I just finished my IGCSE exams. I will just wait for my results, I really hope I can get an A* for Biology, inshAllah. I am hoping to take A-levels in a new school that is much better than the one I am in rn. So I know that I will have to stay on top of it from the beginning, the good thing is that I really love Biology, honestly the whole A-levels science subjects interest me. So hopefully I can get good grades there, inshAllah x ❤👍
I'm doing edexcel biology for a level. Everything you said here is SOOO TRUE! The thing about biology is, the content isn't super hard to learn, with a little hard work you can memorise but the problem are the exams, the mark scheme is so harsh and so specific. I got an E in my mock and that's because I never did a biology past paper for revision. Past papers are KEY. And yes every single lesson going through what you learnt and memorising it until you understand! Biology is interesting but so hard. I regret picking it😪
thanks for talking about Chem and Bio! Not many youtubers take these subjects in A-level so i'm (and a bunch of other subbies) really grateful for this! Thanks love!
I want to do a level biology because i want to do medicine at university but I feel I won't be able to cope with content but I do like reading and researching so I think that'll will help me.
If you can't cope with Alevel Biology then you won't be able to cope with medicine , not trying to be pessimistic but the content in a medicine degree is sooo much more than Alevel biology . Trust me now that I'm doing medicine , Alevel biology seems so easy in comparison! Like I wonder why I ever found it hard aha! But defo do biology Alevel if you are thinking of doing medicine
stillgottroubletrackingtime I've wanted to go into cardiovascular surgery for a while now, I suppose chemistry is unavoidable. Thank you for letting me know
As long as you do well at Gcse I honestly didn't find it that bad! Just got an A in AS bio, and studied bio, phys, chem and maths and bio was defo the easiest science
Hi Jade! I came to the UK from Italy only last year and managed to get a 7 and 6 in Eng Lit. And Lang. I just want to absolutely thank you for all your videos. You can't even imagine how much the helped me. I'll be doing a motivational speech to the future yr10s in my school and I'll definitely tell them about your videos. ❤
I love that you're so positive and chilled out while talking about something that helps so many other people. I'm going to year 11 this year, and I feel like your videos will be the things that will help me get through it 💕♥️
I completely agree with everything you talk about. I took OCR Biology and just finished my A Levels. I'm so happy & proud of myself because I got a B...I didn't have teachers for half the year because they were awful and didn't turn up to my school. I thought I was going to fail so burst into tears when I got a B. I found writing cue cards every day after a lesson really helped me...SO MUCH CONTENT though, it's ridiculous!!! Good luck for A level 😂😂 Respiration, Photosynthesis & Muscle Contraction were the bane of my lifeeeeeeee. Love your education vids Jade xxxxxx
Thank you for this!! I have enrolment today and I think i'm going to choose chemistry, biology and maths - I also got 7A*'s and 4A's in my GCSE results, thank you for keeping me motivated to revise! xxx
As someone who has just finished my A-level in bio I can tell you that when you look over AS you'll be so thankful for all the revision you did this year! A lot of A2 is very difficult and concepts get so much more confusing. The amount of detail increases too - I know its hard to imagine. If I have any advice it is not to get upset if you don't understand straight away. I thought biology came naturally to me until I did A2 but it just takes so much more effort. Using different sources is also really helpful. Obviously just my opinion but good luck anyway hope you get the grades you want!! For the record I got a C at AS and A2, although I probably could have done better if it wasn't for "life" getting in the way :)
Really useful tips given here. The content in Biology is massive. It helped me to sit down and make notes on a certain topic, no matter how long it took, rather than leaving time (say 1 hour) to revise and not being able to finish a topic and then falling behind :)
Shannon Nath I got a C, I'm really lucky I can learn a lot of information fast. Imagine, if only I put effort into the rest of the year I probably could have got an A.
You are so right !!! I feel the exact same way. A level biology is so overwhelming !! (Especially when compared to O'lvl) It is a really big leap coming from O lvl, and I dont think I have been working to my full potential :/ I really need to up my game & make the time and effort to study and do lots of practice when the next holiday comes around. Actually, I really need to go revise now, exams is starting in 3 days for me!! I wish you the best of luck ! x
I literally cannot thank you enough for this video Jade! I'm starting Biology and Chemistry at a level next week whilst also trying to juggle two other a levels (I have opted to take 4 a levels), and your honest experiences have helped me create a plan so I can stay on top of my hefty workload and use my last week of the summer holidays effectively! (I have some old spec AS biology and chemistry text books I plan to read so I have come across the content before lessons) I'm super excited to get started!
I'm in the same year as you, and my AS results were As in Maths and PE and a C in Biology... I love Biology but I find it really difficult! One thing that I did find useful (and you kind of did the same) was write up every single lesson in a notebook with added detail from textbooks/the internet etc. and I think these notes got me the As and made sure I didn't fail biology!
