How I Got an A* in Maths A-level (Cambridge Student)
Summary
TLDRIn this video, Roy shares his strategy for achieving a top grade in A-Level Maths at Cambridge. He emphasizes the importance of understanding the course specification, regular practice with past papers, and using resources like YouTube for clarification. Roy advises being intentional with study efforts, focusing on areas of difficulty, and developing effective exam techniques to tackle challenging questions.
Takeaways
- 📚 **Download and Refer to the Specification**: Keep the A-Level Maths specification on Google Drive for regular reference and to check against what's being taught in class.
- 📈 **Understand Before Practice**: Ensure understanding of the material during class before proceeding to practice questions.
- 🔍 **Use YouTube for Clarification**: Search on YouTube for specific topics that are difficult to understand, regardless of the source.
- 📝 **Maintain a Mistakes Document**: Keep a record of common mistakes and review it regularly to avoid repeating them during exams.
- 📑 **Practice with Past Papers**: Attempt past papers and specimen papers from different exam boards to get a variety of practice.
- 🎓 **Utilize Online Resources**: Use channels like TL Maths for A-Level Maths specific content and Exam Solutions for video tutorials.
- 📘 **Be Selective with Textbook Use**: Focus on end-of-chapter questions for practice rather than relying solely on textbooks for learning content.
- 🤔 **Seek Clarity Until Satisfied**: Continually seek explanations until fully understanding a concept, don't just memorize.
- 🎯 **Be Intentional in Practice**: Focus on areas of difficulty rather than mindlessly doing every question; be intentional about improvement.
- ⏰ **Develop an Exam Technique**: Learn when to move on from a question during exams to manage time effectively and not miss easier questions.
- 🚫 **Avoid Procrastination**: Don't delay understanding difficult topics; address them as they arise to prevent last-minute cramming.
Q & A
What was the main focus of Roy's video?
-The main focus of Roy's video was to share his workflow and strategies for achieving a star grade in A-Level Mathematics, specifically for the AQA specification.
What was Roy's first step in his A-Level Mathematics study workflow?
-Roy's first step was downloading the specification and keeping it on his Google Drive for regular reference and annotation.
How did Roy use the specification during his class learning?
-Roy used the specification to check the content being taught in class, to understand the order of topics, and to annotate points he didn't understand for later discussion with his teachers.
What did Roy do after class to reinforce his learning?
-After class, Roy would start doing practice questions, especially if he was struggling with certain parts of the topic, and he would also search for YouTube videos for further clarification.
How did Roy approach past papers and specimen papers?
-Roy started doing past papers and specimen papers about two to three months before his exams. He included papers from other boards and made notes of any mistakes to review regularly.
Which YouTube channels did Roy recommend for learning A-Level Mathematics?
-Roy recommended YouTube channels like TL Maths for A-Level Mathematics specific content and general channels like NancyPi, Organic Chemistry Tutor, or Khan Academy for specific topics.
What was Roy's opinion on the textbooks used in his class?
-Roy found the textbooks used in his class to be poorly written and not very helpful for understanding the material, although he found the practice questions in them to be useful.
What was Roy's advice for dealing with confusion when learning a new topic?
-Roy advised to keep looking for explanations until satisfied and to learn until comfortable with the material to avoid memorization without understanding.
How did Roy select which resources to use for his studies?
-Roy used a combination of YouTube videos for learning content, textbook end-of-chapter questions for practice, and past papers from websites like Physics and Math for additional challenge.
What was Roy's strategy for approaching difficult questions during exams?
-Roy's strategy was to move on from a question if he found himself repeating the same approach without progress, marking it to return later, and focusing on questions he could answer correctly.
What was the final recommendation Roy gave for studying A-Level Mathematics?
-Roy's final recommendation was not to procrastinate on hard topics, to understand them as they come up, and to make an effort to grasp the concepts early on rather than leaving them for last-minute revision.
Outlines
📚 A-Level Maths Study Workflow
The speaker, Roy, introduces his study workflow for A-Level Maths, focusing on how he achieved top marks in his exams. He emphasizes the importance of downloading and regularly consulting the course specification, which he kept on Google Drive. Roy used the specification to stay updated with class content, to clarify any doubts with teachers, and to anticipate upcoming lessons. During classes, he focused on understanding the material and taking notes. Post-class, he engaged in practice questions, seeking additional resources online when needed. He stressed the value of using past papers from different exam boards and creating a 'mistakes document' to track and avoid recurring errors during actual exams.
