A few tips which I used:

a) The two book method:

Quite simply, you use one book for class, for writing down what the teacher says and doing
exercises and then copy down what you have written in neat later (preferably the same day) in a
second book. Class notes are often ill-organised and are generally written quickly- making it
difficult to refer to your notes later for revision and recap; the aberrations which made so much
sense in class are often meaningless when looked at a few weeks later. Also, by re-writing down
your notes you are reinforcing the information and commiting it to your long term memory.
b) Colour coding;
Ok, this may seem childish but it works wonderfully. By colour coding your notes (for physics I
wrote in red for definitions, orange for highly important explanation, green for formula, blue for
workings and black for general) you are enaging different parts of your brain and making it eaiser
for later revision. By colour coding, you are forcing your brain to categorise the information and
store and process it differently; whilst the different colours also make your notes easy to scan
through for particular data ( if you want to revise definitions you just scan through your books and
read the sections in red- rather than skimming through mountains of black text to find what you
are looking for).
c) Cornell notes:
http://coe.jmu.edu/learningtoolbox/cornellnotes.html
Sometimes is worth a try.
d) Re-read your notes from time to time.
e) Do lots of questions and ask your teachers to review your work.
f) Bricking yourself up is counterproductive. You fatigue faster and your memory is less efficient
than if you went out from time to time and talked to friends and/or did somthing interesting.
g) Work-or-Play. Ever set aside time to do revision but end up hovering/ cooking/ staring blindly
at TV. It is because you want to work, so you don't play, but you can't be bothered to actually do
work; so you end up doing a tertiary unproductive activity. If you can't face doing work, do
somthing fun; rather than do nothing and nether get your work done or replenish your system.

Since in most of the subjects I was the highest achieving student in the class, I was often used
as a 'teacher'. I helped a lot of students when they had problems. Believe it or not, but this is a
great way of improving your knowledge of a subject. Helping out students, who are struggling,
will not only help them, but also you. This worked great for me, because in Maths for instance, I
sometimes had forgotten previous chapters, but by helping others, I managed to revise the
previous chapters again and again.
Also do a lot of past papers (as you said), but only do them once you have finished the syllabus
(book). Go through questions that you found hard in the past papers and keep re-doing them
until you get full marks. (But don't just do it again and again, but leave gaps, as in don't do the
same paper again and again, but do others in between.)
Try to finish your course as soon as possible. Try to learn the whole course with at least a month
to go to the exams (I personally prefer 2 months). In those 1/2 months, do the past papers, do
questions. Go to the library and find question books (you should be able to find books full of
questions only) related to your course. Make sure you go through as many questions as
possible. If you don't understand certain questions, ask your teacher.
Make sure you know EVERY question of past papers (no point remembering answers or
something, but) make sure you know HOW to do each kind of question. I don't know what course
you do, but in Maths, Physics, Chemistry, and Biology this is very helpful. Keep revising until you

are 100% sure you KNOW it ALL!

Divide your time well. Don't do too much work at once. Have breaks and also create a time table.
(If you send me your email address, I can send you a template of my revision time table in
Excel.) Make sure you don't spend entire nights studying, because that's just pointless. People
say don't do last minute revision, but if you haven't been doing any so far, I suggest you actually
SHOULD do some last minute revision, especially if you are unsure about some topics (shouldn't
be the case in the first place though). For me for instance it is extremely helpful.
If there are any formulas, etc to be remembered, make sure you learn them. If you just can't, just
try to memorize them right before the exam and as soon as you enter the exam hall, just write it
on the front cover of the exam paper. At the end of the exam you can just erase it or cut through.
That's what I do to remember formulae when I simply can't memorize them.
I don't know what subjects you are doing, but if its a Science or similar subject, make sure you
know WHY things are the way they are. Don't just accept it. For example in Maths, make sure
you know WHY the integral of 1/x is ln(x) + c and don't just accept it because the teacher says it.
Make sure you have some images in your mind that tell you how things behave and WHY. A mind
map is often very useful. It should be something where you have a visual image, because
people tend to remember that a lot easier than simple text.
I hope it was helpful to you and all others that are interested in finding out how to improve their
study skills.

Revision is 40% of it really.

40% is understanding
and the last 20% is purely skill.Unfortunately you can't learn skill.
I know some people who learn everything by heart and end up with Cs and Bs.
My method is first to read the whole textbook.
Read EVERYTHING.
Anything you don't understand write it in a A4 paper.
After your done take the list of things you don't understand and solve it.Either by your teacher or
internet etc.You can't learn what you don't understand.
Then just keep going through the textbook again sumarizing everything in a small notebook.
Afterwards just keep rereading the summarized work.
About 20-30 times should be enough then another 3-5 times the morning of the exam.
Good luck.