I love biology so much too and I'm planning on studying it for college 💘 and I agree with what you said 💯 we want more videos for biology and other Science subjects ❤️
Biology has always been my favorite subject at school. I' m am going to start my master (4the year in University) cellular and biomolecular life science. Probably the best choice i made in my life. I wish you the best for the future Jade! And i realy like your videos! Love from Belgium.
I take A-level Biology and want to carry it on at Uni as well, so this video was very relatable to me, especially the mark schemes, I hate them sooo much, luckily we didn't do As we just had mocks, and we'll have all of the exams at the end of this year, but the revision tips are really useful!! I also like to use flash cards, because as much as you can make mind maps which I love doing to remember content, it is no use unless you test yourself at the end of each revision session. Great video Jade xxx I can't wait for more Biology videos and an A-level maths one too!!
Please can you do videos for chem and bio on how to revise from the start of the year/keep on top of the work? Like practical tips and what routine you have x
I've been wanting to study biology in uni for years too and this year I got 3A* in biol, chem and maths so I'm going to be studying Biology at Durham in October!! I couldn't agree more on all of your advice, especially keeping on top of your notes, I fell behind a little last year and its so hard to catch up then!
Thank you so much! For biology I combined the class notes and revision guide information into my own notes which were quite detailed, and I would just rewrite them or say them over and over, and if there were any details or words I was struggling to remember I would write them on flashcards which I would then go over in the morning everyday until I could easily recall the information! For chemistry, I found summarising the information on big A3 sheets and then learning that worked best, especially with organic chemistry because theres a lot of drawing.. Later in the year I would then work through the past papers but because it was new spec in Wales I found the old spec chemistry papers actually helped me more than the old spec biology papers which were nothing like what we had to sit. I also watched a lot of youtube to explain certain things in biology and chemistry that I was struggling to get my head around because understanding is key to being able to tackle the harder questions in the exams, thats my biggest tip: make sure you understand everything and then learning it is so much easier! I hope that helps :) x
I've just finished my A-Levels and biology was the worst experience of my life😂 our science department was so bad and we were never given the advice/resources we needed. I definitely agree with your advice but I would also say if you don't feel completely confident don't take it, you need to be so independent to do well, I just scraped a C haha. Well done you for getting an A! Good luck for year 13 and your uni application!😊🎉x
I finished my a level biology last year and I agree so much with your comment about thinking you know the content then you walk into the exam and it seems like it's in gibberish!! I literally studied the content so hard but couldn't apply my knowledge at all, especially at A2 level as the expectations jumped ridiculously!
Thank you Jade for all your videos. I had 2 A*'s, 7 A's, 2 B's and 1 C at GCSE. I might get Maths remarked to get it to an A and the B and C I did last year
Jade do you have tips for Chemistry revision? I really find it as interesting as Biology however, I find revising so hard in comparison to Biology because there are practically no past papers or problem solving questions for my year level. Love your channel and so proud of you ❤️.
Methuli Nanayakkara hi I know I'm also not Jade but I do take chemistry at nat 5 (Scotland) I find that making notes and keeping them organised is really helpful. Also if you have mini tests they are so handy to revise for that unit you've just done. I made post it notes with all the info on them and put them on my wall and I found that really worked. Hope that helped Lola x
I used a website called "chemrevise" that had condensed notes for my chemistry exam board. So i could spend more time practicing past papers and questions :)
Loved this Jade!! So helpful and informative as always! 🙏🏼🙌🏼 Sorry I was so late to catch this one, I'm in the jungle in Bali right now so I missed your upload notification 😄😭💖💖
I was the opposite to you Jade! I found AS so boring but the second year (just finished my a levels) much more interesting. Second year content is a killer but I feel like it's more doable as it links together a bit more. For example, the stages in respiration and photosynthesis are pretty similar it's just the names of things that differ a bit. The exams were SO hard literally my entire class felt that the bio exams were the hardest exams we'd ever done, even though we'd done every single past paper question possible. That's the issue with this new spec. The old spec questions are so different to the new spec and I feel our questions are much harder which means you kind of go into the exam blind. Good luck Jade for this year, you'll smash it!
I wasn't sure about taking biology although I knew I had to as I wanna study medicine so your video really helped me understand what its going to be like! I'm going into year 11 swain street and I'm so nervous but also excited and your channel is going to help me through it I know! xxxxx
Just no Wi-Fi for a month and the first thing I did was watched all your videos :) Well done on your results! They are incredible Wish id known all of this this year :( basically failing oh well.... Good tips for next year though! Xxx I agree with the mark scheme so much! The precise wording is a bitch!
