How to ACE your A-LEVELS (100% will improve your grades) + how i got a*a*a*

Summary

This video script offers a comprehensive study guide tailored for A-level students, emphasizing the importance of understanding the exam format and content through past paper analysis. It advocates for active recall techniques, discouraging passive studying methods like rereading or note rewriting. The speaker shares personal strategies, including digital organization and spaced repetition, to enhance efficiency and retention. Resources and courses that influenced the presenter's study habits are also recommended for further learning.

Takeaways

• 📚 Start by understanding the exam structure: Review past papers to identify frequently tested topics and questions, as A-levels tend to recycle them.
• 🔍 Scope the subject: Determine priority topics and subtopics to focus on, which will make the study process more efficient.
• 📝 Learn through active recall: Use flashcards to test your knowledge actively, rather than passively rereading or rewriting notes.
• ⏳ Understand the value of revision: Revising known topics is more efficient than learning new content, so prioritize revisiting material.
• 📉 Be aware of the forgetting curve: Space out your revision sessions to optimize long-term retention, avoiding cramming.
• 🧩 Practice makes perfect: Engage with past paper questions to simulate exam conditions and understand the marking scheme.
• 📈 Focus on understanding: Grasp concepts deeply to facilitate long-term retention, which is crucial for a two-year course like A-levels.
• 📋 Convert notes into flashcards: Immediate conversion of notes into active recall questions helps in better understanding and retention.
• 🗂 Organize your study materials: Use digital tools like Notion for categorizing topics and Google Sheets for tracking progress and revision schedules.
• 🚫 Avoid ineffective study methods: Refrain from rereading, highlighting, and passive note-taking, as they are not beneficial for learning.
• 🔑 Utilize resources: Leverage textbooks, online resources, and past papers to aid in your studies and understand the content better.

Q & A

What is the main focus of the video script?

The main focus of the video script is to provide study strategies and resources specifically for A-levels students, emphasizing the importance of understanding the exam content, using past papers, and employing effective learning techniques such as active recall.

Why is it important to go through past paper questions for A-levels?

It is important to go through past paper questions because A-levels often recycle questions and mark schemes, especially in subjects like maths and biology. This helps students identify recurring topics and questions, and understand the exam format and requirements.

What is the significance of knowing the exam specification for A-levels?

Knowing the exam specification is significant because it helps students understand what topics and questions are likely to appear in the exam, allowing them to prioritize their study efforts and focus on the most relevant content.

What is the recommended method for learning content according to the script?

The recommended method for learning content is through active recall, which involves creating flashcards with questions and answers, summarizing main points after reading or watching a video, and filling in gaps in understanding.

Why should students avoid rereading and rewriting notes as a study method?

Rereading and rewriting notes are not effective study methods because they do not engage the brain in active recall, which is crucial for long-term retention. Instead, students should convert notes into active recall flashcards for better learning outcomes.

What is the role of revising a topic in the learning process?

Revising a topic is crucial as it strengthens neural connections in the brain, helps overcome the forgetting curve, and is more efficient than learning new content. It also helps in identifying gaps in knowledge and areas that need more focus.

How can practice paper questions benefit students preparing for A-levels?

Practice paper questions benefit students by simulating exam conditions, exposing them to a variety of questions, and helping them understand the marking scheme. They also allow students to track their progress and identify areas for improvement.

What is the importance of understanding over memorization in A-levels preparation?

Understanding is more important than memorization because A-levels require long-term retention of information over a two-year course. Understanding concepts allows for better active recall and makes the learning process more efficient and effective.

How does the speaker organize their notes and study materials?

The speaker organizes their notes digitally using a system with main topics, subtopics, and packets of information. They also use a spreadsheet to track the dates and progress of their active recall sessions, and color-code them based on difficulty and frequency of review.

What resources does the speaker recommend for A-levels students?

The speaker recommends resources such as past paper questions, textbooks for subjects like maths, and evidence-based study techniques found in books like 'Make It Stick'. They also mention a website for downloading PDFs of textbooks and a Skillshare course that influenced their study methods.

