Things to aim for to put on CV

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These answers are mostly bull****.

No one gives a **** about D of E or you being a prefect. If you learn some leadership/teamwork skills that you can demonstrate/explain, then fair enough but it's nothing to shout about really, pretty standard on most CVs.

If you want to stand out, do what you're good at/have been doing for a while and become a specialist at it. Eg make a business about a hobby you've been doing and are experienced in, take part in social enterprise, do some volunteering that requires your input. Set up a club/society at school.

Reply 21

SlowlorisIncognito

Original post by HT12345

I currently read New Scientist, do you know of any other things to read which may be more advanced? And I just did additional maths which takes bits from AS level maths and I found that too easy, hoping for a minimum of 95% (maybe 100% is too ambitious as I'm bound to have made at least one stupid mistake!) so whilst further maths will be a large step up, I enjoy maths enough to hopefully put in the effort required.

My experience with A-level maths is not the best one, but I got an A* at GCSE with nearly 100% and ended up with a D overall at A-level. It was partly due to teaching issues, and I hope you do find it super easy, but while practice is important, you can't practice concepts you haven't been taught!

New Scientist is fine at this stage and maybe just try a popular physics book- most of these will have references in the back which should give you some ideas for further reading if you enjoy it. I was also given reading lists when I started my A-levels, so maybe this will give you some ideas too?

Reply 22

username1441766

Original post by AJJJJ

I think I'll do stuff like D of E as well as doing hobbies and academic stuff in my own time, it can't hurt as long as I don't let it get in the way of A levels. I guess the more the better in terms of stuff like this; even if I don't put it in my PS it's still good as I may be able to talk about other things left out if it doesn't go in my PS as well as it being good anyway.

I like your idea of creating a small business based on hobbies, however with maths/physics in mind, it's more difficult to create a business based towards what I want to study. Maybe I could see if I can create a website for money after making one for a charity?

Reply 23

username1441766

Original post by SlowlorisIncognito

I'll make sure I focus early on and not let things get in the way or procrastinate. I do try to read physics books when I can and I could watch lectures online too, but I don't know how I can really back this up in my PS like I can with other things, so is this more to do with interviews instead?

Reply 24

SlowlorisIncognito

Original post by HT12345

By back this up, do you mean show evidence? A lot of your PS is just you talking about your interests, so it's not supposed to be evidenced. With regards books/articles, you need to discuss them and how they furthered your interest in the subject.

For (a non physics) example- A recent article in magazine X discussed the impact of poaching on elephant herds in Africa. The poaching of older matriarchs was found to have significant impacts on the suvivorship of members of the herd, as they had to rely on less experienced individuals to lead them to water and food. This interested me because it shows a direct link between animal behaviour and conservation and I hope to explore this further at university.

Does that give you some idea of the type of thing you need to be writing? You could discuss online lectures in the same way, too.

Reply 25

username1441766

Original post by SlowlorisIncognito

So the articles and further reading is more for a kind of anecdote as to how you developed an interest in a certain area?

Reply 26

SlowlorisIncognito

Original post by HT12345

So the articles and further reading is more for a kind of anecdote as to how you developed an interest in a certain area?

Yeah, I guess that's a way of looking at it. It's a way of showing interest in your course outside the A-level curriculum.

Reply 27

iloveteddy14

But it's worth putting them down on UCAS form in 2nd year as it will make your application standout a little.

Nightworld1066

Reply 28

username1441766

One thing I am unsure about is UCAS points. I went to a meeting about youth enterprise and we were told that participating in the programme gives you UCAS points. What are these points and do they actually matter for university application?

Reply 29

iloveteddy14

It depends why don't u check the UCAS website for further information or ask teacher

Nightworld1066

Reply 30

username1441766

Original post by iloveteddy14

It depends why don't u check the UCAS website for further information or ask teacher

Nightworld1066

Yeah, I've looked into it a bit, but some things which earn points seem kind of pointless based on which university course you are going for, for example 35 points for a qualification in horse knowledge and care would have nothing to do with a natural sciences course. Therefore, I can't imagine that universities would pay that much attention to the points as it could have no relevance whatsoever? So would they be looking more at what you got those points for, with the number of points showing how difficult it is, and also would top UK universities, eg. Oxford and Cambridge look at UCAS points when considering applications?