📈 Resources for A-Level Maths Mastery
Roy shares several resources that he found beneficial for mastering A-Level Maths. He recommends using YouTube for learning content, particularly channels like TL Maths, which offers comprehensive playlists covering the entire A-Level Maths syllabus. He also suggests Exam Solutions for tutorial videos and practice questions. Roy advises using the end-of-chapter questions from textbooks for practice, focusing on the more difficult questions to ensure understanding. For past papers, he directs students to the Physics and Maths Tutor website, recommending the Solomon papers for their challenging and style-relevant questions. He also shares tips on how to approach learning, such as seeking clear explanations until satisfied, learning until comfortable with the material, and being intentional about targeted improvement areas.
📝 Effective Study Strategies for A-Level Maths
In the final paragraph, Roy offers practical advice for studying A-Level Maths effectively. He encourages students to be intentional about their learning, focusing on areas of difficulty rather than aimlessly completing every available question. He suggests setting a timer to reflect on challenging topics and to be deliberate about improvement. Roy also advises developing an exam technique that includes knowing when to move on from difficult questions to return to them later with a fresh perspective. Lastly, he warns against procrastinating on difficult topics, advocating for immediate understanding and regular revisiting of challenging concepts to ensure true comprehension rather than rote memorization.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡A-level
💡Workflow
💡Specification
💡Practice Questions
💡Past Papers
💡Resources
💡YouTube
💡Mistakes Document
💡Intentional Learning
💡Exam Technique
💡Procrastination
Highlights
Introduction to the video and Roy's background in physics at Cambridge.
Achieving a star on A-level Maths and setting exams in the summer of 2019.
The importance of the AQA specification for A-level Maths.
The consistency across different exam boards for A-level Maths.
Advice on using past papers from other exam boards.
Roy's workflow for studying A-level Maths, starting with downloading the specification.
Using the specification to stay aligned with class content and annotate points of confusion.
The value of attending lessons and understanding the material.
Incorporating practice questions into the learning process.
Seeking additional help through online resources like YouTube if struggling with certain topics.
The universality of Maths concepts across different educational content.
The practice of revisiting difficult topics and ensuring ongoing proficiency.
Starting past paper practice two to three months before exams.
Utilizing specimen papers and papers from other boards for practice.
Advice on finding specimen papers safely and consulting teachers.
Creating a mistakes document to track and avoid habitual errors.
The usefulness of YouTube for learning Maths content.
Recommendation of specific YouTube channels like TL Maths for A-level Maths.
The effectiveness of Exam Solutions' videos for understanding Maths concepts.
The importance of doing end-of-chapter textbook questions for practice.
Selecting the most challenging end-of-chapter questions to ensure understanding.
Using past papers from websites like Physics and Math Tutor for additional practice.
The significance of tackling Solomon papers for challenging practice.
Advice on seeking explanations until understanding is achieved.
The importance of learning and understanding material as it is taught.
Being intentional about which topics to practice and improve upon.
Developing an exam technique for knowing when to move on from a question.
Avoiding procrastination on difficult topics to ensure understanding over time.
Conclusion and where to find more study advice from Roy.