Outlines

00:00

📚 A-Level Study Framework and Exam Preparation

This paragraph introduces the video's focus on A-Level exam preparation, emphasizing the specificity of A-Level requirements and the upcoming release of a video on dental school study methods. The speaker outlines a three-step study framework: understanding exam content through past papers, learning content effectively, and revising with active recall flashcards instead of passive rereading or note-taking. The importance of knowing priority topics and the inefficiency of traditional revision methods like rereading textbooks are highlighted. The paragraph also touches on the value of revising over learning new content and the effectiveness of practice questions in exam preparation.

05:00

📝 Organization and Active Recall for Efficient Studying

The speaker discusses the importance of organization in studying, advocating for digital note-taking for its accessibility and searchability. They share their personal method of categorizing notes into main topics and subtopics, using a traffic light system to identify weak areas. The paragraph also emphasizes the effectiveness of active recall over passive studying methods and the benefits of using flashcards for immediate understanding and retention. The speaker also mentions the use of spreadsheets to track study progress and the importance of practice questions in identifying knowledge gaps and improving scores.

10:01

💡 Study Techniques and the Myth of Motivation

This paragraph delves into effective study techniques, advocating for active recall and discouraging passive activities like rereading and highlighting. The speaker stresses the importance of understanding over memorization and the role of organization in making the study process more efficient. They also address the myth of motivation, stating that one should study regardless of feeling motivated, and highlight the value of consistency in study habits. The paragraph concludes with a brief mention of resources for study materials, including textbooks and online courses that have influenced the speaker's study methods.

15:02

🔍 Resources and Final Thoughts on Studying

The final paragraph provides resources for study materials, such as websites for downloading textbooks and past papers, and mentions the importance of math textbooks for practice. The speaker also recommends a book on evidence-based studying and acknowledges the influence of a Skillshare course on their study techniques. The paragraph ends with an invitation for viewers to seek help in the comments section and a reminder to subscribe for more content related to A-Levels and dental school.

Keywords

💡A-levels

A-levels refer to the Advanced Level General Certificate of Education, a qualification offered by educational bodies in the UK. In the video, A-levels are the focus as the presenter discusses study techniques specifically tailored for these exams. The script emphasizes the importance of understanding the A-levels' specifications and using past papers to predict recurring topics and questions.

💡Past paper questions

Past paper questions are previous exam papers that students use for practice. The script highlights their importance in identifying recurring themes and questions in A-level exams, suggesting that these questions are often recycled, making them a crucial resource for students to familiarize themselves with the exam format and content.

💡Active recall

Active recall is a learning technique where students actively retrieve information from memory, rather than passively rereading or reviewing notes. The video emphasizes its effectiveness in improving memory retention and understanding, recommending the use of flashcards and practice questions to implement this technique.

💡Flashcards

Flashcards are a study tool consisting of a set of cards, each containing a question or a prompt on one side and an answer or further information on the other. In the script, the presenter suggests using flashcards for active recall, where students write questions on one side and answers on the other to test their knowledge and reinforce learning.

💡Revision

Revision refers to the process of reviewing and consolidating information previously learned, typically in preparation for an exam. The video advises against common but ineffective revision techniques like rereading and rewriting notes, instead promoting active recall and practice questions to enhance the revision process.

💡Forgetting curve

The forgetting curve is a concept in psychology that describes the decline of memory retention over time. The script mentions the forgetting curve to explain the importance of spaced repetition, suggesting that revising content at optimal intervals can lead to better long-term retention.

💡Practice questions

Practice questions are exercises that simulate real exam questions. The video stresses the importance of doing practice questions to prepare for exams, as they help students to understand the exam format, context, and complexity of the questions, as well as to identify and fill gaps in their knowledge.

💡Understanding

Understanding, in the context of the video, refers to the deep comprehension of a subject matter, as opposed to superficial memorization. The script encourages students to focus on understanding concepts to facilitate the active recall process and to ensure long-term retention of information.

💡Organization

Organization, as discussed in the script, is the act of systematically arranging study materials and planning study sessions. The video outlines the benefits of digital organization, including ease of access, searchability, and the ability to track progress over time, which contributes to more efficient studying.

💡Spaced repetition

Spaced repetition is a learning technique where information is reviewed at increasing intervals over time, which helps to move the information from short-term to long-term memory. The script briefly touches on spaced repetition as a strategy for efficient revision, suggesting that it's more effective than daily repetition.

