Dear QMC Scientist,
There are only a few weeks of precious preparation time between now and the first A’
level science exams. Don’t paralyse yourself by trying to figure out how to achieve
perfection in the remaining time (unnecessary and impossible)! Instead, choose practical
activities that you can work hard on day by day – the things that will help you to build up as
effectively as possible from where you are now. Everything useful that you do will pay off in
improved performance, and you’ll be pleased you bothered!
This document will suggest the kind of things that work best, and where you can find
resources on QMC’s ‘Firefly’ web site to make your life as efficient as possible.
First, some important general advice:
Make decisions in advance (e.g. at the beginning of each week) about when you will
work, where you will work, and what activities you will work on. Nothing stops you settling down to
work more effectively than having no idea what you are supposed to be doing.
Talk to your teacher/tutor urgently if you are struggling to make these decisions!
Resist the urge to spend lots of time looking at / copying / highlighting your notes. This can feel
reassuringly productive, but doesn’t fit effectively with how your brain works or what the exams
require.
Trying to memorise ideas that you don’t understand is a losing battle, so scan through the
knowledge packs and/or text books and spend some time reading and thinking about areas where
the ideas don’t yet make sense. BUT read to understand, not to memorise. Memorisation is
achieved through testing and recall, not reading.
Maximise the amount of time that you spend having to recall and use knowledge, rather than just
looking at it on a piece of paper. ‘Testing’ yourself in this way can feel uncomfortable, but has many
benefits:
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It gives you excellent feedback on where your strengths and weaknesses lie.
It builds the skills that you will need in the exams
The struggle to remember makes it much more likely that your brain will then store the
information in a way that you can retrieve in the future
You can test yourself using flashcards etc., or work with friends taking turns to quiz each other, or
use past papers and other provided practice materials (See the subject specific pages).
Don’t waste time going around in circles if you are stuck on some aspect. Park it and return to it
another day. If it still doesn’t make sense, get some help ASAP from a fellow student / teacher etc.
Be 100% honest about when you are working and when you aren’t. Don’t sit and pretend to work. If
you’re not going to give it your full focus, then go and do something happy instead. Otherwise you
end up stressed, not making good progress, and sick of work even though you haven’t done very
much in reality.
Make sure your environment is suitable – concentration is a precious thing, and all the research
shows that we are rubbish at multi-tasking when it comes to learning. Put the phone away (it kills
concentration!), avoid computers if they are a problem for you, put on a long playlist of mellow
music if you can’t stand silence, and don’t work where people will interrupt you.
Consider keeping a log of the (genuine) work that you do each day. This can be encouraging,
highlighting what you have achieved – or make you realise you need to get a bit more serious!
We’ve loaded ‘Firefly’ with…
EVERYTHING YOU NEED to do EFFECTIVE PRACTICE + PREPARATION
The following link takes you to the relevant science subject areas on Firefly:
Biology:
http://qmc.fireflycloud.net/science/biology-a-salters-nuffield
Chemistry:
http://qmc.fireflycloud.net/science/chemistry-ocr-b-salters
Physics:
http://qmc.fireflycloud.net/science/physics-1
The pages below detail all of the excellent revision materials that are available for you and
will ensure that you have all of the resources you need for each of your science subjects.
Use them as a guide to help you find what you need on Firefly…
There is also a page that details how to log on to Firefly if you have not done this before.