The Student Room Group

What's a day in the life of a As level student?

Preferably in an College in a city center!

Scroll to see replies

Reply 1
Let's take it as if it were tomorrow :smile:
7:30am - Wake up, get ready!
8:30am - Leave and walk to sixth form, it takes me around ten minutes
8:50am - Assembly with the lower years, or form time in which I eat breakfast as I don't normally have time to eat it at home
9:10am - First lesson, which on a Friday we normally spend debating politics and talking about the past week.
10:15am - Second lesson, intense theory
11:20am - Break! This is the only timetabled break I will have today, and I normally spend it with my friendship group eating. I was close with them in year 11 but due to our timetables I only see them for 15 mins each day
11:40am - Free period for me on a Friday. I've made a good group of friends in this free who I didn't know last year. Normally we play table games or gossip, we rarely do work apart from if it is exam time
12:35pm - Lunch for most people but I don't have a lunch anymore. I'm going to a meeting and then doing extra-curricular work
1:40pm - The start of fourth lesson, normally by this point I am quite tired
2:40pm - Final lesson of the day which is normally more relaxed as everyone has had enough of the day by now
4:00 ish - Most days I stay after sixth form until around half 5 doing extra curriculars but of course this is optional. I'll get home and spend an hour relaxing due to missing my lunchtime
5:00pm - Tomorrow I'm actually helping at school all evening but this is when I would start work for around 2 hours, if exams aren't coming up.
8:00pm - Stop work and leisure time
12:00am - Sleep

My week is always jam packed but that's because I take a lot on which is all optional. Our sixth form have given us a guideline of 2 hours a night on a school night of work and then around 10 hours at the weekend. It sounds like a lot but you get used to it!
Reply 2
Thank you!! Sounds so crammed!! As I'm only doing the 4 A levels do you think I'll have more free time? Also where do you work as I need to find a part time job for during college (If you don't mind me asking haha)! AND how do you go around and find a part time job? Do you just hand in your CV to different places?
I remember year 12. You have more lessons but spend less time working. So if you do 5ASs in a 7.5 hour day you'll have roughly 4.5 hours of lessons and 3 hours break/studying. So you'll do up to a 7.5 hour day and then go home and maybe only do an hour or two of work at home.
At A2 it is very different. If you do 4A2s you'll have roughly 3.5 hours of lessons and 4 hours studying each day. For the last half of the year you'll probably do 7.5 hours each day and then go home and do another 5 hours at home(working on commute too).
Wake up at 6:30am to get the bus into the city where my sixth form is,
Lessons until around 3:20 with 2 15 minute breaks and a 1 hour lunch,
Get hone just around 4pm,
wait until dinner at 5pm,
Procrastinate until 7pm,
homework until 8:30/9pm,
Phone until 10pm-1am
sleep

Basically the same as GCSEs but I'm usually a lot more tired with a lot more homework
(edited 9 years ago)
I'll tell you my busiest day, which is a Thursday.

6.00am: Alarm goes off. Lay in bed until about 7am and then a mad rush ensues to get ready.

7.45am: Leave to get the tube to my college.

~8.40am: Arrive at college. Generally get a coffee or something or touch up loose ends on any essays/attempt to write a 30 mark essay in 10 minutes :lol:

9am-12.15pm: History of Art lesson (with a 15 min break halfway). Often go on field trips which is fun!

12.15pm-1.15pm: Lunch - a bit of revision with friends, go to Pret, etc./a sneaky nap in the library...

1.15pm-2.45pm: Maths lesson. Attempt to understand topic. Cry. Promise to myself to revise topic when I get home.

2.45pm-3pm: A break!

3pm-4.30pm: English Lit lesson. Teacher spends first half running in and out with photocopies. I spend the first half talking to peers about ridiculously abstract theories. Peers ignore me and my waffling.

4.30pm-4.45pm: Lesson ends, I'll either run around trying to find the teacher to hand in the essay that was due in a week ago(!) or wait around for friends.

