hiya I got an A* with AQA in 2022 and id be happy to answer !
my best tip honestly: get good at memorisation. I felt the entire a level was being able to remember vast amounts of information, and basically regurgitate this. I naturally can memorise things very well and the method I used closer to the exams was blurting. this is the best thing ever, trust me. look at your notes and memorise as much as you can. blurt whatever you know, then go back through your notes and fill in anything you missed, then blurt again. I know its a long process but you will not believe how much more detail your memory will have. even just saying what you know outloud works. when I was walking home from school I used to just think of everything I know to try and challenge myself.flashcards, or any active recall is your bestie.
KNOW YOUR KEY STUDIES INSIDE OUT. Im talking method , procedure, limitations, weaknesses.
don't underestimate the importanve of research methods. can be the easiest marks ever to pick up. when it all clicks in your head it so easy and the questions almost always repeat itself. know your types of validity, bias , sampling methods too. PRACtISE QUESTIOSN are your best friend for research methods.
when you're practising questions make sure you are writing them out and giving yourself strict time limits. I barely practised writing out essays and I underestimated the intense time pressure in the exam. i didn't even finish my 1st paper and had to rush my 2nd A lot - you honestly will be writing non stop w no rest. train yourself early on to continually write. the more you time yourself, the quicker youre gonna get.
I can't tell you how important structure is !!! a badly structured answer w good points will lose you valuable marks----
I sat mine with AQA, and I found the best ways to get 16/16 or full marks was this structure: A01 (describing the concepts. using key words is so important here),
then A02 (if needed. this is basically referring back to the question and maybe using quotes from the passage, and elaborating on them and linking back to the question),
then A03 (this is evaluation. my teacher always recommended 4 elaborated evaluation points per 16 marker that include studies to back it up, and 2/3 really well elobarated evaluation points for an 8 marker. it doesn't matter if you do more strengths than limitations etc, as long as you explaining well.) ALWAYS start your evaluation with an opener like "One limitation of the working memory model is ........." then explain further and at the end always link back to the question
I didnt revise during the year at all - I started revising for paper 1 a month before, and after paper 1 I had about a week to revise paper 2, and then only a few days to revise for paper 3. the morning of my paper 2 and paper 3 exam I woke up at 5am to just blurt everything for the paper - for me this worked well idk why. BUT I wouldn't suggest it.
revise as much as you can early on regardless of when your papers are to build up long term memory. the only reason why is still managed an A* was the fact my consistent note taking throughout the year meant I only had to memorise before my exams. notes are so important. always split up your topic into sub topics, then per subtopic do A01 and well elaborated A03 points FILLED with studies to support or show a limitation. you can just learn this by heart then . so for eg for psychopathology split it into each theory, then for each theory do Ao1 and a03. literally keep on top of the note taking as this is gonna save you soooooo much time when youre getting closer to exams as you would have already done the hard work.
ik this is a lot but you got this! if you have any questions at all pls let me know, and ill be happy to answer them!!
