Practical Ways Parents Can Support Their Child as They Start A-Levels

Rachel is a qualified Science Teacher and GCSE Biology Examiner with seven years of classroom experience across GCSE and A-Level Biology. Having trained postgraduate students at the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine and taught across AQA, Edexcel and WJEC/Eduqas, she now works as an online tutor and part-time university lecturer.

Here, she shares her practical advice on building A-Level independence before Year 12 begins.

How Parents Can Help Prepare Their Child For A-Levels

By Rachel | Science Teacher and GCSE Biology Examiner | Sherpa Tutor

In a previous school I taught in, we would keep in mind that our new A-level students were ‘year 11+1’, so we didn’t place unreasonable expectations on them regarding organising themselves and being independent. We knew the two years we spent teaching these skills would be incredibly beneficial for them in whatever they chose to do post-18.

Setting Up the Physical Environment

When we think of the perfect learning environment, we probably have in mind a neat desk in a private area of the house; however, it is worth a conversation with your child about what works best for them.

• Is it a space in their bedroom where they can escape the family, or somewhere communal where the accountability of family members walking past helps them keep on task?
• Having a set of blank flashcards from the beginning of the year can mean they can add key terminology and mark scheme information as they go along, rather than just before a mock or exam. This is especially helpful in content-heavy subjects like A-Level Chemistry.
• Have a folder for their notes, exam questions, and classwork set up for each A-level. Support them in the beginning to keep it organised by keeping a hole punch handy and checking it with them each week. This will make organisation a lot less stressful than wading through out-of-order, crumpled-up paper three months down the line.

Setting Up the Digital Learning Environment

Young people are often described as being digital natives, but this doesn’t mean they will know how to optimise their digital environment for focused study time. The tips below can be completed once, in a short amount of time, but will be impactful across the year.

Help your child to use the bookmark manager on their browser to set up folders for each A-level with links to important websites, such as the specification, the exam board page where exam papers are located, preferred revision websites, and YouTube channels.

Set up a filing system together on their laptop/device/cloud storage for each A-level and then for each paper/module, and decide on a way of naming files, e.g., CH1_BiologicalMolecules_Notes.

Have a look at apps that allow you to block access to certain websites, such as social media sites, during designated study times. Encourage your child to block notifications for non-essential apps on their phone.

How to Access Exam Papers and Use Them Effectively

• Find out what exam board your child is using for each A-level. If you are not sure, check with the school.
• You can access past exam papers from the exam board website and should bookmark this page so your child is completing the most up-to-date papers. Completing past exam papers for the specific exam board is important, as each board will be slightly different in what they teach and in the key terminology they use.
• Once your child has completed a topic in a subject like A-Level Biology, they can then try exam questions - their teacher may give them end-of-topic questions, but if not they can open a past paper and flick through until they recognise the topic they are studying. Try to have your child set time aside to do this each week (once they have learnt enough content).
• Students will often want to look at past paper questions and ‘think’ about their answer, then quickly check the mark scheme, but they should write their answers down and only go to the mark scheme once they have given themselves enough time to think through an answer, as they would in a real exam. They should compare their answer with the mark scheme and put a tick right next to the part of the answer that corresponds to the mark, so they become familiar with what gains marks. Once they have completed a component of learning, they should complete full exam papers under timed conditions to build up their stamina. This is crucial for problem-solving subjects such as A-Level Maths.

Creating a Revision Timetable

Use the Sherpa Revision Planner or a good old paper revision timetable together to map out the week. It's not being too keen to start this from week one of year 12! Spaced repetition is key.

Make sure to include commitments, including extracurricular activities and enough time to rest, as well as lessons and time for independent study.

Some of these tips may seem time-consuming and defeat the object of your child becoming independent, but by offering high support early on and then reducing this, by year 13 they will be much less overwhelmed and will have built up these skills, feeling confident and motivated.