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Balancing A-Level NEA's

Hi!! I am currently studying OCR geography, AQA english lit and AQA psychology, and have just begun my NEA's in english and geography, as well as revising for end of year mock exams. Already i feel that this is taking up so much of my time and I was wondering if anyone had any advice on how I could balance this alongside other work? Thanks so much for any help!

Reply 1

Original post
by Tilda:)
Hi!! I am currently studying OCR geography, AQA english lit and AQA psychology, and have just begun my NEA's in english and geography, as well as revising for end of year mock exams. Already i feel that this is taking up so much of my time and I was wondering if anyone had any advice on how I could balance this alongside other work? Thanks so much for any help!

Hey I'm in the EXACT same boat as you (got NEA work for OCR geo and english + Edexcel drama and an EPQ) - and have my mocks rn and after half term asw. For me, I completely paused all coursework related stuff a week before my mocks cus it was getting too much and one thing I would say is when u can, knock out big chunks (eg i did my geo lit review and introduction in like half a week) - and honestly dw cus your predicted grades in summer exams are more important than a first draft of coursework that you can always edit and redo over the summer.

Reply 2

Original post
by Tilda:)
Hi!! I am currently studying OCR geography, AQA english lit and AQA psychology, and have just begun my NEA's in english and geography, as well as revising for end of year mock exams. Already i feel that this is taking up so much of my time and I was wondering if anyone had any advice on how I could balance this alongside other work? Thanks so much for any help!

When I was still doing NEA work I would alternate between revision and coursework so if i had two frees that day i would do NEA in them and then revision at home and vice versa which helped me stay on top of them

Reply 3

Hey I do AQA English language AQA English Literature and Edexcel History ( currently doing my exams) all my subjects had courseworks ( it was a right pain🙏😭) one thing that really helped me out was having minimum amount of research done for all my coursework’s for example I’m assuming for your English literature your doing poetry and prose I would recommend learning bout the book/ poems creating basic annotations and researching what lense you wanna do before writing anything also quick recommendation I would say to not pick a niche book I personally did Pride and Prejudice and Heaney poetry as these are somewhat well known it made researching around my poems and prose easier( unless you already have something pre assigned to you).

As you have exams too I would recommend creating a functional timetable so like Fridays you research Eng lit nea maybe do basic intro ( or think of your question not sure if you have or not or if it’s assigned or not) also I would recommend prioritising exams over coursework purely because you have more time to work on it as you will have your first draft second draft etc before it has to be officially submitted, although this doesn’t mean you should full set it aside still go back to it research create a separate word document in which you put all your ideas etc

Sorry if this is long it’s just that I know how overwhelming it can be to do coursework alongside exams so I hope this can help.

Reply 4

Original post
by Tilda:)
Hi!! I am currently studying OCR geography, AQA english lit and AQA psychology, and have just begun my NEA's in english and geography, as well as revising for end of year mock exams. Already i feel that this is taking up so much of my time and I was wondering if anyone had any advice on how I could balance this alongside other work? Thanks so much for any help!
Best advice, focus on your revision and prioritise it just did my Aqa English language and geography NEA and it was definitely a very big pain. However dedicate a bit of time for it during the week, ask your teachers for help that’s probably the main tip I can give you for balance

Reply 5

Original post
by andmynameis
Best advice, focus on your revision and prioritise it just did my Aqa English language and geography NEA and it was definitely a very big pain. However dedicate a bit of time for it during the week, ask your teachers for help that’s probably the main tip I can give you for balance

ok! thank you so much!!

Reply 6

Original post
by Midnight786
Hey I do AQA English language AQA English Literature and Edexcel History ( currently doing my exams) all my subjects had courseworks ( it was a right pain🙏😭) one thing that really helped me out was having minimum amount of research done for all my coursework’s for example I’m assuming for your English literature your doing poetry and prose I would recommend learning bout the book/ poems creating basic annotations and researching what lense you wanna do before writing anything also quick recommendation I would say to not pick a niche book I personally did Pride and Prejudice and Heaney poetry as these are somewhat well known it made researching around my poems and prose easier( unless you already have something pre assigned to you).
As you have exams too I would recommend creating a functional timetable so like Fridays you research Eng lit nea maybe do basic intro ( or think of your question not sure if you have or not or if it’s assigned or not) also I would recommend prioritising exams over coursework purely because you have more time to work on it as you will have your first draft second draft etc before it has to be officially submitted, although this doesn’t mean you should full set it aside still go back to it research create a separate word document in which you put all your ideas etc
Sorry if this is long it’s just that I know how overwhelming it can be to do coursework alongside exams so I hope this can help.

this has been so helpful thank you!

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