Transcripts
hey everyone and welcome back to the
channel if you're new here my name is
roy and i just finished doing my second
year physics here at cambridge now in
this video i'm going to be going over
how i got a star on a-level maps when i
set my exams in the sum of 2019 now i
did aqa for a-level maps and that was a
new specification as well but that
largely doesn't matter because for most
of the new specification a-level maps
the exam boards are almost all the same
which also means that you can attempt
past papers from other examples as well
which is pretty neat anyway i'll be
talking about my workflow for a-level
maps then i'll go into some more like
math specific resources which i use and
then finally any advice which i have as
always timestamps and links to anything
i mentioned will be in the description
down below so do check those out during
the video so i'll quickly outline my
workflow for a-level maps but i do have
a longer video explaining my workflow
which should be linked above somewhere
right now so anyway my first step was
downloading the specification and then
keeping on my google drive which i then
used and checked through like regularly
to make sure um as the content was being
taught in class i could check for it and
then maybe annotate any points which i
didn't exactly understand and then ask
my teachers about it and after like
using the spec and i would have an idea
where we were in the course then i would
go to lesson and actually learn the
content class so to kind of know what
the next few lessons are going to be
about because their specification
tells you like the order in which your
teachers are teaching the course to you
and during the class i would like to
learn the content make sure i'm
understanding material and make notes
during the lesson afterwards i would
then start doing some practice questions
so that was usually for any homework we
were given but if i found myself
struggling on like certain parts of the
topic
and i didn't understand it too well then
like i would try to do more practice
questions on it or try to find some
videos online by searching on youtube
now it doesn't matter too much about
like finding youtube videos by specific
a-level maps like youtubers or something
and that's because maps are just maps so
like if you're struggling to like i
don't know use a chain reel or something
it doesn't matter if you're watching an
a-level video and using the chain reel
or like a video by khan academy or
something on using chain rule so like
just type the topic name into youtube
and you can usually find a good video
explaining it to you and after doing
like practice questions throughout the
year funny content we were learning and
also coming back to topics which i found
difficult and making sure i could still
do those we practice questions about two
to three months before my exams i'd
start doing a bunch of past papers and
there aren't too many past papers for
the new specification but there are
specimen papers and there are papers
from other boards as well so try doing
some of these specimen papers and papers
from motherboards and if you want to
find the specimen papers and you can
either do that by searching online and
finding on some like dodgy websites but
don't download any viruses or something
or asking your teacher about it instead
so when i was doing the past papers and
the specimen papers then i would make
notes of anything that i like usually
got wrong or made mistakes on and then
added it onto mistakes documents and i
would come back to this mistakes
document regularly throughout the year
and also just before doing any practice
tests or something so know exactly what
mistakes i had that i had a habit of
making so i could then develop a habit
of also looking out for those mistakes
so when it came to the real exam like i
didn't have to worry too much about
because like my brain was sort of active
and i had i like made a habit of looking
out for these mistakes so i made them
less frequently so that was basically a
summary of my a level maps workflow um
as for a few resources which i found to
be really useful the first of which was
youtube now like the best way to
actually get better maps is by doing
more questions but you actually have to
learn the material first and textbooks
for me and the textbooks we used in
lessons i thought were pretty useless
when it came to maths and they were just
like badly written and sometimes i just
didn't understand what the hell they
were going on about and that's one point
i want to mention like if you don't
understand what's going on in textbook
then don't think you're like stupid or
something because in many cases i just
didn't understand the textbook because
it was just poorly written and
unfortunately most a-level textbooks i
think are quite poorly written
so like don't force yourself to use a
textbook if you're just not
understanding it although the practice
questions in textbook were pretty useful
which i'll go in about later anyway for
learning the content i used youtube
mainly and that was just by searching
any topics on youtube which i was
struggling with and just finding any old
video online so if i go to youtube then
i can just search something like chain
rule
and then i can just find like videos by
like nancy pi or something or like
organic chemistry tutor or like khan
academy on the chain rule and if i
wanted more a level math specific videos
then a good channel was tl maths now he
has videos about uh all of a level maps
so if you go to his playlists then you
can find a super long playlist which
covers the entire a-level map somewhere
or i think it might be if you go to his
website tl maps then it can be easier to
find it there so if you go to a level
maps then you can
find the
uh full a level
then you can do either as then you can
go to either as only or follow a level
videos and then like just go to the
topic so like if i wanted to go to
algebra and functions then i'd go over
here and then like functions itself and
this is mapped according to the
specification and then i can just find
all the videos here now i didn't watch
all his videos i watched like a few