💡Study techniques

Study techniques encompass various methods and strategies used to learn and retain information. The video provides an overview of effective study techniques, such as active recall and spaced repetition, and warns against ineffective ones like rereading and highlighting, advocating for evidence-based approaches to studying.

Highlights

This video is specifically for A-levels due to their specifications and past paper questions.

Use past paper questions to identify recurring topics and questions, which can be turned into active recall flashcards.

For subjects like biology, planning essays around recurring themes in past papers can improve performance.

Scoping the subject and identifying priority topics is crucial for efficient studying.

Avoid traditional revision methods like rereading textbooks and making notes; instead, use active recall flashcards.

Summarize main points after reading a chapter or watching a video, then create active recall questions from these summaries.

Revising topics is more valuable than learning new content, emphasizing the importance of active recall.

Practice paper questions are more beneficial than flashcards as they simulate exam conditions and improve understanding.

Organization is key to efficient studying; digital organization is recommended for its speed and accessibility.

Using a traffic light system in a spreadsheet helps prioritize which topics need more attention.

Track your progress and scores on practice papers to identify areas needing improvement and monitor improvement over time.

Practice questions are crucial for understanding the mark scheme and preparing for recycled questions in exams.

Effective study techniques include active recall, practice questions, and organizing study material digitally.

Motivation is not necessary for studying; discipline and consistent effort are more important.

Resources like downloadable PDFs, textbooks, and past paper questions are essential for efficient study preparation.

Avoid ineffective study methods like highlighting and cramming, and instead focus on understanding and active recall.

Tools like Ali Abdaal's Skillshare course can provide valuable study techniques and improve study habits.

