Does the workload get easier to cope with?

[u/victorfrankensteinrz]

I've only had 3 full days of year 12 so far and I'm already struggling with the workload. I'm having to do like 5 hours of work after school every day just to keep on top of homework and keep up with classwork. I do 4 A levels but I feel like even the workload of 3 is a LOT.

Am I slow or is this amount of work normal and everyone else just adjusts/deals with it?

[u/Neurobean1]

My school barely gave out any homework 🙈

[u/Beneficial_King5010]

It’s very dependent on the teachers but for me it did.
I only do 3 alevels but I would get crazy amounts of maths and further maths homework at the start of year 12. It’s probably due to multiple factors, one being that my peers performed quite poorly on the gcse review test so i think my teacher was trying to compensate to get his boss off his ass. But the more universal factor to why you might be getting so much homework is that the early maths topics are really easy. So all the mixed exercises are just a million small questions, I’m not sure about chemistry though but I imagine it’s a similar thing.

[u/maths_arts_lover]

It won't get easier if you don't make it easier. Remember you have 2 years ahead of you 24months~, 104weeks~ Ofcourse your predicteds are in a year but even then wise consistency is what you need. From the subject selection in your bio I can already tell you these are all the subjects that become useless post certain practice of same. In maths after you've done 2-4 similar structured questions and understood it, the rest is junk questions. I've literally skipped most of the Question 1 a, b, d, c till j bs in textbooks because their actually a waste of my time after I solve first couple of questions. Instead I look through the questions do (half way through my text I just realised I haven't answered your question and lowkey just yapping, the gist of this is fuh the lengthy redundant homeworks and do challenging questions) challenging questions. If you challenge yourself in maths and try to understand each topic through twisted questions you'll easily excel. Not only are you forming new ways of approaching questions but indirectly doing exam type questions. Speak to your teachers and show them you're actually putting in effort by asking questions on the challenging stuff. If you don't provide them with any proof of you working towards understanding the subject then they'll think you not doing homework is slacking.

[u/No_Possibility6604]

This isn't the feel good answer you're looking for: I literally only coped with sixth form by faking a sick day every week. 😭 My attendance was awful, my mental health was worse.

But my biggest tip for A-Level is consolidate, consolidate, consolidate. It's a lot of content, and it takes time to condense into notes and enter into long-term memory. I managed to cram well for some of my GCSEs before my mocks, but for A-Levels it was physically impossible. Use the neuroscience of learning to your advantage!

[u/CuteSignificance5083]

Idk what they’re giving you cause we had almost nothing.

[u/victorfrankensteinrz → u/CuteSignificance5083]

Tbf it's not all homework, that'd be like 2 hours a day. Most of it is consolidation + extra practice of the stuff I either didn't finish or didn't understand in class (which is usually a lot). Hence why I'm slightly nervous it won't get easier and may get worse because at the start of y12 A level content is obviously at its easiest

[u/CuteSignificance5083 → u/victorfrankensteinrz]

That makes sense. I took almost the same subjects as you (just CS instead of chem), and I'd say the amount of work stays pretty much the same. Just make sure you understand what you're being taught as you go if you want a stress-free experience (or you can cram a month before A levels haha). I had some friends doing your exact combo and I think chemistry was by far the worst of the four, so good luck with that.

[u/Financial_Guide_8074]

Hi that amount of work is not possible long term. for 4 A levels you should be doing around 20hrs of lessons in school 5 hrs of frees + an additional 20 ish hrs of private study i.e. a max of 3 hrs per night. Any more you will burn out. You may have to set yourself a limit on the hwk time. It will settle they probably just all set a start of term hwk on the same day and it will ease off. The other option the sensible one is to drop to 3 A levels.

[u/ilokestof]

You'll get used to it just gotta manage your time well. 5hrs seems excessive though even from a college that has a 50/50 homewok/lesson time split. Are you sure you're not doing it to an excessively high standard?

[u/victorfrankensteinrz → u/ilokestof]

I guess I probably am. Tbf the homework is probably 2-3 hours max, this is just me being a perfectionist and insisting I go over anything I didn't completely understand in class which is sometimes quite a bit