calling all a* a level students!!!!!!!!
hey so i didnt perform amazing in my AS, too long of a story to explain but all im saying is that i have the motivation and determination to get amazing A2 results in biology, chemistry and maths, i even started my own studygram!!!
i would really love it if any of you guys who have achieved A* or A in Biology, Chemistry or Maths could just share some of your tips and tricks! I would be really grateful, especially advice on how you managed to get an A*/A (e.g how you revise, how long you revise for, when you revise etc)
thank you so much!!!!!
i would really love it if any of you guys who have achieved A* or A in Biology, Chemistry or Maths could just share some of your tips and tricks! I would be really grateful, especially advice on how you managed to get an A*/A (e.g how you revise, how long you revise for, when you revise etc)
thank you so much!!!!!
Scroll to see replies
Original post by medicinemaniac
hey so i didnt perform amazing in my AS, too long of a story to explain but all im saying is that i have the motivation and determination to get amazing A2 results in biology, chemistry and maths, i even started my own studygram!!!
i would really love it if any of you guys who have achieved A* or A in Biology, Chemistry or Maths could just share some of your tips and tricks! I would be really grateful, especially advice on how you managed to get an A*/A (e.g how you revise, how long you revise for, when you revise etc)
thank you so much!!!!!
i would really love it if any of you guys who have achieved A* or A in Biology, Chemistry or Maths could just share some of your tips and tricks! I would be really grateful, especially advice on how you managed to get an A*/A (e.g how you revise, how long you revise for, when you revise etc)
thank you so much!!!!!
Got an A* in maths and an A in bio and physics. For maths, i just did every single past papers available for my spec. For bio, i literally just memorised the cgp book. I started revising for my A2 exams at the start of the Easter holiday, and did like 7-10 hours a day.
I got an A* in A Level maths, but I'm not a good example as I did further maths aswell, so I was doing maths twice as often. I don't really revise for anything due to a complete a chronic lack of enthusiasm and concentration when attempting to revise. Just do past papers here and there, you dont need to do all of them in one day and stress yourself out. Read worked answers in textbooks aswell. And in the exam try to have your first attempt at a question your ONLY attempt i.e. dont cross out half a page of working and restart, it's better to spend an additional minute to confirm in your head what approach you're gonna take to answer a question. I cross out so much in the real exams and it stresses you out more than anything else. Also consider resitting papers if you have the money to pay for it, I spend so much on resitting and it helped me to redeem myself. And dont think more resits = more papers = more workload because the stuff in the resits you should be familiar with mostly. GL 
K I got A* in Maths and Further Maths, and A in Lit and Physics.
For Maths, as everyone else has said, just do loads and loads of past papers. Also make sure you know what is on the spec, because something may not have come up in many years, but if it's on the spec it can be examined.
For physics, the CGP book saved my ass, along with the topic notes for each unit on Physics and Maths tutor. I would imagine there is something similar out there for Chem or Bio, as it is on the Physics and Maths Tutor website.
For Maths, as everyone else has said, just do loads and loads of past papers. Also make sure you know what is on the spec, because something may not have come up in many years, but if it's on the spec it can be examined.
For physics, the CGP book saved my ass, along with the topic notes for each unit on Physics and Maths tutor. I would imagine there is something similar out there for Chem or Bio, as it is on the Physics and Maths Tutor website.
Original post by vicvic38
K I got A* in Maths and Further Maths, and A in Lit and Physics.
For Maths, as everyone else has said, just do loads and loads of past papers. Also make sure you know what is on the spec, because something may not have come up in many years, but if it's on the spec it can be examined.
For physics, the CGP book saved my ass, along with the topic notes for each unit on Physics and Maths tutor. I would imagine there is something similar out there for Chem or Bio, as it is on the Physics and Maths Tutor website.
For Maths, as everyone else has said, just do loads and loads of past papers. Also make sure you know what is on the spec, because something may not have come up in many years, but if it's on the spec it can be examined.
For physics, the CGP book saved my ass, along with the topic notes for each unit on Physics and Maths tutor. I would imagine there is something similar out there for Chem or Bio, as it is on the Physics and Maths Tutor website.
Hey man I did Further maths too doing FP1, FP2, FP3, M1, M2, M3! You?
Original post by vicvic38
K I got A* in Maths and Further Maths, and A in Lit and Physics.
For Maths, as everyone else has said, just do loads and loads of past papers. Also make sure you know what is on the spec, because something may not have come up in many years, but if it's on the spec it can be examined.
For physics, the CGP book saved my ass, along with the topic notes for each unit on Physics and Maths tutor. I would imagine there is something similar out there for Chem or Bio, as it is on the Physics and Maths Tutor website.
