A-level help - any tips?

Please make sure you are picking subjects that are relevant to the degree (assuming that you want to take a degree) that you would like to do. Now, those subjects are all within the top 10 hardest subjects for A level and I would argue that the majority are in the top 5.

As you have chosen all academic subjects (which is a good thing) you will therefore have to put in some serious work! Im only speaking from my experience here by the way, you may be one of those people that don't have to do as much as others but please don't get to confident if you are one of these people. A mistake that many people who got A's and A*'s at GCSE make is to expect A level to be just the same as GCSE. Many people sail through GCSE's and get good grades, my self being one of those people and assume that they never have to put in the work and everything will work out.

Personally I chose Maths, physics, biology and history so I do 3 of your subjects. For maths the best advice I can give is get hold of every past paper and make sure you understand every single question on there even if you have to ask your teacher a lot. In maths there is a general patter in the papers where they will ask the same questions or ,ones very similar, each year. Also they may throw curve balls one year and re introduce it into your paper. These questions are the ones people generally do badly on and if you have had experience doing a similar question you will at least pick up some or all marks. As far as difficulty I guess maths is really hard. personally I got 90% in my first paper and am awaiting my overall end of year results so I have had plenty of experience in the subject so far. To put your mind at ease I got 2 U's (so a fail) in both my mocks 1 month before my exam and with a lot of work I pulled it up to an A. But I had also worked consistently through out the year so revisiting things within that month was a lot easier. Basically for maths do every question you can and work through out the year.

For history you basically need to keep up with the content and it will make your life a whole lot easier!!! Also, practice planning essays and maybe try writing a couple of them as well. Again in history they tend to ask similar questions so if you plan a lot of essays before hand you will already have your essays before you enter the exam. This is a really good tip, use it! Make notes, spider diagrams, anything that you can revisit that will help you remember the content.

For biology, for me at least, is not that hard overall TO LEARN. I say "to learn" as the content isn't to difficult and if you keep revising the content consistently through out the year you will have all the knowledge you need. But, the hard part of biology is the applied stuff in the exam. This is something that you cant really prepare for and I think it is something that requires a certain way of thinking (something that I don't have unfortunately). But if you got an A or A* at GCSE in biology then you should be fine. Again, revise consistently through out the year and make notes.

For me, through out the year I would probably revise 10 hours a week making notes and getting my head around content. Leading up to exams I would probably revise 4-5 hours (a lot of the time more) a day so 28 hours a week. considering that I do 4 subjects this is only 1 hour per subject so its not a lot subject wise but a lot overall. The mind set I had going into college was: at the end of the year don't wish I did more work, If I do bad it is because of other factors not my lack of work. Its one thing to do badly on an exam but doing badly because of lack of work is 100% worse, believe me.

My main advice, which I have mentioned through out this answer, is TO WORK CONSISTANTLY THROUGH THE YEAR! Don't leave everything last minuet you will probably do badly if you do. Also, seeing as you are doing 5 subjects this will be very beneficial.

Also, im not sure if 60% of people who pick further maths get A and A* but something that you should consider is that not many people take further maths and the ones who do are generally really good at maths anyway so don't mistake this statistic as an indication that further maths is easy as it is not!

You have obviously taken 5 academic and difficult subjects for your A levels. They are all very valuable and will aid you massively in the future.

Maths and further maths will obviously go together and will, in some modules, be able to revise together. If you think you can get an A or higher in both of these subjects then it is strongly recommended. I read that 60%+ of students who take further maths get a A or A*. That really tells you how prestigious the subject.

Spanish is obviously a valuable modern foreign and it will be difficult. Although I have never done a language I have knowledge that they have speaking tests which are difficult.

History is probably the best humanity to take and is an essay based subject which is why it is valuable. It mostly consists of writing techniques and it has aspects of English language.

Biology is something that I am particularly proficient in and I also plan to study it at A level. It will obviously go with Maths but without any other sciences you will probably not continue it in your studies. Despite this, it will still help you onto university courses and it is a traditional subject.

I'd drop maths.. currently doing As level biology maths chemistry and french.. Maths is the worst decision ever- for me its probably the hardest.. Unless you definately enjoy maths or you're really good at it or you definately need it to do a degree you want to do, i wouldnt bother. and for a/ a stars, just do an hours each per day on the topic you learnt that day when you get home. leave any hwk you get for the weekend. but just revise as you go along.. As it gets nearer to exams, do every past paper you can possibly find relating to that course. If you get below 80%, learn all topics you got wrong, and do the SAME paper you did before untill you get above 80% and nearer to 100%. i hope you find this useful :)

You've got a fair mix there. In my college they didn't really encourage people to take 5 subjects because it is such hard work. I took 4 subjects for AS and 3 for A2. IT all really depends what you want to do in the future. My friend is currently studying medicine and took 5 subjects for A2 because there is such high competition and i think she ended up with all a's/a*s.

My tips would be make sure your organised, prepared to work hard and remember to give yourself a break every now and again (just not all the time)

Best of luck for the future xx