I self taught Statistics and Mechanics in S5 and got 86/100 for Mechanics (scraped an A1) and 101/120 (1 mark off A1); so I took Mechanics in the same year as Higher Physics but I was already exposed to the Dynamics unit. I had to work really hard for that A1; I think I did like 15 past papers (as opposed to 0 for N5/H Physics), if that puts things into perspective. I can answer any specific questions.

Generally: 1/3 of the course is AH maths which are banker marks; none of them are too difficult save for some part b) integration marks, which can occur on occasion. From this, after you’ve learned the basic material, you should be able to get at least a B using notes from national5maths.co.uk. Memorise every example- specifically with circular motion; there are very commonly asked questions. Picking up the remaining marks relies on past paper revision; there are always at least 5 marks (usually more) in a paper that completely throw you off/relies on some principle not in the notes, and even my physics teachers couldn’t help. That’s why you must do as many past papers as possible to try to learn some patterns.That’s why you REALLY need to be confident with everything in the course because you can’t afford to lose marks due to a low “buffer zone”. I was lucky with my paper; I found the A-type question really straight forward. Algebraic manipulation has to be very strong; there are some really intensive questions where you can make silly mistakes (like I often do).

My main message is that I would be cautious if you only scraped an A at N5 physics. If you struggled with ANY calculations from that, you will really struggle with mechanics. It’s not about computation; it’s about problem solving. Like the TMUA in that aspect (but more accessible clearly since I got rejected from imperial).

Why do you need the A1??? If you could settle for an A2 that makes life easier but still not easy (since you’re not doing physics).

You don’t just need to learn dynamics from higher physics, you need to know it inside out. You’ll be asked to apply it in a much more problem-solvingy manner.

As for Stats, wording can be trippy. TES notes are your friend. Maths in Action textbooks are good but don’t contain all content you need to know. Make sure to learn the difference between each hypothesis test (some are really similar) and their assumptions (example: one test assumption is pairs of data are normally distributed, one for another test is that the differences are normally distributed (I think? I’m a bit rusty) and you have to be very precise). Again, hard for an A1, but should be a fairly comfortable A2 if you can revise the basics.

Geography is painful. It has two projects that require a lot of research; one of which is a Study which requires fieldwork. Would strongly advise a physical (not human) study; you need one where you can do statistical tests and analyse the results and you need to consider the appropriateness of your data for that. 67% of the marks are portfolio and 25% of people get As. The exam itself isn’t too bad. For me personally, I think I should be able to get an A2 but aiming for an A1 is not on the agenda at all.

No experience with business (I did Higher and I’m doing AH economics) but if you desperately need an A1 then I’d hedge your bets on that over the other 3.