How I would study if I had 8 weeks left for Exams
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- Опубліковано 8 вер 2024
- I guarantee you that you'll be learning more than people who've been studying for two years for their exams. In fact, you probably start making. After the first day.
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how to get a 9 in GCSE, 4 weeks,
These are the must know revision tips on how to get grade 9 in any subject. These have been collated from the top students' habits, leading academic literature and my own personal advice.
I call it TAP for short.
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N O T E S
- Do past papers (2 papers every school day)
- Be harsh when marking
- Record results
- Understand results via the mark scheme
- Look at notes to understand
- If i don understand even from looking at notes/marks scheme ask teacher
- Make a cheat sheet (how to get to that answer)
- Make flashcards of your mistakes and put how to get to the right answer
- SPACED REPETITION!!
thank you 🥲
Nice summary, missing the last step (spaced repetition) which ensures you don't forget what you memorised today.
@@Ucademy thanks I'll add it in :^)
@@I3readStick this is spoiler ,I just read this comment and never watched his whole video🤣
lysm
@@EnduXYZ
I’m currently on a C average in all my subjects (A level maths, further maths and physics) and I’m really aiming for As in all subjects - maybe even an A* in maths if I’m lucky. If I remember I’ll report back on results day to see if this works for me haha
Keep a regular check in + eye on your practice results. Not a good idea to wait till the end, evaluate and continuously improve is the way to an A*. (Or expertise in anything for that matter)
Best of luck you got this!
@@Ucademy I just did a practice chem alevel paper. Did dreadful.
GOOD LUCK
@@Ucademywill do, thanks so much for this video!
@@stangsandwangs258thank youuuu 😭
Needed this reminder, inshallah will follow your advice to the T. Thanks so much for this and inshallah youtube promotes this more so more people can benefit as these are top notch methods to revise.
Glad you found it useful.
Thank you for giving me the motivation to do past papers and utilise my time 👏🏽
😀 You are very welcome
Thank you, I’m gonna try this when I wake up!
I’m an art student who can’t really study once my art exam is done, so this was really helpful!
I was wondering, is it normal for my school to not have covered all the GCSE topics by now?
We have approximately 25% of our economics content left, 1 more biology unit, finishing up french & chem, and we’re incredibly behind in English (we’ve done no practice at all for lang paper 2 or unseen poetry, just finished Jekyll and Hyde, just finished an inspector calls, and haven’t finished the poem anthology yet)
Im a grade 9 student in class (and mocks) but now I’m worried I won’t be able to achieve 9s on the actual exams :/
Yes, very normal. Most schools don't end up finishing content in at least some of the subjects they teach, due to bad planning/poor teacher cover etc. This includes Grammars & private schools. My advice is to always work independently, and treat school as a bonus.
As for what your actual grades are, I wouldn't base them of your school results. I would base them of your practice papers [Evidence] that you have done. You need to be aiming for 90% on the practice papers (New Spec) repeatedly/consistently by the time you sit the exam for that paper. School Mocks aren't a good indicator.
@@Ucademy Alright, thank you!!
same do u do ocr economics?
@@octopus8978 nope, I do edexcel igcse. good to know im not alone tho 🥲
wow i was really stressing on what exaclty i shud actually do in the last few weeks before exams as i wont lie i procrastinated alot and now im in a pickle of cramming content yet feeling im wasting my time since as an edexcel alv science student what we learn in our textbook tends to be very different in the exam questions especially in bio, nevertheless im gonna take ur advice and start doing as many papers i can and then filling in the gaps of things i need to properly study! great vid thank u
Oh yes, textbooks can be a big "Red herring", even though they might say they are endorsed by the exam board. They can sometimes focus on the wrong thing. So the best source to learn from are the papers.
Glad you found it useful. You can do it 💪
And funny username!
thank you for making this video i really needed this !!
Glad it was helpful!
i was at U D E at my most recent mocks , only managed to get the D and E because i knew the topics beforehand , i am hoping to make a huge academic comeback and get A* A* and A or A AB please pray for me yall
You got this! :)
What are your results looking like now 3 week in?
THANK YOU SO MUCH. IM GOING TO START DOING THIS FROM NOW UNTIL EXAMS.
👏 keep us updated
My first exam is the 2nd of may :( but main exams start on 15th of may,mainly on Cs but litteref with a few As in english lang and business but aim for some more As in gcse...keep u all posted lol 😆
i spent a whole week doing past papers of basically all my subjects, did decent on some, i also wrote down what i got wrong but im not sure how to actually retain the information of the things i got wrong when i learn them
Fantastic almost there...
So in the video I talk about Rote learning and flash cards as the two main methods for memorisation.
Here is the link to the ROTE learning video ua-cam.com/video/2h1X3BHp2Cc/v-deo.html
-First A level is on the 24th May
-Basically procrastinated the whole of Easter break
-Need 3As but currently attaining 3Bs
-I'm gonna update this space to keep me motivated and tell anyone which tips helped the most
-I'll also report back on results day to let you know how I did👍
Wish me luck 😅
ur lucky mines on 17th then 22nd
@@bhg582ah, sorry, have u got any days with two exams ?
@@LV-go5wn yh 6th june
@@LV-go5wn same
@@bhg582 I've got 3 days with double exams, but we've got this. Good luck 👊
I'll come back here next year January, im starting today:
Current Grades:
Bio - D
Phy - D
Chem - E
Maths - U
?
Great video
Thanks Jouad.
Hey I have my A level mocks in a month and was wondering if my plan was okay?
week 1- doing notes/making anki flashcards for bio and chem and then doing maths practice questions
week 2- past paper topic questions+ the mixed ex/practice questions in textbooks
week 3 and 4- straight up past paper questions.
any advice would be appreciated xx
No to notes - not enough time.
