Each year we see old students graduate and new students roll into A Levels. Stories about how A Levels is a piece of work and you should use every free second you have to study. It’s true, hearing that these are the last two years of your entire school life can be hard to hear, maybe even scary. But the truth is if you’re prepared for something and know what’s coming the last thing you’ll be is afraid.
SUBJECTS
O Levels means you have a lot less choice in what subjects you choose to take and what subjects you choose to give. First and foremost, five of those subjects aren’t even yours to decide, these being Mathematics, English, Urdu, Pakistan studies, and Islamiat. All five of these are compulsory subjects given by every O Level student divided into a course of either two or three years. Other than this there are three more subjects that are based on your own choice to make sure you qualify for the minimum number of required subjects which is eight.
Subject options in O Levels can range from business, economics, sciences, history, etc. It all depends on what subjects your school offers. However, in A Levels you are provided with a much wider choice of subject options such as media, global perspective, psychology, etc. A Level students are required to take a minimum of three subjects, you are free to take as many classes as you want but it is recommended that you only take three. Though three subjects may sound like a cakewalk and O Levels can give you a high level of confidence, especially if you aced your GCSE exams, the work burden for A Levels can be hard to manage. Despite all this, if you believe you are capable of managing more than three subjects, do as you please!
Now that we’ve got the basics cleared out and you’ve (hopefully) decided on what subjects you want. Let’s move on to the details, how do you make sure you don’t flunk A Levels? Surely something nobody wants.
REVISION
Starting out with the obvious, one of the most important things in A Levels is revision. Sure, O Levels provide you the leverage that you can delay taking classes or studying till the last minute but a fair warning A-Levels won’t be as kind. Thus it is important that you review whatever you have studied in class daily. Missing class is also a no-go. Attend your classes, and that too as regularly as you can, take notes, and go over the stuff which you aren’t able to understand at home.
Other than this, don’t be afraid to ask your teachers for help and exchange notes with people in your classes. Though it may be a bit of an adjustment if you are used to working by yourself, it’ll just end up helping you in the end. Every extra minute you spend reviewing your notes and studying means that when exam season rolls around you’ll be better off.
BURNOUT
We’ve all experienced it and had our fair share of the worst thing a student can experience during exam season, burnout. Burnout is when you overburden yourself with work and as a result of stress, you find yourself unable to absorb whatever you are studying or are simply too mentally exhausted to study in the first place. Cramping a year’s worth of syllabus a few days before the big exam may sound like the easy way out. Not having to study every day and taking classes as you please, truly sounds like a dream. But the truth is there is no easy way out. All this will end up doing is have you exhausted and lead to burnout. At the end of it not only will you be short of completing your syllabus but also find yourself with no motivation or energy. Mental exhaustion will take over you and will in turn affect both your studies and your state of mind. To avoid this, do yourself a favor and make sure you cover at least a few pages of the syllabus every day. Future you will thank you.
PAST PAPERS
The first time I heard about past papers in O Levels I was so shocked. I remember thinking, why would anyone attempt these willingly? And two years later with O Levels finished I finally got my answer. Past papers are vital to make sure you understand where you stand in regard to your preparation. It helps you practice and allows you to get a solid grip of the paper pattern and how to answer questions. Questions are also often repeated through past papers and doing as many past papers as you can helps you attempt your actual exam as if it’s muscle memory. Instead of leaving past papers for a month before the exam, do topicals alongside as you complete every chapter so you can actively retain everything you study in class.
At the end of the day, the important thing is not to stress yourself out. As long as you take it day by day you will end up fine. Plus hypothetically speaking it may be easy to center these entire two years around studying but remember to take the downtime you need. Especially when A Levels gives you a huge opportunity.
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