A level help!!

Hello,
I am studying A level Biology, Chemistry and Maths. It’s my first year that I have just started, and I just wanted to know if anyone could help me and give me some tips on how to revise and study for the subjects. I want to get a good grade, because I want to study medicine. So I wanted to be ready beforehand.

Reply 1

Tulipbloom

11

Original post by qnedrah

Hello,
I am studying A level Biology, Chemistry and Maths. It’s my first year that I have just started, and I just wanted to know if anyone could help me and give me some tips on how to revise and study for the subjects. I want to get a good grade, because I want to study medicine. So I wanted to be ready beforehand.

Hey I did the same subjects as you and am currently in med school. For biology I made my own notes. Initially I only used the textbook and my teacher’s notes. I then condensed everything and reworded. As I revised for topic tests, I used the past papers I did along with the mark schemes available to refine my notes. The same question comes up again and again and sometimes all you need to do is list some key sentences to gain all the marks. For example: if they ask for the process of DNA replication and it’s 5 marks you will only need to remember key bits of the process: enzyme names, unwinding, complementary base pairing and any valid points etc etc. So really to get an A* in biology you must understand concepts (don’t memorise), do as many past papers as possible, and learn exam techniques (oh and use the textbook but avoid over reading. Textbooks tend to put irrelevant but interesting facts). For chem, revision is a lot easier. I got all my notes from chemrevise and added mark scheme answers. I watched Allery chemistry for extra help and did all the IALs, AS level and A level past papers before my final exam. Build a strong year 12 foundation to ensure a smooth year 13 transition. Chem content gets progressively complex as you follow the course so be sure to master the basics (all topics intertwine). For maths the one way to revise is to simply do all the past papers. It’s worth making notes on how to answer certain questions: especially for mechanics and statistics in year 13. Make note of any difficult questions and copy the mark scheme down. Exam technique is another thing to note. Since the same question types come up again and again, learn what steps are necessarily needed to gain marks. One tip I have is to never cross out your working as you can gain marks by simply showing correct procedures without having to obtain the correct final answer. I also watched full paper walkthroughs on YT for when I can’t seem to make sense of mark schemes. Hope this helps!

Reply 2

savorywater

1

Original post by qnedrah

Hello,
I am studying A level Biology, Chemistry and Maths. It’s my first year that I have just started, and I just wanted to know if anyone could help me and give me some tips on how to revise and study for the subjects. I want to get a good grade, because I want to study medicine. So I wanted to be ready beforehand.

Generally, trying out at least 10 past papers is important, to analyse the mark scheme well and to know areas you are weak in. CGP books are very great for revision and I highly recommend them especially for Biology. For chemistry, a great resource is ChemRevise Notes. For maths, I just took note of equations and patterns from the textbook, and reviewed them before each past paper attempt to really grasp them. Physics and Maths tutor has pre-made flashcards that I found helpful for quick revision. It seems fuzzy at first but it's definitely doable. Best of luck to you!

Reply 3

978e.x

1

Original post by qnedrah

Hello,
I am studying A level Biology, Chemistry and Maths. It’s my first year that I have just started, and I just wanted to know if anyone could help me and give me some tips on how to revise and study for the subjects. I want to get a good grade, because I want to study medicine. So I wanted to be ready beforehand.

Me too. I'm doing the same subjects and just started yr12.

Original post by qnedrah

Hello,
I am studying A level Biology, Chemistry and Maths. It’s my first year that I have just started, and I just wanted to know if anyone could help me and give me some tips on how to revise and study for the subjects. I want to get a good grade, because I want to study medicine. So I wanted to be ready beforehand.

Hi @qnedrah,

I took Biology and Chemistry A-Levels as well, a piece of advice I commonly heard was to drill exam past papers. This may seem very broad and general, but I found it to be the most useful. A pattern I found throughout these past papers (biology especially) is the similarity of questions, most of the time you'll be thrown big mark questions but it isn't as difficult as you think it to be. These 'big mark' questions usually ask of a particular process, much like what @Tulipbloom has mentioned, but just by mentioning specific keywords you can easily get the marks you need.

In terms of chemistry, for inorganic you would be required to be familiar with calculations so do practice some past paper questions covering those as well. Whereas for organic chemistry, you would be required to have a good understanding of organic mechanisms and naming organic compounds. Depending on your exam board, you may be required to draw out these mechanisms as well. There are plenty videos online highlighting the processes of these mechanisms.

Hope this helps,
Danish :smile:

BCU Student Rep

Original post by qnedrah

Hello,
I am studying A level Biology, Chemistry and Maths. It’s my first year that I have just started, and I just wanted to know if anyone could help me and give me some tips on how to revise and study for the subjects. I want to get a good grade, because I want to study medicine. So I wanted to be ready beforehand.

Hi there

I also did these subjects in A levels. :smile:

It is really key that you understand the information you are reading first before starting to memorise things. For me, I had many unit tests through out the year, so make sure to make good notes and memorise the content well throughout both years of A levels. (Use techniques that helped you during GCSEs to memorise content, whether that be flashcards, diagrams etc.)

After having this basic knowledge, A levels is about being able to apply it. I would recommend doing past exam papers (especially the ones your exam board created). I found marking them myself really helped as you can compare your answer to the mark scheme. I would often go over the paper in a different coloured ink and reflect on where I went wrong, how to reach the correct solution.

Many students may be caught in the cycle of doing past papers, but never coming back to look at their mistakes. Perhaps keeping all the past papers on file and coming back to them before exams will be really useful. If you are ever stuck with a question, ask your teacher. Try not to leave it too last minute(towards the end of year/ close to exam).

I hope this helps.
Good luck with your A levels.
Chloe

Reply 6

Maths_Duck

7

Original post by qnedrah

Hello,
I am studying A level Biology, Chemistry and Maths. It’s my first year that I have just started, and I just wanted to know if anyone could help me and give me some tips on how to revise and study for the subjects. I want to get a good grade, because I want to study medicine. So I wanted to be ready beforehand.

What exam boards are you?

A level help!!

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