4.45pm-5.45pm: Commute home. Mostly spent underneath the armpit of a sweaty business man who thinks my head serves as an adequate arm rest.

6pm: Cup of tea. Procrastinate until about 9pm until I realize that I really ought to do some revision.

9pm: "One more episode won't hurt..."

1am-2am: Bath and bed.

AND REPEAT.

My timetable is actually really lovely. Thursday is just my busiest (and surprisingly my least productive :lol:) day lesson-wise. I usually only have two lessons and I get Wednesdays off. Hope this gave you somewhat of an insight.
Reply 6
I'll tell you my day tomorrow too (busiest day of the week):
6:40 - get up, morning run, breakfast, etc.
8:00 - leave and go to school (about 30 minute journey)
9:00 - assembly
9:20 - double maths
10:45 - break
11:10 - double physics
12:40 - lunch at school
13:15 - volunteering
2:40 - double econ
4:10 - school day ends
4:30 - sport
6:30 - dinner
7:30 - get home
8:00-12:00 mixture of hopefully about 1hr 30 mins work and the rest leisure time

by the way this isn't really representative of my usual day - i usually have a free or two and I only really have after school sporting commitments on thur and fri + I usually have a non-committal lunch break.
(edited 9 years ago)
A **** one, a very **** one
Stressful as ****
No time for anything other than work
and when you're not working you feel guilty for not doing it
:smile:)) It's great
-.-
Reply 9
Original post by hannahmrsx
Preferably in an College in a city center!


Going with what I did on Wednesday (Thursdays are relatively lazy).

6:30 - wake up. Have a shower.
7:00 - breakfast (generally a small bowl of cereal), get dressed. Check email, organise bag.
8:00 - Walk to school. Generally listen to music.
8:30 - arrive at school. Go into side room and look over notes
8:45 - form time. Mainly banter.
9:00 - Chemistry - really fun. Doing mass spec and stuff at the moment.
10:30 - break time. If hungry (or getting bus at lunch) have 'brunch'. Do some exam questions/chemistry homework.
11:00 - Physics - very fun too. Generally do theory then practical then problem sheets.
12:30 - Do physics problem sheets. Generally only takes 10 minutes.
12:45 - Get bus to the other campus.
13:00 - Chat to friends, play some card games.
13:30 - Further maths lesson. We are currently on C4 and D1. Rather dry, but surprisingly livable
14:30 - go to common room and finish further maths work. Talk to friends.
15:05 - get bus back to original school. Walk home as soon as I am there.
15:30 - arrive home, clean up anything from school. Write notes up into my little pocket books. Generslly no homework - did it after the lessons - but if we do then I do it here.
16:30 - Go on the computer and play games/do work.
18:00 - Go to a citizenship thing I do.
20:00 - Get back, and read (currently reading p53).
21:00 - Watch TV/YouTube.
22:00 - Go to bed, read book.

Just FYI, I do the three sciences (biology is Monday, Tuesday and Friday) and further maths. Wednesday is probably my most action packed day. Generally as long as you keep up with all your homework and understand the stuff in lesson you actually get quite a bit of free time - it is just managing it that is the issue (generally I have quite a bit of free time on the weekends).
(edited 9 years ago)
Reply 10
Damn, reading this makes me think I should work harder. I get up at about 5 AM, yes I get up this early, even on weekends. I don't know why I just like to. Today is a Friday, my easiest day. I leave for school at 10:45 to get there at 11:15 for my first lesson. (Physics). Stay there until 12:30, then I go home. I forgot to mention that physics is my first and last lesson on Friday's. I love Friday's.
The guilt, oh the guilt.
Original post by hannahmrsx
Preferably in an College in a city center!


Hi!

