Resitting Year 12 2015/16

Original post by Samonia

Heya, I'm resitting year 12 this year because my AS grades were not as I was hoping. In fact, they were a lot worse. Most of my friends have continued in to upper 6th now and I'm feeling very left behind and no one seems to get why I'm a bit cut up about it all :/ Is anyone else resitting year 12 too ? or those that already have re sat year 12 have any tips for those of us that are resitting now now? Thank you x

Hi. I resat Year 12 The first time I did it I got an E in Biology and a U in Chemistry and Maths. I was also forced to drop English Literature because school thought I can't do it. I didn't quite grasp the concept that I needed to work my socks off to do well and even after changing to another school and redoing my a/levels, I got D,D,E. There was some improvement but it could have been a whole lot better. I chose to do Psychology, Maths, Biology and Religious Studies and I dropped Biology because I wasn't very good at it. I still managed to get into uni but it was a 4 year course as I have to do a foundation year first.

Words of advice:
- Start revising early and don't procrastinate. I have the bad habit of sleeping too much and nearer the time of the exams I slept way too much and as such I didn't do that well. My mum had to wake me up every morning because I wasn't bothered to wake up to my alarm.
- Also don't waste your holidays and study period as they are a valuable in terms of getting revision done. Summer holidays are brilliant as well. Your school might give you textbooks for Year 13 and suggest that you start looking at them so that you don't fall behind.
- When you get back from school/college, make sure that you go through your notes so that you know what you have done today.
- Make sure that your exam technique is good. I had issues with it and I never improved even though I was told on numerous occasions to do so. This is all my fault as I didn't get help when I should have done.

I also got a bit too big-headed and I thought myself as the better person and I am not really that great. This was my downfall. Most of my friends got A*'S, A's and B's and one of them got into Oxford as well. As such I didn't revise because I was depressed about my intellectuality. Don't be me because you might end up regretting it.

Hope this helps!

Reply 5

Niyi Aderounmu

11

Original post by PurpleGhost25175

Hi. I resat Year 12 The first time I did it I got an E in Biology and a U in Chemistry and Maths. I was also forced to drop English Literature because school thought I can't do it. I didn't quite grasp the concept that I needed to work my socks off to do well and even after changing to another school and redoing my a/levels, I got D,D,E. There was some improvement but it could have been a whole lot better. I chose to do Psychology, Maths, Biology and Religious Studies and I dropped Biology because I wasn't very good at it. I still managed to get into uni but it was a 4 year course as I have to do a foundation year first.

Words of advice:
- Start revising early and don't procrastinate. I have the bad habit of sleeping too much and nearer the time of the exams I slept way too much and as such I didn't do that well. My mum had to wake me up every morning because I wasn't bothered to wake up to my alarm.
- Also don't waste your holidays and study period as they are a valuable in terms of getting revision done. Summer holidays are brilliant as well. Your school might give you textbooks for Year 13 and suggest that you start looking at them so that you don't fall behind.
- When you get back from school/college, make sure that you go through your notes so that you know what you have done today.
- Make sure that your exam technique is good. I had issues with it and I never improved even though I was told on numerous occasions to do so. This is all my fault as I didn't get help when I should have done.

I also got a bit too big-headed and I thought myself as the better person and I am not really that great. This was my downfall. Most of my friends got A*'S, A's and B's and one of them got into Oxford as well. As such I didn't revise because I was depressed about my intellectuality. Don't be me because you might end up regretting it.

Hope this helps!

Any tips for improving exam technique?
Ways for removing procrastination?

Reply 6

Original post by Niyi Aderounmu

Any tips for improving exam technique?
Ways for removing procrastination?

If you met me now you would see that I still haven't improved!

I would suggest taking exercises such as going for long walks. This is one thing that I failed to do. My friends used to go on bike rides or long walks to de-stress themselves and this is a good idea as it increase the blood flow to the brain and you would be more prepared to sit down and do work.

For exam techniques do past papers and specimen papers. As lot of students do past papers online, you can make easy assumptions that the exam will be like the past papers. But there is the likelihood that you will get a paper that is very dissimilar to the past papers. So I would do specimen papers as these are often harder and it will test your ability.

Reply 7

Niyi Aderounmu

11

Original post by PurpleGhost25175

If you met me now you would see that I still haven't improved!

I would suggest taking exercises such as going for long walks. This is one thing that I failed to do. My friends used to go on bike rides or long walks to de-stress themselves and this is a good idea as it increase the blood flow to the brain and you would be more prepared to sit down and do work.

For exam techniques do past papers and specimen papers. As lot of students do past papers online, you can make easy assumptions that the exam will be like the past papers. But there is the likelihood that you will get a paper that is very dissimilar to the past papers. So I would do specimen papers as these are often harder and it will test your ability.

Ah I understand. Would you advise us to use timetables?

Reply 8

OP

yeah, i dont intend to make the same mistakes as last year. I could win awards for procrastinating early on but up to exams I worked really hard but i think it was too late by then :/ One of my grades was good so I am taking that A2 but I'm re sitting on AS and starting up 2 others. I got BCEE but as im looking at being a Lawyer i needed much higher grades than this :/ ive started copying up work on to a Word doc. so i dont get disorganised this year too. hoping it works

(edited 8 years ago)

Reply 9

Original post by Niyi Aderounmu

Ah I understand. Would you advise us to use timetables?

Yes. If it helps than do so. I suggest that you do 1 hour of each subject that you have studied that day at school/college. If you have done the revision within the limited times than you should maybe look at past paper questions just to get the hang of how the questions work in the exam. This could help improve your exam technique as well.

