For people with more than 8 A*s

A-Levels are a walk in the park compared to a degree. What's your point?

For a student in year 10/11 GCSEs will seem difficult. As a 15 year old, I found GCSEs harder than I found A-Levels when I was 18.

This.

GCSEs are a walk in the park compared to A-levels.

Good for you. This person is only doing GCSEs, not a degree, and thinks that 8A*s at GCSE level make you a genius - they don't.

Neither do A-levels, but I was making a point that GCSEs aren't even that hard in comparison. Get off your high horse

An outgoing person is outgoing, regardless of grades.
An introverted and shy person will too be introverted and shy, even if they devote no time to work.
/Ridiculous thread.

At GCSE its easy. People will say later on in life the phrase "Work hard play hard" alot. And it does work for some people, but there reaches a point where you can go no further. You could "work hard and play hard" during a really tough University degree but you wouldn't excel, you could get through fine, but 'play hard' caps you somewhere. Clearly you don't have to have no life at all but you can't get amazing marks in a difficult degree subject and be out several times a week not really. Its about striking the balance

I only got a lowly 6A*,2A,1B, AAA at a-level and was a natsci at cambridge but if I may....

I agree. At GCSE/A-Level its is about consistently doing work throughout the year making sure everything is understood perfectly - other than that you have plenty of time to socialise/spot, its good for you and your work infact! - and then some serious revision/all past papers at the end of the year (if your confidence is low i'd recommend 8 weeks before the start of exams spending at least half the time you are awake working on them) to polish it. At Uni I have to say if you want a top 1st at cam, I can speak for a science subject (maths/natsci) - the "party hard" needs to be left to the holiday after the exams! It really does boil down to living and breathing the subject - it is your party hard haha!

Can a person be a genius and yet be social?
Yes

Can a person be smart and yet have an all rounded life?
Yes. I do 3 A levels in sixth form, plus a maths option as an extra, and drama A level out of school and am predicted As / A*s. I also have a job where I work around 10-12 hours per week which I really enjoy. The people I do drama with are amazing and we are all really close. I also volunteer at an inner city school one afternoon a week. I am always really busy but that includes filling time up with going out with friends and family, going for meals, nights out, shopping, cinema etc and just normal teenage stuff. True I don't have a lot of chilling out time watching TV or whatever but I do have a well rounded life and am able to enjoy everything that I do.

I think the most important thing is to enjoy what you do. If you're really busy doing subjects you hate, a job you don't like going to and other stuff you're only doing for your personal statement / CV and not because you want to, then you will find it hard. I think I'm quite lucky in that I have managed to get a lot of stuff to do, and yes it is good on my CV and personal statement, but at the same time I can honestly say I enjoy doing it all (most of the time).


1. How much hours of revision do you do daily (honestly)?
At the moment I am just doing homework/coursework/essays and so on and probably spend between 1 and 2.5 hours working each day (including free periods at school). Weekends I will do about 5 or 6 over the two days depending on what else I'm up to.
During Easter I intend on doing about 4 hours a day to try and get notes done for my exams.
Study leave I will do a minimum of 4 hours a day but generally as much as necessary for me to feel like I know everything.

2. How do you make up time for Socializing?
If you mean how do I fit it in then I have either 1 or 2 free afternoons a week from school in which I'll often go for a coffee or go shopping or something with friends in one of them. Then at the weekend I'll either go out Saturday night if I'm not working or to a party etc. or do something on Sunday afternoon. It depends on who you are really. It's hard to really say when I socialise...as in I don't say 'right I socialise on Tuesdays and Sundays and no other day'... I just go with the flow really, depending on how much work I have to do and what other stuff I have going on.


3. Do you sleep during the day?
If I'm tired I will have a quick 1/2 hour - 1 hour nap when I get in so I feel more energised, but that happens probably max. once a week.

Aw man, I wanted to answer this question, but I only have 7 A*s!

I'm going to answer anyway, yes they can. Some people are naturally intelligent, I would consider myself to be naturally intelligent, I'm not vain, but from a young age I've always been top of my class. Personally, I find exams easy, I found GCSEs a doddle. I did not revise any more than my friends, I did quite a bit before the exams like everyone else, and I got 7 A*s and 4 A's. On the day of my maths exam, I spent the whole morning playing football in the park, went into school in the afternoon for the exam and got about 98%. I know some people who locked themselves in their rooms and revised for hours on end every day for months, came away with C's and were devastated. Academic achievements such as GCSEs are not primarily about how much work you put in, some people are just naturally good at grasping ideas and answering exam questions.

I would consider myself to have a normal social life. I'm happy, I have a group of friends who I like, I don't shut myself in my room, and I still manage to do pretty well at school. I have a lot more work to do now I'm doing A-levels compared to GCSEs but I still manage to fit it in. Right now I'm on TSR, Facebook, listening to music... after dinner I'm going to do some maths homework, and then I'm going cinema with my friends. I'm going to a house part next Saturday, I have a lot of physics coursework to do, but as long as I manage my time over the week I'll get it done.

The point I'm trying to make is that people are different. Some people are naturally talented, some people have to work really hard. And then there are those people who enjoy studying, study more than they really need to, and put it ahead of their social life. These are the people you'd probably consider nerds.

Depending on how much work I have, I do 0 - 3 hours a day. Some days it's none, most days it's about an hour, days before exams or coursework deadlines, more. I don't do extraordinary amounts of work, and provided it's not the day before the exam I'll put my social life first. I'm in my opinion what one would consider normal.

Can I ask why is it that 8 A* apprently makes you a genius? Depending on where you go to school 8 A's might makes you a genius.

Geniunses tend to be a genius in one thing like maths and maybe don't do as well at other subjects, so with that in mind maybe someone with 1 or 2 A*'s and the rest B's and C's is the real genius.

I got 9A*, 3As at GCSE.

I revised for two of them (Latin and Geography) and spent the rest of my study leave watching Grey's Anatomy start to finish.

It was awesome

"i want to play a game"
seriously having a*s at gcse is not gonna get you anywhere with jigsaw.
You'd lose the game.