Transcripts

so i get it a-levels are hard but i'm

going to try and help you get the grades

that you want and give you all the

resources that you could ever need

but before we start this i do want to

say that this video is specifically for

a-levels

because you know a-levels has a

specification there's past paper

questions stuff like that

so these are like specific to a-levels i

do have a video coming out soon on how i

study in dental school

because you know university is very

different but i think the principles

from this video can also

be broadly applied to other exams that

you're taking so yeah my framework from

learning content

begins with first knowing what is going

to turn up in your exam and this is

different to just looking at the

specification what you want to do is you

want to go through loads of past paper

questions

ideally answering questions as well not

just looking through them but finding

what topics and questions come up again

and again and usually they have the same

mark scheme so you can usually like

incorporate this into active recall

flashcards

and um this is like one of the most

important things that you could do

because in a levels they really do like

just recycle questions and mark skin

answers especially for maths and biology

and well all the subjects that we'll be

doing

and even for biology i know that we had

like this um one like part of the exam

where it's like okay you have a 25 mark

question essay

and even just by looking through the old

past paper questions

you can kind of figure out what kind of

themes they revolve around and what kind

of questions they would be asking you

about

and you can you know plan essays around

this and then

you'd be more adapt to doing the actual

essay when it comes to the exam because

you've done the same format or

some similar topics before so in essence

this is similar to scoping the subject

which i think is very very important you

need to know what are your priority

topics what quests what topics fall

under that and you know for example

like respiration you want to know what

are the subtopics that you will need to

learn about

basically just having a general

understanding of what content you need

to learn and so this will make your

whole process so much more efficient

um the second thing is obviously

learning the content and i'll teach you

a really effective way to do that

um and finally it's just revising the

content

don't do stupid revision don't do

rereading textbooks don't do rewriting

textbooks don't do rewriting notes don't

really make notes either i think the

most beneficial way is just to turn them

straight into

active recall flashcards and so you know

on one side you'll have okay what is the

use of or like how is atp made and then

on the other side you have like

bullet points on like okay this is how

you um this is how atp is made or

whatever it is

um and then that is the best way to lend

the content

even when you're learning something for

the first time i think it's really

important like for example if you're

reading

like you're watching a video or you are

um reading a textbook or you're even in

class

yeah you wait until the end of the class

or like um

in like after every paragraph or chapter

you close the book and you think okay

what are the main points from here

how can i summarize this myself what do

i remember fill and then you look back

and fill in the gaps and then make your

active recall questions

and something that is so so underlooked

is revising a topic

is so much more valuable and efficient

than learning new content and i know

this is very controversial because

because at the end of the day you do

need to know a lot of the content that

is on the specification and stuff like

that

i think you can get away with learning

the most important things and if you

think about it when you're doing your

active recall questions

doing them may take you 20 minutes if

it's a large topic um

less if it's you know a smaller topic up

to five minutes

and the fact like obviously everyone

knows about the forgetting curve and you

can talk about space repetition here

but if you for example leave your flash

cards for

two months you're unlikely to remember a

lot of it if

for example you did it once or twice

yeah that's maximum 10 15 20 minutes

yeah between those two months you are

going to remember it so much

better at the end of the two months so

revising your content is also really

important

but in the same sense you know there is

a forgetting curve you don't want to be

doing it every single day

because you're only learning it by

virtue of repetition in the way that

it's more efficient to actually just

leave some gaps in between but make sure

that they're not too long

but yeah revising your content by doing

practice recall questions so yeah

i also think that doing practice paper

questions is

even more important than doing your

flashcards because you are putting

yourself in the

exams condition you're putting yourself

in the questions that

your exam is going to ask you it's not

going to be like oh how is atp made or

it might be

but um you're going to be asked a lot

more complex questions like okay this

person did this trial

and you know the results with this and

you know how does this really

to exercise that stuff like that so like

it's a lot longer the questions and

they're put into a specific like

context and stuff like that so i think

um it's very very very important to do

your practice questions

if anything you take from this do your

practice questions do i mean

past paper questions do all of the past

paper questions

do all of them going back as far as you

can obviously focus more on the

ones are more recent because that is

going to show you

what your exam is more likely to look

like but

yeah do all the questions if you have

the luxury of time

and you're not cramming for exam i think

understanding is so so key

obviously this requires that you start a

lot earlier because you're not just

going to be

cramming information into your brain

like understanding things is so much

more effective because

you're unlikely to be able to memorize

things for a very long period of time

and

you know often you're learning things a

levels is a two-year course

you need to let remember all the things

that you learn at the start as well as

the end especially now that a levels

are done at the end of the two years and

yeah so like i think understanding is

very very important

and that will just make your whole

active recall process so much more

easier watch the videos do whatever you

need to do to understand it and yeah

making notes is very controversial don't

fool yourself into thinking that making

notes

is helpful or it makes sense to you or

like whatever even if it takes you an

hour even if it takes you only 20

