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The Road to Success (hopefully!)

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UPDATE NUMBER 2 - Thursday 7th April (just)

So, things didn't go to plan. Again.
Decorate photography book? Done.
Artist study? Done.
Science revision? Done.
Brain on a Page? Only started.

So I managed to do quite a few topics in chemistry done today which I was quite happy with, and obviously I got my artist study done. The reason I didn't finish my brain on a page is because I went into my garden at around 9:30 to take photos of the ISS. Once I'd done that I got too distracted with editing them and lost all my motivation, which is a shame BUT I did take some good photos and achieved something I was proud of, despite it not being school related.

Tomorrow (today?) is a new day, though, and I'm determined to get that BOP finished.
xxx
UPDATE - Thursday 7th April

Tonight, I'm going in with a better mindset because if I panic I won't get anything done,
All I want to do is get half of my brain on a page completed, but I'm going to aim to do the whole thing. I've just got back from taekwondo and I've treated myself to one of my easter eggs to ease the pain of doing more work tonight.
I did absolutely no work this afternoon because I woke up at 2pm. Haha.

update later :smile:
UPDATE - Friday 8th April (6 days until my first exam!)

So...I never got that brain on a page done. I'm awful...I started a J Drama on Netflix which I got so emotionally attached to, I ended up staying awake until 3am. Which means I didn't wake up today until 3pm. But tomorrow I'm definitely getting my sleeping pattern back on track because I have to be up at 9am for taekwondo.

Today, I am DETERMINED to get that Brain On a Page done. I also want to print out the photographs for my artist study double page. And that's it, that's literally all I'm asking myself to do. I'm at my nan's today so I want to spend more time with her.

Let's see how this goes, then...6 more days...
UPDATE - Saturday 9th April

Well hello again!
Today I am running off of four hours of sleep and hella amounts of caffeine so I'm not sure what I'm going to get done, haha.
Yesterday I finally finished that brain on a page and printed out the photographs I needed to print, so all in all I did okay.
Today I have skipped taekwondo, again (6th week running I think!!!) because of the amount of work I have to do and also because I'm currently not functioning very well. I suppose I feel quite bad about missing training again but school comes first and I need to remember that despite what people say.

Today I want to:
1) Complete all of the writing part of my "Famous Portrait Photographers" page in my exam book.
2) Begin research on Portrait Photography Tips.
3) Get one page of chemistry revision completed.

Since I'm probably going to pass out quite early this evening I haven't made the list too long. Slow and steady wins the race. I should really do some History revision soon because I have a mock exam in a few weeks but I'm prioritising my Photography which is acceptable I suppose since my real exam is in 5 days (OMG.)

I'll update later if I remember:smile:
UPDATE NUMBER 2 - Saturday 9th April

Today has been productive! Honestly!!

I got the Famous Portrait Photographers work done, I just have to print off the images but I'll need to wait and go to my nan's to do that.
Not only did I get one page of chemistry revision done, I got TWO! Yes, I know, doing more than what is needed! Definitely not like me!!! I revised Polymer Chains, Metallic Properties, Modern Materials (nanoparticles, fullerenes etc), Chromatography and Instrumental Methods (gas chromatography + mass spectrometry). Overall I'm really happy with what I got done and I've shown myself I CAN do it. I didn't get the Portrait research started but that's okay because I think chemistry was a priority at that point.

I also made myself some yummy peppermint tea and some iced ginger tea. I really recommend it as an alternative to caffeine that tastes nice!

I know it's only 17:48 (at the time of writing this sentence) but I think I'm going to call it a day. I am absolutely shattered and also, my brother goes back to university tomorrow so I better spend some time with him. Who knows, I may do a bit of casual research later but for now I'm definitely signing off for the day and hopefully getting a good nights sleep.

Until tomorrow!
*if you're reading this and you're procrastinating from doing your own work then I'm your signal boost that you NEED to get it done!! There's not long until summer where you can do whatever you want all day long! Do it, you'll feel better:smile:*

Grace
UPDATE - Monday 11th April (3 days until my first exam!!)

Eeek. Back to school tomorrow, it's really starting to sink in and I'm beginning to get nervous. Yesterday I took some self portrait images for my photography exam and wrote up my Portrait Photography Tips. Today I am at my nan's and have access to a printer, so I want to...

1) Take photographs of my friend for my final piece and my portrait tips.
2) Print out self portrait contacts.
3) Print out portrait tip images and stick them in.
4) Print out portrait photographer photos and stick them in.
5) Print out final images for my Matthieu Bourel image and manually practice to editing.

Update to come later if I don't go to bed - I'm so tired!
UPDATE NUMBER 2 - Tuesday 12th April (2 DAYS UNTIL MY FIRST EXAM!)

Hello! Extremely late update, but I'm updating from the handy little TSR app I didn't even know existed, so there you go.

