Revision tips for A/A* at A level

Anyone got any specific revision tips for how to achieve A/A*s at A level? Specifically for Biology, Chemistry and Sociology.

Reply 1

Study Stream

9

For Chemistry, and I cant stress this enough, just do past papers. Even if you semi-understand a question, simply doing some past papers will helps you develop an understanding and also allow you to identify the key components of the question and what the examiner is looking for. Its important that you try to do hard question on topics that you struggle at, so they become strengths before you enter the actual exam.

For Biology, just try to stay on the SPEC and concentrate on getting a detailed understanding of the topics. In terms of exam structure, again practice does help, because you can see patterns in the kind of thing the examiner is looking for. For example, for OCR biology, if you answering a question related to planning a sampling investigation, you always get marks for saying: Use a key to identify the species, repeat the experiment in different locations and repeat the experiments over different seasons.

Reply 2

sophie_emily

OP

5

Original post by Study Stream

For Chemistry, and I cant stress this enough, just do past papers. Even if you semi-understand a question, simply doing some past papers will helps you develop an understanding and also allow you to identify the key components of the question and what the examiner is looking for. Its important that you try to do hard question on topics that you struggle at, so they become strengths before you enter the actual exam.

For Biology, just try to stay on the SPEC and concentrate on getting a detailed understanding of the topics. In terms of exam structure, again practice does help, because you can see patterns in the kind of thing the examiner is looking for. For example, for OCR biology, if you answering a question related to planning a sampling investigation, you always get marks for saying: Use a key to identify the species, repeat the experiment in different locations and repeat the experiments over different seasons.

Thank you!
How would you recommend structuring revision? Should I learn a topic then complete exam questions on that topic, or should I learn the course in full and then complete exam questions. How would you recommend initial learning of content e.g. note taking, revision cards?

Reply 3

Study Stream

9

Original post by sophie_emily

Thank you!
How would you recommend structuring revision? Should I learn a topic then complete exam questions on that topic, or should I learn the course in full and then complete exam questions. How would you recommend initial learning of content e.g. note taking, revision cards?

If first year, I recommend doing the topic and then the topic tests associated (physics and maths tutor.com). save the mocks for later on.

if your second year, then do a topic and then a mock.

Reply 4

Study Stream

9

Original post by sophie_emily

Thank you!
How would you recommend structuring revision? Should I learn a topic then complete exam questions on that topic, or should I learn the course in full and then complete exam questions. How would you recommend initial learning of content e.g. note taking, revision cards?

and considering the initial learning content, it depends in how your work best, but if your second year then I don't recommend doing revision cards this late, as they can take very long.

I recommend that if you do want to use flashcards, you get anki. It's a flashcard app (there are online flashcards available for biology and chemistry), which is a little difficult to use, but takes in the concept of active recall to make revision extremely effective, which is why I use it over Quizlet.

Revision tips for A/A* at A level

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