How to go from A to A*

I'm in Y13 and all my grades have been A s since Y12 (usually a few marks off A* because of numerous small errors (not reading the Qs carefully etc).
I understand why I have gone wrong and understand the topics quite well, but no matter how many past papers and questions I do, I still get those errors and it's at the point where they cost me a grade. I tried highlighting, but I find it hard to read highlighted text, so I returned to circling, underlining and copying things, but somehow get it wrong.
Can anyone give me some pointers? I do a level maths, FM, physics and bio

Reply 1

DerDracologe

Study Forum Helper

Do you find that you rush through questions? Maybe do a past paper and slow down a bit if you can to see if that helps. Also see if you do better if you read the question out loud because that might mean you’re skipping details when you read in your head. When you read over your work to check it at the end of a test do you read back over the question as well and check the highlighted/underlined info is linked back to in your answer? I do really similar subjects to you and had this exact issue but have got a lot better so id be interested to know what works for you so we can share tips 🙂

Reply 2

protruding-vulne

Thanks! I know I go through questions much faster than others because I always try to 'bank' more time for the hardest questions at the end so I will try that!
I usually mumble or mouth the questions but I feel really self-conscious at the library so I usually revise at a corner in the cafeteria at school

Reply 3

DerDracologe

Study Forum Helper

Yeah trying to bank time does make sense! Ive recently tried (for sciences at least) doing all the longer answer questions first so I can spend as much time as I need on them and then see how long I have for the rest of the paper. Ofc not gonna work for everyone but it helps me cos then i know those questions are over and done with early on and ill know ive answered them to the best of my ability.
Yeah i prefer background noise as well 🙂
Another thing Ive done for a few types of questions btw is making a sheet of paper with a bunch of double-check questions which i can use when im doing past paper questions so i dont forget to check certain stuff (like units or adding examples) which ik ive had issues with before. The plan is that ill be able to do that without the sheet eventually lol