The Student Room Group

I need to get my life back on track. Please tell me how to self learn these subjects.

I am a 19 year old man who spent the best part of the past 3 years dealing with a chronic disease. It surfaced after my GCSE'S and affected me throughout my 3 years of A Levels. I did the second year twice as I was hospitalised for months before my exam the first time and was only out of hospital on October. I was supposed to sit my exams this summer but once again my health prevented me from achieving this and like the year before I was once again on my death bed. I had missed over 12 months of school over the past two years.


My school has been so helpful and kind to allow me to finally sit my exams the next summer (2019) but they are not allowed to teach me. This means I will have to learn the syllabus myself. Even though been doing A Levels for 3 years I am a very poor student who has only rarely managed to get grade B’s in class test. Usually I get U’s and E’s. I am not present when the topics are being taught, I am unaware when the class tests are, I felt as if I barely go to school. I just turned up when I was able to, only to just fail miserably in class. I am very much frustrated with my education as I have blaming my health for my shortcomings with exams. I had to spent hours every day to address my health even when I am able to go to school. I still feel like I could have done more. Even if I was able to sit my exams this year, I honestly thing I would have gotten all E grades as I have do not put in the extra effort to catch up with the work I have been missing. I have been depressed for as long as I could remember but the past 5 years have been very bad. I do not go out. I have zero friends. I had no one at school to help me catch up.


But all that is over now. My recent medication has been working well. I haven’t felt this physically well in years. Mentally I still have a long journey ahead. But I do know one thing though, I want to continue with my A levels and pull of top grades. I have wasted 3 years on this qualification only to get nowhere. But this year I must learn the whole syllabus on my own. My health is still an issue but it’s a lot better as I only have to spend less than an hour with my medications every day. Main thing is that I have more energy to do thing now than I have done for the past few years.


I do the new AQA Biology and Chemistry and the old Edexcel Maths (the one with C1 4, S1 and M1). Please give me advice on time management and how to tackle the new AQA Biology and Chemistry specification. Any good websites and other resources you can think of? As I will have spent 4 years on A level when I finally sit my exam, I want to get at least 3 A grades. So, any advice on achieving this will help me greatly. I apologise for the long backstory for this thread, but I felt it was necessary to understand what I have been doing for the past 3 years and where I am coming from when I enter this final year of my A level education. Thank you all for reading.

Scroll to see replies

Original post by HolyMackerel
I am a 19 year old man who spent the best part of the past 3 years dealing with a chronic disease. It surfaced after my GCSE'S and affected me throughout my 3 years of A Levels. I did the second year twice as I was hospitalised for months before my exam the first time and was only out of hospital on October. I was supposed to sit my exams this summer but once again my health prevented me from achieving this and like the year before I was once again on my death bed. I had missed over 12 months of school over the past two years.


My school has been so helpful and kind to allow me to finally sit my exams the next summer (2019) but they are not allowed to teach me. This means I will have to learn the syllabus myself. Even though been doing A Levels for 3 years I am a very poor student who has only rarely managed to get grade B’s in class test. Usually I get U’s and E’s. I am not present when the topics are being taught, I am unaware when the class tests are, I felt as if I barely go to school. I just turned up when I was able to, only to just fail miserably in class. I am very much frustrated with my education as I have blaming my health for my shortcomings with exams. I had to spent hours every day to address my health even when I am able to go to school. I still feel like I could have done more. Even if I was able to sit my exams this year, I honestly thing I would have gotten all E grades as I have do not put in the extra effort to catch up with the work I have been missing. I have been depressed for as long as I could remember but the past 5 years have been very bad. I do not go out. I have zero friends. I had no one at school to help me catch up.


But all that is over now. My recent medication has been working well. I haven’t felt this physically well in years. Mentally I still have a long journey ahead. But I do know one thing though, I want to continue with my A levels and pull of top grades. I have wasted 3 years on this qualification only to get nowhere. But this year I must learn the whole syllabus on my own. My health is still an issue but it’s a lot better as I only have to spend less than an hour with my medications every day. Main thing is that I have more energy to do thing now than I have done for the past few years.