May I ask what time you get home from school/college?

Reply 10

Original post by Samonia

yeah, i dont intend to make the same mistakes as last year. I could win awards for procrastinating early on but up to exams I worked really hard but i think it was too late by then :/ One of my grades was good so I am taking that A2 but I'm re sitting on AS and starting up 2 others. I got BCEE but as im looking at being a Lawyer i needed much higher grades than this :/ ive started copying up work on to a Word doc. so i dont get disorganised this year too. hoping it works

I don't know if you know this but most law firms look at A/level grades. So it would be worth resitting your AS levels. But you got also find out if law firms want specific grades in one sitting - much like some of the higher ranked universities do.

Reply 11

Original post by Niyi Aderounmu

Ah I understand. Would you advise us to use timetables?

You can use TSR to create your timetable.

Reply 12

citydeer

9

i resat year 12 (ive just finished yr 13 and am going onto uni this year) i would advise to make sure you really do as much work as you can this year - you dont want to feel like you have done an extra year for nothing! if youre resitting all the same subjects (i did 2 retakes and 2 new ones) this is the time to really make sure you understand and key concepts/ideas and really grasp the exam technique, even if you feel like its a bit repetitive or boring you still need to focus, getting the same lessons taught to you two years in a row can feel boring, however it really allows you to get a full understanding of the content - repetition is such a good way to drill the content into you brain!
apart from the studying, try and make as many friends in yr 12 this year (while still hanging out w ur friends who have moved to yr 13) so that next year you wont feel left behind or anything!

Reply 13

OP

Original post by PurpleGhost25175

I don't know if you know this but most law firms look at A/level grades. So it would be worth resitting your AS levels. But you got also find out if law firms want specific grades in one sitting - much like some of the higher ranked universities do.

Thats why i started this thread, I'm re sitting my AS levels with 2 different ones. The B was only 2 marks off an A so im re doing my EMPA (practical exam) to push it up. the C was history which i had a problem with because my teacher gave us so much hw there was no time for revision. my whole class got the same grades :/ and I've dropped the 2 E's in favour for one i got A* in at GCSE and the other i have a general interest in. Hopfully, i get A's and B's the coming summer :smile:

Are you looking at being a Lawyer too? or just have knowledge in it? thanks :biggrin:

Reply 14

Funkypop12

I Need help too. For my GCSE's I got 1B and 5C's which isn't that good because I wanted to do biology chemistry maths and health and social care in sixth form. But both maths and science I ended up with a C grade which is appalling to me. Do you think I should repeat year 11 and apply to sixth form in September 2016? For now I'm resiting some of my GCSE's at this private school. Also was only 3 marks of a C grade in Spanish do you think I should get it remarked or not!

Reply 15

Original post by Samonia

Thats why i started this thread, I'm re sitting my AS levels with 2 different ones. The B was only 2 marks off an A so im re doing my EMPA (practical exam) to push it up. the C was history which i had a problem with because my teacher gave us so much hw there was no time for revision. my whole class got the same grades :/ and I've dropped the 2 E's in favour for one i got A* in at GCSE and the other i have a general interest in. Hopfully, i get A's and B's the coming summer :smile:

Are you looking at being a Lawyer too? or just have knowledge in it? thanks :biggrin:

Sounds like you have a good plan there! Ah no, I can never be a lawyer. I am planning to do Psychology and Neuroscience with a foundation year at university.

Reply 16

citydeer

9

Original post by Funkypop12

I Need help too. For my GCSE's I got 1B and 5C's which isn't that good because I wanted to do biology chemistry maths and health and social care in sixth form. But both maths and science I ended up with a C grade which is appalling to me. Do you think I should repeat year 11 and apply to sixth form in September 2016? For now I'm resiting some of my GCSE's at this private school. Also was only 3 marks of a C grade in Spanish do you think I should get it remarked or not!

if you think its worth it then get spanish remarked - but depends on how you felt the exam went and if you can afford it
i know several people who have resat gcses at college (depends what your college offers) and sometimes you can do them alongside an AS pbviously this depends again on your college and how much workload you can manage, if you want to do those alevels then its def worth redoing gcses in a year to be able to do that - dont worry about being left behind your peers, i did 3 years at college and i didnt feel at all left behind (if anything it benefitted me)

Reply 17

Original post by Funkypop12

I Need help too. For my GCSE's I got 1B and 5C's which isn't that good because I wanted to do biology chemistry maths and health and social care in sixth form. But both maths and science I ended up with a C grade which is appalling to me. Do you think I should repeat year 11 and apply to sixth form in September 2016? For now I'm resiting some of my GCSE's at this private school. Also was only 3 marks of a C grade in Spanish do you think I should get it remarked or not!

You can still do your A/levels and some of your GCSE's together. One of my friends didn't pass GCSE physics and chemistry so she re-sat those exams throughout her AS levels. She did it 3 times in that year before she passed.

Have you though of BTEC's? I only discovered them before I did my A2 exams and kicked myself for not doing a lot research into BTEC's prior to starting my A/levels. I would not have spent 3 years of my life doing a/levels and gone to university with my peer group.

Reply 18

OP

Original post by PurpleGhost25175

Sounds like you have a good plan there! Ah no, I can never be a lawyer. I am planning to do Psychology and Neuroscience with a foundation year at university.

Oh! that sounds super interesting! I looked at Psychology too! :biggrin:

i was looking at Pathology originally before my AS grades come out :/ its not really an option now but Law looks really interesting :smile:

so im going for that now :biggrin:

Reply 19

OP