How to study A-level Biology and Chemistry!!! DESPERATE !!!

11

I have always been those kind of person who didn’t have to study to get good grades, and it has always worked for me I did all my GCSE studying the night before and I got all A’s and two A*’s. During my GCSE’s as long as I wrote down all the content on flashcards and looked through them 2 to 3 times I was guaranteed an A, I didn’t even have to do any practice questions and it ALWAYS worked. So I went into year 12 with that same routine, leaving revision to the last minute and then writing all my notes down and cramming it all the night before, but now IT DOESNT WORK. Everything changed in A-level. There is way to much biology content to rewrite out and cramming doesn’t work for chemistry either. I have come to the realisation that I do not know how to actually study for these subjects because i’ve never had too. Now my A-level mocks are in a week and my real exams are in less than 6 months. I have been just rewriting out the content but there is no time, I have less that 7 days and I barely know anything. If any of you could, please give me an in depth description of exactly what it is that you do to study and get A’s and A*’s in bio and chem A-level. Study routines, tricks and tips, anything and everything. IM SO DESPERATE, I don’t know what to do. Please, please, please help me. I really have a passion for the subjects I take and i’m determined to succeed, I’m willing to do anything. I just don’t know where to start. I know just sitting and writing won’t get me anywhere

Reply 1

Tiredoftout

3

Hello! I understand your struggle, A level is a much bigger jump than I originally thought it would be and it honestly feels like I’m constantly trying not to drown in the work yk. Anyways I’m currently in year 12 also doing Biology and Chemistry - predicted A A and at GCSE got A* and A - and I’ve got to admit I don’t have much structure to my revision and I’m not doing too well in Chem atm but I’m still trying my best. What I’ve been doing for both of them is making brief notes/ posters/ mindmaps on topics, making more detailed notes on topics I don’t understand. I’ve also been doing 1 or 2 timed past papers and then marking them strictly to the mark schemes and afterwards I have a better idea of my weaknesses and strengths. I then prioritize going over the weaknesses but continue to review strengths to keep it fresh. I find videos for quick recaps,for explanations on stuff I find difficult and just when I’m too tired to get my books out. I recommend The Amoeba Sisters 4 biol and Freesciencelessons for chem tho he does biol too. I find premade flashcards on Quizlet and Anki and I make quite a few physical flashcards for biol because theres just so much content, I try to base them off the mark schemes because the Biol mark schemes are so specific its brutal. Doing topic specific questions is something I find helpful especially for harder topics and the maths stuff for chem. Flashcards for equations! Once you have the maths for chem and the simple maths for Biol that will help you a lot and there’ll be a little less to worry about so do as many maths qs as you can. Blurting is brilliant for biol because it really helps me know what I need to go over. I pick a random unit then pick a topic like protein structure for example and write as much as I can about it then check if I’ve forgotten anything from my notes/ book. I think with Biol and chem understanding is a big part esp biol because its so content heavy . I don’t really do much else to be honest .Just to let you know I recently had mocks and I haven’t had my Chem results yet but for Biol I got a B at 6 marks off an A . I lost most of my marks because I missed out on some key words and phrases and made a few silly mistakes so I’ll pay closer attention to the mark schemes 😭. I’m not sure how much this will help and whether or not these will help for short term revision as you have your mocks soon, but I hope it helps you at least a little bit or gives you a few ideas. Good luck on your mocks and everything else!

Reply 2

TTaylor.

7

Original post

by munalove

I have always been those kind of person who didn’t have to study to get good grades, and it has always worked for me I did all my GCSE studying the night before and I got all A’s and two A*’s. During my GCSE’s as long as I wrote down all the content on flashcards and looked through them 2 to 3 times I was guaranteed an A, I didn’t even have to do any practice questions and it ALWAYS worked. So I went into year 12 with that same routine, leaving revision to the last minute and then writing all my notes down and cramming it all the night before, but now IT DOESNT WORK. Everything changed in A-level. There is way to much biology content to rewrite out and cramming doesn’t work for chemistry either. I have come to the realisation that I do not know how to actually study for these subjects because i’ve never had too. Now my A-level mocks are in a week and my real exams are in less than 6 months. I have been just rewriting out the content but there is no time, I have less that 7 days and I barely know anything. If any of you could, please give me an in depth description of exactly what it is that you do to study and get A’s and A*’s in bio and chem A-level. Study routines, tricks and tips, anything and everything. IM SO DESPERATE, I don’t know what to do. Please, please, please help me. I really have a passion for the subjects I take and i’m determined to succeed, I’m willing to do anything. I just don’t know where to start. I know just sitting and writing won’t get me anywhere

Hiya! Y12 student here and I'm currently getting As in bio and A*s in chem. Flashcards are great for getting to know the content but you will have to be able to make links between differing subjects so I love to make mind maps and sometimes use blurring whilest making a mind map.

However, the biggest advice I can give you is do PPQs and then analyse why you got it wrong. Its defo an ego killer but really getting to the reason of your mistakes will help so much. For example I made a little key where I would put C for not knowing the content, RTQ when I didnt read the question properly ect...

Also, I would print (or I did it on my tablet) the mark scheme for your subjects and try highlighting through a colour code. Like green if you understand it completely amber if you are okay on it and red if you have no clue. This isnt helpful just before an exam but do it after your mocks for the summer.

Please message me if you have any questions and hope this helps!

