My A-Level tips for incoming Year 12s and the new Year 13s

 Although college and sixth form don't resume until September, I've still had a couple of comments on my TikTok asking for advice on their A-Levels because they're doing one of the three I did (chemistry, maths, and physics). I feel like the advice I give everyone is the same generic advice, and I can only go into great depth for chemistry. For me, there was a lot of overlap between maths and physics (especially since both have mechanics as a topic).

So here I am, making a blog post as a place for my suggestions for each topic. I'll try to organise this efficiently and not repeat myself as much as possible, but no promises.

            Generic advice

I feel as though everyone hears the same advice, whether it be for GCSEs or for A-Levels, and they never take it, but they end up giving it towards the end. But trust me now, you should take this advice; you don't want to be me. Not that I've ever failed, but think of how much better I could have done had I taken my own advice.

For each of your subjects, you want to make sure you keep on top of your revision material and make things as you go. Flashcards, mind maps, flowcharts, summary sheets, keyword sheets - whatever works for you, do it. If you don't know what works for you, do all of it; just don't slack off and miss weeks' worth of work like I did. As long as you keep up with making resources, you're ahead. Then, maybe 15 minutes a day or for 2 hours at the end of the week, whatever works for you, use those resources. Do a set of flashcards, read your mind maps, and blurt as much as you remember (blurting was something I severely missed out on until Year 13; do it early). 

Then, for the Year 12s, use your summer wisely. Yes, you deserve your rest, but this is also a chance for you to build solid foundations for your Year 13 to make life easier for yourself. Doesn't have to be much; even an hour a day would be amazing. I really did next to nothing over the summer, but I regret not going over my flashcards every so often and completing all of the AS papers available (Physics&Maths tutor is great for this). Just make sure you fill in the gaps in your knowledge at the bare minimum. If you want to go above and beyond, work until you could recite topics in your sleep. Yes, Year 12 is hard, but for some subjects, it is nothing compared to Year 13.

A note for when you make notes (horrible phrasing, I know): I feel as though the Cornell note-taking method really does work. I struggled to do it as I only tried it in Year 13, but try it from the start of Year 12. Your notes don't have to be perfect, but I found from the few times I used the Cornell method that I really felt as though I was actively listening rather than just copying word for word. Which is another thing: you're not going to actively take things in by copying down directly from the PowerPoint. My trick is to read it and take reworded notes - summarising if you can would be good. I think the best way is to have some detailed notes during the lesson, then afterwards spend time making your flashcards, mind maps, and summarised notes (which is what you should mainly use, referring to your detailed notes if you need more guidance or if you're doing a topic you're weaker at).

Sorry if this advice doesn't apply to humanities; I haven't done any sort of humanities in 2 years; I'm too much of a STEM lover.

            Chemistry

Chemistry is by far my most favourite subject and the one that I am most confident in - well, maybe not anymore, but at one point it was. I, unfortunately, don't have any unique tips.

For organic chemistry mechanisms, I set aside about an hour a week (you will likely need less than this in Year 12 or if you write quicker than me) to go over my mechanisms using a 'wheel of choices' and a summary sheet. I would spin the wheel to randomly get a mechanism, then copy out an example with the conditions required (similar to blurting), and then would correct using my summary sheet. I found this was the most effective way to learn them, as by the end of Year 13, I could write out mechanisms off the top of my head (my conditions were a bit weak, but I only started doing that later when I remembered they were something you were tested on). I have them linked on my Linktree along with some other resources for anyone interested! I also have plans to make more resources.

The way I got more confident in chemistry was just by going through hundreds of worksheets - you can find some on ChemSheets, and whilst you do have to pay for it, you have access to their whole website of resources for two years, which I think is a good deal. I unfortunately did not do this as I didn't read it properly and thought it was a yearly thing until I spoke to this girl towards the end of Year 13, and she told me about it. By then, I didn't think there was much of a point in buying it and just asked my teachers whenever I wanted something.

            Maths

Maths was a subject I had a love-hate relationship with. Topics like the factor theorem and quadratics I loved, but I hated things such as integration by parts and by substitution.

I feel as though the generic tips apply here too. I really loved using TLMaths on YouTube as a way to help with my weak topics, as reading my examples didn't really help at all. My fault, though; my written work for maths compared to chemistry or physics was poor. The only thing I can really say is to practice as many questions as possible to become familiar with the method so it essentially becomes second nature.

If you do Edexcel like I did, I wouldn't bother with learning much of the Large Data Set - too much to know with so few marks on it. You are better off getting marks for the calculations. Though it is helpful to learn the basic units and such, there are summary sheets of it available online that you'll be able to find quite easily (I think there's a good one somewhere on Reddit?). 

The only thing I can think of that flashcards and blurting would be good for is the Large Data Set information, and equations you aren't given in the data booklet. The way I remembered some of the inverse trig identities was using 'Tans are sexy' (tan^2(x) + 1 = sec^2(x)) and "Cots are cosy" (cotan^2(x) + 1 =- cosec^2(x)). 

            Physics

I hated physics. With a passion. I really liked the subject itself, but considering how much I loved the subject at GCSE, I hated it at A-Level with a burning passion.

The only tips I really have are to be familiar with your definitions (unless it was just my teacher who drilled that into us) and ensure you know your stuff. In my opinion, I can see next to no overlap in many of the A-Level physics topics, and it was all nonsense to me. So be familiar with your stuff. I have a fully annotated data booklet linked on my Linktree, which I found really helped me, as there were a lot of reused symbols in completely different topics, so be familiar! That is the only advice I have.

I don't believe all of this advice is anything groundbreaking and more or less just reiterating what everyone else says online. I hope that it helps someone out there and motivates them to do better than I did or helps them feel more confident for the upcoming year.