minutes to write your notes i do not

think it's useful

if instead you convert these straight

into flashcards

that is so much more useful when you

understand a concept or when when you

just learn

about a principle or a chapter or

whatever it is putting them into

active recall questions right then and

there is so much more beneficial because

you have a good understanding of how

they all fit together

like making the questions are going to

be so much less friction than doing it a

week from now when you've forgotten a

lot of the

like principles and like it's a lot

harder um for you to do that and instead

just answering questions would be so

much more helpful

so yes make questions don't make notes

don't reread

don't do any of the dumb like useless

revision tips so i'm going to show you

my notes over here

and i organized this on notion but

basically what i do is i have

main topics which are like

periodontology orthodontics all of that

stuff

um and for you that might be biology

chemistry physics math

and then within that i have subtopics so

i'll have all the different topics

that come under there and you know one

of them for me is dental trauma so

dental trauma is a

subcategory but for me that's eight

packets of information

so everything that i would ever need to

know about trauma is under this category

then within that um so if i open that up

it's going to be a

series of subheadings as well and

it's also going to have questions under

my subcategories maybe stuff about

antibiotics

splints avulsion injuries about luxation

injuries and stuff like that

so it kind of just like in my head makes

more sense because everything's

more categorized and i can understand

where things would be um and then

other than that i would have questions

so each question is a toggle

and um you can kind of basically hide

the answer and open and close it

um from there and i find that so so so

useful

and so basically this is a packet of

information and i'll show you in a

second how i put this into a spreadsheet

and how i make a system for learning

because

um i can basically prioritize which

packets of information

i feel like i don't know very well you

know all content isn't created equal and

i might know some topics really really

well

and they get a green flag from me and

some topics i may

like be so confused about i don't know

what's going on i need help

um and so those questions are the ones i

would be focusing on especially if i

know that they are important subjects

i have like a traffic light system to

figure out what topics i need to learn

first

which ones i'm weakest at stronger style

all of that stuff and i'll explain that

at this time stamp

but yeah that's basically how i make

notes um and

basically how i organize my information

so practice questions i've already

talked about this before but i think it

is so so so important

because at the end of the day practice

questions are going to get you the

grades that you want

the great thing about a levels is that

there is a specification and there are

past paper questions which literally

show you exactly what questions are

going to be like and like i've said

before a levels

they love to recycle questions you'll

see the same questions come up again and

again

same similar mock schemes you can

basically learn what you need to

know through past paper questions and i

think that is so so so helpful go back

as far as you can

but obviously focus on the ones that are

more recent because there will be a more

true reflection of what your exam is

going to be like and do all of them

figure out what topics keep coming up

focus on those put the mark's theme on

questions that you don't get right

into your active recall questions and

then you'll be revising both of them at

the same time the main thing that it's

doing here is

filling in the gaps of your knowledge

you're figuring out what you don't know

what you do

and this is directly relevant to the

questions that you're going to get asked

in your exam

so my practice paper strategy if you're

running out of time when you're cramming

i would suggest go hard on the past

paper questions because you're not only

learning the content you're also filling

in the gaps in your knowledge those are

like i said recyclable questions they're

going to come up in your exam

you will learn the mark scheme the

marketings are practically the same

the same bullet points kind of thing so

you'll understand oh if a question or

notification comes up

i know roughly to talk about this

business another thing i do is that also

keep track of my scores

so i'd have like an excel spreadsheet or

something and write like the mocks that

i got then

fill in the gaps of my knowledge and i'd

figure out where i went wrong

what i need to learn and then in a few

months i'd redo the paper

and i'd hopefully see it some

improvement that's one of the great

things about practice paper questions

is that you can see improvement you can

see like okay over a few months

i'm improving which is a really good

sign um i'm going but it grades and

stuff like that so

and that's why i think you should do

more practice paper questions so

organization this is something that you

need if you're going to be efficient

if you want to spend less time studying

if you want to have a life outside of

studying this is what you need because

you'll have a system in place you'll

basically be making

studying a process of lot less friction

even if this process takes you a lot

longer than you expected and even though

it takes a lot of time

it will make you so much more efficient

in the long run so first of all i highly

recommend that everyone starts off

organizing digitally because there's so

many benefits to it one

you can obviously type faster than you

can write um two you can carry it with

you everywhere it can be in your phone

on your laptop

say you have some extra time at uni um

or college or whatever

and you don't have your laptop but you

can obviously log on to theirs and

you'll find it

through cloud access you'll never lose

your notes um you can also have the

benefit of basically typing up like a

word like mitochondria

and you'll love every single question

that you'll ever have made on

mitochondria there or every single note

that you've made or

whatever past paper question and i know

that if you have a lot of paper stuff

that you would want to make a binder or

something like that

especially if your class gives up so

many papers but what you can do is you

can just take a photo of it and um it

will like scan up like a pdf

um and that would be really helpful so

obviously i've showed you how i have my

notes

i have my main topic areas then i have

subcategories

then i have some subcategories which are

basically packets of information

so the second thing i will do is i will

