Category: A-Levels

Reasons for Learning with like-minded students: Introduction

Reasons for learning with like-minded students include improving academic, social, and emotional outcomes for students. This is because students get to learn with people who share their interests and goals, thereby benefitting from the support and encouragement of their peers.

Reasons For Learning: Academic

Increased motivation: When a student is surrounded by people who are passionate about learning, it gets easier to stay motivated. Their peers help them to stay on track and keep going even when things get tough.

Improved academic performance: Studies have shown that students who learn with like-minded peers tend to perform better academically than those who do not. This is due to the increased motivation and support that they receive from their peers.

Social

Enhanced social skills: Students interact with people from different backgrounds and with different perspectives. As a result, learning with like-minded students develop their social skills. This helps them to become more comfortable in social situations and to develop their communication skills.

Like-minded Students: Emotional

Reduced stress: Students reduce stress when they learn with like-minded students. This is because it is easier to cope with the challenges of education with people who understand the challenges. Their peers can also provide them with support and encouragement, which helps them to stay positive and motivated.

Increased confidence: Increased confidence comes from learning with like-minded students. When students are surrounded by people who believe in them, it is easier to believe in themselves. Their peers also provide them with feedback and support, which can help them to develop their skills and knowledge.

Greater sense of belonging: Learning with like-minded students can help students to feel a greater sense of belonging. When they are surrounded by people who share their interests and goals, it can be easier to feel like they belong. This helps them to feel more comfortable and supported in their studies.

If you are looking for a way to improve your child’s academic performance and social skills, I encourage you to sign up with Brashan Chemistry as we have qualified like-minded students for your child to learn with. You will be glad you did.

Mindset for Success? PARENTS!! WHAT IS YOUR CHILD’S MINDSET FOR SUCCESS?

Developing a mindset for success is crucial for students. They have two options to choose from: a fixed mindset or a learning mindset.

Mindset For Success: What’s the Difference Between a Fixed Mindset and a Learning Mindset?

Fixed mindset students:

• believe that there is little that they can control. They are simply bad at academics, unorganized, screw up, and so on.
• believe that traits are fixed, i.e., some students are smart, and others are not.
• are afraid of failure and they feel defined by past failures.
• focus on things that they can’t control, like events in the past, being unselected for a football team, failed tests, being omitted from a school trip, friendships that turn sour, etc.
• make excuses and blame others.

Mindset for Success: Learning mindset people:

• believe they can change their story. They believe that with hard work they can become better students, become more intelligent, and create a successful academic career.
• shape their habits, constantly working to improve themselves.
• focus on the things they can control. They can’t control the school, but they can control the actions they take to make them succeed in their education.
• aren’t terrified of failure and they aren’t defined by their past failures.
• like taking on challenges and believe they can be successful with enough practice.
• love to learn.

Conclusion

Even if you have a fixed mindset, you can change to a growth mindset. It’s simply a matter of viewing your life events and setbacks differently.

If you want to child to excel in chemistry with a learning mindset, check this out. IMPROVED GRADES ARE GUARANTEED!

How do you know if you are working hard enough in A-level Chemistry? It’s a question that every student asks themselves at some point during their A-levels. There may be several reasons that a student asks themselves this question. It could be that their grade is not what they want it to be so they are starting to panic and think that they will not do well on their final exam. Or it could be that they feel as if they are studying and revising all of the time and are starting to feel burnt out. Or it could be that they are comparing themselves to their class mates and feel that they are studying more or less than their classmates and that they are wasting their time.

So, how do you know if you are working hard enough in A-level Chemistry? Continue reading to find out how you can quickly tell if you are working too hard or not hard enough in A-level Chemistry and how to quickly get your study and revision habits back on track.

When Do You Start Counting The Questions That You Complete?

Muhammad Ali was one of the greatest boxers that ever lived and had a lot of sayings that are used in motivational quotes or sound bytes in motivational speeches. 

One of his quotes is an answer that he gave to a reporter when he was asked how many situps he does during his daily training sessions. He said “I don’t count the sit-ups. I only start counting when it starts hurting because they’re the only ones that count. That’s what makes you a champion.”

If he didn’t do enough situps then he was wasting his time in the gym. He wasn’t doing enough situps to strengthen his body and to prepare for his next boxing match. If he did too many situps then he ran the risk of physically injuring himself and having to take time out of his training routine in order to heal. And he ran the risk of burning out mentally and not completing his training sessions and falling into worse physical shape.

So why is Ali’s quote relevant to how hard you should be working in A-level Chemistry?

Because it shows how Ali entered the zone of optimal peak performance everytime he trained in the gym. He didn’t train too lightly and waste his time in the gym, he didn’t train too hard and risk injuring himself, he trained at the optimal level every time that he trained.