Reply 3

neptune_

13

whenever i have a test for biology, i usually stagger revision over at least a week prior to it (depending on how big the test it). i start with re-presenting my notes somewhere, so usually "rewriting" them from my written notes to a powerpoint presentation or a document on onenote. then, i'll usually try past paper questions the day of or day after that, followed by flashcards the night before the test. i have the cgp flashcard pack for biology and i find them beyond helpful! they have fact recall questions and then more specific 'explain', 'label', 'compare', etc questions on them too, which i have found has helped me pick up key words for certain topics that i'd otherwise miss.

best of luck with your tests and revision!!

Reply 4

munalove

OP

11

Original post

by Tiredoftout

Hello! I understand your struggle, A level is a much bigger jump than I originally thought it would be and it honestly feels like I’m constantly trying not to drown in the work yk. Anyways I’m currently in year 12 also doing Biology and Chemistry - predicted A A and at GCSE got A* and A - and I’ve got to admit I don’t have much structure to my revision and I’m not doing too well in Chem atm but I’m still trying my best. What I’ve been doing for both of them is making brief notes/ posters/ mindmaps on topics, making more detailed notes on topics I don’t understand. I’ve also been doing 1 or 2 timed past papers and then marking them strictly to the mark schemes and afterwards I have a better idea of my weaknesses and strengths. I then prioritize going over the weaknesses but continue to review strengths to keep it fresh. I find videos for quick recaps,for explanations on stuff I find difficult and just when I’m too tired to get my books out. I recommend The Amoeba Sisters 4 biol and Freesciencelessons for chem tho he does biol too. I find premade flashcards on Quizlet and Anki and I make quite a few physical flashcards for biol because theres just so much content, I try to base them off the mark schemes because the Biol mark schemes are so specific its brutal. Doing topic specific questions is something I find helpful especially for harder topics and the maths stuff for chem. Flashcards for equations! Once you have the maths for chem and the simple maths for Biol that will help you a lot and there’ll be a little less to worry about so do as many maths qs as you can. Blurting is brilliant for biol because it really helps me know what I need to go over. I pick a random unit then pick a topic like protein structure for example and write as much as I can about it then check if I’ve forgotten anything from my notes/ book. I think with Biol and chem understanding is a big part esp biol because its so content heavy . I don’t really do much else to be honest .Just to let you know I recently had mocks and I haven’t had my Chem results yet but for Biol I got a B at 6 marks off an A . I lost most of my marks because I missed out on some key words and phrases and made a few silly mistakes so I’ll pay closer attention to the mark schemes 😭. I’m not sure how much this will help and whether or not these will help for short term revision as you have your mocks soon, but I hope it helps you at least a little bit or gives you a few ideas. Good luck on your mocks and everything else!

thank you so much this was so helpful 🙏🙏🥹

Reply 5

Ambiguous Super

16

Original post

by munalove

I have always been those kind of person who didn’t have to study to get good grades, and it has always worked for me I did all my GCSE studying the night before and I got all A’s and two A*’s. During my GCSE’s as long as I wrote down all the content on flashcards and looked through them 2 to 3 times I was guaranteed an A, I didn’t even have to do any practice questions and it ALWAYS worked. So I went into year 12 with that same routine, leaving revision to the last minute and then writing all my notes down and cramming it all the night before, but now IT DOESNT WORK. Everything changed in A-level. There is way to much biology content to rewrite out and cramming doesn’t work for chemistry either. I have come to the realisation that I do not know how to actually study for these subjects because i’ve never had too. Now my A-level mocks are in a week and my real exams are in less than 6 months. I have been just rewriting out the content but there is no time, I have less that 7 days and I barely know anything. If any of you could, please give me an in depth description of exactly what it is that you do to study and get A’s and A*’s in bio and chem A-level. Study routines, tricks and tips, anything and everything. IM SO DESPERATE, I don’t know what to do. Please, please, please help me. I really have a passion for the subjects I take and i’m determined to succeed, I’m willing to do anything. I just don’t know where to start. I know just sitting and writing won’t get me anywhere

Hey! I did not do Bio or Chem but got A*s in my other A-levels. Here's my advice:

It really is all about using past paper questions and having a routine where you revise every day and have time to cover some exam questions. I asked my teacher if she could print out every past paper for me( and I did some myself too). I also would answer AS level questions because they are equally as relevant too.

I would read over the content, blurt and then take a break (as I did not want to burn out). Then after this I would do some exam questions on that particular topic. Even if I did not get them all right, it would be helpful for me to see what it was I needed to work on and what I already know. I think taking a break in between is good for you in general but it also tests your knowledge to see how much you can remember :smile:

Also, this is probably the main thing that I would recommend to EVERYONE and that is EXAMINER REPORTS! They are such an underrated revision resource but helped me sm. You can see what previous cohorts have done well in and what mistakes they tend to make. I found that the topic or area people generally did not do so well in is what they would most likely repeat during the next set of exams. And I was right, that is exactly what they did!

With the examiners report, I made PowerPoint. I made a slide for each topic and wrote down what people do well in this area/what examiners are looking for and then what they do not do well. This really narrowed down what approach I should take in the exam setting and gave a useful guide of what answers they are typically looking for.

You should use the examiners report with the mark scheme to make more sense. The mark scheme alone or examiners report alone is not effective.

Good luck and I hope this has helped! If you have any questions feel free to let me know :smile:

Reply 6

Tiredoftout

3

Original post

by munalove

thank you so much this was so helpful 🙏🙏🥹