Advice for Year 12

I start sixth form in a few weeks and wonder wether anybody has advice for a good start or specific subjects.
I am taking A-level Biology, Maths and Physics as well as a Level 3 BTEC in Animal Management.

Reply 1

flowersinmyhair

Clearing and Applications Advisor, Study Forum Helper

18

Original post by SaraJoy

I start sixth form in a few weeks and wonder wether anybody has advice for a good start or specific subjects.
I am taking A-level Biology, Maths and Physics as well as a Level 3 BTEC in Animal Management.

I am going into Year 13 and I do Biology. I would start making revision resources such as flashcards as soon as you have started the content because it does require a lot of time to revise. I would also make sure you do a lot of practise questions because the mark schemes tend to be quite picky, you need to know what you need to write to get the marks. For core practicals I would make sure if you have been told to do research in advance, do it because it can seem very overwhelming otherwise.

Reply 2

SEMT

3

Past papers and flashcards are going to be your best friends. All of your A-Level choices are very knowledge-heavy and oftentimes require quite a bit of detail to achieve those upper grade boundaries, so establishing a broad knowledge base by creating flashcards or whatever knowledge-based revision method works for you would be a great idea. Once you have created that strong foundation of knowledge, you then need to learn how to apply this knowledge in exam conditions and in the structure that the exam board wants. In order to practise this skill, completing past papers and then marking them yourself or giving them to your teachers for more detailed feedback will prove to be extremely useful. It can also be extremely useful to keep a record of your marks over time and keep a sort of mini journal for tests and any form of examination in each subject. Here you could record your marks and say what went well as well as where you felt you were weakest, and then use this as a basis to target your revision and cover all of your bases. What you can also do is create a syllabus topic list where you write down every topic in the syllabus and then grade yourself in whatever way you see fit, be it using colours or a number system, e.g., 1 to 10, to see which topics you feel weakest in so you can target your revision to these. Finally, if you are going to do any of this, it is quite important that you do it pretty much from the start of Year 12. It's okay to give yourself a few weeks to settle in, but once you get to the mid-Year 12 mark, it's going to become extremely hard for you to create in-depth flashcards and then learn these flashcards for every topic that youve already covered, as you will have learned a large part of the syllabus by then. Apart from that, I wish you the best of luck, and Im sure you'll smash Sixth Form!

𝙎𝙤𝙘𝙞𝙖𝙡 𝙀𝙦𝙪𝙖𝙡𝙞𝙩𝙮 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙈𝙤𝙗𝙞𝙡𝙞𝙩𝙮 𝙏𝙧𝙪𝙨𝙩

Reply 3

TypicalNerd

18

Original post by SaraJoy

I start sixth form in a few weeks and wonder wether anybody has advice for a good start or specific subjects.
I am taking A-level Biology, Maths and Physics as well as a Level 3 BTEC in Animal Management.

I’d consider reading as much of the linked thread as you need:

https://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/showthread.php?t=7253201&page=2#post97549790

If you know which exam boards you are with, look up the specifications for each course and give yourself an idea of the general gist of what you are expected to learn.

Reply 4

SaraJoy

OP

4

Original post by TypicalNerd

I’d consider reading as much of the linked thread as you need:

https://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/showthread.php?t=7253201&page=2#post97549790

If you know which exam boards you are with, look up the specifications for each course and give yourself an idea of the general gist of what you are expected to learn.

Thank you. I know for biology we get given the spec in the first week.

Reply 5

TypicalNerd

18

Original post by SaraJoy

Thank you. I know for biology we get given the spec in the first week.

Fair, though I’m sure you can find it online and perhaps look through it anyway if you so wish to.

Reply 6

flowersinmyhair

Clearing and Applications Advisor, Study Forum Helper

18

Original post by SaraJoy

Thank you. I know for biology we get given the spec in the first week.

do you know what exam boards you are doing?

Reply 7

SaraJoy

OP

4

Original post by flowersinmyhair

do you know what exam boards you are doing?

Biology - Edexcel B
Maths and physics - AQA

Reply 8

flowersinmyhair

Clearing and Applications Advisor, Study Forum Helper

18

Original post by SaraJoy

Biology - Edexcel B
Maths and physics - AQA

all of the specifications should be on the exam boards' websites :smile:

Reply 9

izzyjennings883

1

Original post by SaraJoy

I start sixth form in a few weeks and wonder wether anybody has advice for a good start or specific subjects.
I am taking A-level Biology, Maths and Physics as well as a Level 3 BTEC in Animal Management.

I agree 100% with everyone about making revision resources as you go along whether that be flashcards, spider diagrams whatever works best for you. I'd also like to add with heavy content subjects specifically biology, your teacher may not be able to cover everything in the textbook/spec within the lesson time so I'd also make your spec the best friend. After each lesson or topic go through the relevant textbook and compare it to what you've written down. This way you can check for any gaps in your learning. Hope this helps!! You will find A-levels harder, it's true about the gap but the fact you've asked how to have a good start shows your willing to put the effort in so you'll be fine x

Reply 10

jack_ray13

6

Does anyone have any past papers for the end of year 12 exams i can't find any online

Reply 11

paige.27

1

Original post by SaraJoy

I start sixth form in a few weeks and wonder wether anybody has advice for a good start or specific subjects.
I am taking A-level Biology, Maths and Physics as well as a Level 3 BTEC in Animal Management.

In year 12 work hard but don't burn yourself out. You can still get good year 12 grades without revising every minute of every day.

Advice for Year 12

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