{"id":7962,"date":"2019-04-20T09:00:22","date_gmt":"2019-04-20T08:00:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ncchomelearning.co.uk\/blog\/?p=7962"},"modified":"2023-04-21T13:49:33","modified_gmt":"2023-04-21T12:49:33","slug":"practice-for-a-levels","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ncchomelearning.co.uk\/blog\/practice-for-a-levels\/","title":{"rendered":"How Can I Practice For My A Levels?"},"content":{"rendered":"

A-level examinations are close, and the need for independent study is upon you. Online A Levels<\/a> can be a gateway to university and Level 4 study so that they will be challenging.\u00a0 Therefore, being prepared is essential and so is understanding how to practice the skills you will need for success.<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s look at some of the most successful study habits of those who will excel in their A-level study.<\/p>\n

Past Papers are an essential<\/h2>\n

Studying for examinations is not that different from running a 100-metre sprint in front of millions of people.\u00a0 The professional athlete will have drilled the start, drilled the final line, run the 100-metres a thousand times before the big race.\u00a0 The practice means the athlete’s body remembers how to succeed when put under the pressure of so many prying eyes.<\/p>\n

When you sit to do your examination in the hall under time pressure, with the knowledge that the next person to hold the paper is an examiner \u2013 this is pressure \u2013 this is the athletics stadium.\u00a0 Practice lots of papers, make the skills of answering the paper a part of the memory in your muscles.\u00a0 Your body will surprise you by springing into action even when you panic.<\/p>\n

As well as looking at past papers and completing them, it would help if you then compared your answers to example A and A* responses.\u00a0 Can you see where they may have done something better?\u00a0 This reflection is the best learning you can do.<\/p>\n

Check out the examiner\u2019s report<\/h2>\n

The person in charge of your exam writes a report each year with examples and tips.\u00a0 Sure, this is aimed at teachers but why not read it too.\u00a0 The report will explain how the question is marked and what people commonly got wrong, making it easy to avoid the same mistakes.\u00a0\u00a0 If the examiner has year on year said that they offer the highest marks to those who provide criticisms, then make sure you do this in your answer.\u00a0 If they want your opinion, written from a personal perspective, then you know to do this instead.<\/p>\n

Chunk it down<\/h2>\n

There is a reason why the BBC call their revision website Bitesize.\u00a0 The point is that revision is difficult, and the only way to do it is in small chunks.\u00a0 To continue the metaphor from the BBC, it is a good idea not to bite off more than you can chew.\u00a0 So, look at your examinations and work out what topics you will need to revise.\u00a0 Break these topics down into smaller chunks.\u00a0 When you have completed your list work out a 20-minute task you can do to refresh your understanding.\u00a0 Once you have worked through your list once, start again with a different task to help update your knowledge and skills.<\/p>\n

It is a good idea to map these revision tasks out on a revision timetable.\u00a0 This will help you keep track of where you are in relation to your final goal of the examination.<\/p>\n

Flashcards and card sorts<\/h2>\n

First, the act of creating your flashcards and card sorts will be a learning exercise.\u00a0 To make a flashcard, you need to condense the information down to a consumable chunk when it is held up.\u00a0 When creating a card sort, you will need to think about how one idea links to another idea, which might connect to another idea.<\/p>\n

Kinaesthetic learning is well researched.\u00a0 Moving while you learn uses different parts of the brain and is much more effective than just reading notes from the page or rewriting ideas.<\/p>\n

You can have some fun with this by designing the cards to be attractive or visual; then you will be using a completely different learning style.\u00a0 Our memory likes pictures; they can contain many ideas in a single symbol.<\/p>\n

Look after yourself<\/h2>\n

It would help if you continued to eat and drink sensibly.\u00a0 Too much sugar and too much coffee will ultimately reduce your concentration and focus.\u00a0 Drink much water, eat healthy snacks as you revise \u2013 and more importantly \u2013 exercise too.\u00a0 Your body is a basic input-output machine.\u00a0 What you put in relates directly to what you get out of it.\u00a0 Your brain, for instance, is 79% water.\u00a0 Therefore, if you dehydrate yourself your brain literally shrinks.\u00a0 Your thinking will become foggy, and your memory will be reduced.\u00a0 You may think you are working so hard you can’t drink, but you are wasting your time!<\/p>\n

Eat, drink, go for walks, revise a bit too.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A-level examinations are close, and the need for independent study is upon you. Online A Levels can be a gateway to university and Level 4 study so that they will be challenging.\u00a0 Therefore, being prepared is essential and so is understanding how to practice the skills you will need for success. Let\u2019s look at some […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":7963,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_eb_attr":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[379],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7962","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-education"],"featured_image_src":"https:\/\/www.ncchomelearning.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/notes.jpg","author_info":{"display_name":"Nick Cooper","author_link":"https:\/\/www.ncchomelearning.co.uk\/blog\/author\/nccnickcooper\/"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ncchomelearning.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7962","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ncchomelearning.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ncchomelearning.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ncchomelearning.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ncchomelearning.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7962"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.ncchomelearning.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7962\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":40019,"href":"https:\/\/www.ncchomelearning.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7962\/revisions\/40019"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ncchomelearning.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7963"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ncchomelearning.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7962"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ncchomelearning.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7962"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ncchomelearning.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7962"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}