No to text book questions - waste of time/not reflective of the real test.
Flashcards-/Anki for mistakes from papers only
Could the cheat sheet contain tips on how to solve the question and certain information to keep in mind when tackling those types of questions?
That is exactly what it contains! Keep it to the point though.
Hi there, this video was a wake up call for me. Past couple days I’ve just been trying to learn content but seem it’s a waste of time. I’m extremely confident I will do well in the options I’m taking but really need to prioritise my sciences. I want all 7s in my GCSE’s and was just asking should I just focus on past papers at this point even though I’m not confident on content as all I did was joke about in school and have started revision very late. How will I develop and improve my grades in such a short time using past papers?
Past papers absolutely should be the focus.
It’s fine I used to get U’s in mocks all the time lol.
I think you still have time to get good grades.
nah omg were in the exact same position thanks for asking this question🙇🏾♀️
Hi ! I have questions, In my last mock I got a DDE and I need a BBD , I have 47 days till my a level exams start, do you think it’s possible ? Will i be able to get the grades that I need, and do I have to study for 8 hours a day for every holiday or weekend day to achieve what I need?
I have been really stressed because I feel like I haven’t been studying enough in the Easter holidays and I’m afraid that I can’t make it, and that I might have to go through clearing! :(
Good luck for everyone else preparing for your exams!! ❤
18th april. done minimal amount of revision. Maths, Physics, chemistry. HELP hahaha. Is this the best method you recommend ? Any other tips for the stupid situation I've put myself in ?
Start! You don’t need to know any other tips except application!
Start now!
could you please make a video on how you'd go about making a cheat sheet for one of the sciences?
I will see what I can do. It will be a very short video.
@@Ucademy thank you so much!!
Umm so I've messed up pretty bad!! I've no clue how I've gone from 120 days to 60 days without completing my syllabus even once. I've only done 4 chapters and there are 57 chapters that I need to do in total. I'm doing Math, Phy, Chem, Bio. Do you have any advice to save me please!!!😭
Nothing other than what has been mentioned in the video already I am afraid. 60 days is still a long time. You got this!
Thank you for this amazing video! But what should i do if i cannot recall content that i have already covered?
You are most welcome :)
I am not clear on your question? That is what ROTE learning and Flashcards are there for? Maybe throw in Mnemonics if needed on certain topics. Memorisation is largely to do with repetition, but it can help if the topics are connected/you can make links between them.
hey man i have a physics exam on the door which im resseting i got a 6 the first time and hope that i can get a 9 or 8 so you say just bassicaly spam past papers incase of not understanding (markscheeme/ teacher) would be the answer to solving it, imma try to add like a tutor and after school seasions to increase the chance, whats left and how do you think i should do my studying plan like incase of me miunderstanding you
thank you
Would you apply this to essay subjects? My UCAS exams are soon but even if i do every past paper available there will be huge gaps e.g in history - maybe i make up questions? this video is really helpful btw, i low-key wasted easter not doing any essay plans but from now on i’ll do 2 a day and try to revise or off them. thanks
so yes you would apply this to essay based questions but you would be doing essay plans and you would be getting those reviewed, maybe write an essay and you get those reviewed and then you learn those mistakes and then you kind of do an updated version of that until you get it to the A-star standard that you need.
sorry for the long message of actually dislocated my wrist so I'm not actually typing this out but using a voice to text command and hence it's weird and long
Thank you for this video!! Just subscribed :) So I need to just do past papers for a level Biology even tho idk much of the content then? 😬 And then follow the steps you gave in the video? And NOT make any notes?
Yes follow this if you have less than 8 weeks left! Optimal route to improving your grades by identifying your greatest areas of weakness
Wow, this way better than Mr bruff, and other youtuber
Some praise. Will take that anyday! Thanks
I should've seen this video earlier, is it possible to still get 8s and 9s within these 6 weeks? I'm cruising on them already but I don't want to get complacent
Firstly know you saw this video, exactly when you were meant to see it. There is no other way this could have been. So be content. Focus on making today the best today possible.
Yes there is no reason why you can't get 8s and 9s if you are being efficient with what work you do. What do you mean you are cruising? Are you doing 4 papers per day as suggested in the video?^
@@Ucademy cruising as in I've been getting those results in my mocks but based on your question I used to do half of what you said but starting from today I'vebeen doing so
@@BroSefat06 That is great news, so now you just need to build a body of evidence that you actually are a grade 8/9 student (mocks are notoriously unreliable).
So, do the papers and record your results in Google Spreadsheet.
On the new spec you should be hitting 80%+ for Grade 8 and 90%+ for Grade 9. Don't rely on grade boundaries.
starting to revise on Monday
I dont understand i have this idea that before i can do any past papers i need to learn all the content and know it inside out. is this mindset wrong? should i just go straight to past papers?
... If i had a pound for every student that said this to me. So this is a very common concern.
In an ideal world this is indeed what you would do. Unfortunately you have short space of time remaining for your exams, this means time is of the essence. We need to understand what the most important questions are. Not everything in the specification is equally important (some things rarely come up). The exam papers will help us understand what the most important questions are (which come up repeatedly)... and we can then correct those mistakes.
Once you get to a stage where you are consistently scoring 85/90+% on practice papers you can then go back and fill the gaps.
@@Ucademy oh okay thank you I understand now🙏🙏
Pls if u have away i can contact it can be very helpfull and what do usuggest for subjects with literature such as 20 markers
You can email me hello@ucademy.co.uk
Literature is slightly different as you need to get it marked by someone when you do these essay questions. Then I guess it’s a case of learning from those mistakes. [York Notes for the particular text is good].
Is there enough time left even now?
