Year 13 revision help!!!!

3

I ended up getting B (Sociology), C (English lit) and D (psychology), MIND YOU I am have gotten uni offers to study psychology. I am stressed out right now, absolutely not knowing what to do because part of me feels like it’s too late to be achieving A/A*s in my actual exams. I know, I should be putting in a lot of hard work and effort starting now, but I have no clue what revision methods are efficient for me.

How do I go from BCD to getting top band grades???? Helppp!!!

Reply 1

someone_cat

10

Past papers !! Do every single paper existed from past years !!

Reply 2

Colourcollider

9

Original post

by someone_cat

Past papers !! Do every single paper existed from past years !!

I agree with this!! But to save time try bullet pointing what you would say in each answer rather than writing it out in full, as the content is usually more important than how well written a paragraph is (English is probably the exception of this though icl)

Reply 3

Kingston Eve

Official Rep

13

Original post

by Himango

I ended up getting B (Sociology), C (English lit) and D (psychology), MIND YOU I am have gotten uni offers to study psychology. I am stressed out right now, absolutely not knowing what to do because part of me feels like it’s too late to be achieving A/A*s in my actual exams. I know, I should be putting in a lot of hard work and effort starting now, but I have no clue what revision methods are efficient for me.
How do I go from BCD to getting top band grades???? Helppp!!!

Hey @Himango,

As someone_cat said above, doing past papers from previous years is a revision technique that works for most students. It helps you understand how questions from your exam board will be worded, and if you do multiple of them, you'll sometimes notice patterns in what types of questions are typically asked. Bullet pointing can definitely save time, especially if you don't want to write out a full essay question each night for revision - write down your key points and see if they align with the mark scheme.

Best of luck with your A-Level exams! 🙂
Eve (Kingston Rep).

Reply 4

Himango

OP

3

Original post

by someone_cat

Past papers !! Do every single paper existed from past years !!

Thank you so much! I’ve been staring to do that and also let my teacher mark them too.

Reply 5

Himango

OP

3

Original post

by Colourcollider

I agree with this!! But to save time try bullet pointing what you would say in each answer rather than writing it out in full, as the content is usually more important than how well written a paragraph is (English is probably the exception of this though icl)

Thank you so much! Honestly, English is very different especially when it comes to mark schemes as well, there’s too much you can write about

Reply 6

Himango

OP

3

Original post

by Kingston Eve

Hey @Himango,
As someone_cat said above, doing past papers from previous years is a revision technique that works for most students. It helps you understand how questions from your exam board will be worded, and if you do multiple of them, you'll sometimes notice patterns in what types of questions are typically asked. Bullet pointing can definitely save time, especially if you don't want to write out a full essay question each night for revision - write down your key points and see if they align with the mark scheme.
Best of luck with your A-Level exams! 🙂
Eve (Kingston Rep).

Thanks a lot i will do this for sure!

Reply 7

Logic1

13

Original post

by Himango

I ended up getting B (Sociology), C (English lit) and D (psychology), MIND YOU I am have gotten uni offers to study psychology. I am stressed out right now, absolutely not knowing what to do because part of me feels like it’s too late to be achieving A/A*s in my actual exams. I know, I should be putting in a lot of hard work and effort starting now, but I have no clue what revision methods are efficient for me.
How do I go from BCD to getting top band grades???? Helppp!!!

Hey are those AS levels exams grades or predicted grades and what did you get for your end of year exams in yr 12 assuming it’s official AS exams ?

Your school should put your ucas grade above one right

Reply 8

someone_cat

10

Original post

by Himango

Thank you so much! I’ve been staring to do that and also let my teacher mark them too.

thats great ! i wish you get into the courses u want :smile:

(edited 1 year ago)

Reply 9

Tafara100

2

am

Reply 10

jilliams44

12

Original post

by Himango

I ended up getting B (Sociology), C (English lit) and D (psychology), MIND YOU I am have gotten uni offers to study psychology. I am stressed out right now, absolutely not knowing what to do because part of me feels like it’s too late to be achieving A/A*s in my actual exams. I know, I should be putting in a lot of hard work and effort starting now, but I have no clue what revision methods are efficient for me.
How do I go from BCD to getting top band grades???? Helppp!!!

English is the only one I can help w/ but definitely you can cheat the system to help you.
I’m getting a* so hopefully this isn’t completely ungrounded.
I’m learning set introductions packed with just key marking criteria to get you into top bands. Immediately some critic, macro method and context point to show them you’re on board with the text.
I don’t know how you revise English but just make flash cards. I have at least 2 micro methods, 1 macro, a specific context point and critic and also a small peppered quote for each flash card.
And then past papers like everyone else said. If you learn your content perfectly but you argue it wrong they won’t be able to give you marks!!

