The Student Room Group

The Epic and Outlandish Journey to Attain A*A*B

Hello everyone! :smile:

Welcome to the weekly blog of The Epic and Outlandish Journey to Attain A*A*B

My name is Ghaz and I welcome you all to today's blog.

Well, where can I start from? Just a couple of months ago, I had just come back, fresh from the trip from Pakistan, to come and collect my A Level grades, the final grades, after sitting my A2 (and AS resit) exams, last Summer. Little did I know, that it was not going to pan out to how I wanted it to be. I received my A Level grade result slip, and I had fallen into a dramatic yet heartbreaking trance. My place to Uni was declined, my Insurance was willing to take me on but turned them down in the end and now, starting off from a new slate. It was horrifying how, my A2 papers (especially for Biology and Psychology written papers) had gone, way below standards, over this summer.

Now, from September till now, February of 2016, plans have been made to avert this crisis and land myself a dream place of studying Biotechnology at one of the best Universities in the country and in the world, namely Manchester and Nottingham. It is in place and is working so far.

As of now, here is my current progress in all three of my subjects to date, and what further plans are in place, to push my progress further and stretch myself further, to keep myself on track and on side for top honours, come Summer 2016. These are in order (Biology, Chemistry and Psychology).

Biology -> as far as I am now, I am currently half way through Unit 4 of the AQA specification, completing Populations and Ecosystems (almost done), Photosynthesis (completed), Respiration (completed), ATP (completed). I have also been doing some A Level specific questions to test my question interpretation and improve my way of thinking. After doing Populations and Ecosystems, next weeks objectives before Friday's blog post, I will have covered Ecological Succession, Energy Transfers and Ecological Pyramids, and starting Nutrient Cycles. The study method for this subject, is writing concise notes, using the specification for further help and as a guidance and doing question practice with my tutor, to keep myself on pace. As for Unit 5, will start to do some light work on Stimulus, Co-ordination and Skeletal Muscles before next week's blog.

Chemistry -> this one, is more systematic. I am doing it in terms of, Organic and Inorganic and Physical Chemistry of Units 1,2,4,5. I have completed the entire Unit of Unit 1, as it is pure Organic Chemistry at the beginning but now, I will be starting and will complete the entire Unit of Unit 2 Organic and Inorganic and Physical Chemistry before next week's blog post. As for the Unit 4 and 5, I am doing some side reading and some papers as it is mostly fresh from last year but, will go over the content throughly after Chem 2 is brushed up and completed. The study method for this subject, is past papers, as Chemistry is about pure practice of the theory and concepts and using the spec and writing notes on what the Spec needs and understand and practice theory questions too.

Psychology -> this one is more memory based. I have completed the entire content of Unit 3 and writing up the essays for the Unit 3. For the Unit 4, there are 20 essays to learn and understand. I have written, out of 3 booklets and the leaflets for the controversies of this Unit, 1 booklet, with the second booklet in progress for completion before next week's blog post, with 1 of 5 controversies to write up before the blog post. The method for this subject, is purely just typing the essays on the laptop using Microsoft Word and understanding the essay plans, of what I am expected to learn for this essay, if it is to come for the exam in the Summer.

In next week's blog, I will go through one study method with you all, and also explain a little more on Psychology, as it is quite a literature-yet-analytical based subject, which requires full dedication and willpower to do and ace perfectly.

As for now, it has been quite a detailed blog post, but next week's blog post will surely be positive, more fun to be included, and a little bit of banter too.

That is it for now, signing off for now and hopefully, next week, will be more of a feedback review and more of a progress report of what is yet, to come of me, my goals and to meet my ambitions.

With love and happiness,

Ghaz :smile:
Good luck! I do the same subjects, but AS year, with a 4th too. :smile:
Reply 2
Previously on The Epic and Outlandish Journey to Attain A*A*B...

Original post by User2334541
Hello everyone! :smile:

Welcome to the weekly blog of The Epic and Outlandish Journey to Attain A*A*B

My name is Ghaz and I welcome you all to today's blog.

Well, where can I start from? Just a couple of months ago, I had just come back, fresh from the trip from Pakistan, to come and collect my A Level grades, the final grades, after sitting my A2 (and AS resit) exams, last Summer. Little did I know, that it was not going to pan out to how I wanted it to be. I received my A Level grade result slip, and I had fallen into a dramatic yet heartbreaking trance. My place to Uni was declined, my Insurance was willing to take me on but turned them down in the end and now, starting off from a new slate. It was horrifying how, my A2 papers (especially for Biology and Psychology written papers) had gone, way below standards, over this summer.

