Upping my A - level grades

I've got one more week of year 12 then it's summer holidays! However, all my grades were WAY below average for my mocks.

My subjects: Maths, Physics and Computer Science.

My mock marks:

Statistics and Mechanics: 11/100 ( D )
Pure Mathematics: 18/100 ( D)
Computer Science: 25/80 (D)
Physics: Haven't been given but teacher said i'm not doing so well.

I picked these subjects because:
1) I enjoy them
2) I did quite well on them in my GCSE's getting atleast a 7,8 or a 9 on them.

Do you guys think i could turn my grades around for the next 10 to 11 months? Hoping for A* A* A , A A A* or at least A A A

Reply 1

mnot

Universities Forum Helper

Original post by Inmate_I

So its been a few years, but i did similar A-levels.

With Maths, really focus on the understanding, it might be painful but going through calculus algebraically can really shoot up your understanding. Go back and use all the past papers for maths you can find the old-spec ones for the last 20 years online and they are all useful, working through them, learning how to see though the problems is key. Maths is all logic driven.

Stats & Mechanics the core maths at A-level is not hard, its just about combining the techniques and knowing when/how to apply certain rules, again just smash out the past papers, you have 20 years worth of past papers online so no excuses

Physics, is mostly a memorisation game, go through the specification and learn the detail. Obviously there is some maths, but if you can do A-level maths the stuff in physics is pretty easy. Its a bit harder past-paper wise here as there are less past papers & more significant syllabus changes every few years, so focus initially on a very strong foundation of all core formulas & theories.

Cant help for CompSci as i have never studied it.

Reply 2

JT_888

Original post by Inmate_I

Hi there. I think you could turn your grades around before you sit your A-Levels but you should have a meeting between you, your parents, your subject teachers and your Head of Year to discuss next steps based on your mock results. It may be sensible to repeat Year 12 to ensure that you have a solid foundation before going to Year 13. Hope this helps. :smile:

Reply 3

Muttley79

Original post by Inmate_I

You need to do some work over the summer. For maths you could use this website: https://allaboutmaths.aqa.org.uk/newspec8300

Try to get your papers back so you can see where your weaker areas were.

If you plan to go to uni you need to improve by September so you can start getting higher grades - maybe ask for a re-test?

Reply 4

Muttley79

Original post by mnot

So its been a few years, but i did similar A-levels.

Stats & Mechanics the core maths at A-level is not hard, its just about combining the techniques and knowing when/how to apply certain rules, again just smash out the past papers, you have 20 years worth of past papers online so no excuses

All A levels have changed since you did them - there are not 20 years of past papers ...

Reply 5

mnot

Universities Forum Helper

Original post by Muttley79

All A levels have changed since you did them - there are not 20 years of past papers ...

Yes, the maths syllabus has changes so whilst for final exam prep they are not ideal, the questions in them are fine, trig identities, calculus, logs, vectors etc. the rules of mathematics dont change... they are still excellent resources for practice and even if they are worded slightly differently the theory is the same, for applying stuff like the 'chain rule' does not change.

With mechanics and stats the rules again are the same just with a different paper structure, they are excellent free resources for practice questions.

Reply 6

Muttley79

Original post by mnot

No - they are significantly different and the exam boards have given teachers lots of better resources.

Reply 7

mnot

Universities Forum Helper

Original post by Muttley79

No - they are significantly different and the exam boards have given teachers lots of better resources.

Ive had a look at the papers the stuff today is just organised differently.

The content is distributed into 3 papers instead of 6, and so an old C1,C2,C3,C4 is not representative of a current paper the questions are the same topics are used and the individual questions are still great practice, they might be a little more difficult 10 years ago but if u can solve them, it will only help the stuff on todays papers.