Year 13 grind

6

I'm about to go into year 13, and would love some advice on how to approach this year- especially things people regret not doing. I did a lot of super-curricular stuff in year 12, so I'm not super concerned about anything other than my A Levels (I also have the TSA in October haha!). I'm taking A Level maths, history and drama! I'm mostly concerned about the first 2, and I really want that A* in maths, so I know that will have to be a priority. Let me know!!

Reply 1

flowersinmyhair

Volunteer Section Leader, Clearing and Applications Advisor

20

Original post

by ros_

I'm about to go into year 13, and would love some advice on how to approach this year- especially things people regret not doing. I did a lot of super-curricular stuff in year 12, so I'm not super concerned about anything other than my A Levels (I also have the TSA in October haha!). I'm taking A Level maths, history and drama! I'm mostly concerned about the first 2, and I really want that A* in maths, so I know that will have to be a priority. Let me know!!

I regret not having enough revision materials, especially as for the first half you will be heavily focused on your coursework (I did geography, but it is similar timing in history). You need to make sure you have time for yourself as well, because otherwise you will burn out.

Reply 2

Tse78

8

I regret not taking the time to take a step back and burning out. Try and find some moments to relax because things can get quite intense (although my school did load me with back to back coursework mandatory epq deadlines mocks interview prep entrance exams etc.) I would say try to get ahead in summer drafting your personal statement and prepping some revision materials etc gradually rather than in big chunks so that you have more time to relax because you’re pre-prepared rather than having to react to things as they pop up and having to do lots of work all at once without breaks.

Reply 3

depriveofsocial

14

Original post

by ros_

I'm about to go into year 13, and would love some advice on how to approach this year- especially things people regret not doing. I did a lot of super-curricular stuff in year 12, so I'm not super concerned about anything other than my A Levels (I also have the TSA in October haha!). I'm taking A Level maths, history and drama! I'm mostly concerned about the first 2, and I really want that A* in maths, so I know that will have to be a priority. Let me know!!

For Maths, you’ll need to do the past papers, but remember it’s no good if you don’t understand the processes and why you’re doing them! I also did a few MadAsMaths papers (for Edexcel) and the questions in the booklet, specifically the EP ones. Other than that, remember to study at a steady pace to save up the energy for when you reach your exams. I know many people worked hard in the first few months of Year 13 and didn’t have enough energy to put more effort into exam season. Some say that exam season (and the month before then) is more important when it comes to improvement! :smile:

Reply 4

CCCU Official

Official Rep

18

As the above two comments mention, take it easy and make sure you have time for yourself away from studying! Watched way too many people burn themselves out the entire year, as much as it's important to study and do the best you can, it's also important to look after yourself and your wellbeing as well!

Reply 5

oolie

10

for maths, my approach is to always understand why instead of understanding how. For example, the mark scheme would tell you how to do a question but it doesn’t explain in depth on why doing this method is correct/fastest or how to think to use this method to do the question. Hence I always spend lots of time reviewing mistakes and reflecting on it to understand the way of thinking to always be correct. But also do lots of past paper, I did around 100+ past papers (all past papers, shadow papers, specimen paper, iAL paper, other exam boards etc) in total for maths so lots of questions I saw in my exam were questions similar to the ones I’ve done before. Of course, you do not have to do as many as I did since I found none of the other papers I did were as useful as the actual past papers. Most importantly is to not burn out since it is more useful to revise consistently instead of just doing everything last minute cuz maths needs lots of practice.

Reply 6

marthaap

I can only help with history and drama (I got A*s). I'd say slow and steady revision. Make some flashcards on quizlet, or some physical cards whichever you prefer (which is in itself revision) and go over them once a fortnight. For history, these flashcards were individuals' names, and key terms, keep them concise. On quizlet they used to have (haven't used the app for a while) a setting where you could keep viewing flashcards until you got the answer right. Taking it slow for the off months that aren't just before mocks or the real things, but keeping a routine with studying will make the content second nature. Once you've got the basics, find a small handful of niche individuals for history to get the As/A*s (ie the people who are mentioned once in the textbook), this shows a depth of knowledge when you add them into essays. And write lots of essays. One of the hardest things is exam technique, because even if you know all the content, if you aren't communicating it succinctly, you're going to miss out on the top bands. Once you're confident in your ability to write the essays in time constraints, don't waste your time writing every essay you find, instead do some in depth plans. Analyse sources (this was the absolute bane of my existence lol), so you can get in the habit of finding the hidden information. With Drama, my teacher suggested mood boards (which I spent hours on and maybe looked at once), but I'm not a visual learner so maybe this will work for you. You want to be going into the exam with a progression in your head about the lights, set, props, costume, sound (and obviously the acting verbal and non-verbal). With your practitioner for the directoral adaptation (if you're doing this? I was edexcel), have some quotes (literally 3 words) that you can slip into your essays, makes it look like you know the practitioner inside and out (even if you don't). I'm sure you've heard this too but the live theatre review question (for edexcel) is literally the same question everytime just worded differently, usually something about theatre being pointless and not appealing to a modern audience..! Hope this helps, let me know if you have any questions and I'll see if I can answer them 🙂

Reply 7

ros_

OP

6

Original post

by marthaap

I can only help with history and drama (I got A*s). I'd say slow and steady revision. Make some flashcards on quizlet, or some physical cards whichever you prefer (which is in itself revision) and go over them once a fortnight. For history, these flashcards were individuals' names, and key terms, keep them concise. On quizlet they used to have (haven't used the app for a while) a setting where you could keep viewing flashcards until you got the answer right. Taking it slow for the off months that aren't just before mocks or the real things, but keeping a routine with studying will make the content second nature. Once you've got the basics, find a small handful of niche individuals for history to get the As/A*s (ie the people who are mentioned once in the textbook), this shows a depth of knowledge when you add them into essays. And write lots of essays. One of the hardest things is exam technique, because even if you know all the content, if you aren't communicating it succinctly, you're going to miss out on the top bands. Once you're confident in your ability to write the essays in time constraints, don't waste your time writing every essay you find, instead do some in depth plans. Analyse sources (this was the absolute bane of my existence lol), so you can get in the habit of finding the hidden information. With Drama, my teacher suggested mood boards (which I spent hours on and maybe looked at once), but I'm not a visual learner so maybe this will work for you. You want to be going into the exam with a progression in your head about the lights, set, props, costume, sound (and obviously the acting verbal and non-verbal). With your practitioner for the directoral adaptation (if you're doing this? I was edexcel), have some quotes (literally 3 words) that you can slip into your essays, makes it look like you know the practitioner inside and out (even if you don't). I'm sure you've heard this too but the live theatre review question (for edexcel) is literally the same question everytime just worded differently, usually something about theatre being pointless and not appealing to a modern audience..! Hope this helps, let me know if you have any questions and I'll see if I can answer them 🙂

Hahaha love that the history drama combo is going strong!! I am also doing Edexcel drama- fighting for my life through coursework questions that make 0 sense lol. The moodboard is actually a really good idea, I'm also not a super visual learner but I am someone who always forgets to talk about one element of something (esp. in live theatre bc all I talk about is costume). For history, I am trying my best to go over things but I am finding it so hard. How did you crack the code with history essays, or were you always quite good at them? I always feel like I just fall short of top band bc I don't evaluate or analyse enough, but then I feel like I'm waffling when I try to improve that and it is all a big mess

Year 13 grind

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