I am currently at an 8 for every subject and want a 9.
English Language and Literature are my worse subjects but I think in the past week/two I have been able to memorise more quotes, develop more interpretations and have a better plan for narratives.
Still kinda worried tho
It is all about stacking the odds in your favour. If you are on an 8 for every subject then there definitely is enough time!
So visualise you building blocks (Like Jenga)...
Every time you learn a quote/mistakes etc you are adding to that tower. The more you add, the stronger the chances of getting grade 9. In your case you already have a very high tower, you just need to focus on your mistakes and ruthlessly eliminate them. As long you are focusing on exam questions and never repeating the mistakes, you have enough time to get grade 9.
tl;dr You just need repeated & deliberate practice with timely feedback(after every paper).
@@Ucademy Alright thanks. I was kinda worried cause even though I am at an 8 for everything thats more of talent than revision and I did not build revision resources earlier on in the GCSE curriculum.
@@edwardelric715 For sure, I understand. I was the same when in GCSE. The cheat sheet method (as mentioned in the video) compensates for having no resources. Since you will only make precise points on your gaps (which should be limited if you are grade 8).
What would you suggest for an essay based subject such as law Alevel?
Few things:
1. Essay plans instead of Papers.
2. Get it marked by teacher/tutor
3. Rest of the steps the same.
Hey, great video. One minor issue I'm having is that I'm constantly doing Seneca for major subjects like History and Science. But I keep forgetting the information I learned at the start of the course. So I'll go back to that area and revise, and then the information from the end of the course will be forgotten as I revise the beginning of the course again. That's my issue with larger subjects; do you think I should try doing night-before summary crams with so little time left, as that has worked for my mocks? Mostly seated on Grade 7s and 6s
Doing practice questions after learning each topic will help u remember the content
No night before summary crams, you need to focus on spaced repetition, to ensure it is staying in your medium term memory. Night before you are relying too much on how smart you are. Exams aren't actually about how smart you are but about pattern recognition + memorisation on a long enough basis.
Spaced repetition!! Return back to each :)
What do you do if you have already finished all past papers on a subject because of Mocks and stuff?
Also how would you practice subjects like English Literature where the content is very specific and its hard to mark.
Ok, so I normally advise that you should do some old spec papers first, because there are limited new spec papers.
Secondly do double check you actually have done all the new spec papers (have you done the specimen papers for e.g and last years 2022 papers). If it is science, maybe you can do combined science or triple science papers (but exclude parts which don't apply).
For literature, you need to submit the paper to your teacher to mark, you can't really self mark because it is subjective. I would also imitate exemplar answers. + look at examiner's report for common faults and avoid those!
@@Ucademy thank you very much for your response. JazakAllah
@John Johnson Wa iyak💚
Ty u sooooooooooooooo much
Welcome
I’m in year 12 and doing essays a levels but I haven’t got my actual exams yet until year 13, but still a important year in terms of learning the content. Is it a good idea to master my application of the content first and get high marks on my essays but using google for knowledge or just revise the content first before i learn to apply it. Bare in mind i have exams in July which will deter what universities i will apply to but won’t be my final exam until year 13.
Yes you need to do it for UCAS predicted grades internal exams coming up. If you only have tiny amount of content left then it can be fine to complete content first. This plan is for 8/9 weeks before exam.
Ok understood
I’m literally getting a B in Chemistry a D in Maths and a E in Biology
It is what it is. Question is what you going to do about it?
Come on you got this 💪
There’s only a set limit of that past papers though.
Old Spec/ alternate papers
when u reacp your cheat sheet do u od it like a falsh card where u look a tthe question and try regurgetate the answer
You recap it by doing rote learning [regurgitate answer]. You must be able to recall each point word by word.
so far a passpaper u meomrise the whole paper baisically and then hpw does that help with a new passpaper like for maths wouldnt the points be the equation and the certain knowledge reequuired.@@Ucademy
like knowing that square root of 2 is 1/2 power
how does tha thelp with new passspaer
@@UnveilingChronicle Because that is a fact you can apply to a question when they give you any question in that form... so 9 to the power of a half... you think back to what half means and solve.
The point of the cheat sheet is to tell you how to answer a particular use case/scenario. So in this case you learnt how to solve any question with 1/2 power.
If you learn enough of these variations/use cases you get the top marks.
When u say do 4 past papers a day or 2 past papers a day, do u mean excluding revising the content or doing both past papers and the content in a day?
There is no content in the day separate to the papers. The only content you learn are the mistakes. They will tell you the most likely content to come up which you don't yet know.
Not everything in the spec is equally important.
Do you think I can do this to go from a C to an A* in further maths alevel, I am not confident with content, is there still time? Do you think I should do any of the textbook exercises or should I just do the new spec past papers
Honestly I think it is going to be tough but possible. And that is enough.
Depends on how much effort you need to put into the other subjects at this point. If it is just Further Maths, then yes enough time to improve from C to an A*.
I wouldn't do any text book exercises at all. You would probably need to do some old spec papers as well since there aren't enough new spec papers to help jump from a C to an A*.
Obviously make sure you do all the new spec papers of course and learn all the typical cases/question types that they can ask you on that have appeared in those past papers.
How do I learn a topic- do I do questions and memorise/understand the answers or do I learn the content? Does it work the same way as practice papers?
Sorry I am not clear what you mean does it work the same way?
Memorisation is done using two main methods flashcards or Rote learning at this stage for maximum efficiency. Here is a video on rote learning:
ua-cam.com/video/2h1X3BHp2Cc/v-deo.html
you said to do past papers every day, maths I get that as its practice. However, science is another story because i'm nowhere near finished with the content AT ALL and GCSEs are in 6 weeks. And when I do past papers for science i hardly get any marks as i dont know anything. Any tips?
