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What I've Learnt During Sixth Form

I don't know if this will help anyone but I wrote some advice for students going into sixth form. I was going to put it up here but it's sort of long and harder to read on TSR. It's around 4300 words long. The sad thing is that it's longer than most of my History essays lol!

Click here to read it.

I guess the positive side of being an epic failure is learning what you've done wrong.

I kind of wish I knew all this before I even went to sixth form.

I think another point I wish I knew is that TSR would waste more of my time than FB lol!

So what do you know now that you wish you knew before you went to sixth form?

Scroll to see replies

Reply 1

paniking_and_not_revising

I hope this helps someone. There's so much about Sixth Form that they never tell you.

(edited 11 years ago)

Reply 2

Funtry

"Don't do Chemistry unless you love this subject so much you'd marry it or need it for university. It's very hard. I got an E at AS Level even though it was always my best subject since Year 7. And only take it if you took Triple Science. And don't sniff the chemicals during experiments. I speak from experience. Migraines for 48 hours are NOT WORTH IT! Although we did this one experiment that always smelt of cooking apples!"

I accidently inhaled potassium bromate in a PSA, when I sneezed and the salt went everywhere, made me so ill and my kidney hurt for ages. I am planning to study chemistry at University and I love it more than I did at GCSE (currently doing AS)

(edited 11 years ago)

Reply 3

paniking_and_not_revising

Original post by Funtry

"Don't do Chemistry unless you love this subject so much you'd marry it or need it for university. It's very hard. I got an E at AS Level even though it was always my best subject since Year 7. And only take it if you took Triple Science. And don't sniff the chemicals during experiments. I speak from experience. Migraines for 48 hours are NOT WORTH IT! Although we did this one experiment that always smelt of cooking apples!"

I accidently inhaled potassium bromate in a PSA, when I sneezed and the salt went everywhere, made me so ill and my kidney hurt for ages. I am planning to study chemistry and University and I love it more than I did at GCSE (currently doing AS)

OMFG! That's horrible! I hope you're better.

If there is one thing I'm thankful for is that I did so bad in AS Chemistry that I didn't do A2 chemistry. Sitting in a stuffy lab for 4 hours of chemistry is not my favourite way of spending Friday afternoons.

I think most A Levels are more fun than their GCSE counterparts, especially the sciences.

Good luck for studying Chemistry at university!

I hope your Sixth Form years go a load better than mine did!

Reply 4

Alexandra's Box

Original post by paniking_and_not_revising

Ooh this looks cool! I'm doing Chem this year (Y11 officially over)
:eek4:

Will read now!

Reply 5

paniking_and_not_revising

Original post by Alexandra's Box

Ooh this looks cool! I'm doing Chem this year (Y11 officially over)
:eek4:

Will read now!

Good luck with Chemistry! It's really hard but is fun when you aren't drowning under all that work.

For me, it was great for the first two weeks. Then I just broke down and got lost.

Reply 6

username430180

English Lit will take over your life, don't do it unless you're an absolute English geek who loves reading.

Reply 7

dr-jimmy

Thankyou so much for this! I'm going into sixth form next year and really scared, this'll be a handy guide. :smile:

Reply 8

paniking_and_not_revising

Original post by (:Becca(:

English Lit will take over your life, don't do it unless you're an absolute English geek who loves reading.

Haha! I actually love it. I think everyone who hates reading drops it after a few weeks. A lot of it, imo, depends on your teacher.

Original post by dr-jimmy

Thankyou so much for this! I'm going into sixth form next year and really scared, this'll be a handy guide. :smile:

Your welcome! Good luck in sixth form!

Reply 9

Alexandra's Box

Original post by paniking_and_not_revising

Good luck with Chemistry! It's really hard but is fun when you aren't drowning under all that work.

For me, it was great for the first two weeks. Then I just broke down and got lost.

I just read it - it is great! Quite funny in parts too...
I'm doing Chem, History and even AQA Bio next year so it was useful too!
:tongue:

Reply 10

paniking_and_not_revising

Original post by Alexandra's Box

I just read it - it is great! Quite funny in parts too...
I'm doing Chem, History and even AQA Bio next year so it was useful too!
:tongue:

Thanks!

AQA Bio is sort of evil. You can walk into the exam, know everything and walk out with a low grade because you didn't say the right word.