I do the new AQA Biology and Chemistry and the old Edexcel Maths (the one with C1 4, S1 and M1). Please give me advice on time management and how to tackle the new AQA Biology and Chemistry specification. Any good websites and other resources you can think of? As I will have spent 4 years on A level when I finally sit my exam, I want to get at least 3 A grades. So, any advice on achieving this will help me greatly. I apologise for the long backstory for this thread, but I felt it was necessary to understand what I have been doing for the past 3 years and where I am coming from when I enter this final year of my A level education. Thank you all for reading.


First of all, I cannot offer you any valuable advice other than to go into your old sixth form and approach a teacher to ask where you can acquire
study materials specific to the syllabus. If you ask them politely I am sure there will be someone who can help to at least point you in the right direction.

The main reason for my commenting on your post is to say that you are inspirational to all sufferers of mental health issues. You have faced adversity with your health issues and acknowledged the fact that they have hampered your learning. You could of held resentment about this and then go on to let it effect you for the rest of your life. You haven’t done that. You have decided to do all you can to succeed in spite of it. You have taken responsibility for your future and you have set yourself on the path to success.

I really do hope you realise the monumental step you have made into becoming a formidable person because of your attitude. You have decided that you are not a victim of the circumstances that by chance you were found in.

I wish you all the best for your studies and good luck in the future for overcoming your health issues. Thank you for being an example to everyone in showing your strength and determination.
Original post by Mikardo88
First of all, I cannot offer you any valuable advice other than to go into your old sixth form and approach a teacher to ask where you can acquire
study materials specific to the syllabus. If you ask them politely I am sure there will be someone who can help to at least point you in the right direction.

The main reason for my commenting on your post is to say that you are inspirational to all sufferers of mental health issues. You have faced adversity with your health issues and acknowledged the fact that they have hampered your learning. You could of held resentment about this and then go on to let it effect you for the rest of your life. You haven’t done that. You have decided to do all you can to succeed in spite of it. You have taken responsibility for your future and you have set yourself on the path to success.

I really do hope you realise the monumental step you have made into becoming a formidable person because of your attitude. You have decided that you are not a victim of the circumstances that by chance you were found in.

I wish you all the best for your studies and good luck in the future for overcoming your health issues. Thank you for being an example to everyone in showing your strength and determination.

Thank you for the advice for my education. Over the past three years I have acquired plenty of material specific to my syllabus so as far as books and question papers go, I am sorted on that front. But thanks again nevertheless.

As for your kind words about me and my mental health barrier, I can only hope that one day I can be deserving of such high praise. I have merely recognised that my health (mainly physical) had hindered my ability to achieve my educational goals in A Level but I still have a long way to go to put that right. Depression is something I have been dealing with forever but it didn't stop me from achieving my goals. I still did very well in my GCSEs. The turning point of my downfall was a chronic disease, which was physical. But now that issue is a lot better. I just want to get my life back.

However, I appreciate your support with mental health and your understanding it can be hard for people to not give up in the face of such adversity. It is because of people like you that mental health is now taken more seriously and help is more accessible than ever before. Thank you Sir.
Bump
Original post by HolyMackerel
I am a 19 year old man who spent the best part of the past 3 years dealing with a chronic disease. It surfaced after my GCSE'S and affected me throughout my 3 years of A Levels. I did the second year twice as I was hospitalised for months before my exam the first time and was only out of hospital on October. I was supposed to sit my exams this summer but once again my health prevented me from achieving this and like the year before I was once again on my death bed. I had missed over 12 months of school over the past two years.