videos here and there because most of
the time like i sort of understood what
was going on in a lesson or an instant
topic well enough but if i didn't
particularly like my teacher's
explanation of what was going on then i
would come here but if you like self
teaching yourself a level maths then
this is probably a good place to like
learn all the material from but i don't
imagine anyone who actually has to like
watch all his video videos um because
like your teacher should be able to
teach a good chunk of a little maps to
you well so basically don't feel a
temptation to watch all his videos
despite how good they are like do
practice questions and if you find
yourself struggling with the topic or
you don't send it too well and your
teacher hasn't explained it well to you
then come back to videos learn the
content and then try the practice
questions again now the next useful
resource was exam solutions so they also
have some good videos so if i go to like
a level then i can find uh like for say
aqa even though the exam boards don't
matter too much then for like mechanics
i can go to tutorials and then just find
a bunch of videos so like moments if i
go to moments then i can like click on
one of these and then just find some a
video where he explains it also he goes
through a lot of questions as well and
he has some exam questions uh which you
can attempt yourself and then view the
solution for so it's a pretty good way
to like work through the course and then
watch him go through the solutions too
now he just speak pretty slowly so i do
watch his videos at like two or three
time speed and if you want to watch a
video at faster than two time speed on
the computer and then i'd recommend
downloading the extension video speed
controller and then like learning the
shortcuts uh and then like you can watch
a video like free time speed now after
learning the material from using like
online resources and learning in class
then i would do some textbook questions
and i generally found the end of chapter
questions to be like particularly good
because i usually taken from like past
papers or like previous textbooks
whereas the actual content learning the
content from the textbook for me like i
just didn't learn it from the textbook
so i would do the end of chapter
questions and to make sure i actually
understood the material because the
textbook i used or the teachers it gave
us uh went from like the hard the
easiest questions at the start of the
end of chapter questions to the hardest
so like do the final five questions and
if i could do those textbook questions
then i would i was just happy with the
topic and if i couldn't then i'd like to
jump to some middle questions or some
easy questions to begin with rather than
trying to do like every single end of
chapter textbook question because one
piece of advice i'm going to give later
on is be intentional about what you're
trying to improve and finally i would do
some past papers and i would find them
on a website called physics and mouse
tutor so if i go to past papers then go
to a levels and go to like maths
and then i can find a bunch of the new
specification past papers and the old
spec past papers as well so generally i
would not touch the old spike past
papers because the style of questions is
pretty different and like some of the
old spec past papers were really easy
and they're just not that easy anymore
although there are some good papers like
the solomon papers
which are again particularly challenging
so if you go to like mechanics one which
was an old spec module
and then press like solomon papers and
scroll down and you can find they are
different levels of difficulty so i
think the easiest solomon papers are
like a and then like one of the hardest
is like j so if you go to like the
question paper then you can scroll down
and see a bunch of these questions and
then you can also mark them yourself so
these are custom written papers with
like i think the difficulty becoming
harder the later you go in the alphabet
so i would usually do like the last
three um last three most difficult
papers and i would like be pretty
confident if i was able to get those
questions right and if i couldn't get
those questions right then i'd like try
to understand the mock scheme or think
about the question
or follow some of the device i have in
my tackling difficult questions video
which is linked above right now or even
go to my teachers and ask them for some
help so that was the bulk of the
resources i used there were youtube
videos uh textbook end of chapter
questions and also questions from like
physics and math shooter for past papers
of the old spec and the new spec but for
the old spec i tried to do the solvent
papers because they're particularly
challenging and they're in the style of
like new specification questions anyways
as for a few tips the first i'd
recommend keep looking for explanations
until you're satisfied so i remember
like when i first encountered the second
derivative in the first few weeks of a
level or something then i just didn't
get it or i just didn't understand why
if the second derivative was like less
than zero then it would be concave and
if the second derivative was greater
than zero then it would be convex i just
didn't understand that and i made a
flashcard on it and i wasn't too happy
with the facts i just couldn't come to
that conclusion myself
so i remember asking my teacher about a
few times and the explanation didn't
make too much sense to me and i just
like found some video online and
explained it perfectly to me so like you
want to be memorizing as little as
possible enable maps especially when it
comes to pure content so just keep
looking for explanations until you're
satisfied and this is especially
important early on because it leads on
to my second bit of advice learn until
you're happy with the material so keep
asking questions to your teachers and if
you come across any feelings of
confusion like notice feelings of
confusion within yourself when you're
saying encountering a topic and then
like deal with it as soon as possible
because if you keep like saying oh i'll