After a solid 4 hours of work, I actually got everything on that list done and dusted! I was so impressed and happy with myself but unfortunately it's not over yet...

It's currently 12:30am and I have my first day back at school tomorrow. I'm actually quite tired, I only 5 hours sleep last night. But I can't sleep! Too many things are floating around in my brain that's school related and honestly I don't want to go back and face reality.

Since I am back at school again, these updates are going to become awfully slow, vague, and I possibly won't post for weeks at a time. I'm going to try and keep things up for my own sake but we'll have to see.

Tomorrow, I am going to spend my lunch time in the photography room and stay after school until around 6pm. I can imagine it's going to be quite busy in a last minute panic but it's a good job I have headphones!

Until next time (hopefully it won't be too long)

Grace :smile:


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This is a fantastic thread - I really hope you get the grades you are working so hard for - good luck :smile:
Original post by brainzistheword
This is a fantastic thread - I really hope you get the grades you are working so hard for - good luck :smile:


Thank you so much, I really appreciate it and I can't believe you took the time to read it! I hope you get what you're hoping for too:smile:
UPDATE - Tuesday 12th April

Well my first day back at school was crazy! I did three exams (Business Unit 3, German Listening and Science end of unit) and I stayed after school in photography until 5:30. The German exam was absolutely diabolical and I'll probably get the result for that next week so look forward to a fail. The other exams were okay but honestly I was so tired I'm not sure how I did. In photography after school I got my What Why What How analysis completed and a similarities and differences piece. I haven't got much left to do for that and the exam is on Thursday so I'm not as stressed as I thought I'd be.

We also got some grades back today...
In my final German writing assessment I got 26/30(?) which is an A*! I cannot believe I managed to get that on a writing assessment but I am over the moon because I put a lot of effort into it. My coursework levels out at a high A now I think, which gives me leeway on my listening paper. I could probably get a D on that and a B on my reading and still level out at a B, I just have to work at it (Thank goodness the course is 60% coursework).

I also got my English Language grade back, and that was okay. On the reading paper I got 34/40 which was an A*, and on the writing paper I got 26/40 which was a B. I read one of the questions wrong on the writing paper but overall that's definitely something that need to work on before the real exam. I suppose it'd level out at an A overall if I included my coursework so I'm pretty chill with that.

English Literature...not so good. But if you are reading this and you've seen what I wrote when I spoke about my exams just after I'd done them, you know I didn't have much hope anyway. I got a C. I can't remember the score, but it was quite a low C. My teacher put it down on my desk and said "I don't think you'll be happy with this" but honestly, it's only fair. I didn't put in the work, so obviously that's what I'm going to get back. I'm not upset and I suppose I'm not even that bothered (completely the wrong attitude, don't follow in my footsteps). With my coursework at an A* it could probably level out at a B, which isn't bad!

So, what did I learn today? Well I've learnt that I need to put in the work to get back the grades that I want, even if I don't like the subject. I only have two months left so I may as well just suck it up and have grades that I'm proud of rather than grades that make me say "I didn't try" or "I could have done better".

I hope you all had a good day at school! Haha.
(edited 8 years ago)
UPDATE - Wednesday 13th April (1 day until my first exam...)

Okay. Drastic changes for my life at the moment. I deleted allllllll of my social media. The only thing I have left to communicate with people is the telephone and the student room. The only reason I'm keeping this is because it seems to help rather than hinder my life.

So, today was my last day at school before I sit my first real GCSE exam. I can't believe it, I'm at the home stretch. It truly is crazy how quickly three years of Upper School has flown by. Anyway.
In school I took some photographs so I could create a practice final piece, if that makes sense. I printed out the contacts and I made a step by step showing this. I also started annotating my self portrait contacts and somebody did a peer assessment of my book for me which supposedly gets us extra marks.

I have a very busy night ahead of me.
I need to write about what I'm doing in my final piece, a what why what how type analysis, and I need to annotate all of my contacts (there are about 13 sheets so that should be fun). Once I've done that, I think I am truly set for the long 10 hours of examination I have ahead of me. I have plenty of snacks for the day so I think I'll be prepared:h:.

I'm going to leave this post here, because I have a hell of a lot of work to do. I don't think I'll be able to update later, so next time you hear from me I'll most likely be half way through my exam.

Wish me luck...
Grace :smile:
Original post by graciousgannon
UPDATE - Wednesday 13th April (1 day until my first exam...)

Okay. Drastic changes for my life at the moment. I deleted allllllll of my social media. The only thing I have left to communicate with people is the telephone and the student room. The only reason I'm keeping this is because it seems to help rather than hinder my life.

So, today was my last day at school before I sit my first real GCSE exam. I can't believe it, I'm at the home stretch. It truly is crazy how quickly three years of Upper School has flown by. Anyway.
In school I took some photographs so I could create a practice final piece, if that makes sense. I printed out the contacts and I made a step by step showing this. I also started annotating my self portrait contacts and somebody did a peer assessment of my book for me which supposedly gets us extra marks.