My school has been so helpful and kind to allow me to finally sit my exams the next summer (2019) but they are not allowed to teach me. This means I will have to learn the syllabus myself. Even though been doing A Levels for 3 years I am a very poor student who has only rarely managed to get grade B’s in class test. Usually I get U’s and E’s. I am not present when the topics are being taught, I am unaware when the class tests are, I felt as if I barely go to school. I just turned up when I was able to, only to just fail miserably in class. I am very much frustrated with my education as I have blaming my health for my shortcomings with exams. I had to spent hours every day to address my health even when I am able to go to school. I still feel like I could have done more. Even if I was able to sit my exams this year, I honestly thing I would have gotten all E grades as I have do not put in the extra effort to catch up with the work I have been missing. I have been depressed for as long as I could remember but the past 5 years have been very bad. I do not go out. I have zero friends. I had no one at school to help me catch up.


But all that is over now. My recent medication has been working well. I haven’t felt this physically well in years. Mentally I still have a long journey ahead. But I do know one thing though, I want to continue with my A levels and pull of top grades. I have wasted 3 years on this qualification only to get nowhere. But this year I must learn the whole syllabus on my own. My health is still an issue but it’s a lot better as I only have to spend less than an hour with my medications every day. Main thing is that I have more energy to do thing now than I have done for the past few years.


I do the new AQA Biology and Chemistry and the old Edexcel Maths (the one with C1 4, S1 and M1). Please give me advice on time management and how to tackle the new AQA Biology and Chemistry specification. Any good websites and other resources you can think of? As I will have spent 4 years on A level when I finally sit my exam, I want to get at least 3 A grades. So, any advice on achieving this will help me greatly. I apologise for the long backstory for this thread, but I felt it was necessary to understand what I have been doing for the past 3 years and where I am coming from when I enter this final year of my A level education. Thank you all for reading.


For AQA bio and chem, just buy the aqa oxford textbooks. You can self teach yourself from there, I self taught myself bio for the whole of year 12 so I can recommend it haha
ell done on preserving :smile: I doubt a lot of people could go through everything you’ve been through and still want to carry on. I hope you recover soon.

I go OCR for chemistry and biology and AQA for maths but there’s lots of very useful and versatile websites online. PhysicsMathsTutor is one of the best and contrary to its band you can fine revision notes and practice exam questions by topics for all the subjects. Chemguide and chemrevise are amazing for chemistry and astarbiology is pretty good as well. There’s some YouTube channels as well but I can’t remember but feel free to check out for yourself. And remember to always have to spec handy

Good luck! Hope you get the grades you want
Original post by LORD_LFC_5
For AQA bio and chem, just buy the aqa oxford textbooks. You can self teach yourself from there, I self taught myself bio for the whole of year 12 so I can recommend it haha


Thank for your reply. I own these books already but I haven't started using them properly yet so I will definitely start implementing them into my revision schedule. If you don't mind me asking, how successful were you in self teaching yourself the year 12 biology topics? Did it take you a long time to effectively cover each topic? How was your revision schedule like?
Original post by krissxkross
ell done on preserving :smile: I doubt a lot of people could go through everything you’ve been through and still want to carry on. I hope you recover soon.

I go OCR for chemistry and biology and AQA for maths but there’s lots of very useful and versatile websites online. PhysicsMathsTutor is one of the best and contrary to its band you can fine revision notes and practice exam questions by topics for all the subjects. Chemguide and chemrevise are amazing for chemistry and astarbiology is pretty good as well. There’s some YouTube channels as well but I can’t remember but feel free to check out for yourself. And remember to always have to spec handy

Good luck! Hope you get the grades you want


Thank for your reply and your kind words. I have used some of the websites you mentioned before but the Astarbiology website is completely new to me so thank you very much. I shall also check YouTube for some good channels for my subjects. Thanks again for your tips.
Original post by HolyMackerel
Thank for your reply. I own these books already but I haven't started using them properly yet so I will definitely start implementing them into my revision schedule. If you don't mind me asking, how successful were you in self teaching yourself the year 12 biology topics? Did it take you a long time to effectively cover each topic? How was your revision schedule like?


I got an A* in my end of year exam (we didn't take AS level exams, just internal), I found some topics challenging like the cardiac cycle so I just found a youtube video on it, and that helped.