have a spreadsheet so

i will have like google sheets or

something like that and then on

one column i'd have all the different

pack areas so under for example

orthodontics i'll have every single

packet under that

and then on the other side i'll have

date so every time

that i do the active recall questions in

that packet of information

i will put the date there um and then i

will also color code it so i'll be like

okay

so i found this medium difficulty i'm

gonna color code it orange

um and then i know like in a week's time

like okay i need to redo this one

because it's an orange

the green ones i feel like i can be for

a little bit longer i'm gonna give that

in redo that in two weeks

so that's how you know what questions

and what topics you need to focus on

because you know this way what are your

weaker areas and which ones are your

stronger areas

but i'll go more into that in the

revision timetable portion of this video

but that's basically my system

so i have my notes and my questions and

i have my

spreadsheet of organizing when i'm going

to study what what needs more help

and i'm also doing past paper questions

at the same time if i was doing a levels

i'd also have a past paper question

spreadsheet so i'll have one for i don't

know paper one in chemistry

and then i'll have like all the dates of

the actual paper

so i know that okay this is the october

you know 2020

paper and then i will also put my mark

there and how hard i found it

if there are any topics that i found

like i really need to focus on

and where the next time i take it is and

then every and all those informations as

well after that

um and so that is how i would organize

it because it's like a three-part system

but it really works and if you put into

the habit of organizing your notes and

organizing the things that you come from

class

and organizing the things that you're

learning into active recall questions it

will be so much more easier for you

because revising a topic is not going to

take you an hour it's going to take you

10 minutes and that's how you're going

to save time so i've gone over study

techniques

before but i'm going to go over quickly

what it is effective and what is not so

obviously we know

active recall is very important the act

of retrieving information from your

brain is so so important

this could be in obviously the form of

questions practice paper questions

but also things like fill in the blanks

or like getting a piece of paper and

being like okay i'm gonna write

everything about respiration on this

paper

that is so so helpful and i think that

is not only filling in the gaps of your

knowledge and figuring out where you

went wrong and

you know what things you still need to

learn but also it's strengthening those

neural connections in your brain so you

know about space repetition and the

forgetting curve

so i think this is the best way to study

okay so i've kind of gone over this

before

but rereading highlighting rereading all

of that stuff completely useless

like stop doing them now like it's okay

if you spent your whole life doing it

before this but you watch this video so

you have no excuse

because now you know the truth now you

know the evidence you can look up the

evidence if you don't believe me

like it's there like it's right in front

of you you need to stop doing this

it's so efficient for you the second

thing is not to cram obviously like i

understand if you have other priorities

and stuff but if you do want to get the

grades that you want you need to start

earlier

you need to be putting all these things

into place and obviously with priming

you could get the grades that you want

but it's just less likely next thing is

to forget about motivation you don't

have to feel like studying

to do the studying and that's really

important and if you're going to get

anywhere in life

you know this is a very important

concept to to ingrain into your head

because anything that's worthwhile

you're not always going to feel like

doing it like i get like sometimes

you're so like motivated

at 3am in the morning and you're like

yeah i'm going to study so much and you

start studying and stuff

but like a lot of the time you're not

going to feel like studying and those

are the times that are really important

to study so for resources i have

this website where you can download pdfs

and books textbooks so you don't have to

buy them

and you can have them digitally with you

all the time and i know i say like we're

reading content and stuff like that

it's not useful but if you're learning

information like i think it could be

useful in a way that you know you read a

chapter

and then you have to like summarize it

in your head and like that is a form of

active retrieval

and stuff like that so i think the aqa

books and all like whatever board you're

doing

they basically are like the

specification like

explained so in that way i think they

are really useful so that website to

download pretty much every textbook or

any book that you want

it's here um i also think past paper

questions obviously

or another resource are really really

amazing i think maths textbooks are also

really important because

they're going over every single question

that you could possibly be asked and

with maths

is so much more practice-based like

there's no learning content really

involved it's doing the questions and

you know you learn through them and

a lot of the textbooks have like

examples of like how to solve equations

and do like formulae and stuff like that

and so yeah textbooks for maths are

really important and i'll put some up

above

other ones that i used and obviously

like i said before if you're doing aqa

the textbooks for those are really good

for biology chemistry business all of

those i know that they go into too much

detail sometimes but if you're just

learning the

material it's only like there's one or

two pages per chapter and

it's a good way to be first introduced

into the content

makeup stick is that book i was talking

about earlier which talks about

evidence-based

studying and shows you the best

techniques to study and if you're

listening to this over the summer or

something like that and you have some

time to spare get on audible and

finally i also want to thank ali abdel's

skillshare course because

i wouldn't know about half of these

techniques if it wasn't for him and he

completely revolutionized

the way that i study so yeah that's

really important if you want to go check

it out you can but yeah i hope that was

helpful

if you need anything just comment down

below and i'll be there um if you need

help

with anything else a level related or

getting into dental school

i have so many videos on that on my

channel so check that out and subscribe

down below so you don't miss anything

um but yeah i'll see you bye