Now, from September till now, February of 2016, plans have been made to avert this crisis and land myself a dream place of studying Biotechnology at one of the best Universities in the country and in the world, namely Manchester and Nottingham. It is in place and is working so far.

As of now, here is my current progress in all three of my subjects to date, and what further plans are in place, to push my progress further and stretch myself further, to keep myself on track and on side for top honours, come Summer 2016. These are in order (Biology, Chemistry and Psychology).

Biology -> as far as I am now, I am currently half way through Unit 4 of the AQA specification, completing Populations and Ecosystems (almost done), Photosynthesis (completed), Respiration (completed), ATP (completed). I have also been doing some A Level specific questions to test my question interpretation and improve my way of thinking. After doing Populations and Ecosystems, next weeks objectives before Friday's blog post, I will have covered Ecological Succession, Energy Transfers and Ecological Pyramids, and starting Nutrient Cycles. The study method for this subject, is writing concise notes, using the specification for further help and as a guidance and doing question practice with my tutor, to keep myself on pace. As for Unit 5, will start to do some light work on Stimulus, Co-ordination and Skeletal Muscles before next week's blog.

Chemistry -> this one, is more systematic. I am doing it in terms of, Organic and Inorganic and Physical Chemistry of Units 1,2,4,5. I have completed the entire Unit of Unit 1, as it is pure Organic Chemistry at the beginning but now, I will be starting and will complete the entire Unit of Unit 2 Organic and Inorganic and Physical Chemistry before next week's blog post. As for the Unit 4 and 5, I am doing some side reading and some papers as it is mostly fresh from last year but, will go over the content throughly after Chem 2 is brushed up and completed. The study method for this subject, is past papers, as Chemistry is about pure practice of the theory and concepts and using the spec and writing notes on what the Spec needs and understand and practice theory questions too.

Psychology -> this one is more memory based. I have completed the entire content of Unit 3 and writing up the essays for the Unit 3. For the Unit 4, there are 20 essays to learn and understand. I have written, out of 3 booklets and the leaflets for the controversies of this Unit, 1 booklet, with the second booklet in progress for completion before next week's blog post, with 1 of 5 controversies to write up before the blog post. The method for this subject, is purely just typing the essays on the laptop using Microsoft Word and understanding the essay plans, of what I am expected to learn for this essay, if it is to come for the exam in the Summer.

In next week's blog, I will go through one study method with you all, and also explain a little more on Psychology, as it is quite a literature-yet-analytical based subject, which requires full dedication and willpower to do and ace perfectly.

As for now, it has been quite a detailed blog post, but next week's blog post will surely be positive, more fun to be included, and a little bit of banter too.

That is it for now, signing off for now and hopefully, next week, will be more of a feedback review and more of a progress report of what is yet, to come of me, my goals and to meet my ambitions.

With love and happiness,

Ghaz :smile:


Now onto Part 2 of The Epic and Outlandish Journey to Attain A*A*B with your blogger... Ghaz!

Hello everyone and welcome back to Part 2 of my epic blog :wink:!

I am back and today, here is a summary of what I have done for the past week, and believe me, you all will not believe it! :biggrin:

Ever since my last blog post, I had a lot of work cut out for me to prepare, for what had been, one of the most grilling Interviews I have ever done, in my entire life. It was absolutely shocking. Over the weekend and the days leading to my Interview (which was on Wednesday this week), I had been writing out and preparing Interview questions of what, my interviewer may ask me of, and surprisingly, I also had to look for some developments for the course I want to study, which is Biotechnology.

Now, as shocking as it may sound, my interview was not as I expected it to be... It was something that I regret, but also something that I still can't get over, seeing the fact that, the interviewer did not ask me those questions, asked me purely on what was on my personal statement, and I was really caught out in the process. And also, the interviewer, was... the Head of Biotechnology at The University of Manchester! I really could not believe, that my interviewer, would be my head of the department, I will hopefully be potentially be joining in September this year. And also, I got the offer to study Biotechnology at The University of Manchester. It was really...Unbelievable.