For Maths, as everyone else has said, just do loads and loads of past papers. Also make sure you know what is on the spec, because something may not have come up in many years, but if it's on the spec it can be examined.
For physics, the CGP book saved my ass, along with the topic notes for each unit on Physics and Maths tutor. I would imagine there is something similar out there for Chem or Bio, as it is on the Physics and Maths Tutor website.
cgp is heaven. without it, i think i would've done alot worse in my gcse's and a levels. Would never in a million years read those endorsed textbooks, that are like 400 pages long.
Memorise all the content for a certain exam, then start testing yourself on it. Do every past paper you can get your hands on. Every. Single. One. Questions, or question formats, will be reused. I got 100% in mechanics just because I'd already done every type of question they could've asked me.
Original post by Elliott M
Hey man I did Further maths too doing FP1, FP2, FP3, M1, M2, M3! You?
I did:
FP1, NM, D1, FP2, M2, D2.
NM is Numerical Methods, which is a unit only offered on OCR MEI as far as I am aware, and it's basically that one part of C3 with the trapezium, Simpson's and midpoint rules, thrown in with some numerical root finding, uncertainty, and a piece of coursework (which was weird.)
Got A* in Maths 
To revise I used so many different resources. I did as many questions as possible in the textbooks we got given from the library, went onto examsolutions.co.uk and watched videos on topics I didn't get and did their topic questions for my examboard (that website is amazing and honestly I doubt I'd have got an A* without god bless it omg), did all the past papers, and also you can find a collection of questions for different topics within the modules such as C3 and C4 on mathsandphysicstutor.
To revise I used so many different resources. I did as many questions as possible in the textbooks we got given from the library, went onto examsolutions.co.uk and watched videos on topics I didn't get and did their topic questions for my examboard (that website is amazing and honestly I doubt I'd have got an A* without god bless it omg), did all the past papers, and also you can find a collection of questions for different topics within the modules such as C3 and C4 on mathsandphysicstutor.Original post by vicvic38
I did:
FP1, NM, D1, FP2, M2, D2.
NM is Numerical Methods, which is a unit only offered on OCR MEI as far as I am aware, and it's basically that one part of C3 with the trapezium, Simpson's and midpoint rules, thrown in with some numerical root finding, uncertainty, and a piece of coursework (which was weird.)
FP1, NM, D1, FP2, M2, D2.
NM is Numerical Methods, which is a unit only offered on OCR MEI as far as I am aware, and it's basically that one part of C3 with the trapezium, Simpson's and midpoint rules, thrown in with some numerical root finding, uncertainty, and a piece of coursework (which was weird.)
Oh yeah I did Edexcel btw and holy **** you did D2? Edexcel D2 looks horrible dont even go there lol
Original post by chasmiths
Got A* in Maths To revise I used so many different resources. I did as many questions as possible in the textbooks we got given from the library, went onto examsolutions.co.uk and watched videos on topics I didn't get and did their topic questions for my examboard (that website is amazing and honestly I doubt I'd have got an A* without god bless it omg), did all the past papers, and also you can find a collection of questions for different topics within the modules such as C3 and C4 on mathsandphysicstutor.
To revise I used so many different resources. I did as many questions as possible in the textbooks we got given from the library, went onto examsolutions.co.uk and watched videos on topics I didn't get and did their topic questions for my examboard (that website is amazing and honestly I doubt I'd have got an A* without god bless it omg), did all the past papers, and also you can find a collection of questions for different topics within the modules such as C3 and C4 on mathsandphysicstutor.As for revision I started very early, began revising for the mocks in October 2017 and then after the mocks just continued revising. Started on 3 hours a day and increased my hours towards study leave. On weekends I'd do 8 hour days which is excessive for sure but I needed it as I'm quite a slow learner and need more time to revise.
maths, do every past paper from 2006. chem every paper since 2002, bio every paper from 2009. it takes a while but once you get into it you can easily do like 6 papers a day in the same amount of time that other people are using spending ages making notes that they'll likely never read again. notes are great for learning content, just summarising the stuff you need to know is really helpful, but near exam time, doing as many papers as you can is the way to go. ofc you dont need to do all of them, but it might make you feel more confident knowing that you've done all the papers and the examiners setting the new papers are likely going to look at the older ones for inspiration (in my physics paper I recognised most of the questions from old papers I had already done)
also for chemistry use chemrevise and e rintoul, , bio use cgp and tailored tutors videos on youtube, for maths exam solutions is amazinggggg
good luck
also for chemistry use chemrevise and e rintoul, , bio use cgp and tailored tutors videos on youtube, for maths exam solutions is amazinggggg
good luck
Original post by Elliott M
Oh yeah I did Edexcel btw and holy **** you did D2? Edexcel D2 looks horrible dont even go there lol
D2 is kinda like cracking a code. If you know what to do, it's actually pretty easy to get marks. MEI has the best D2 though, because it is literally 4 topics, so you get every topic every year (4 questions on an MEI A2 unit paper.)