For science based subjects (Chemistry, biology, physics, psychology, geography to some
extent)
- read textbook
- make notes from it
- use specification as a basis to formulate questions
- for example if you had to know the difference between B lymphocytes and T lymphocytes then
turn that into a 'describe' or 'explain' question so - describe and explain the difference between B
and T lymphoctyes and then you answer will be the notes
- once you finished all the notes go onto past papers for that topic, recent is better but you could
go all the way back (this website: http://freeexampapers.com/#// gives you all the way till 2001)
- then INTEGRATE THE MARK SCHEME INTO YOUR NOTES!
For bio stupid phrase
like "leaky" and "gaps" will GET YOU MARKS not sophisticated language (pathetic right?)
- play at the examiners game, this background knowledge is not needed for science based
subjects as its wholly dependent on marking points rather than an overall criteria based system
- if you do this you will definitely get some further than the person who only focuses on notes
- go to the library and find as many books related to the subject and do those past papers and fill
in gaps (again integrate into notes)
- do this consistently (from August) so when it comes to mock you would already be ahead of the
game
- I would recommend getting Advanced Level Biology, Chemistry and Physics textbook from
Amazon about 40 quid but if you KNOW you'll be taking A2 sciences then buy it, otherwise just
borrow it from a library, they are sooooooooo detailed for understanding things (Like chemistry)
- after you've done ALL NOTES WITH INTEGRATED MARK SCHEME i suggest you make
flashcards with a pencil or something you can rub out with and then read, cover, write, check so
you're not ruining the flash card XD
For Essay based subjects (English, Philosophy, Economics all that jazz)
- Read around the subject, this is where you SHOULD read around the subject, english is all
about bull****ting convincingly to be frank, the more creative the idea, the more likely you'll get a
better grade BUT USE QUOTES
- GO TO PAST PAPERS AND WRITE ALL!!! ESSAY PLANS FOR EVERY SINGLE QUESTION
- Use sophisticated language as if you know what you're talking about so the examiners think
you do
- SIGNIFICANT ideas for lit that are spontaneous but original , make links, connect the dots
- for philosophy I would say learn the concepts who said and a response, by philosophy I mean
the ACTUAL philosophy not the philosophy and ethics things like religion, the Descartes, Kant
and Plato stuff x
- BUY AS PHILOSOPHY BY MICHAEL LACEWING and/or blue AQA introduction to Philosophy ,
very detailed
- with essay based subjects I suggest you do a for and against table to set up a debate and really
engage with the learning
- read academic and very comprehensive articles and learn the ways in which things are
expressed in a compelling manner
- tell teachers to mark essay plans
Maths
- past papers and past papers, from books internet anything that reinforces your knowledge,
maths is the only subject where getting 100% is easyy because its a yes or a no
- no notes, just make a mind map of all formulas (this is what my sister did and she got an A* in
maths, I hate maths XD)

General tips
- don't be disheartened if you fail once, that doesn't mean you're a failure, realise your potential
- stick motivation quotes
- just realise that if you don't get there now you will most likely get there eventually keep the
momentum going
- gcse's no one cares about honestly, a levels or whatever you need to get into university is just a
stepping stone to getting in, once you have your degree thats what employees will care about,
then they'll look at experience and before you know it, you've airbrushed you qualifications and
you experience will be more recognised than you're achievements
- realise and accept that success is not over night
- start becoming mature and taking responsibility for your own life, obviously stay forever young
don't be a boring anti-social sock head but know your limits
-have fun when you learn, engage in your learning, things you do with pleasure are things not
forgotten
- never ever compare yourself to others because everyone is different and everyone's story is
different, keep away from such friends or how I would like to express them as "acquaintances"
- if you do fail your a levels such as (U to D grades) don't be disheartened, try again and change
the way you approach things
- listen to motivational speakers that will really push you
- don't be clouded by your own judgement just let it go
- after an exam don't talk about it, leave it and move on to the next, what's done is done it cannot
be undone
- have a balance life,
- don't give up because its hard, keep going for what its worth at the end of it (I don't even know if
that makes sense XD)
- be confident but don't be cocky , even in life, live humbly
- erm don't worry be happy, forever and always
- invest in stationary with some friends it will really motivate you, some nice pens, colourful
papers and everything
- you just need your brain, textbook and paper
this is YOUR life and so the best way to know you're future is to create it, unless such problems
arise where you are not in control then that quote doesn't necessarily apply, evaluate your life
and your weaknesses and strength, travel the path less travelled by, be yourself, don't lose
yourself in too much work and too much partying because too much of anything always is and
will remain bad x (this is turning into a philosophical discussion XD)
but yeah just keep at it, whatever you do in life, embrace everything, remain positive and calm
because YOU ARE IN CONTROL
Happy studying xx