What marks are you scoring? Are you tracking the marks?
It isn’t important what marks you score, but rather that you are making progress.
As a benchmark 10% across every 10 papers you do is a good target of improvement.
@@Ucademy Thank you! but only 10%? Im aiming for at least a 6-7 in science.
@@nasteha.9963 It takes time to improve, you would have to be well above average/do other revision in between to improve by a bigger percentage than that. It is the improvement point, which will eventually lead to your goal of 7s. See compounding effect here of just 1% improvement
twitter.com/JamesClear/status/1059504530130395136
@@Ucademy do you think its necessary for me to be studying 8+ hours a day to achieve those grades as its the eater holidays? or is it too much
@@nasteha.9963 8 is max I would say. Anything more than that is likely to be detrimental. Infact some studies suggest that you should really only study 5ish hours for optimal studying. So even 8 is a bit of tradeoff, but in this case worth it (due to limited time).
Anything more than 8 is definitely not needed.
So by following this process should all these steps be done in a day ie going through,marking,understanding?
A biology paper is 2 hr 15 mins rip
Yes, some papers will be longer others shorter. Depends on the year you are practising.
Look the idea is to try and do this, I don't expect you to be perfect on day 1. Lets face it if you were already perfect A) you wouldn't be sitting the exams B) You wouldn't be watching the video.
Aim to achieve this goal daily. Result is in god's hands.
Ive been doing 3 or so hours a day but focusing on maths and English I haven't even started with science and my other options and all I've done are past papers. I'm getting 5s and 6s in my mocks you recon if I carry on like this I can get better grades for my GCSE or do I need to put in more work other than just past papers because to be honest it doesn't feel like I'm doing much even though I'm putting in the hours?
Ok, the reality is 3 hours is penny change. That is what the top students are doing on school days. Non school days we are looking at 7+ hours.
It is a simple case of volume.
If you want a 6 pack but only go to the gym once in a year, are you going to get it?
Increase the volume of work.
So im doing physics maths and computer science. I feel anki flashcards for every topic is helping me right now but im not sure if its the most efficient way, right now my schedule consists of doing past paper questions on each topic for each subject and when I have completed those questions, I move to a past paper to then see where the gaps are. Is this inefficient? Also my teacher told me that i should be doing topic questions compared to past paper since past papers dont cover all the content and can leave gaps in knowledge. Let me know what your thoughts are and once again amazing video
so the method of doing topic questions is inefficient because it does not allow you to see where you stand in terms of the overall marks, but it can work.
in terms of doing topic questions and then doing papers I think that's being a bit redundant because those questions will repeat in the actual past papers the past papers cover every single question that has come up in the past and that's where the topic questions will be based off if the topic questions are not based off the past papers then you really shouldn't be doing them I would say or unless they're from like say exam pro or something but I would only go to those topic questions when you are already scoring 85 plus percent and then you can fill in those gaps the way your teacher says .they are correct yes the exam papers will not cover every single thing under the sun but they will cover 90 Plus % of the content that will be tested and they will show you the major and important part of the content okay so whereas the topic questions will not identify that.
sorry for the long message of actually dislocated my wrist so I'm not actually typing this out but using a voice to text command and hence it's weird and long
@@Ucademy Thank you for the message and I hope your wrist gets better soon ill be back to inform you about my grades inshallah
Ameen and look forward to it :)
I'm not sure how to make a good cheat sheet .What should I do ?
Ensure, the cheat sheet can get you 100% if you had it in the exam with you. It shows you how to get to the answer and not what the answer is.
hey where do I find past practice papers, especially as a year 10 student that hasnt learnt enough to do gcse past papers yet?
Hey, so your exams are next year? I wouldn't do past papers in this case. This video is specifically for students with 8 weeks left for their exams. In your case I would go with the Spec and try to cover all of the content independently of the school. There is a detailed video I did previously which is probably more suited to you:
ua-cam.com/video/LajSXXJzK9Y/v-deo.html
In terms of past papers, you can often google them for the newer papers, but the older papers are a bit more challenging to find but they do exist.
@@Ucademy perfect thanks! i struggle with withholding information after viewing the content so i hope theres a solution to that
Yes, there are few different solutions. ROTE learning is one which I talk about in the video. Depends what you tried so far?
Great video. do you think it is still possible for B/High-C student to still get As in their A-level exams (Maths, CS, Accounting) ?
Yes inshallah why not
Wouldn't you eventually run out of past GCSE papers to complete? Or would you do them again for a better mark?
Depends on the subject, but generally, start with old spec, so you don't run out. Then do new spec closer to exam time.
I'm considering giving up on my option subjects, and just revising and focusing on my cores because im really struggling on them (4 english 6-5 combined science and 6 maths higher.
Is this a right approach? Btw my options are RS, Geography and ICT.
Before I can answer that, I need to understand
1. What are your goals post gcse? What career/pathway you thinking of taking?
2. Also what are your current grades on the option subjects?
3. And is ICT a gcse or BTEC?
@@Ucademy 1. I'm going to start an apprenticeship in the computer science industry. 2. I'm working at a 5 in RS, 5 in geography and M2 in ICT.
3. It's a BTEC
@@mokbane5169 Hmm, it is hard to say, focusing on your core subjects is definitely advisable. However, frankly speaking you still have enough time to do the others as well. {If you aren't wasting time and working on the optimum technique at this point - what is mentioned in the video).
ICT I would not bother with. Very different to Comp Science and not as valuable as the core GCSE subjects. Good luck !
