Help my DD with efficient A level revision

[Roja9]

DD is in year 13 doing sport at a very high level (over 20 hours / week) and 3 A levels (math, chemistry, biology).

Her grades are suffering because she simply does not have enough time to revise yet can't give up sport as sport is getting her a scholarship.

How can she revise more efficiently given the limited time she has between now and A levels in May?

Should she just focus on past papers now?

She has access to UpLearn, a couple of other online programmes and a math tutor.

Thanks

Does she really not have time to revise, or is she prioritising other things (eg being on her phone)?

Is she making good use of travel time to/from sport (e.g. if being driven there or on a bus/train).

Can she cut back on sport just for 6 months (do some just not so much) or is that not possible?

I would say past papers - make sure she checks the marking scheme after doing them. Do them as many as possible and over and over again.

Also presumably she's at school at least 30 hours a week, sport 20 hours. Make sure she has downtime too.

Are there that many past papers available? The maths course and possibly the science one too (I'm not sure) changed quite a lot in 2017 (for 2019) exams so I'm not sure how helpful papers before 2019 would be. They're considered easier by maths students from what I've read as they put a lot more problem solving into the new exam and some things that were optional are now compulsory.

I would get the CGP books for her course/board, there are revision guides with all the info set out and the odd question to think about and then there are ones that are just questions. I'd get her to work through them, reading a section and then working through the questions.

Look up "retrospective revision timetables" - when time is short, it's a great method to make revision more efficient and make sure she's not wasting time revising things she knows well and is spending more time on topics she finds difficult.

Thank-you - I've just had a look at retrospective revision timetables and I think it's certainly a much more active and efficient way to revise.

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For sciences, it's only worth doing past papers once she is confident about the content, IMO. However, she can also use AS papers to help revise, which should mean more papers are available. It may be worth trying an AS paper for each subject and self marking, to see where she is and try to identify areas of improvement- those can then be the focus of self study.

20-30 minutes of focused work, little and often is also more effective than hours when she's partially distracted- however, we suggest our science students aim for 4 hours a week per subject, 12 hours on top of her sport may be tricky to fit in.

When doing past papers, it's worth bearing in mind that exam boards are often really picky with the mark schemes- to the point of almost being pedantic. A lot of my students self mark more generously because it's "nearly right" but her focus needs to be on precise language and using all the right key words in her explanations. If she's vague, then unfortunately she'll likely not get any marks, even if she's "along the right lines". She also needs to read questions really carefully and make sure she does what's being asked- e.g. an explain question, she needs to include a because, or a why and link up ideas, not just describe.

Is she really serious about the sport? As in, is it something that could be a professional career for her? If so, it is worth bearing in mind that there are lots of options in terms of getting into uni or studying a bit later in life, these days- whereas presumably with the sport it's a bit more now or never? Does she miss lessons due to competing in her sport?

Sciences changed in 2016, so 2018 papers are helpful. There's also 2x AS papers for each subject from 2017-2019, and then the last two years. IMO, they are worth looking at for question practice, especially around this time when students haven't covered much year 2 content yet.