On a side note, both the Heads of Biotechnology at The University of Manchester and at The University of Nottingham want me to study at the respective Universities! It was unbelievable again. The Heads told me that my application, my personal statement and well, by the University of Manchester Head in the interview, my reference - are the best that they have ever seen for a Biotechnology student. (The University of Nottingham sent me a personal letter about it!). I am deeply honoured by both Universities for recognising my abilities, my personality and my application in the most respectful way possible. Respect for both Universities and hopefully, I would love to study at either University, whichever feels for me is the best yet :h:

As for my studying, I am currently almost finishing my Psychology 2nd booklet as promised for the blog, and will be doing all the other set tasks for next week, as I have been hampered by the interview and the preparation for it, so I promise I will get it done for next Friday and also, I will be teaching a study method in a separate 'Ghaz's Masterclass Study Methods' post on this blog, specific for each subject and what, I feel, would maximise and potentially improve the way you study, and the way you want to improve your grades! So please, look out for that and it will be due on Wednesday next week!

For all of you, this is how the blog will be run. The Masterclass Study Methods will be a daily Wednesday blog post, so any of you having any problems studying and wanting help, it will all be explained on the Wednesday blog post. The general blog post for The Epic and Outlandish Journey to Attain A*A*B will be on Friday's as usual. However, there may be some days where I will have to move the post beforehand or ahead of the days, depending on how busy I get in the run up to the Summer exams in 2016.

I hope you all enjoyed this small blog post of The Epic and Outlandish Journey to Attain A*A*B and if you have any questions or anything you want to talk about in person, send a reply here, or pass me a PM! I am happy to reply to you, whenever you want! :smile:

Signing off now, hope you have a great week you all, hope it becomes a productive one and please, don't give up and stay motivated! Love you guys!

Hugs and Love and Smiles :h:

Ghaz
Reply 3
Hello everyone!

This is now the 3rd instalment to the The Epic and Outlandish Journey to Attain A*A*B and as usual, it's me blogging this away, Ghaz! :h:

Before I start on my blog, I would like to apologise for the 2 day delay on the posting of this 3rd instalment. As far as why I have not been able to have posted on TSR was due to the fact, that I was working and also, pretty busy in and around the house with my family so, I didn't get around to posting this up, but now finally, I have made some time to make this 3rd instalment available to you all! :smile:

As for the targets I had set in the first week, here is my progress completion of the tasks I had laid out and the future tasks, to commence this week, starting 22/02/2016:

A Level Biology - A2 Unit 4 Populations and the Environment; completed Energy and Ecosystems, starting Nutrient Cycles, Succession and Inheritance (23/02/2016)/ A2 Unit 5 Control in Cells and in Organisms; Response to Stimuli, Coordination and Muscle Contraction (24/02/2016), Homeostasis and Feedback Mechanisms (25/02/2016), Genetic Control of Protein Structure and Function, Control of Gene Expression and DNA Technology (26-29/02/2016).

A Level Chemistry - AS Unit 1 Foundation Chemistry; fully completed/ AS Unit 2 Chemistry in Action; mid-progression,TBC (24/02/2016)/ A2 Unit 4 Kinetics, Equilibria and Organic Chemistry; TBC (26-27/02/2016)/ A2 Unit 5 Energetics, Redox and Inorganic Chemistry; TBC (28-29/02/2016).

A Level Psychology - A2 Unit 3; fully completed/ A2 Unit 4; completed 2 booklets, final booklet TBC (23/02/2016), Controversies TBC (29/02/2016).

As you can see, I have to try and get all my content completed by the end of February to ensure that the whole of March, will be pure revision and going over the entire Units systematically. Those who are doing the same boards (AQA Biology & Chemistry, WJEC Psychology) and would like to tick along with my revision in March, I will have a full revision timetable made, on 01/03/2016. It will be on the blog and you all, will be aware of how I would like to get my content revision done and dusted by 31/03/2016 so in April, full on Past Paper practice and then, the exams will begin on the 27/05/2016, which is my AS Unit 1 Foundation Chemistry resit exam.

So this will mean, 7AM starts from tomorrow, and definitely try and finish all my content with speed and hopefully, I will reach there soon and get to where I want to be. I feel like an idiot for not putting in more work and more emphasis on my tasks but, hopefully by the end of February, my content should all be written and dusted up.

I will also be putting up a Masterclass Study Method post tomorrow or on Wednesday and hopefully this time, don't delay it and I will show you all, with snippets of my work through photographs, with the work I do to ensure, my revision is effective and fully straight to the point, concise and direct! :smile:

A very short blog indeed, but as I am cut for time, I need to keep it to these lengths to make it short and sweet for you all to read! Please, if any of you have any suggestions, please leave a comment after this post, and I will duly reply to you back through PM! :smile:

Lots of hugs, good luck and love to you all - may everyone get the grades they truly deserve <3 :biggrin:

Ghaz

Quick Reply

Latest

Trending

Trending