Reply 11

Muhammad Hasham

2

Original post

by Himango

I ended up getting B (Sociology), C (English lit) and D (psychology), MIND YOU I am have gotten uni offers to study psychology. I am stressed out right now, absolutely not knowing what to do because part of me feels like it’s too late to be achieving A/A*s in my actual exams. I know, I should be putting in a lot of hard work and effort starting now, but I have no clue what revision methods are efficient for me.
How do I go from BCD to getting top band grades???? Helppp!!!

Steps to Start Improving:

•

Break Down Your Syllabus: Focus on one topic at a time and master it before moving on.

•

Active Recall & Past Papers: Use techniques like flashcards, mind maps, and exam-style questions.

•

Seek Help Early: Don't wait until you're feeling stuck—enroll in tuition classes to get expert help that saves time and maximizes your effort.

Reply 12

MillieeM2

12

For English you could look at exemplars online for exam structure and look at feedback+ look for examiner reports. Also google scholar can be helpful for book analysis/AO5. You can also hand in timed essays to your teacher and tilf.io is an AI that marks essays. You can look at apps where people post exams like knowunity or studocu

Reply 13

Himango

OP

3

Original post

by MillieeM2

For English you could look at exemplars online for exam structure and look at feedback+ look for examiner reports. Also google scholar can be helpful for book analysis/AO5. You can also hand in timed essays to your teacher and tilf.io is an AI that marks essays. You can look at apps where people post exams like knowunity or studocu

Yeah i do that quite a lot! However, i do ocr exam board and it’s quite difficult to find other people online who do it, especially the texts I’m learning. There’s also only one exemplar online which is from 2017, and since then people are expected to write more in depth. But thank you so so much!

Reply 14

Himango

OP

3

Original post

by Muhammad Hasham

Steps to Start Improving:

•

Break Down Your Syllabus: Focus on one topic at a time and master it before moving on.

•

Active Recall & Past Papers: Use techniques like flashcards, mind maps, and exam-style questions.

•

Seek Help Early: Don't wait until you're feeling stuck—enroll in tuition classes to get expert help that saves time and maximizes your effort.

Thank you!

Reply 15

Himango

OP

3

Original post

by jilliams44

English is the only one I can help w/ but definitely you can cheat the system to help you.
I’m getting a* so hopefully this isn’t completely ungrounded.
I’m learning set introductions packed with just key marking criteria to get you into top bands. Immediately some critic, macro method and context point to show them you’re on board with the text.
I don’t know how you revise English but just make flash cards. I have at least 2 micro methods, 1 macro, a specific context point and critic and also a small peppered quote for each flash card.
And then past papers like everyone else said. If you learn your content perfectly but you argue it wrong they won’t be able to give you marks!!

Thank you so much! I’ve been making a few flashbacks for english and it’s really helpful

Reply 16

ktspsych

2

Original post

by Himango

I ended up getting B (Sociology), C (English lit) and D (psychology), MIND YOU I am have gotten uni offers to study psychology. I am stressed out right now, absolutely not knowing what to do because part of me feels like it’s too late to be achieving A/A*s in my actual exams. I know, I should be putting in a lot of hard work and effort starting now, but I have no clue what revision methods are efficient for me.
How do I go from BCD to getting top band grades???? Helppp!!!

I do both sociology and psychology (AQA) and have been hitting A/A* in my mock exams, so hopefully this is useful to you.

For psychology I think it's best for you to identify if you're missing the actual knowledge or the exam technique - or maybe its both and that's also okay. If it's the exam technique then, as everyone else has said, focus mainly on doing past paper questions and using the mark scheme to make corrections again and again until you have a better understanding of what each question is actually asking you to do. Past papers can also be helpful in identifying gaps in your knowledge, as I'm sure you know, if that's a key weakness of yours. I would go through past paper questions, plan the 6,8 and 16 markers to save time, but do the small markers, and write down the topics from any of the questions you cannot get full marks on - then do active recall on these topics to fill in the gaps, making flashcards might be best. I'd say this is a realistic and efficient way you could boost your grade massively, as it's what I have found works best for me and helped me jump from a B to an A* in a month for my Year 12 mocks!

For sociology I mainly just do mind maps on all the parts of each topic using the textbook my school has given me, flashcards to learn the sociologists and then do exam questions closer to the exam date to consolidate. The mark scheme for sociology gives you a lot more freedom in how you answer it so I mainly focus on learning the content over doing exam practise.

Sorry this is a bit wordy but I hope it helps and good luck! :smile:

Year 13 revision help!!!!

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