I have a very busy night ahead of me.
I need to write about what I'm doing in my final piece, a what why what how type analysis, and I need to annotate all of my contacts (there are about 13 sheets so that should be fun). Once I've done that, I think I am truly set for the long 10 hours of examination I have ahead of me. I have plenty of snacks for the day so I think I'll be prepared:h:.

I'm going to leave this post here, because I have a hell of a lot of work to do. I don't think I'll be able to update later, so next time you hear from me I'll most likely be half way through my exam.

Wish me luck...
Grace :smile:


Well done on your work so far and good luck with your exams! :smile:


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Original post by lilacpotato
Well done on your work so far and good luck with your exams! :smile:


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Thank you so much! I really hope yours go well too☺️ what are you studying?


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UPDATE - Thursday 14th April (FIRST EXAM HAS STARTED!!)

Ahh!!! I can't believe I am officially half way through my first real GCSE exam. 5 hours in and...it's going okay. I must admit it's really boring to be editing on a computer for 10 hours but after putting so much effort into my book I need to stick it out. I'm taking it really slowly because otherwise I'll finish too early, but out of the 5 images I'm editing I've done 2 and a half which is perfectly timed I suppose!

It started absolutely chucking it down two minutes before the end of the day so I got soaked on the way home. Maybe it's a sign? Haha!

Today I'm not going to do any revision because my mind is purely on photography. I can't do anymore work for that now though so I'm going to go to Taekwondo and then go straight to bed. After this exam I have around 4 weeks until the start of the proper exam season which is going to be hell but nothing lasts forever so I need to work super hard to make myself and my family proud.

Also, my form tutor gave me a sheet today that I have to fill in and it's all about my life, my future and my time at school. It's terrifying when there are questions like "What do you regret most about your time at school?" And "What is your plan for the future?" But I guess the reality is I need to be serious about my future because it's just around the corner.

Anyway, I'm going to go now but I'll be sure to update tomorrow when the exam is finally over!

Laters x


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Original post by graciousgannon
Thank you so much! I really hope yours go well too☺️ what are you studying?

Thanks ☺️
Maths, English Language, Physics, Chemistry, Geography, French, German, R.E and Astronomy (don't ask why lol 😅)
I did Biology and English Lit last year 😊





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[QUOTE="lilacpotato;64156447"]
Original post by graciousgannon
Thank you so much! I really hope yours go well too☺️ what are you studying?

Thanks ☺️
Maths, English Language, Physics, Chemistry, Geography, French, German, R.E and Astronomy (don't ask why lol 😅)
I did Biology and English Lit last year 😊





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:O two languages! That's amazing! And I would have loved to have done Astronomy it sounds really cool☺️ How are you finding German? I find the listening papers really hard and no amount of revision seems to be helping😪
[QUOTE="graciousgannon;64156601"]
Original post by lilacpotato


:O two languages! That's amazing! And I would have loved to have done Astronomy it sounds really cool☺️ How are you finding German? I find the listening papers really hard and no amount of revision seems to be helping😪


Yeah Astronomy's fun to learn but there's so much to remember!! 😲
French and German are my favourite subjects so I'm really enjoying them actually! The listening papers are hard, I would say learn as much vocab as you can! 😁 Have you tried Duolingo/Quizlet? What grade are you hoping for? X


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How come your gcse exams are so soon? We still have another 4 weeks of school! Or was it art??? Welcome for your A* in your coursework!!! Good luck with your exams though! :smile:

Spoiler

[QUOTE="lilacpotato;64157087"]
Original post by graciousgannon


Yeah Astronomy's fun to learn but there's so much to remember!! 😲
French and German are my favourite subjects so I'm really enjoying them actually! The listening papers are hard, I would say learn as much vocab as you can! 😁 Have you tried Duolingo/Quizlet? What grade are you hoping for? X


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It sounds awesome haha, is it just one exam or is there more than one? Wow that's cool! I do like German but it is really tough...yeah I think that's what I'm going to have to do and just hope for the best! I'd love an A but the way my exam papers are going I would be happy with a B😂 I've tried quizlet before but never duolingo, is it good?


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Original post by Ara8311a
How come your gcse exams are so soon? We still have another 4 weeks of school! Or was it art??? Welcome for your A* in your coursework!!! Good luck with your exams though! :smile:

Spoiler



It's a Photography exam! I also have 4 weeks of school, study leave starts on 20th May and I suppose you could say my first 'official' exam is on the 17th May(I think).

Thank you so much! :smile: I noticed you haven't been on for a while actually, I was looking forward to reading your revision updates but there weren't any!:wink: I'll say it's because you're way too engrossed in school work...am I right?

What/When is your first exam by the way?


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