There is Formal Logic, which is just thinking about things.
There is Decision trees, which is combining probability and money to determine best course of action.
Linear Programming 2: Electric Boogaloo. Basically what you do in M1, but with some Black magic involved to do more than 2 variables. It's maximising variables to a set of constraints.
Networks. You do Chinese Postman problem, which is trying to find the shortest route down every line, and Travelling saleperson which is the shortest route through every node.
Here is one of the papers. Go to question 2 and have a think about it. Those questions are a good thought exercise.
Original post by sdfsdd
Got an A* in maths and an A in bio and physics. For maths, i just did every single past papers available for my spec. For bio, i literally just memorised the cgp book. I started revising for my A2 exams at the start of the Easter holiday, and did like 7-10 hours a day.
congrats, thats amazing!! do you have any advice on stats & mechanics since thats the part of maths i find the most difficult tbh!
Hi, I do Maths, Biology and Chemistry and am going into year 13.
This year at AS, I got AAB and will definitely be predicted A*s and A's next year. The B I got at AS was in chemistry but I was only 4% off an A. I've shared my revision tips here: https://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/showpost.php?p=79104300&postcount=32
This year at AS, I got AAB and will definitely be predicted A*s and A's next year. The B I got at AS was in chemistry but I was only 4% off an A. I've shared my revision tips here: https://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/showpost.php?p=79104300&postcount=32
Original post by Elliott M
I got an A* in A Level maths, but I'm not a good example as I did further maths aswell, so I was doing maths twice as often. I don't really revise for anything due to a complete a chronic lack of enthusiasm and concentration when attempting to revise. Just do past papers here and there, you dont need to do all of them in one day and stress yourself out. Read worked answers in textbooks aswell. And in the exam try to have your first attempt at a question your ONLY attempt i.e. dont cross out half a page of working and restart, it's better to spend an additional minute to confirm in your head what approach you're gonna take to answer a question. I cross out so much in the real exams and it stresses you out more than anything else. Also consider resitting papers if you have the money to pay for it, I spend so much on resitting and it helped me to redeem myself. And dont think more resits = more papers = more workload because the stuff in the resits you should be familiar with mostly. GL
i cant resit since i want to go into medicine and they dont really accept resits but that sounds like a great place, especially the worked answers in textbooks, thank you so much!! well done on your A*
Original post by vicvic38
K I got A* in Maths and Further Maths, and A in Lit and Physics.
For Maths, as everyone else has said, just do loads and loads of past papers. Also make sure you know what is on the spec, because something may not have come up in many years, but if it's on the spec it can be examined.
For physics, the CGP book saved my ass, along with the topic notes for each unit on Physics and Maths tutor. I would imagine there is something similar out there for Chem or Bio, as it is on the Physics and Maths Tutor website.
For Maths, as everyone else has said, just do loads and loads of past papers. Also make sure you know what is on the spec, because something may not have come up in many years, but if it's on the spec it can be examined.
For physics, the CGP book saved my ass, along with the topic notes for each unit on Physics and Maths tutor. I would imagine there is something similar out there for Chem or Bio, as it is on the Physics and Maths Tutor website.
that's amazing, well done!!! and are there any websites which are good for past papers for maths because i do the new linear course so im not sure if C1/C2 etc are relevant
Original post by Aranos
Memorise all the content for a certain exam, then start testing yourself on it. Do every past paper you can get your hands on. Every. Single. One. Questions, or question formats, will be reused. I got 100% in mechanics just because I'd already done every type of question they could've asked me.
mechanics and statistics is the part of maths i struggle on, on the Pure section I was getting consistent Bs but it's just mechanics and statistics which would put me down
i find it hard to understand what actually is happening, ESPECIALLY statisticsOriginal post by chasmiths
Got A* in Maths To revise I used so many different resources. I did as many questions as possible in the textbooks we got given from the library, went onto examsolutions.co.uk and watched videos on topics I didn't get and did their topic questions for my examboard (that website is amazing and honestly I doubt I'd have got an A* without god bless it omg), did all the past papers, and also you can find a collection of questions for different topics within the modules such as C3 and C4 on mathsandphysicstutor.