Good luck with History essays. I would recommend really spending a lot of time on the essays. And don't get your hopes up for your first ever essay. A Level history essays are nothing like at GCSE. Most people in my class got D's and E's and U's in their essays and were like "wtf?!"

Reply 11

Dandaman9999

That was a great read :smile:

thanks for preparing me for next year. But I have to take General Studies :frown:

Reply 12

Dandaman9999

And I'm all of the subjects I'm taking we're described so that was also helpful! (Bio, Chem, Maths, History)

Reply 13

paniking_and_not_revising

Original post by Dandaman9999

That was a great read :smile:

thanks for preparing me for next year. But I have to take General Studies :frown:

Your welcome. Yeah some college force you to take the subject which is a shame.

Don't bother studying for the exam and focus on your important subjects which unis will care about. I would suggest talking to your teacher about this. My friend was forced to take this last year. She kicked up a fuss and they let her use that hour as a study hour in the library instead. My college don't force students to take it anymore. They say it's not worth it when most of the students don't even bother writing answers. One of my teachers said her students would write their answers in cartoon form instead.

Original post by Dandaman9999

And I'm all of the subjects I'm taking we're described so that was also helpful! (Bio, Chem, Maths, History)

LOL! That is a tough combination! I initially took History, dropped it for Englit, and dropped that for Psych. I then dropped out of that college to take the two subjects I had dropped in the first place lol!

Reply 14

Starrstruck

Thanks for the advice even though I'm not doing any science a levels (thank God), I'm doing English lit and history. I'm with you on Harry potter- it'd be better if we went to hogwarts, wouldn't it??

Reply 15

Dandaman9999

Original post by paniking_and_not_revising

Haha, that's brilliant! You're right, I'd rather get better grades in the subjects that matter instead of this useless stuff. Might follow your teacher's advice and write my answers in cartoon form too lol.

I hope it's not that tough but after reading your article I might be mistaken! Lol, those are good subjects though... I think as long as you do what you enjoy it's all worth it :smile:

Reply 16

rainbowdust

This is a great read OP, thanks for posting! I'm already in college, but my sister will be starting this year and she's taking 3 of the subjects that you mentioned, so I'm deffo going to pass this on to her :smile:

Reply 17

paniking_and_not_revising

Original post by Starrstruck

Thanks for the advice even though I'm not doing any science a levels (thank God), I'm doing English lit and history. I'm with you on Harry potter- it'd be better if we went to hogwarts, wouldn't it??

Your welcome! :biggrin:

Definitely. I'd rather take Potions than Chemistry. Unless Snape was the teacher. argh!

Original post by Dandaman9999

That teacher was a bit loopy but if I was taking Gen studies, I would do that too. or write an essay on everything that is wrong with A Levels!

It is tough. Not going to lie. But if you keep your head down, study hard and take breaks to stop getting overworked, you should be fine. Time management/organisation is key at A Levels. It's not the most intelligent people who get the best grades and is usually the people who are the most effective at time management.

Reply 18

paniking_and_not_revising

Original post by rainbowdust

I hope it's useful to her and an enjoyable read!

Thanks!

If only I had a TARDIS and could go back with all this wise knowledge lol! Then my parents wouldn't be ashamed of me. They actually make sure not to tell people/relatives about my educational situation anymore. In some ways, I quite like it but I also like being the favourite child!

Reply 19

Brand New Eyes

I think GCSE students (well year 11 especially) should start looking at universities/courses a lot earlier!

This is the one thing I regret, in summer of year 12 where most of the open days you're too busy with exams and lessons to attend them all. Also, it's good to start reading around (or at least pretending to) early on.

Oh and for Maths especially, some of the units can be self taught so if you're good doing the AS in year 11 early is really useful and it will lighten the load later on.

Also the subjects which are a BIG step up are languages. GCSE MFL really does not prepare you for AS or A2, you're expected to follow the news and be able to read articles and have a general understanding. The level and extent of vocabulary and grammar you have to know is bewildering.

Original post by Dandaman9999

And I'm all of the subjects I'm taking we're described so that was also helpful! (Bio, Chem, Maths, History)

Original post by paniking_and_not_revising

Good luck with History essays. I would recommend really spending a lot of time on the essays. And don't get your hopes up for your first ever essay. A Level history essays are nothing like at GCSE. Most people in my class got D's and E's and U's in their essays and were like "wtf?!"

To add to this, History becomes more (nearly all) about evaluating and analyzing rather than remembering facts. Nail that in essays from the start and that's pretty much it.