@@mokbane5169 hey i hate to intrude but i got 9s in RS and geog last year and id really advise making notes using the official specifications because beyond that there's nothing else you need to know. i didnt have time to do past papers bc i started mt revision so late but i remember skimming through the mark schemes and examiners notes on the morning of the exams and that helped. Good luck xx
@@cleo9552 Thank you for letting me know, I was just wondering what was the biggest factor that caused those grade 9s??
I'm constantly conflicted about whether to revise the content or do past papers 😭
Haha, read the other comments. Every other student is in the same boat.
P.S the correct answer is of course past papers.
Hello, I am in year 10 and have mocks in 3-2 months. I want to do past papers but my school only allows sixth formers in the library meaning I'm going to have to pay if want these papers. Tbh i would do it online but my laptop is kinda broken lol.
Why do you need to pay? I don’t understand? They all free?
Also depending on what’s being tested, full past papers may not be the right thing for you
thank you for the advice! I’m a new subscriber, and I was just wondering, I have 4 a level subjects and my exams start may end of may/start of June. If I’m to do 4 past papers for each subject per day (bio, chem, history, maths), so for example, I’ll do 2 bio papers on Monday and 2 maths papers on Monday, so on, do you think this is an efficient way to jump to an A/A*? Thank you
The best way at this point, but it doesn't guarantee the A/A* if you aren't able to get through enough reps, Good luck with it!
Thank u, and in ur video when u said do 4 past papers , do u mean for the same subject or with different subjects in a day
@@nocturnalbibliophilezzz2472 different subjects (total)
Okkk jazak’Allah for the help !!
Wa iyak
For maths should i just do the past paper correct my mistakes, maybe watch a video on the topic if i dont understand it and then attenpt similar questions ?
Ask someone first if you can. Save you time. Time is short
I do essay based a levels. I only have classroom notes on them, especially history, and they are incomplete. Would you recommend I skip note making to review everything and just do essay questions? thanks
Look at the essay questions - make essay plans/notes as necessary on those first.
thanks!
Hi, I'm finding it hard to correct mistakes on the paper. Ie I just make a FC of the question + answer and then do the question again. Should more be done bc you emphasise learning the principles instead??
Plz help!
So I emphasise the fact that if you are making a mistake on the paper you try to understand the first principles from the mark scheme, if not then from a revision guide or a resource but maximum 5 to 10 minutes and if not you need to ask someone. It seems like you are not asking someone to help you learn the principles.
Been trying this out for a little bit now and been feeling an improvement in the computer science region, however not as much in physics. I've been converting my mistakes into flashcards but yet i dont feel as if im improving, do you have any advice? I feel as if the papers doesnt repeat as much as they seem and its always completely new questions
How many papers you done? and can you score 100% on the previous papers you done?
I have currently done 7 past papers for physics and i can near enough get near 100%, not completely though
Okay so you need to rectify your plan and insure that you can get hundred percent before moving onto the next one.
Otherwise you are just repeating the same mistakes again. Secondly your paper count is nowhere near high enough, I don't talk about it in this video but I have talked about it in the past... Read this article from one of my previous students:
www.ucademy.co.uk/post/how-to-get-3a-s-at-a-level
I asked myself why I'm here although I've been studying since the first day of school?
Hopefully because you care about your education, and want to better yourself :)
Hey! I have procrastinated alot and I how managed to find myself in a pickle. I don't know a lot of the content and I have not made flashcards for most of the content in science. We have around 4/5 weeks left and I have no idea what to do now. Is it too late to get my grade higher? Do you have any tips?
No, it isn't too late. Focus on one day at a time, and try to do that as well as possible. Don't worry about your overall goal.
Follow the advice to the letter in the video...
That means 4 papers non school day (e.g today) and 2 papers school day.
@@Ucademy Will do. Thanks for the response 😊
Would you advise me to do 2 papers every day regardless of whether i've marked previous papers and added cheat sheets for them or would you prioritise ironing out other errors first?
Also, finding blocked time of 2 hours is difficult to complete a past paper. Is it ok if i still regulate myself but in half an hour slots across the day?
Mark and learn
i calculated that theres around 120 past papers for all of my gcses and ive done ab 20 of them already do u think its optimal to do 3 papers per schl day and 6 papers per weeknd so i can finish all the papers by april ?
or is that too much at this point should i ramp up the amount of papers i do every week ? bc my revision has been sub optimal
It’s not just about doing papers, it is also about learning the mistakes. You want to do as much papers as possible whilst learning every mistake from the paper you did. If you aren’t learning the mistakes the numbers aren’t as important.
In terms of timing…
3 papers and 6 papers can be done, if you are already quite advanced with marks you score on the papers (thus you can do the papers faster). But if you take the full amount of time required to do the paper, it’s going to be unlikely for your to do say 6+ hours on a school day.
@@Ucademy thank you so much u are such an underrated channel ive shown this vid to my friends and the progress has acc been substantial no words can describe my gratitude
does it have to be like full papers or topic papers for example paper 1 biology or paper 1 biology topic of communicable diseases which is a small bit and then i do all the mini topics instead of a full past paper is that ok
Either can work (I have seen top students with both methods). However, I prefer doing full papers because it allows you to:
A) Track exactly how you are currently doing by giving you an overall mark (as opposed to a topic mark).
B) Allows you to do it in actual timed conditions (Replicating real exam scenario).
C) Trains your brain to switch context from one topic to the next, which you can't do with topic test.
Hi, I got a E in my bio mock and a D in history ( but I was off question so that’s why) for my mock exams is it possible for me to push to a C and a B in the next 5 weeks? I’m willing to put in the work I’m just struggling atm on where to start
More than possible. Start with the oldest papers...any of the subject. Just get started!
i’m doing Alevel chemistry and have been on a crazy past paper schedule for the past two years but still at a D grade, any advice?
