing method for big mock exams I achieve A's and B's. But ofc with the abundance of content I have now, typing is becoming a bit too long and tiring for me.

As for looking thru mark schemes, it ahain comes back down to me becoming overwhelmed on not knowing where to start. Truth be told, I don't understand a lick of biology so I'm in a constant state of ????


Do you have the revision guide?
Reply 4
Original post by Blue_Cow
Do you have the revision guide?

I dont have it. I did borrow it from the library for a period of time but i never really used it.
Original post by Sammy_789
I am about to start my second year of A-Levels in September and I am STRESSED.
By the end of first year I'm just barely hanging on. I'm getting my high grades but I'm convinced its just luck bc truth my told my revision ethic is trash.

I'm a month into the summer holidays and i haven't revised once. Partly bc I can barely find the motivation to get out of bed let alone pick up a book. But its also the fact that the few instances i have gotten my revision stuff, I become so overwhelmed on where to start i end up putting it all away.

My main issue is biology of which is my worst out of the three of my subjects. While the others ( chemistry and psychology ) i have mustered up the strength to at least complete the summer hw, I haven't even touched the biology hw.

I'm hoping to study optometry at university but regardless of course, I'd still like to achieve triple A's. How do I do it? How do i get motivated? Where do I start?

To be honest, my method of revision current is rewriting my notes on my laptop in short hand, reading over it, deleting it, then retyping it all from memory then going back over it to see what has been missed. I do this repeatedly until nothing has been missed. I also have trouble understanding exam questions, what they want from me.


Summer is supposed to be a break! Most students won't have revised over summer, I certainly didn't the summer after I was in year 12. It's great that you want to start A2 from where you left off but it's important to take a rest as well. Right now you really don't have to push yourself if you don't want to, and I would suggest taking the time off from college so that you don't get burnt out when school starts up again. If you want to be productive then now would be a very good time to do some work experience. It might be difficult to organise at short notice, but that would help improve your university application as well as possibly helping to motivate you by reminding you what you're working for :smile: Just an idea anyway.

For chemistry and biology my main advice is to do past papers galore. Memorising the content is important but equally important is your ability to apply it to questions and word things the way examiners want is also essential. Practice questions are your friend!
Original post by Sammy_789
I dont have it. I did borrow it from the library for a period of time but i never really used it.


It should be your best friend!! All my notes were made from it.
Reply 7
I used to do the typing thing for psychology only id write everything out then rewrite it until i learnt everything. This worked for me in year 12 too but year 13 it just wasnt working bc theres so much content. What i then started doing was pretending there was someone with me (essentially speaking to myself) and teaching them. You could try and see if this works or actually teach someone what youve learnt.
Of course there are other methods of revision that im sure you can try.
Reply 8
For biology, one of the big things you need to do is collect all the high marking questions and try to answer them (this should be open book at this stage, but later on you can redo them closed book). See how you do, but don’t beat yourself up about it if it doesn’t go well as this is just practice. Then compare markschemes for similar topics, and make a not of all the things you need to include, particularly the words that are underlined. Try to create plans or outlines for how you will answer a question on each topic. It makes prioritising so much easier and helps you form links between topics.
Also, I don’t know anyone who started revising this early, but definietely do the homework- they set it for a reason
Reply 9
Original post by Little Tail Chaser
Summer is supposed to be a break! Most students won't have revised over summer, I certainly didn't the summer after I was in year 12. It's great that you want to start A2 from where you left off but it's important to take a rest as well. Right now you really don't have to push yourself if you don't want to, and I would suggest taking the time off from college so that you don't get burnt out when school starts up again. If you want to be productive then now would be a very good time to do some work experience. It might be difficult to organise at short notice, but that would help improve your university application as well as possibly helping to motivate you by reminding you what you're working for :smile: Just an idea anyway.

For chemistry and biology my main advice is to do past papers galore. Memorising the content is important but equally important is your ability to apply it to questions and word things the way examiners want is also essential. Practice questions are your friend!

My main reason for wanting to stay on top of things is because we have exams 3 weeks after we go back to test us on everything from yr12 plus the new yr13 content! So I'm a bit nervous. My lack of understanding of the content is also making me feel quite down due to the fact I'm not really a student who fails often so all this is throwing me off and I want to do better! And yes, i do have quite a few work experience opportunities in the works at the moment so im not too stressed about finding those- i also work a part time job which my desired uni says is desirable for studying optomery as it proves my capability in handling member of the public.

I shall try my best to do that thanks! Some topics ( ahem stuff like energy transfer and plants ) are such a bore tho!!!
Reply 10
Original post by Blue_Cow
It should be your best friend!! All my notes were made from it.

It kept giving me all this extra unneeded info that would just confuse me truth be told. I simply go by the spec. I check the textbook in desperate times but im definately living without it.
Reply 11
Original post by Samiik
I used to do the typing thing for psychology only id write everything out then rewrite it until i learnt everything. This worked for me in year 12 too but year 13 it just wasnt working bc theres so much content. What i then started doing was pretending there was someone with me (essentially speaking to myself) and teaching them. You could try and see if this works or actually teach someone what youve learnt.
Of course there are other methods of revision that im sure you can try.

Yes i am having the exact same problem of having too much to type! I do sometimes teach my friend who is also doing psych as she struggles with it a lot more than I do but I'll definately try out the talking to myself one aha
Reply 12
Original post by RT24601
For biology, one of the big things you need to do is collect all the high marking questions and try to answer them (this should be open book at this stage, but later on you can redo them closed book). See how you do, but don’t beat yourself up about it if it doesn’t go well as this is just practice. Then compare markschemes for similar topics, and make a not of all the things you need to include, particularly the words that are underlined. Try to create plans or outlines for how you will answer a question on each topic. It makes prioritising so much easier and helps you form links between topics.
Also, I don’t know anyone who started revising this early, but definietely do the homework- they set it for a reason

This is so helpful thank you! I'll try to do the whole making a plan on how to answer questions, i feel that will prove useful.
The hw is to finish learning about energy transfer ( our learning got a bit skewed due to a teacher change ) and write a 24 mark essay and due to my lack of understanding / knowledge im really dreading starting any of it!!
Reply 13
Original post by Sammy_789
This is so helpful thank you! I'll try to do the whole making a plan on how to answer questions, i feel that will prove useful.
The hw is to finish learning about energy transfer ( our learning got a bit skewed due to a teacher change ) and write a 24 mark essay and due to my lack of understanding / knowledge im really dreading starting any of it!!

So with the homework I’d honestly suggest going back to gcse. What do you remember from gcse about any of it? Start with that and then expand on it, as that’s basically all a-level is. I know it’s super dull, so try make it fun, or at least don’t force yourself through it all in one go. Narrate what you do if that helps you and don’t be afraid to doodle little diagrams. I always foud that beginning at the very basics was helpful as it put it all in perspective for me

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