I had an awful teacher so in terms of covering each topic, I asked for another biology teacher for his teaching plan and I used that. I can link you with a copy.

In terms of revision I started in December, one big bit of advice would be to do as many questions as you can, also after each topic do a pack of questions with your notes then do an actual test. The best bit of advice I can give is to create a mistake log, where you note all your mistakes and adjust your notes from that... in this way you can tailor your answers to the exam.

EDIT= if you can private message me your email I can send that teacher plan, it won't let me upload it
(edited 5 years ago)
Original post by HolyMackerel
I am a 19 year old man who spent the best part of the past 3 years dealing with a chronic disease. It surfaced after my GCSE'S and affected me throughout my 3 years of A Levels. I did the second year twice as I was hospitalised for months before my exam the first time and was only out of hospital on October. I was supposed to sit my exams this summer but once again my health prevented me from achieving this and like the year before I was once again on my death bed. I had missed over 12 months of school over the past two years.


My school has been so helpful and kind to allow me to finally sit my exams the next summer (2019) but they are not allowed to teach me. This means I will have to learn the syllabus myself. Even though been doing A Levels for 3 years I am a very poor student who has only rarely managed to get grade B’s in class test. Usually I get U’s and E’s. I am not present when the topics are being taught, I am unaware when the class tests are, I felt as if I barely go to school. I just turned up when I was able to, only to just fail miserably in class. I am very much frustrated with my education as I have blaming my health for my shortcomings with exams. I had to spent hours every day to address my health even when I am able to go to school. I still feel like I could have done more. Even if I was able to sit my exams this year, I honestly thing I would have gotten all E grades as I have do not put in the extra effort to catch up with the work I have been missing. I have been depressed for as long as I could remember but the past 5 years have been very bad. I do not go out. I have zero friends. I had no one at school to help me catch up.


But all that is over now. My recent medication has been working well. I haven’t felt this physically well in years. Mentally I still have a long journey ahead. But I do know one thing though, I want to continue with my A levels and pull of top grades. I have wasted 3 years on this qualification only to get nowhere. But this year I must learn the whole syllabus on my own. My health is still an issue but it’s a lot better as I only have to spend less than an hour with my medications every day. Main thing is that I have more energy to do thing now than I have done for the past few years.


I do the new AQA Biology and Chemistry and the old Edexcel Maths (the one with C1 4, S1 and M1). Please give me advice on time management and how to tackle the new AQA Biology and Chemistry specification. Any good websites and other resources you can think of? As I will have spent 4 years on A level when I finally sit my exam, I want to get at least 3 A grades. So, any advice on achieving this will help me greatly. I apologise for the long backstory for this thread, but I felt it was necessary to understand what I have been doing for the past 3 years and where I am coming from when I enter this final year of my A level education. Thank you all for reading.

Specifications are easy to find, just search AQA a level biology/chemistry specification on google and you’ll find it on the aqa website, remember to look at the one from 2015 onwards. When revising remember to tick off each point on the specification as you never know what could come up. In terms of time management, try and do a past paper as soon as possible (once you are confident with the content) and time yourself. Then compare it to how lon you have for the actual exams and look at the questions you struggle with. Work on those questions, to speed up your handwriting or memorisation skills and then re do the same paper. As you keep practising papers you get faster and faster at answering them. I’m sorry I can’t give actual timings because I do a different spec! Hope this helped somehow.
Original post by LORD_LFC_5
I got an A* in my end of year exam (we didn't take AS level exams, just internal), I found some topics challenging like the cardiac cycle so I just found a youtube video on it, and that helped.

I had an awful teacher so in terms of covering each topic, I asked for another biology teacher for his teaching plan and I used that. I can link you with a copy.

In terms of revision I started in December, one big bit of advice would be to do as many questions as you can, also after each topic do a pack of questions with your notes then do an actual test. The best bit of advice I can give is to create a mistake log, where you note all your mistakes and adjust your notes from that... in this way you can tailor your answers to the exam.

