A level HELPPP

I got 3A* at alevel - went to Imperial College London for Chemistry and now starting PhD at Cambridge.

My advice:

Maths - just do as many past papers as you can - consult teacher if you cant do any questions. Practice doing the hardest questions on papers - I think there is a set of papers that a guy made where every question is harder that the alevel papers would be - important to do if you want A*

Chem: Make sure you understand concepts rather than memorisation - its better to not need to memorise anything and work it out from bottom up rather than memorising each specific senario.
i.e in organic, if you know what electrophile or nucleophile is and how they interact, you can do any mechanism. Do past papers to improve on exam technique. Consult text book if theres a topic you dont understand.

Also, is there a reason you're doing History? If your struggling its better to get A*A*A than A*ABB for example. Doing 3 alevels wouldnt hinder you application in any way.

my teachers are pretty bad for chemistry and maths: I know this isn’t just a me problem, a my academic friends agree with me and most of my class. 2 people complained and nothing happened and a lot of people are just skipping at this point or will be ig; my study leave literally starts after my first a level exam. I quote my maths teacher, when I asked him a question he said ‘you know this better than I do’ and my chemistry teacher does more joking around than he does teaching. Also he pretty much just reads off the board or textbook. Now there’s a whole gap in my knowledge for organic chem stats and mechanics.

Academically, I’ve always been an able student. I was predicted A*AAB though and my mocks haven’t been so good recently, scratch, they were sort of abysmal. I had eight grade 9s and three grade 8s at GCSE.

I know I can improve and achieving high isn’t beyond the realm of possibility for me. I’m willing to put in the hard work but I’m feeling overwhelmed with how much I have to self teach. For history it’s more content I’m worried about covering, I’ve already made flashcards and I’m secure with essay structures frequently achieving A*s and As. I was thinking of doing 5 topics per day for USA and at least half a theme for Britain transformed, but I haven’t properly started revising witchcraft.

Maths : do pure past papers. I pretty much know the content and clearly it’s my application and exam answering that’s the problem bc I just made notes before a maths exam instead of practising properly like an imbecile. Chem and bio I was thinking of making notes on each topic by the spec and then doing at least 2 physics and maths tutor questions at the end of each topic, then a past paper once I’m done with all that. Once I’m secure with content for all , my plan is just past papers.

What do you think of this plan?

Also,

What I want to know:
1) how many hours do you recommend I revise per day (note I have Uplearn available for self teaching but prefer to use it as a supplement to my understanding)

2) general tips for achieving A*s/As in my subject. History is in May 24th, rest of my exams are in June. There’s like 2 months hopefully that’s not too late. I have also been consistently revising beforehand I just feel like I’m not making any progression. I do consider myself a good student in terms of effort I put in, but I just think I’m lacking on exam technique, and content knowledge (bc of my teachers). I had been revising for minimum around 3 hours max 6 hours per day before Easter holidays began on normal days too. I’m willing to put in the work to achieve high .

Just pretty much any advice!! I would greatly appreciate it and sorry for rambling

I got 3A* at alevel - went to Imperial College London for Chemistry and now starting PhD at Cambridge.

My advice:

Maths - just do as many past papers as you can - consult teacher if you cant do any questions. Practice doing the hardest questions on papers - I think there is a set of papers that a guy made where every question is harder that the alevel papers would be - important to do if you want A*

Chem: Make sure you understand concepts rather than memorisation - its better to not need to memorise anything and work it out from bottom up rather than memorising each specific senario.
i.e in organic, if you know what electrophile or nucleophile is and how they interact, you can do any mechanism. Do past papers to improve on exam technique. Consult text book if theres a topic you dont understand.

Also, is there a reason you're doing History? If your struggling its better to get A*A*A than A*ABB for example. Doing 3 alevels wouldnt hinder you application in any way.

thank you so much for the advice, this is rly helpful! the maths papers you were talking about with difficult questions, do you remember the website name/who made them?
initially i just took history because i enjoyed it, but now i think im more likely to achieve an A* in that than any of my other subjects. a lot of med schools don't specify what a third A is needed in, oxford for example, doesn't even specify what the A* is needed in, so i figured i could get it in history as a contingency plan in case i fail to get it in the others

Heya!
Practice doing past papers and going over the mark schemes This has really helped me with my alvls. Going over mark schemes will show you what you are missing so that you understand how to improve your answers for next time. You can also make the q + a into flashcards to help yourself remember the material better. If it helps, Study mind offers plenty of free practice questions.

