Advice for J2 students who are still failing at this stage

Dear J2 students,

This coming week should be when your examination results are being released to you. After a month of intensive studying in June, how do you think you will fare?

Based on my years of tutoring, I can safely say that if you are aspiring for straight As for the A levels, you should be getting an average of C for your school papers. (this is across all schools, based on the assumption that you should be making a modest 1 grade jump for every exam).

But what if you are nowhere near this Cs? Or even worst, you are currently failing everything? If that is the case, its really time for you to wake up, unless you intend to repeat your A levels again or take it private. You are just a short 4 months away from the A levels!!! What can you do in these short 4 months considering you have one more chance at an internal examination before being sent to the actual As?

  1. Find out what when wrong in your papers? Was it due to insufficient practice? Insufficient revision? Weak in your concepts? Time management?
  2. Well, the good news is that if you are weak in your concepts, you can always approach your friendly tutors in school to help you. Seek consultations from your teacher or tutor early. Please do not sit around and wait any longer. Failing 4 months before the A levels is an emergency! If you have time management issues, then maybe you should go for paid timed practices (there are some places offering such services with stimulated exam conditions and students).
  3. You should start to plan your time wisely and divide how much time you would need to study for your subjects. As a rule of thumb, you should study 8-10hrs each on weekends to catch up with your peers. When I say study, it means revising your concepts and committing your content to memory, and practicing questions on your own. This does not include the time for doing your own school homework.
  4. The most effective study method is to rotate among your subjects equally (3h2+ 1h1+GP). You should touch base with all 5 subjects everyday so that you do not FORGET your content so easily. If you are tight for time, it could just be a simple 30-45 mins everyday to read on GP examples/ articles on theculture or even your own reading package. Of course, it could also just mean a simple recap for your other topics. Studying should always be done is small blocks of 2hrs each so that you have maximum absorption before going for a short break.

Be careful not to get burn out as well, you do not wish to have peak performance during your prelims and then later not perform for your A levels. Take a break when you need to 🙂 If you do need further advice on how to prep for the A levels, don’t hesitate to give me a call (I can be contacted on my personal number on my profile page) or to drop me a comment. I promise I won’t bite 🙂

Showing 8 comments
  • shy
    Reply

    Hi may i know how exactly can i pull up my content marks for paper 1? I just finished my mid year exams and my gp paper1 i have only gotten 7/30 content marks. I dont know why, i did study for it and includes some specific examples in each of my arguments. Why did i still score so badly? By the way the question is: Is a world without war a realistic aim? Can you please give me some advice on how to really tackle this question i attempted and also some tips to pull up my content marks? (I still do not understand why my content marks is so low i did study for this question about war)

    • Joel Teo
      Reply

      are you from AJC XD

      • Christine Chen
        Reply

        haha are u from AJC then joel?

        • Shy
          Reply

          HAHA yaa😂

  • Christine Chen
    Reply

    Hi Shy,

    sorry for the late reply. The reason why u got 7/30 for content is possibly due to you not meeting the question’s requirement (meaning you have written out of point or you have hijack the question). Just having arguments do not guarantee you a pass. Please take a look at the cambridge marking band so that you can be clearer on how you should address your essay.

    As for your question on war, you would need to set the criteria on how to measure “realistic”. What is considered “realistic”? you would need to examine some motivations on why countries go to war with one another: conflicting self interest; economic needs; territorial disputes; historical baggage and then consider with such a context, is it even possible for the world to resolve these peacefully instead of war?

    Good luck for ur exams! You may contact me if u have any further questions. My number is in the profile page.

    • Christine Chen
      Reply

      Dear Students,

      If you would like a faster reply and advice, just contact me via sms (number on the profile page). I may not log into this site everyday.

      • Christine Chen
        Reply

        yes u can sms me directly even if u are not my current student. the purpose of this blog is to provide support for students who are taking their A levels through materials and advice.

  • Sri
    Reply

    hi Im sri, I spent my june hols really studying as much as I could but my physics has been a constant U throughout JC… I’m losing all hope and the pressure from friends performing better than me is really making it 1000000 times worse. Can I even make it in As? Im terrrified. Please give some advice for me..

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