Tips for doing well at A level

[CeeCeeMacFay]

My ds has just finished his GCSEs and came out with 5/6s after failing all of his mocks. He has had a difficult year in terms of bereavements and family illness and really only revised for the last couple of months. At A level he is taking English lit, English Lang and Politics. He would like to get organised and stay on top of the work so any tips from those with dc that have done well would be much appreciated. TIA

At the end of each topic check his notes make sense! Check them againstbthe syllabus (available online) to ensure there are no gaps.

Make sure if there are end of topic tests that he revises properly rather than assumes he knows because he has just done it.

Buy the study guides that go with his course from day one rather than just for revision.

Thanks, am ordering the study guides now!

Have a thorough understanding of the mark scheme for each subject and make sure essays and exam answers conform to what’s needed - tick the boxes.

Thanks! Making a note of these now.

my daughter said that this book took her from a B to an A for essays

how to Argue by Alastair Bonnett

Brilliant, just got that on amazon prime!

Make friends with the teachers as much as you can without being a teachers pet. Don't waste their lunchtime but if you spot a moment for a 5 minute chat, take it! It's the best way to get actual honest feedback and also learn more about the parts of the course that interest you.

Abit worried about that as my ds has just left his current school to go to a very large college and although everyone was lovely at the open days etc I get the feeling they are pretty hands off where parents are concerned. I will try though, assuming they still have parent/tutor evenings etc!

Having just seen DS1 through A-levels, I can tell you what not to do:

Fail to fully understand the assessment objectives (Politics).

Afte receiving the context/background reading list, leave it till the last minute to go to the library so other students have already borrowed all the relevant books (History)

Put off planning & drafting your coursework until the absolute last moment, handing in your final draft so last-minute that the teachers are pulling their hair out (English Literature)

Neglect to learn enough quotes from the exam texts. Refuse to learn any quotes from Chaucer, using the excuse that you don't speak Middle English (English Literature).

Ah don't worry OP, I meant that advice for your DS! As in he should be making friends and chatting - sorry, that wasn't particularly clear the first time! 😂

Thank you! Phew argument you had me worried for a min! Will pass this on to him! Thanks Thethird, I will take note of the what not to dos too, he really needs to hit the ground running!

Depending on exam board (english literature), context is a big deal so learn about the lives of your authors and their motivations for writing. The author's contemporaries should be your next stop, and scholarship about the authors, particularly where it relates to themes in the novel.
Learn Shakespeare quotes, and depending on the specifics of your papers different productions and critical views of them. Also, do lots of practice on close analysis (picking out how exact words can influence a sentence/passage).

In general though, mark schemes as mentioned by PPs, also befriend the teachers as much as you can. Don't be a snake to others, but be a good student, always be polite, no attitude, etc. Two benefits to this, one if you don't do the homework they're less likely to rip your head off, two if you need to ask a question or need some support they're a lot more lenient. Go to the bulk.of lessons too, my attendance wasn't perfect but unless you're ill be in the lesson.

In terms of organisation, have a seperate file for each subject, and in my case I found it very useful to have one for each paper which kept all of my notes and past papers in. File everything away the day you get it, at the end of the lesson if possible. If homework is set start it as soon as possible, unless it's something that will take a while in which case I would recommend waiting until the weekend, but most things do them on the night. Learn when the library is quiet which will be good times to work. The thing my economics teacher told me which I found most helpful was take at least one day (for me usually sundays) where you don't worry about school work, it kept me sane first year.
The biggest thing is to trust yourself, his grades will drop at the start, they all do, but if he works hard and does everything he should they will pick up.
Also, I know this seems very overwhelming but you don't have to do all of this at once, implement things slowly over time and he'll be fine.
For reference, I got AAAB (one mark off AAAA) plus a B at geography AS (which I dropped), and came top of my year for Geography and Economics, plus got 95% and 100% for two of my Classics papers.

Thanks for all the help Dr, making notes now. Both English are AQA and politics is Edexcel.

Politics Edexcel is supposed to be quite nice from what I heard, not easy per se but manageable. I did Edexcel economics and Geography and they had really good and reletively simple to understand syllabi. AQA is also good because they keep a lot of past papers and they're quite easy to find.

I just did one of those 3 (in our school we tended to do more facilitating subjects for A level ( www.clare.cam.ac.uk/subjectchoice-alevelchoice/ ) but I am sure your son will do fine with English lit as his one facilitating subject for university entrance. The one of his I did wa English and I got an A (no A* in my day). Why was it a good grade? Just consistent hard work, I did not just read a set book but read other books by the same author too which helped (and I liked the books anyway so it was fine).

Two of my children have done A level English too so more recently and again I would put grades down to hard work, turning up to all lessons, (never off sick), doing all homework on time. good teachers and all of my children found edexcel guides quite good. One watched some of the books they were doing as a film too - I remember buying hte DVD (in those days of DVDs being common).

One of my sons did politics but just to AS level, not A2. He is not around to ask what helped but again probably things like Edexcel guides etc.