To revise I used so many different resources. I did as many questions as possible in the textbooks we got given from the library, went onto examsolutions.co.uk and watched videos on topics I didn't get and did their topic questions for my examboard (that website is amazing and honestly I doubt I'd have got an A* without god bless it omg), did all the past papers, and also you can find a collection of questions for different topics within the modules such as C3 and C4 on mathsandphysicstutor.well done on your A* i use examsolutions! i should probably use it way more though, thank you sooo much
Original post by chasmiths
As for revision I started very early, began revising for the mocks in October 2017 and then after the mocks just continued revising. Started on 3 hours a day and increased my hours towards study leave. On weekends I'd do 8 hour days which is excessive for sure but I needed it as I'm quite a slow learner and need more time to revise.
yeah im about to make sure that i have all my notes finished for all my subjects by october/november so i can start revising early, for maths its just ogoing to be consistent work for me!
Original post by hello2906
maths, do every past paper from 2006. chem every paper since 2002, bio every paper from 2009. it takes a while but once you get into it you can easily do like 6 papers a day in the same amount of time that other people are using spending ages making notes that they'll likely never read again. notes are great for learning content, just summarising the stuff you need to know is really helpful, but near exam time, doing as many papers as you can is the way to go. ofc you dont need to do all of them, but it might make you feel more confident knowing that you've done all the papers and the examiners setting the new papers are likely going to look at the older ones for inspiration (in my physics paper I recognised most of the questions from old papers I had already done)
also for chemistry use chemrevise and e rintoul, , bio use cgp and tailored tutors videos on youtube, for maths exam solutions is amazinggggg
good luck
also for chemistry use chemrevise and e rintoul, , bio use cgp and tailored tutors videos on youtube, for maths exam solutions is amazinggggg
good luck
where do you get the past papers from for maths, chem and biology?? but thank you soo much! i make flashcards for bio and chem but in the form of questions so im consistently testing myself as another form of exam paper and all my notes are based around the spec so i have all the information, i will definitely give past papers more of a try this year! what if stuff that isnt on my spec (im doing new linear spec for bio, chem and maths) comes up? do i just miss it or should i give it a go??
Original post by Volibear
Got A*AA in bio, chem, and Spanish. However, I did A-levels back in the day when all you had to do was memorise the mark scheme and that was full UMS lol
well done on your results!!
Original post by Grade A
Hi, I do Maths, Biology and Chemistry and am going into year 13.
This year at AS, I got AAB and will definitely be predicted A*s and A's next year. The B I got at AS was in chemistry but I was only 4% off an A. I've shared my revision tips here: https://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/showpost.php?p=79104300&postcount=32
This year at AS, I got AAB and will definitely be predicted A*s and A's next year. The B I got at AS was in chemistry but I was only 4% off an A. I've shared my revision tips here: https://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/showpost.php?p=79104300&postcount=32
omg well done on your AS results! I did so bad in mine lol, really upset me but in all honesty, i could've worked WAY harder! thank you
Original post by medicinemaniac
omg well done on your AS results! I did so bad in mine lol, really upset me but in all honesty, i could've worked WAY harder! thank you
Thanks, and no problem. Just learn from your mistakes. I haven't always been academic but this year I had decided to really push myself and I hope to continue to do so.
i try really hard in all honesty, just at the end of yr 12 i went along the wrong path and didnt work as hard as i could have, i was getting Bs all year in maths and then I dropped to an E in the exam lol, worst moment of my life my teachers know im hard working and that i had a bad day so i just wanna prove that i am a higher grade student because i definitely do not deserve an E, and im sure you will, your dedication is evident (esp from that thread you linked, its inspiring) you could start a studygram tbh! i have one and its great
my teachers know im hard working and that i had a bad day so i just wanna prove that i am a higher grade student because i definitely do not deserve an E, and im sure you will, your dedication is evident (esp from that thread you linked, its inspiring) you could start a studygram tbh! i have one and its great Original post by Grade A
Thanks, and no problem. Just learn from your mistakes. I haven't always been academic but this year I had decided to really push myself and I hope to continue to do so.
Original post by medicinemaniac
i just wanna prove that i am a higher grade student because i definitely do not deserve an E, and im sure you will, your dedication is evident (esp from that thread you linked, its inspiring) you could start a studygram tbh! i have one and its great
Stawp it, you're making me blush
I was actually planning to start a study youtube channel like Unjaded Jade and Eve Bennet in my gap year!Remember to not lose belief in yourself even if others do. If getting good grades was easy, everyone would do it.
I'm sure your teachers would understand that it was just a 'one-off' when you got the E. But ensure you back yourself up when getting your predicted grades off your teachers by showing them your performance throughout the year. You can easily argue that you weren't feeling right on the day and so the teachers can't really predict you lower than an A/B if you were getting these grades before.
Good luck
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