And this is how as an A-level Chemist you need to study and revise for your tests and exams. 

You don’t want to waste your time in your study and revision sessions completing questions that you already know how to do. This is called studying too lightly. You don’t want to complete questions on a topic that you don’t fully understand so that you are just memorising markschemes. This is called studying too hard and you risk burning out mentally.

What you want to do is to work at the optimal level every time that you study and revise A-level Chemistry. This sounds great but how do you know if you are working at your optimal level in your study and revision sessions? And when do you start counting the questions that you complete?

You know if you are working at your optimal level in A-level Chemistry if you complete a transcendent question during your lesson, while studying your course materials or when revising for your tests and exams. And you start counting the questions that you complete after you have completed a transcendent question.

The Transcendent Question

A transcendent question is a question that you thought that you couldn’t do with your current undertanding of A-level Chemistry. It’s the last question that you do during lesson when you are getting tired of completing PPQ and are looking at the clock to see how many minutes are left until the end of lesson. It’s the last question that you do when revising for your tests and exams and are getting frustrated because you partially understand the concept but you keep getting your answer slightly wrong. 

The transcendent question is the question that is just out of your reach in terms of your understanding of the course material. It’s the question that you do when you want to quit studying and revising for the day but you decide to attempt one last question. 

Its the question that allows you to grow as an A-level Chemistry student.

Why is the transcendent question a good indicator of whether you are working at your optimal level?

How do you know if you are working hard enough? Because its an indication that you are in the zone. If you aren’t working hard enough then the questions in class aren’t challenging you. The questions that you complete when studying or revising are too easy because you already know the material so you aren’t learning anything new. If you are working too hard then you don’t understand the course material so you are completing past paper questions with the markscheme open or are just memorising markschemes. Or you start to find excuses not to study or revise because you know that you don’t know the material and are falling behind.

The transcendent question is an indication that you are in the zone. You are working at an optimal level and are growing as an A-level Chemist. You are working hard enough!

How Do You Structure Your Study And Revision Sessions Around The Transcendent Question

Structuring your study and revision sessions around the transcendent question involves a shift in your mindset. Too often students are stuck in the urgent and important quadrant of Steven Covey’s time management matrix. They are stuck on a treadmill of completing course assignments and studying for EOU tests. And because they are taking three or four A-level courses their time is spent staying up late into the night completing homework sets or course work and cramming for days on end for their EOU tests.

The problem is that this approach allows students little time for revision where they have time to consolidate their notes and understanding on a topic. They have little time to see the synoptic links between the topics they studied in Year 12 and the topics they are studying in Year 13.

And they have little time to seek out the transcendent question on a topic which means that they are not working at their optimal level.

What’s the strategy for getting out of this cycle of always working to an impending deadline?

Of not being able to see the synoptic links between the topics in Year 12 and Year 13 of A-level Chemistry?

In another blog post I discussed how to manage your time so that you are always working three days ahead of schedule so that you aren’t working late into the night completing HW sets and course work assignments. And you aren’t spending days cramming for your EOU tests.

And if you have a study and revision schedule like I discussed in a another blog post then you know how to plan a revision schedule so that you are studying topics that complement each other in dual revision sessions. For example, you are revising the Year 12 topic of kinetics with the Year 13 topic of rate laws.

All of this planning gives you some mental space to reflect on the questions that you are completing as part of your study or revision sessions.

You can take a figurative step back and look at the question from a distance and ask yourself do you understand the question?

If the question is too easy then you have the knowledge and self confidence to pause and spend a few minutes locating some more difficult questions on the topic. Maybe they are a different type of question or they are questions from a different exam board.

Or maybe if the question is too difficult you pause and consolidate your notes, research some YouTube video that explains the topic or see your teacher for help during their subject tutorials. You can do this because you know that you have the flexibility in your schedule to do this because you are following a study and revision plan where you are working three days in advance.

If you follow this approach you will quickly hone in on the transcendent question for each topic that you are studying and revising. You will find that you are spending most of your time in each session completing a transcendent question. And you will feel confident that you are working at your optimal level and are working hard enough in your A-level studies.

How To Do Well In A-Level Chemistry

You will do well in A-level Chemistry if you optimise your study and revision sessions around the transcendent question by completing the following steps:

• Create a weekly timetable so that you are always working three days in advance.
• Create a revision schedule so that you are revising Year 12 and 13 topics in a dual revision session.
• Pause and ask yourself if you understand the question you are completing.
• Adjust the type and difficulty level of the question so that you are always working on a question that you can just complete.
• Maintain this level of difficulty throughout your revision session so that you are always completing transcendent questions and are always in the zone.