Hmm, something doesn't seem right. Couple of quick questions to diagnose potential problems:
1. How many papers have you done?
2. When you have done a paper can you confidently say that you will score 100% on that same paper if you were to do that exact paper again?
@@Ucademy nearly completed all of the papers from over the years. my teacher is really good and made us do 3 papers a week in first year and now 4-5 papers a week including repeats. Doing the repeats i do not get 100% usually 80-90%
i don’t know what to do i don’t know if it’s because i panic in the exam.
What are all the papers? Do you mean only New spec? Give me a total count of papers.
If you can’t score 100% on repeat then you aren’t memorising properly. The point of doing a paper is so you can learn your mistakes from that paper. If you aren’t learning your mistakes then you are wasting time when doing papers.
Also in the video I mention you need to do 4 papers a day on non school days, so you are way of the mark if you looking to score higher grades.
thanks for your response i really appreciate it! i think i’m not giving enough time to check the mistakes i made because i’m doing so many it’s overwhelming. i can’t give you a count exactly but i’ve definitely done way over a 100 papers. with ocr chemistry the content has stayed the same over the years. i just can’t get my head around it.
He reminds me of Hamza
Who is that?
@@Ucademy diary of a badman
@@fizaahmed4464 Lol no way.
So basically i have sociology and urdu Alevel and just psychology for A2(p3 p4 only) and exams are in exactly two months and i need serious guidance theres j so much content for all 3 and theyre all essay questions is there hope for me? Ive only gone through the content once with the teacher which i dont remember and i also have mocks starting from 11th march and continue for 2 weeks so idk what to do now i will be following ur advise i just dont know how ill manage ive been putting in the hours day and night but get so demotivated bcs of the mountain worth of content idk, so if I actually solve pastpaper ill be only able to solve one a day for each subject is that enough to help me with memorising the imp topics?
Sorry for the late response, haven't been using the account much. Hope your prep has been going well.
The simple answer to your question is to not focus on the mountain of task ahead of you. Rather focus on the day. How can I make today the best today possible?
If you focus on today, then it will be a lot easier. Remember the result is not in your hands, so the sooner you forget about that and focus on the day the better.
Try to get a paper for each subject done per day and learn the mistakes from there. The best way to improve your grades.
If I’m doing A-Level Biology, Chemistry and Maths what would my anki decks look like if I am using this method
I am not sure what you mean by your question? It will be specific to your mistakes from those papers. You will need to make your own points only specific to your mistakes. They are not generic and not intended to cover the whole syllabus.
this video has come at exactly the right time, i’ve been so stressed about my a levels. i’m working at 3 b’s atm, need 3 a’s for uni and struggling to do efficient revision and only have a month to go. THANK YOU SO MUCH🤍🙏
Glad I could help!
is the cheat sheet for one past paper or for one subject? and how would I go about using it effectively?
That cheat sheet should be for one subject and you populate it as you do more papers for that subject. The point of the cheat sheet is to ensure you are capturing all of your mistakes, then memorising all of those mistakes. Finally the cheek she will act as a re-capping to for what we called spaced repetition. You may also refer to this on the day of the exam just to recap all of your major mistakes.
Thank you I am scared
Only thing to be scared of is fear itself. You got this.
Say , if I’m still understanding the content?
Shall I still start the exams?
Yes, start.
If I’m getting very low in some past papers shall I Memorise concepts which I get wrong - I have nearly finished memorising most of the science content and how can I deal with low marks in papers
Low marks aren't the issue. What is important is whether you are improving or not?
Yes you definitely need to memorise the content you get wrong.
@@Ucademy i haven't completed many past papers but i think i mark very harshly as in school i got for the mocks in science 8,7,6 however in past papers im getting very low.
@@Ucademy i understand your method for maths as I'm getting highs 6s but for science I'm worried that i wont be apply to my knowledge if my knowledge is shaky
do you repeat papers after youve memorised your weak areas
Marking harshly is the right way to do it. School mock results aren’t to be relied upon.
You learn the knowledge once you get the question wrong. You don’t repeat papers unless you done all the papers under the sun.
After I get a question wrong, after I understand the mistake, how would I go about revising that topic. I'm struggling with trying this for chemistry a level because there's so many concepts,
Firstly I have responded to your email apologies for the delay. Okay if you have understood the mistake, you don't need to go and revise the topic you just need to memorise it. It is very important that we only focus on the mistakes from your paper and not expand to wider content due to Time limitation.
What do you mean record results, like note how many marks I got in that paper? Also, how would you make a cheat sheet for a subject like biology (how to get to that answer)?
This what I use for my students to record and track results...
docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1yO9OaR2dTAlkBNDkrNU2ElbAeBZ7cv-iyXV_IMA19bM/edit#gid=0
In Biology, as close to the bullet points from the markscheme for the cheatsheet
@@Ucademy okay thank you!! So if I get a question wrong on a topic like biological molecules, do I need to go over the whole topic again or say if the question was on lipids, just go over lipids?
@@khadijaahmed5355 Lipids only for now.
What's best advice for history and geography exam igcse? Or religious studies as well?
That is a vague question, what specifically do you need advice on?
@@Ucademy hi sorry, I'm giving pakistan studies, islamiyat and Urdu this may june session so I thought if you had any tips for these subjects then please let me know. Time management is a major issue for me so anything for that?
I don’t have expertise on those subjects other than Urdu + Religous education from teaching perspective.
However the plan would be roughly the same as mentioned. Maximise on the 4 papers per day and squeeze out all the mistakes from them.
I know this isn’t that helpful, but your question about time management is still very broad. I normally speak to my students for 30mins to 1 hour when advising them on specifics.
Maybe write down your daily routine on school and non school days by the hour and we will see where you can optimise?