Totally agree with Bio mark schemes! I did OCR Biology and remember getting 0 marks on a question because I didn't say two words: 'protein' receptor and cell 'surface' membrane even though what I said was correct 😂
I'm taking Biology,Chemistry and Psychology for A levels. I'll make sure to study the topics in my summer break so it's easier for me when I actually start in September
I'm so happy and grateful for you doing these videos- could you also do one for maths as I am taking it next year and don't know what to really expect? Xx
A good tip is to turn the mark schemes that are general and turn them into questions and notes.Eg if the spec said 'describe the characteristics of X molecule', and there was a question asking for you to describe them, just use the mark scheme as ure notes and forget anything else. Tick, that part of the spec is done. I did this for AS Level PE which has a similar mark scheme structure (highly specific) and got full marks.
just gunna watch this vid now! im in year 11 now and thinkin of doin a-level biology next year so hopefully this vid helps like all the other ones of yours do x
you and your videos are so gorgeous and so so helpful! :) because of you I started looking more into the Law of Attraction and it has helped me already, so thank you!
Are you planning to continue all 4 subjects in year 13? I'm just curious and think that you could easily achieve 4 A*s next year with your exam results! xxx
I just received my timetable for A-Levels but one of the subjects that I’d applied for which was biology, was unfortunately missing from my timetable, so I’m going to sort that out tomorrow as we can luckily still make changes to what subjects we’re studying and yeah! I’m planning on studying A-Level Biology and I can’t wait to get started. Also, thanks for all the amazing tips! :P
It's my first year doing biology (with the exam board wjec eduqas). I'm thinking of dropping it (i know it's late) because of my teacher. I don't know if this is how majority of the biology teachers teach like, but my teacher just expects us to learn whole topics ourselves and in lessons we play games but she doesn't actually teach us. I know in A-Levels you have to do majority of the learning yourself and i do for my other subjects (Chemistry and Psychology) but that knowledge is then solidified when my teachers actually teach it to me. I am that type of person who could revise for a long time but if someone doesn't go over it, even just roughly it doesn't stay in my mind in the long run. I don't find the lessons productive and it brings my morale down, sometimes i just don't care to revise for biology and i need to force myself because i feel like it's not worth it. There are some people who don't need teachers to teach it for them to understand and they do really good where as the rest of us are just left wondering what we learnt that lesson. I also feel like she has certain students who she favours more then the rest. I'm a bit confused and don't know what to do, can someone help me please. Does anyone know any videos i could watch for A-Level Biology, as i need to learn the topics some how....
This is such a great video - thank you so much. I'm starting A level Bio in September this year so im glad i can start it with an organised mind. Also, where did you get that top? It is stunning x
You mentioned that you changed sixth form and then came back to your old school after a week in a previous video. I am really debating if I should change for sixth form and I was wondering what your reasoning was behind going back to your old school. ❤
Hi jade this video was really helpful as I'm taking A level Biology this year! - Could you maybe do a video on what to bring into sixth form/ What you keep in your bag for sixth form or how to consolidate your notes in A Level Biology🖤💛🖤💛x
im doing a level biology in college in september but im going from combined science gcse to a level and i'm worried that its ging to be really hard for me to catch up and learn the content :(
R B same here - online there are “head start for biology” books by cgp for people in this situation. Make sure you know what exam board you are and have a look on amazon. They’re about £7
ok right. rant time. i got a nine in biology gcse, great yay go me. i take biology a level, amazing i love it. one teacher is lovely shes great kind super helpful always letting us know what bit of the textbook we are in, the other teacher...he calls us stupid, walks out in the middle of sentences, never tells us what we are learning just talks at us then tells us to leave, teaches us things that arent in the syllabus and doesn't tell us we dont need it. then he gives us a test, i studied so SO hard from the textbook from my notes with my parents, it was a mock for the Christmas mocks... i got an e. and E. i cried, lets be honest i wasn't ready for that and it shocked me and scared me. yeah, he just said "thats not very good is it" and walked off. so yeah, not sure what im gonna do but i needed a rant so thanks for reading if you did.
Thank you for the advice it was really helpful! I'm so chuffed that I'm taking almost the same A-levels as you (Biology, Maths, English Lit and Spanish) because I get to benefit from this lil series. One more question I have about Biology is, is it worth remaking class notes with the textbook after a lesson or will this be too time consuming? I'm worried my class notes will be scruffy because I'll be trying to listen to my teacher but rewriting them in detail will take far too long afterwards, and I worry condense summaries such as mind maps/revision cards won't be sufficient. Will I be wasting my time to do both? Also, well done on your AS results! xx
I did Advanced Higher biology (the Scottish equivalent of A level ish) and I found the app called "Quizlet" especially helpful, just because there would be so much to write out on paper otherwise
Hi Jade! Ive been watching your edu videos and trust me it ALL inspired / motivated me to do better !. If you dont mind, may i know what do you think is the best seating postion in class? Thank you vm! Keep being awesomeeeee