Starting A Levels, but have no idea what i'm doing.

As the title says.

For context, all of high school, I did nothing but mess around. No homework, no studying, nothing. And in the lessons I wasn't, I had (and probably will still have) serious issues staying awake.

Despite this, I did good enough in GCSEs to get into my sixth form.

That said, now that I start Sixth-Form and therefore A-Levels, tomorrow, I don't know what to do.

Where do I even begin?

Like, should I catch up on all the stuff I didn't learn for my GCSEs?
How do you even study?
How do you force yourself to?

Many big questions, I know, but am very lost.

Reply 1

AhsokaTano-

It depends on what a levels you are doing.

If doing maths, fm - yes, should've practiced a bit (not like every day, just basics)
If other STEM - reading, coding (if cs/IT).
If essay - depends. Bit of reading around subject here and there.
If a subject you picked u didn't do for gcses (e.g. u didn't/couldn't do psychology and doing it for a levels), theres nothing u can rlly do about it

that being said, i didn't do too well for Geo gcses. Im doing it now, not too much struggle. Didnt do any maths over summer, not struggling.

Sleep? Don't worry. Just say - "I'm going up to bed at 10pm. Im gonna have lights out at 11. Leaving my phone, laptop, tablet etc outside. Have an alarm clock wake me up". Alarm on phone? Get parents to set time limit on your phone from 11pm till, idk, 7am (or, when u would get up for school) that blocks most apps from 11 till 7 or whatever. Youll prolly have study periods too, so u can sleep thru them

Study? Know how you study. I like to use quizzes and questions. My friend uses flashcards. It works for them. Just because it works for them, doesn't mean it'll work for me. I use quizzes and questions, thats how my brain works (love gaming, might be correlation/reason/whatever).

Also, what i found at GCSEs were that there are some subjects you love, some you hate, and others were just... there, that just, existed. At A-Level, you got more freedom to pick. Often, people picked what they liked, which were the ones they were good at, so was easier to study.

Also, playlist for studying (if it is that painful).

I have resources for STEM subjects: here

edit if u need more help, DM me on sirius_stuff on instagram

(edited 3 months ago)

Reply 2

tudorcris

Am doing Computer Science, Maths and Physics.

Would've done and still really want to do further maths, but my 7 in GCSE Maths prevented from doing so.

And thanks.

Reply 3

AhsokaTano-

Original post by tudorcris

Am doing Computer Science, Maths and Physics.
Would've done and still really want to do further maths, but my 7 in GCSE Maths prevented from doing so.
And thanks.

ah yea, so for those it would've been nice to do some maths/coding over summer, but tbf i didn't and im fine with content (i dont do phy tho). You'll be ok.