EDIT= if you can private message me your email I can send that teacher plan, it won't let me upload it


Thank you so much. This is very helpful, especially the mistake logs technique. Do you know where I can find some questions on the topics for the new specification? And as for the teaching plan, I will like to accept your offer so I can make a learning plan for myself. I will PM you.
Original post by HolyMackerel
Thank you so much. This is very helpful, especially the mistake logs technique. Do you know where I can find some questions on the topics for the new specification? And as for the teaching plan, I will like to accept your offer so I can make a learning plan for myself. I will PM you.


are you sure you are doing old spec maths? (I though you could only do that if you were resitting) if you are using the textbooks and examsolutions is the only thing you need. Read the textbook, if you understand it do as many of the questions as you can (if you get bored skip to the last ones) if you don't understand it use examsolutions then try the questions. Try to do as many past papers when you finish C3/C4

For chemistry chemrevise is really useful and so is just going through the spec and checking what you do/don't know
Thank for your reply. I will take your advice on using questions for my revision. Do you recommend that I only do the questions for my specification (new AQA) or do you think I can do the older specification questions as well?

Original post by Roseoioi
Specifications are easy to find, just search AQA a level biology/chemistry specification on google and you’ll find it on the aqa website, remember to look at the one from 2015 onwards. When revising remember to tick off each point on the specification as you never know what could come up. In terms of time management, try and do a past paper as soon as possible (once you are confident with the content) and time yourself. Then compare it to how lon you have for the actual exams and look at the questions you struggle with. Work on those questions, to speed up your handwriting or memorisation skills and then re do the same paper. As you keep practising papers you get faster and faster at answering them. I’m sorry I can’t give actual timings because I do a different spec! Hope this helped somehow.
Original post by isiaiah d
are you sure you are doing old spec maths? (I though you could only do that if you were resitting) if you are using the textbooks and examsolutions is the only thing you need. Read the textbook, if you understand it do as many of the questions as you can (if you get bored skip to the last ones) if you don't understand it use examsolutions then try the questions. Try to do as many past papers when you finish C3/C4

For chemistry chemrevise is really useful and so is just going through the spec and checking what you do/don't know


Thank for your reply. Yes, I am sure that I am doing the old Edexcel specifiction because I am technically resiting because I was supposed to do the test last summer but I had to be withdrawn from sitting them. I shall use you advice on using examsolution and the the past papers for maths. I am aware of chemrevise and it had been very helpful to me so far.
Original post by HolyMackerel
Thank for your reply. Yes, I am sure that I am doing the old Edexcel specifiction because I am technically resiting because I was supposed to do the test last summer but I had to be withdrawn from sitting them. I shall use you advice on using examsolution and the the past papers for maths. I am aware of chemrevise and it had been very helpful to me so far.


Good, for maths though the textbook will literally be your best friend if you have it (your school may lend it to you if you don't)
its this book btw:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Edexcel-AS-Level-Modular-Mathematics/dp/0435519093
Original post by isiaiah d
Good, for maths though the textbook will literally be your best friend if you have it (your school may lend it to you if you don't)
its this book btw:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Edexcel-AS-Level-Modular-Mathematics/dp/0435519093


Yes I already own these books for all the units I am about to take. I haven't started using them yet but I definitely plan to.
need any textbook pdfs at all?
Original post by tome123
need any textbook pdfs at all?


Thanks for your reply. Do you have any GCSE PDFs ? I could use a refresher on certain topics. It's a little embarrassing because I am almost 20. I PMed you
(edited 5 years ago)
Original post by HolyMackerel
Thank you so much. This is very helpful, especially the mistake logs technique. Do you know where I can find some questions on the topics for the new specification? And as for the teaching plan, I will like to accept your offer so I can make a learning plan for myself. I will PM you.


I use PMT and was desperate for bio qns so bought them off a website can't remember which one it was
Original post by LORD_LFC_5
I use PMT and was desperate for bio qns so bought them off a website can't remember which one it was


Thanks for your reply again. If you can remember the website, please post it on here.

Quick Reply

Latest