The Student Room Group

Revision guides for A-level

I'm currently near the end of GCSEs and I've found the CGP guides to be really helpful for me, especially for sciences. I was wondering whether CGP guides are any good for A-level content too? If not, what would you guys recommend?

Reply 1

Personally, I think CGP books are really great for providing practice questions and explaining concepts; however at a-level (speaking as someone who does biology and chemistry) there is a lot more information to learn and memorise, so only using/relying on CGP books doesn't always work out anymore, particularly for students who are aiming for an A/A* grade.
I would suggest getting CGP books to explain concepts that you maybe didn't understand in class as well, and making flashcards alongside learning new content throughout the year (do not wait until the end of the year to make flashcards; it is wayyy too much information and you'll get overwhelmed).
PMT flashcards/notes pages are pretty good for chemistry, and just ok for biology; the best way to make your own flashcards is by cross referencing the spec and mark schemes of previous questions. However, the PMT spec-point specific questions are great for both sciences, so definitely make sure you have a look at those.
In addition, there are a lot more definitions and new terms to learn for the sciences (I saw someone say that a-level biology and a-level French ahem the same number of new pieces of vocabulary... not sure how true this is but there is definitely a huge increase in the volume and complexity of biological language you are expected to use) so I would recommend using quizlet or Anki and slowly adding to a set over the year so by the time it comes to year 12 mocks you have a handy collection of all the new terms you need.
At the end of the day, the most important thing to consider is what sort of grades you want at the end of your a-levels: if you're looking for A*s, it's a good idea to get organised and plan your notes/flashcards in advance, so there's less work to do before big exams.
Hope this helps x

Reply 2

Original post
by elenat0708
Personally, I think CGP books are really great for providing practice questions and explaining concepts; however at a-level (speaking as someone who does biology and chemistry) there is a lot more information to learn and memorise, so only using/relying on CGP books doesn't always work out anymore, particularly for students who are aiming for an A/A* grade.
I would suggest getting CGP books to explain concepts that you maybe didn't understand in class as well, and making flashcards alongside learning new content throughout the year (do not wait until the end of the year to make flashcards; it is wayyy too much information and you'll get overwhelmed).
PMT flashcards/notes pages are pretty good for chemistry, and just ok for biology; the best way to make your own flashcards is by cross referencing the spec and mark schemes of previous questions. However, the PMT spec-point specific questions are great for both sciences, so definitely make sure you have a look at those.
In addition, there are a lot more definitions and new terms to learn for the sciences (I saw someone say that a-level biology and a-level French ahem the same number of new pieces of vocabulary... not sure how true this is but there is definitely a huge increase in the volume and complexity of biological language you are expected to use) so I would recommend using quizlet or Anki and slowly adding to a set over the year so by the time it comes to year 12 mocks you have a handy collection of all the new terms you need.
At the end of the day, the most important thing to consider is what sort of grades you want at the end of your a-levels: if you're looking for A*s, it's a good idea to get organised and plan your notes/flashcards in advance, so there's less work to do before big exams.
Hope this helps x

Thank you so much! I'll definitely have a look at PMT when the time comes because tbh I didn't know they do A-level stuff too. Also I plan to make flashcards as I learn the content from the start of y12 as I did this for GCSEs since y10 and it worked out great!! (currently looking at 8-9s 👀). It seems like a good idea to expand my range of sources for making flashcards aswell because up until this point I was just using my notes from class and a CGP book... Thanks for your tips - noted!

Reply 3

Original post
by elenat0708
Personally, I think CGP books are really great for providing practice questions and explaining concepts; however at a-level (speaking as someone who does biology and chemistry) there is a lot more information to learn and memorise, so only using/relying on CGP books doesn't always work out anymore, particularly for students who are aiming for an A/A* grade.
I would suggest getting CGP books to explain concepts that you maybe didn't understand in class as well, and making flashcards alongside learning new content throughout the year (do not wait until the end of the year to make flashcards; it is wayyy too much information and you'll get overwhelmed).
PMT flashcards/notes pages are pretty good for chemistry, and just ok for biology; the best way to make your own flashcards is by cross referencing the spec and mark schemes of previous questions. However, the PMT spec-point specific questions are great for both sciences, so definitely make sure you have a look at those.
In addition, there are a lot more definitions and new terms to learn for the sciences (I saw someone say that a-level biology and a-level French ahem the same number of new pieces of vocabulary... not sure how true this is but there is definitely a huge increase in the volume and complexity of biological language you are expected to use) so I would recommend using quizlet or Anki and slowly adding to a set over the year so by the time it comes to year 12 mocks you have a handy collection of all the new terms you need.
At the end of the day, the most important thing to consider is what sort of grades you want at the end of your a-levels: if you're looking for A*s, it's a good idea to get organised and plan your notes/flashcards in advance, so there's less work to do before big exams.
Hope this helps x

I think CGP books and chem revise are the best resources to use, textbooks are a bit useless in my opinion as they provide too much explanation and waffle, you want to learn the content straight away instead of the history behind the theorys

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