I hope this helps!
Milena
UCL FPE
Study mind

I got my past papers from maths and physics tutor - What exam boards are you doing?
https://www.physicsandmathstutor.com/past-papers/

If you are struggling with 4 Alevels i would have a serious think about dropping one in a way that would not ruin your chances for doing the subject you want at Uni. If you just need maths and 1 Science for your course, it would make sense to drop one - you could also do it post offer. So if you were predicted A*AAA and got A*AA offer, you could drop one - so long as the university is ok with it.

hello, I can advise you on that just hit me up via the message! Studying isn't difficult, just create strategies on how you are going to study.



ahhh im a tech fossil!! can't seem to reply out of this blue box thingy or unquote it im sort of new to this studentroom stuff sorry but thank you!! i appreciate it

I do think an important thing to note is to not just work through the specifications chronologically - go over the harder bits first and then go over the easier bits if you have time. And always focus on exam technique.

For chemistry, I don't think making notes is the best/most efficient way (for biology it could be useful if note-taking helps you remember things). I got A* and I took a mostly exam based approach.

First off, I printed out the specification and marked the topics red/amber/green depending on how much I struggled on the topics or how easy they were. I went over the red topics (notes/textbooks, videos, talking to classmates/teachers) until they got to amber/green. Then I moved onto this, which is probably why I did so well:

1. Timed practice exam paper, mark using the mark scheme
2. Identify the topics I did badly on
3. Make sure I understand why I went wrong (mark scheme, videos)
4. Exam style Qs based off these topics, mark using mark scheme
5. Repeat

This method allowed me to practice exam technique and application of knowledge/skills, while guiding me in my revision to master each topic in the most efficient way possible.

For biology, I printed out the specification and made flashcards for each bullet point (I did start doing this from the very beginning of the course though so I'm not sure if you're gonna have enough time for this), including some good exam Qs. I also used the exam0based approach I described above. Another useful method is the brain fart method:

1. Pick a topic and write down everything you can remember about it.
2. Read through the specification and your notes. Then use a different colour to add to you brain fart AFTER reading your notes but without actually reading them while you add stuff (if that makes sense haha)
2. Then use a 3rd colour and add to your brain fart WHILE actively using your notes and the specification.

I hope this is helpful Good luck!!

The poster is probably talking about Madasmaths but this website is completely out of date.

I recommend Dr Frost: https://www.drfrostmaths.com/courses.php?coid=29

or this: https://mmerevise.co.uk/a-level-maths-revision/

And I just wanna say thanks everyone for all the help!! i'll be taking all the advice into consideration, it's really helped me tackle the herculean task of covering my subjects i have one more question, how long should i be revising per day at this point, roughly. i realise it is quality over quantity and all that but im looking for a sort of approximate amount i should be working at - thanks in advance!

TYSM this is definitely very helpful!! i should add I'm on straight As for bio but I've just been scraping them, my last mock was a B. i have a lot of my flshcards already made so i think its my exam technique that needs refining. ur method seems very helpful in this aspect, and especially in regards to chemistry, i realise that application is the most important thing unlike biology which is so content heavy . i think i'll ditch the note making like u said, but i dont know half the content so i can't jump straight to exam papers. i think ill watch videos beforehand, do some exam questions, and then use ur method, refining exam technique leading up to the a levels date. thank u for this, its rlly comprehensive and helps me to plan out how to approach revising it

Btw you must declare ALL A level grades in your application ....

That sounds like a really good plan!! No worries - I'm glad I could help
Good luck with your A-Levels!!! You've got this

Also, in regards to your question about how many hours you should be revising, it really depends on how long your brain can effectively focus for and how tired you are during the day. Some days I only did an hour or so, others I spent the whole day revising. I recommend going with the flow of your brain because you don't want to burn out. Taking breaks between papers/exam Q set/topic revised is a must and balancing revision out with fun things like watching a movie, hanging out with friends, baking, reading fiction etc. are also necessary. But also recognise when you're actually tired and need a rest vs when you lack motivation haha. If you know you could get some revision done but can't get yourself to start, force yourself to do 10 minutes of work. Chances are you'll get in the zone by then. If not, take a break and repeat later. Also, something my therapist recommended to me was to not do high dopamine activities in your short rests. So, for example, instead of doing a past paper and then watching a movie/scrolling social media, go for a walk/meditate/eat a snack you like/read. Leave the high dopamine activities (hanging out with friends/watching movies/etc.) for longer breaks like rest days or at the end of the day. The idea is to ration your dopamine to keep you motivated to revise lmao.

Sorry for such a long paragraph haha.