@@Ucademy yeah sure so paper time is 1 hr 30 mins for Islamiyat and Pakistan studies as well. Meanwhile my routine is just.... Let's say random. But the common structure is :
Suhoor>Sleep>school 6am>home 2pm>nap 20-30 mins>study till asr>break till iftar>study from Esha till 1 am >break for anything ramadan related>2 30 am till 4 30 study or sleep it depends. Then restart.
Non school days are great for studying though because I do the all-nighter routine :
4 30 breakfast suhoor then pray fajr
5 00 Start the most worst aka hardest thing because I'm fresh and still ate so no headaches.
8 00 Past Paper History
9 30 Past Paper Islamiyat
10 30 Past Paper Urdu
12 30 break for Dhur and relax for 30 mins
1-1 30 Marks scheme rigorous checking for all past papers
3 00 memorise questions wrong from past papers till its not all done
5 00 call it a day then nothing till iftar and after Maghreb
7 00 Esha and revision session or prepare for schooling mock exams or academy tests
9 00 freshen up again and take a break
10 30 Redo the minimum revision before class at 11pm till 1 am.
1 20 break
2 00 Attempt homework from class or solve the printed past papers from workshop sessions on Fridays only or Sunday too for Islamiyat.
3 00 coffee recharge
4 00 get ready for suhoor again.
Would you recommend starting with this method if I'm just starting out? I don't even know what topics are in the syllabus & haven't opened the book once. I've 4 months until my exams. Should I get an overview of content first or should I just start using this method? I'm sure though that I won't be able to attempt a single question completely as I've seen a few past papers.
What exams you got in 4 months?
AS level Math, Bio, Phy and Chem
Yes in this case get an overview of the content first if you have four months.
You may also consider that whether you have other commitments in the summer
@@Ucademy Okay, studying for AS is my main priority for the summer and there isn't anything else that I need to do. I'll be following your tips & hopefully, it works out. Remember me in your prayers, please. Thank you!
Brother I have a month until year 10 end of years, is there hope for me in achieving 8/9s in my subjects?
Much harder to say, depends on how your school assesses you. Unlike official exams, these vary quite a bit.
I would focus on the long term results, watch this video on how to get grade 9 on a longer basis:
ua-cam.com/video/LajSXXJzK9Y/v-deo.html
So i tried this out for the first day and i did a computer science paper 1 paper and a physics paper 1 paper. Physics was the paper I did terribly in and I wanted to ask how I would turn the question answers into flashcards when questions are heavily contextualised if you know what I mean? The reason I didn't get the mark wasnt because of the content i didnt know but it was that the question was heavily contextualised and that's what tripped me up. I did terribly and got a D grade and wanted to know if this is still salvageable lmao
what im wondering
That is fine, I know students who used to score 6% on their papers go on to score A* [e.g The guy who wrote this article for me]
www.ucademy.co.uk/post/how-to-get-3a-s-at-a-level
Keep going. The papers show you your reality now, not what it will be. Imagine you wanted a 6 pack and went to gym once in your life, do you think you will have a 6 pack? No -You just need to do more reps. You got this.
Day 2 of doing the method, I feel it is currently doing me better working through past papers compared to working through specific past paper questions per topic. I am currently sitting at a steady B grade for physics and Comp Sci as well as an A for maths.
Been good at most of the method, not the cheatsheet but not sure whether its best to do that or not seeing as I have anki to use. Finding it difficult to put physics calculation questions into flashcards especially when theyre heavily contextualised.
Currently my mental state for these exams is improving and kinda gaining hope that I will do well, physics has me most worried lmao. 2 months away from a level exams and pooping bricks. Still working hard and hopefully will be able to benefit from it. I am the sword lmao
Physics is still by far the biggest weakness then comp sci and maths so evaluating my time like that on how much time i spend doing each subject. My past paper count per day is not high since each comp sci paper is about 2 hr 30. The maths and physics ones are fine at 1hr 30. Not sure if I feel like im properly learning though, Im doing the questions, marking them and then flashcarding the mistakes I made.
forgot to add but have been recording the results in a google spreadsheets and looking at what may have gone wrong however i am a bit stuck on generalising contextual questions to place them under a topic to work on if that makes sense.
I'm getting extremely low grades on the papers i'm doing which means it takes me minimum 1 hour to fully correct everything on the papers. This means I can't hit my target of 2 papers a day. Please advise
That is absolutely fine, you take as long as it as needed to learn the mistakes. I would look into getting study leave from school if possible so you can do more papers. Further to this you should try to complete the paper as fast as physically possible. You do not need to take the full allotted time for the paper.
assalamu alikum mr, mr when do i redo the paper like when i get grade of what, aiming for a 9 my exam in 2 weeks need your advice
Wsalam, you don’t redo the paper. Unless you have done all the other papers available to you. The reason you don’t need to do it is because after each paper you should have memorised all the mistakes
Yo bro should I do this for every topic ? So just past papers and flashcards on content I don't know?
Yes, 100%
However, you missed out ROTE learning as the main method for memorisation. Flashcards are the sidekick!
Do this and watch the results improve.
@@Ucademy what's ROTE?
@@zyzz5761 So it is this old school method. You might have heard of a modern variation of it (Blurting). I made a video about it here...
ua-cam.com/video/2h1X3BHp2Cc/v-deo.html
I genuinely feel like i dont know any content and need to do mindmaps first, will practice questions and past paper questions be enough for A level Biology if I only focus on them because I always get questions wrong since they are always different
same, bio is solid, currently getting D's
How many papers have you done?
Questions definitely repeat after enough volume has been done.
Think about it… the biology of the body/plants stays the same. The heart is still the heart!