just come back to it when i'm doing
revision or something like you will have
gotten so used to that that you will
have just basically memorized it by
accident and not actually understood it
because when you expose something enough
times then it can just lead you to like
memorizing it instead of understanding
it so when you are confused with some
topic then try to understand it as soon
as possible within like the first few
days of or something and then next i'd
say be intentional about what you're
trying to improve and what you're trying
to get better at and this is a problem i
noticed with many students like you also
did a level maps in my school they just
said to themselves oh i'm gonna do every
single textbook question or like every
single past paper or something or like
every single topic test from like this
website no like you should be
intentional about what you're trying to
improve because otherwise it leads to a
lot of wasted motion which is a term i'm
using here for anything that doesn't
directly contribute to your goals like
if you're really good at differentiation
or you're really good at using the chain
wheel or something then it's just a
waste of time for you to like practice
that even more or like do a whole end of
bed textual questions about it because
you're just sort of wasting your time
like think about which topics you're
feeling the most confused on or like the
most you struggle to send the most and
then do questions specifically related
to that and if you find the questions
are too difficult then try to find some
easier questions or try to learn the
content or try to pinpoint what where
your difficulty is actually lying rather
than just saying to yourself i'll do
every single textbook question and then
i'll get better a level maps like you
have to think and focus about what
you're actually trying to improve and
what you're struggling on the most and
if you're somewhat confused about what
you're struggling on the most then i
would recommend setting a five-minute
timer so for many of like the issues i
have i just deal with them in five
minute timers which involves like
setting a time on your phone for five
minutes and then thinking to yourself a
question like okay what are the things
i'm finding the most difficult in a
level mass right now and then forcing
yourself to actually think about the
issue for five minutes can be super
useful because it's not too long and
generally people don't think about the
issue for more than 10 seconds so this
can be one way of getting you to
actually think and be intentional about
what you're trying to improve on next i
would recommend developing an exam
technique of knowing when to move on so
there can be a mix of like difficult and
easy questions for an exam and i
remember for my actual a-level maths
exam when i sent it in like summer 2019
um like some of the easy questions came
up towards the end and they were like
there were some difficult questions in
the middle and there were many people
who like sort of could didn't know when
to give up or didn't know when to move
on from the middle difficult question so
they just missed an easy question in the
end because the papers may not
necessarily be in order from like easy
to difficult for your exam board so my
general rule was that if i could keep
thinking of new solutions or keep
finding new ways to tackle this problem
then i would stick with the question but
if i found myself like trying the same
thing over and over again but i wasn't
getting anywhere then the chances are i
made a mistake but i just can't tell
that that is a mistake in the moment
which means i have to come back to it so
many cases like i would put a little
star or asterisk next to a question so i
would move on to a different question
and then like say when i finish a paper
or i finished all the questions which i
haven't start then i would come back to
the start questions and then usually i
would see some mistake in my attempt and
then like fix that mistake and then be
able to finish a question so storing
questions and then coming back to them
later on can be really useful if you
find yourself trying the same technique
or thing over and over again
because chances are you made a mistake
but you're so stuck and focused on that
question in particular that you just
can't find a mistake until you come back
to it and my final recommendation is not
to procrastinate from hard topics so if
you're learning a particularly hard
topic in class don't just give up and
say oh i'll come back to like later on
in the year or something because you
will have been exposed to enough times
throughout the year and that you will
just end up forgetting why your
misunderstanding is a lie and you'll end
up memorizing it instead of actually
understanding it if you come back to it
frequently enough so i'd make an effort
to understand things as they came up and
like within the next few days if i just
wasn't particularly happy because i knew
the next time i come back to it i just
have to revise myself um because you're
going to have to understand something at
some point so you might as well
understand it when the teacher is
explaining it to you or when you're
learning it in that weekend lesson
rather than saying that you will
understand it two months before the exam
because things are just gonna pile up
and you're gonna have to understand like
20 different topics for the first time
and understanding things just takes time
now it's quite difficult and you're not
going to have time to answer like 20
different topics for the first time so
understand things as you're going along
because you'll be grateful for yourself
later on but yeah that's basically how i
approached a little maths and i hope
you're able to take away some useful
advice from that if you're interested in
how i studied for like all my subjects
and the precise details of my like
studying techniques and stuff then i
have a playlist called studying
effectively for gcse's a levels which
has a bunch of useful videos so do check
that if you have time and i guess for
now i'll see you next time bye
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