Advice for Starting 6th Form

[BaconAndAvocado]

DS did really well at his GCSEs but I keep hearing about how much harder A levels are!

He does have a great work ethic and is passionate about his subjects - Maths, Chemistry, Physics and Economics.

Any top tips??

Organisation to cover everything and work hard from day 1, getting help if necessary to explain.

Reckon if you got behind, that could be a problem - so do the above so you don't.

If he can find out what course/examining body curriculum he is following at 6th form he can look it up online and try and keep ahead of the course. Any queries or issues can be raised in the appropriate lesson. Good training for Uni too.

Keep up with homework, and if you don't understand something, don't simply let it slide because it will come back to bite you on the arse later. Ask for help, talk to your teachers and keep your notes organised.

And when you are handed back a piece of marked work, don't simply glance at the grade and file it, go through it, and learn from your errors.

Great thread. Please keep the tips coming.

Use 'free' periods wisely - plan what you are going to do in each one - some can be social but plan for some to be work based, go over notes from lessons a day or so after the lesson/before next lesson - don't just do the bare minimum of homework for each lesson.

Ask for help - don't think things will click if they aren't.

'Live' in the relevant departments if necessary - a recent student used our department (Maths) as an escape from the social 6th form common room to work and ended up with an A* in Maths and an A in Further Maths so it paid off!

If you have free whole days, use those wisely too.

By all means have a lie-in if you are used to getting up for a bus but start work at your normal timetable time. If you find it impossible to do anything at home, go into college anyway and use their quiet study areas.

If you have covered everything you need then read around subjects. Ask for advice if, to start, you are not sure what sort of things would fall into this category. I remember when I studied Business, I would read the FT.

Thanks all for all the superb advice. Keep it coming please!

DS is readng "Classical Mechanics: The Theoretical Minimum" on the sofa as I write this (FOR FUN!)

A book about Maths.

I've no idea how we produced such a brainbox

The biggest issue we find is the pupils don't immediately realise there is big jump. They go from doing 10 subjects and a completely full timetable to 4 subjects with quite a few free periods. They are also given some freedom to leave the school. This gives them the illusion that it is all quite fun and easy and many waste the 1st term this way. The AS exams are on them before they have realised just how much work there is.

Also be careful changing schools for 6 th form. This is actually quite disruptive as they need to make friends and get to know the place when they need to be working.

Get a big wall chart year planner and mark exams, coursework deadlines and holidays on it.

Add uni open days and actually attend some.

Keep a list of suggested further reading on the wall and tick off texts as you go, keeping some v brief notes on each to help with assignments, interview preparation and Ucas statement.

Find people who got the grades you want or were accepted onto your ideal course and ask what they did/ read.