P.S mind maps can help too when trying to organise information
@@Ucademy only a few but i'm scared to spend the last few weeks focusing on the wrong thing especially because biology questions are mostly specific and require a lot of application. I really struggle motivating myself and am not sure I'd manage more than one past paper a day
@@Ucademy Facts. Appreciate the constant advice
the thing is it takes so long to learn the content but how am i supposed to do past papers on that topic i dont even know the content
Very common question...Not everything on the spec is equally important. Due to the shortage of time, the papers will identify what the main areas you need to learn content for. You focus on those and move on to the next paper. It isn't important what mark you score on the paper, what is more important is whether you learn from that paper or not.
@@Ucademy oh right thank u so much
sir I'm taking maths, bio and chem a level, I got EUE in my jan mocks, do you reckon 6 weeks is enough to push to an A in all 3? I'm a fast learner, but was too lazy beforehand, and had the wrong mindset. I downloaded your google sheets planners for the past papers.
For maths:
I went through year 1 edexcel pure textbook, and now am on year 2 edexcel pure textbook.
For bio:
I'm going through the topics and blurting what I remember then making mindmaps for processes
For chem:
I've covered alot already but still need to do half of organic chemistry AQA.
I feel lost honestly, could you give me some advice please? or if I could arrange a zoom call or something with you for 5 minutes, any time, I would greatly appreciate it. Thank you
Yes, possible!
Sure happy to speak, email hello@ucademy.co.uk
@@Ucademy thank you, I have emailed you
The reality is the last two years I procrastinated a lot and now I'm at an U in biology I have all the free time in the world can I still go from an U to a A in 2 weeks my exams for bio start June 7 and end on the 21st ? please I need to know what is realistic and what is possible
If you were just doing Bio then yes would be possible, but very tough considering you probably have 2 more subjects to prepare for.
@@Ucademy thank you for all the advices , too be honest my third subject is a language and it's already on the verge of an A and my chemistry it's at a C it's just biology, imma use ur advice and learn all past papers pray that insha Allah I do well🙏
What grades did you get
Is there still enough time to go from C to A in A-level Maths, CS, and Accounting
Yes 100%
Shall I prioritise past papers over topic questions??
Yes
So after the GCSEs what do y11s do for the rest of the year?
so that is a video that I am planning on doing so there's a lot of things to discuss us to what you can do in Year 11 to really maximize your time and after your exams are done and what is the best thing in terms of long-term thinking for you to do but that's a long video for me to do and yeah I think I'll do that once around the exams are finishing and yeah so just I guess subscribe and hit the bell notification and then you'll get that video when you reach that time.
sorry for the long message of actually dislocated my wrist so I'm not actually typing this out but using a voice to text command and hence it's weird and long
Should I reattempt the paper after understanding how to attempt each question?
No we don't repeat. 2 ideas at play here:
1. If you understand it truly then you don't need to repeat, because why would you?
2. You want exposure to a wide range of papers, so we are trying to optimise for a large number of papers. Should you one day run out of papers and exam day has not yet arrived, you can come back and attempt your papers which you scored the lowest mark on.
After doing the past papers, i am screenshotting the exact question + markscheme and doing it again when attempting to commit to memory
Should i do it like this or just write the method out?
When i am doing past papers , there are loads of blanks? Help!
Write the method out and memorise
Blanks are fine, no one was born knowing the knowledge to score 100%
After going through a paper , and following the required steps, how long after should the paper be repeated in ?
Should not be repeated until you have done all the other papers.
@@Ucademy i'm noticing that i'm leaving too many gaps on papers . So when attempting to resolve that , do I just revise that question ie the specific content for that question or the full topic?
Should there be a gap between marking & understanding & committing this to long-term memory?
I'm an ALevel yr 13 student doing bio, chem ,and law. Getting D's/C's . Hopefully this improves
Why do you suggest doing this in 5 days , it takes me a day to do the exam then ages to mark and watch a walkthrough video
Lol, why does it take you a day to do a paper? You do the paper in the allotted time.Marking should take 5-10 mins max, You don't need to watch a whole walk through video, just the parts you are stuck on.
I leave too many gaps on a paper so takes ages : Help.!
When making the cheat sheet ,would I need to include the numbers from the question ?
Absolutely not, the numbers in the question will not help you answer that question in a different paper. So you need the topic, and how you would answer that topic exactly.
@@Ucademy I need to apply this to Maths.
Hopefully this works and thank you for the help!
If I'm not sure how to make a cheat sheet for that topic ,what should I do?
@@MrCFCfan what topic are you referring to ?are you referring to Maths as a subject? If so it depends on the individual topic in maths but in essence you would write down how to solve that particular question. e.g " y=mx+C for straight line equation and you would sub in values to find the unknown.
m= gradient= Change in y/Change in x
"
I really need to go up 4 grades up and I dno how so I hope that this helps
Hopefully it does. There are a lot of details here, let me know if you have any questions s on any of them. Happy to help :)
my eyes hurt
where do you find all the past papers?
you can find the papers on the Exam board website for the new specification and even some of the old specifications and the older ones you may need to look around on the internet. Ucademy has some of these papers if you would like access to them just drop me a message and I'll sort out access for you and so just email hello@ucademy.co.uk and say I'm a subscriber on the UA-cam channel something along those lines and can I get access to these papers and we should have access to the core objects and we can give you access to that here
Is rote learning or flashcards more efficient?
Great question...
Many different factors to consider [in the context of memorisation].
Rote Learning is more efficient over short to medium term.
Flashcards are more efficient for smaller number items to remember, as well as being more efficient in medium to long term retention because it often involves spaced repetition.
I personally spent a lot of time doing Rote memorisation and I used to forget the content completely by the next term, but it is very good way at acing the short term exam/bagging the grades.
Hope this helps!
@@Ucademy Thanks very much!