Pre-reading (A levels)

3

So around 3 months into A levels rn (year 12) and I keep seeing different people mentioning that I should be pre-reading topics and some saying that you don't need to. Is anyone able to give me a definite answer on what I should do or what is recommended I do cause I'm a bit worried tbf.

My subjects are Maths, Biology and Chemistry

Reply 1

WHO????

9

Original post

by Spoocs

So around 3 months into A levels rn (year 12) and I keep seeing different people mentioning that I should be pre-reading topics and some saying that you don't need to. Is anyone able to give me a definite answer on what I should do or what is recommended I do cause I'm a bit worried tbf.
My subjects are Maths, Biology and Chemistry

There is no definite answer, depends on what works for you and how well you absorb information. Some do like to do pre-reading as they are generally interested in the topic, I prefer to have it explained by a teacher first in the lesson before looking back over it, some people just attend lessons and are able to retain the information. So depends if you feel you can understand what teachers are talking about in the lessons, if you cannot then yes, do some reading beforehand, if you can then you don't really need pre-reading just look over it after a few weeks time or a months time to keep it fresh.

Reply 2

McGinger

20

What do you mean by 'pre-reading'?

Reply 3

medschlpls

9

Original post

by Spoocs

So around 3 months into A levels rn (year 12) and I keep seeing different people mentioning that I should be pre-reading topics and some saying that you don't need to. Is anyone able to give me a definite answer on what I should do or what is recommended I do cause I'm a bit worried tbf.
My subjects are Maths, Biology and Chemistry

I personally find that pre-reading can help my understanding and retention, but it’s completely up to what works for you - which is the only thing that matters. So maybe give it a go, see how it feels. Maybe you only end up doing it for more difficult topics, maybe not at all.

Speaking of reading, especially if you’re thinking about applying to a competitive course after A levels, it’s really good to read around bits of your subjects that interest you - should be fun as well!

Reply 4

DerDracologe

Study Forum Helper

20

Original post

by Spoocs

So around 3 months into A levels rn (year 12) and I keep seeing different people mentioning that I should be pre-reading topics and some saying that you don't need to. Is anyone able to give me a definite answer on what I should do or what is recommended I do cause I'm a bit worried tbf.
My subjects are Maths, Biology and Chemistry

It’s up to personal preference. For maths i find it helpful cos it means i can focus on doing lots of practice in lessons rather than getting stuck not understanding a concept and wasting the whole lesson. For bio i find it far less helpful because concepts can be explained and applied quite differently in lessons so it can get messy quite fast. The thing with bio is that theres a lot of content so reviewing it regularly is very important rather than cramming so it would be very hard to cram vocab from future lessons before learning it in context in lessons, for me thats not worth it but for others i know it helps a lot! That being said, if you can request or have access to the slides the teacher will use in the lesson beforehand to make some notes on key concepts that can really reduce cognitive load in the lesson!

(edited 4 weeks ago)

Pre-reading (A levels)

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