Haha that’s actually something I never considered but it makes a lot of sense!!again, I really appreciate the suggestions thank you - best of luck for anything you are pursuing!!

my teachers are pretty bad for chemistry and maths: I know this isn’t just a me problem, a my academic friends agree with me and most of my class. 2 people complained and nothing happened and a lot of people are just skipping at this point or will be ig; my study leave literally starts after my first a level exam. I quote my maths teacher, when I asked him a question he said ‘you know this better than I do’ and my chemistry teacher does more joking around than he does teaching. Also he pretty much just reads off the board or textbook. Now there’s a whole gap in my knowledge for organic chem stats and mechanics.

Academically, I’ve always been an able student. I was predicted A*AAB though and my mocks haven’t been so good recently, scratch, they were sort of abysmal. I had eight grade 9s and three grade 8s at GCSE.

I know I can improve and achieving high isn’t beyond the realm of possibility for me. I’m willing to put in the hard work but I’m feeling overwhelmed with how much I have to self teach. For history it’s more content I’m worried about covering, I’ve already made flashcards and I’m secure with essay structures frequently achieving A*s and As. I was thinking of doing 5 topics per day for USA and at least half a theme for Britain transformed, but I haven’t properly started revising witchcraft.

Maths : do pure past papers. I pretty much know the content and clearly it’s my application and exam answering that’s the problem bc I just made notes before a maths exam instead of practising properly like an imbecile. Chem and bio I was thinking of making notes on each topic by the spec and then doing at least 2 physics and maths tutor questions at the end of each topic, then a past paper once I’m done with all that. Once I’m secure with content for all , my plan is just past papers.

What do you think of this plan?

Also,

What I want to know:
1) how many hours do you recommend I revise per day (note I have Uplearn available for self teaching but prefer to use it as a supplement to my understanding)

2) general tips for achieving A*s/As in my subject. History is in May 24th, rest of my exams are in June. There’s like 2 months hopefully that’s not too late. I have also been consistently revising beforehand I just feel like I’m not making any progression. I do consider myself a good student in terms of effort I put in, but I just think I’m lacking on exam technique, and content knowledge (bc of my teachers). I had been revising for minimum around 3 hours max 6 hours per day before Easter holidays began on normal days too. I’m willing to put in the work to achieve high .

Just pretty much any advice!! I would greatly appreciate it and sorry for rambling

Hello if u don’t mind me asking do u feel like uplearn is worth it. Been thinking about buying but not sure

I understand that you are feeling overwhelmed with how much you have to self-teach, and I want to assure you that you are not alone. Many students find themselves in this situation, and it is definitely possible to achieve high grades despite having less-than-stellar teachers.

Here are a few tips that may help you:

Set realistic goals. It is important to set goals that are challenging but achievable. If you set your sights too high, you may become discouraged and give up. Break down your goals into smaller, more manageable steps. For example, instead of saying "I want to get an A in chemistry," say "I want to learn the content for this unit by the end of the week."
Find a study buddy or group. Studying with others can be a great way to stay motivated and on track. You can quiz each other, discuss the material, and help each other understand difficult concepts.
Use online resources. There are many online resources that can help you with your studies. Khan Academy, for example, offers free video tutorials on a variety of subjects. You can also find practice questions and past papers online.
Don't be afraid to ask for help. If you are struggling with a particular concept, don't be afraid to ask your teacher, a tutor, or a friend for help. The sooner you get the help you need, the sooner you can start making progress.
It is also important to remember that you are not alone in this. Many students struggle with self-teaching, and there are many resources available to help you succeed. With hard work and dedication, you can achieve your goals.

Here are some additional tips for achieving A*s/As in your subjects:

Start early. The earlier you start revising, the more time you will have to cover the material and the more prepared you will be for your exams.
Make a revision plan. Once you know what you need to revise, create a plan that will help you stay on track. Your plan should include a schedule for when you will revise each topic, as well as a list of resources that you will use.
Revise regularly. Don't try to cram everything in at the last minute. Instead, revise regularly throughout the year. This will help you retain the information better and make it easier to learn new concepts.
Use a variety of revision methods. Don't just read your notes over and over again. Use a variety of revision methods, such as making flashcards, doing practice questions, and writing essays. This will help you learn the material in different ways and make it easier to remember.
Take breaks. Don't try to revise for hours on end without taking a break. Get up and move around every 20-30 minutes to avoid getting too tired.
Get enough sleep. You need to be well-rested in order to learn effectively. Aim for 8-10 hours of sleep each night.
Eat healthy foods. Eating healthy foods will give you the energy you need to study and learn. Avoid sugary drinks and processed foods.
Stay positive. It is important to stay positive and motivated throughout your revision. Remind yourself of your goals and why you are working so hard.
I hope these tips help you achieve your goals. Good luck!