The A-Level programme is a pre-university programme which many students aim to get into, in order to prepare themselves for numerous opportunities and variety of courses available in university. A level subjects are divided into two levels, namely, Advanced Subsidiary (AS) and Advanced Two (A2) level. Students can either opt for the science or arts stream; hence subject combinations would vary from person to person.
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Cracking the A level examination is not all that easy and many students struggle to achieve excellent grades. This is one of the main reasons why there is a rise in tutoring services and a great demand for private tutors. Students need to work hard relentlessly and ensure that they revise consistently to refresh their memory on everything learnt.
As an A-level student, you may have heard of so many different advice from many people; all of which might coalesce into confusion in your mind. So, let’s take a look at some steps you can take to tackle this examination systematically!
BE PREPARED
This is a rather obvious advice that anyone would give. Of course, you need to know your content in and out, and if there are formulas and definitions, they need to be at your fingertips. It all starts with knowing what you have to know.
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Take the time to look through learning objectives for every topic, and be aware of the concepts that will be tested for the final examination. When you have laid this foundation, tackle one topic at a time and engage yourself in passive and active learning to internalise the information. You need to be thorough with the content months before the final examination, so that you give yourself enough time to revise the entire syllabi multiple times.
HEALTHY MIND AND BODY
You should never neglect your health, be it physically or mentally. The mind and body are not mutually exclusive; they are dependent on each other. Common good health practices like going to bed early, drinking plenty of water, eating enough vegetables and fruits are more than enough to maintain the integrity of the body.
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Mental health is as equally as important, especially during exam season. A-Level examinations can be nerve-wracking and it is important for students to take some time to reflect on their study strategies and think about ways in which stress can be curbed. It is crucial to ensure that stress does not affect one’s performance adversely.
REINFORCING YOUR MEMORY
Our memory cannot store all information at one go, instead it gets easier when students can learn their content bit by bit so that the brain can better encode everything that is being taught. In order to prepare for an examination, you need to get into the habit of practicing spaced repetition. This way, concepts can be easily registered in such a way that they can be easily recalled as well.
AN EXAM SCHEDULE
Prior to the actual examination, it will be beneficial for you to make a timetable covering all subjects and their respective topics. The plan has to be explicitly state how each and every topic will be tackled and how doubts will be clarified. The exam revision schedule has to be carefully crafted; should there be doubts, you can feel free to ask your teachers about how you can tackle your weaknesses and capitalise on your strengths!
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It will be helpful to create an exam schedule that is at least a month prior to the actual examination. During this time, you can request your tuition teachers to reteach some topics which you think may need some more work to be done before exams.