The TSR Community Awards 2025 are now live >>

How to ace year 12 - from a 3A* year 13

Hello.
Keeping this short and sweet for those who have a short attention span. This is my personal experience of how I got 3A* and how you can do it too. DISCLAIMER: Some of these might not be for you but for those who are paranoid (like myself) and want to have that doubt free university application then read on.

1. TEACHERS
they might be really good, they might be really bad, I don't care, you are kind and respectful ALWAYS. You forgot that homework, I don't care if you're a literally government recognised adult, you go to it. You talk in class and they tell you to stop the yappering, you stop that yappering. I don't even care if they are teaching you the worst topic in the world, you look at them as if they are selling you the world. This step is detrimental if you want help with part 7. Truth is, you're stuck with that teacher for 2 years and you need them on your side to get the best thing possible. Glaze them, but not too much if you get what I mean.

2. FRIENDS
LOCK IN BRO. There is no time for dillydallying if you get what i mean. When you have those frees, you best be in that library with your head down writing your flashcards. Your friends need to be pulling you up. If you actively see a 'friend' try and tell you that one free is not gonna hurt you, he's actually out to get you. Had a friend like that, I got A*A*A*, brother got DDD and repeated the year. I don't care if you went to nursery together, truth is after uni you wouldn't even know the guy if you walked past you on the street. Bin em. Reuse, Reduce, Recycle. I don't wanna see any sabotaging in these two years.

3. FLASHCARDS
Babes, If I do not see you write up those flashcards the minute you get out of that classroom, I'm coming for you (jokes obviously), but who knows. Flashcards are your best friends, I don't want to hear 'they're lame, I don't get the information' or 'I can't recall all that information', lies, Salem would've loved you, you make those flashcards tailored made for you, so you perfectly understand the information written. I do noooottttt want to hear about you not having enough time to do them, because those frees and study period are there for a reason.

4. HOW DO YOU WRITE FLASHCARDS
Easy, too easy, scarily easy, its your specification paper. For the girls that don't know what I mean, stay with me as I tell you how. Look at your textbook, find the exam board you're using, find the specification paper you're doing and search up the specification for it. once you find that, YOU ONLY i repeat ONLY write up flashcards according to the information on there. I want you to do three things: I want you to
- Write up the main answers to what's written next to the numbers
- Scroll down, COPY AND PASTE the definitions of the key terminology and ONLY use those words when describing the concept
- Find contemporary examples (this is for subjects like the social sciences)
Bish Bash Bosh. And you look over these after you have written up your latest flashcards. Try to write them all up before starting

5. PERSONAL STATEMENT
This is where the controversy starts but for me, I was practically cruising through that end of year 12 because of what I did and I basically felt like I was on holiday the first 3 months of year 13. How do you stay ahead of the games for the personal statement? by literally being... ahead of the game. I started thinking about it in march, made a plan of how I wanted the whole thing to flow. I'll probably write up a post about the personal statement later on if people want it (but I don't think a lot of people will see this). To nutshell what I'll probably say later on:
- Jan(not if you have mocks though)/Feb -> March = get your experience done
- April -> June/July = bang out revision for predicted grade
- Summer holiday = sweat out your personal statement
- September -> November = Entrance Exam/ Winter Exams ( If your happy with your predicted, you'll probably be able to aim for russell groups which have entrance exam, if that's so, concentrate on entrance exam. If you think you can upgrade your predicted grade through these exams to your school, then really work on those winter exams)
Yes this is thinking way ahead in the future, but this is for those who are paranoid like me.

6. PREDICTED GRADE
Get out those flashcards. Do past papers. Take care of yourself please. Know your limits. This exam is so so important for you. LOCK INNNN BRO. The higher your predicted grade, the bigger the door is for possibility. There was a line going into my head of sixth form office because they had failed a subject and had to repeat year 12. You don't even want to think about being in that line. Get those exams done to the best of your abilities. The way I see it, you should be going to bed knowing there was nothing else you could have possibly done. Flashcards, flashcards, flashcards. But remember that, you have to find that balance.

7. THE FIGHT WITH YOUR TEACHER FOR THAT PREDICTED
A bit of a white lie, but at the year 12 mock I got A*A*A, but for me I knew I was able to get that predicted change. It was in Maths, the bane of my existence, and I had missed the boundary by 5%, which was around 10 marks. I was able to talk to my teacher and, because of part 5 in this post, we were able to find a deal. If I got, by my November mock, 85% average in all 4 papers, she would move it up to an A*, if I didn't, my application would stay the same. Best believe I locked in.
What I'm trying to say is that if you think that the fight is over for your predicted grade, as jeff buckley says, it's never over. Don't be afraid to stand up for yourself and take that risk. You'll never see that teacher again after year 13, so make yourself look silly if you have to. But please, don't have any regret when it comes to that uni application.

8. REST
As much as your head needs to be in the books. You have to be kind to yourself. Read something that you like, which is not related to your course. Play an instrument if you're able to. Do things with your siblings or friends which are not school related. Do something which you genuinely like. For me, this might sound a bit crazy, but I see this whole year 12/13 joke as an actor stepping into a role. When you're in the costume, you are locked in, when you're out of it, you are a completely different person.
PERSONAL ADVICE: try to not do work in your bedroom. That room is where you rest, if you have studious connotations with that haven, you'll see your sleep pattern worsens. Try and find that one place that is dedicated to studying in your house, whether that be the floor, or the kitchen table, or your siblings room (idk), or better, the local library.

9. MENTORSHIP
This forum is great for asking people about their experience with their studies, ask them about how they did and advice. Due to my peers but especially the people who are where I want to be, I feel a lot more prepared for the year ahead. Don't be scared to ask, because more likely than not, people are out here to help and not harm.

10. IT IS THAT PHONE
If you haven't already, delete the social media which you know makes you doom scroll. Those short 10 second videos, yeah the ones that make you waste your whole day, GET EM OUT. I never realised how addicted I was until I deleted them. Your attention span NEEEEDS to be the best it can be if you want to lock in and get a few hours of revision done, and it won't be able to if you're watching minecraft parkour videos reading out AITA reddit posts. What I did, might work for you, is that I gave myself a threshold of how much revision I should do everyday (for me it was 2hr30 [it doesn't have to be this high this was just for my mock prep]) and if I reach that threshold, I could redownload youtube and watch videos which are around 45mins and longer. If you start doing this, you'll realise you are able to sit down and watch things a lot longer than before.

This was supposed to be short but turns out I'm a yapper at heart. Trust your gut, use my advice if you want to. If you don't then suit yourself. I'll try and answer all the questions below, if I don't it's because I'm doing my flashcards. Ignore any spelling mistakes, I'm too tired to read it back. Good luck guys