5am - 6am - Breakfast and shower;
6am - 7am - Spanish (extra-curricular);
7am - 8am - Organise my work;
8am - 8.30am - Walk to college;
8.40am to 9am - Form;
9am - 11am - Further Maths;
11am - 11.20am - Break;
11.20am - 12.20pm - Maths;
12.20pm - 1pm - Lunch (normally revise or go to Spar)
1pm - 2pm* - Teaching maths to year 9s
2pm - 3pm* - Economics (independently studying economics)
*I have a double free between 1pm to 3pm but it's not uncommon for them to be used up
3pm - 4pm - Further Maths
4pm - 5pm - Revise at sixth form
5pm to 5.30pm - Walk home
5.30pm to 6.30pm - Have a drink and rest
6.30pm to 7pm - Lunch
7pm - 8pm - Revision
8pm - 10pm - Gym
10pm - 10.30pm Shower and supper
10.30pm - 11pm - TV and sleep

I purposefully chose my most hectic day (Tuesday) to give you an idea of how chaotic it can get. On days like Friday, I only ever have 3 hours lessons. I also do 5 A levels.
Boarding student here;

Weekday

7:15-8:30 Wake up, get changed, eat breakfast, finish off any work from last night and generally be relaxed
8:30-4:00 the easy stuff; i.e. AS levels school
4:00-4:45 Break
4:00-8:00 Training for STEP papers and homework; with a 30 minute dinner break in between
8:00-9:00 Gym and shower
9:00-11:00 More STEP training
11:00 Sleep

*STEP is the Cambridge entrance exam for maths

Weekends

8:45-9:30 Wake up and eat Breakfast.
9:30-12:30 STEP training
12:30-1:00 Lunch Break
1:00-2:30 STEP training
2:30-3:30 Gym break
3:30-5:30 STEP training
5:30-6:00
6:00-8:00 STEP training
8:00-8:30 Skype with parents
8:30-10:30 Homework; if there is none; STEP training.
10:30 Sleep
(edited 9 years ago)
My worst day is Monday
let me tell you about it
6:00 alarm goes off I snooze it for 15 minutes
6:15 get out of bed and have a shower/get dressed
6:50 pack my bag with my books
6:55 leave house without eating food or eating two custard creams:tongue:
7:02 get bus to college ( it takes one and a half hours by bus)
8:30 first lesson chemistry 1 hour
9:30 second lesson biology
10:30 till 11:45 break where I hang out with my mates. Usually talk about weekend football
11:45 maths lesson
12:45 till 2:30 long break revising/eating and talking to friends
2:30 till 4:30 double physics. I am usually tired at the start of the lesson lol
4:30 go home on the Tube
5:30 get home and sleep till 6:30
6:30 eat dinner
7:00 start doing hw set/ revising till 10
10 till whatever time I go to sleep watch TV/listen to music...
Not looking forward to Monday now lol

Posted from TSR Mobile
6:30: Wake up. Set social media up to tweet automatically for the day.
7:00: get ready / do make up
8:40: walk to school
9:05: go to first lesson
10:05: wait for teacher to turn up, they usually don't bother so I go and sit in the diner and chat
11.05: break (aka chicken burger time!)
11:20: Go to third lesson and pray for a teacher to actually turn up
12:20 Lunch. Go to One Stop and buy Cola, then rush back to college to drink said Cola.
1:15: Go to 4th lesson or sit in diner and chat
2:15: Repeat what you did in 4th lesson
3:15: HOMETIME YAY
3:15-5pm: PROCRASTINATION YAY
5pm-9:30: Write essays till you wanna fall asleep
9:30-12.00am: Catch up on wild group chat banter and watch movies / my Twitter timeline. Catch up on blogger chats and schedule blog posts for upcoming weeks
Reply 16
my typical mondays:

8.20am-wake up!! and frantically get ready for school, takes me 10mins to walk there.

8.45-9.10 form time- we do a quiz sometimes/relax/attend biology revision

9.10-10.10-free period, complete any homework that needs handing in that day or procrastinate on laptop or talk to friends:smile:

10.10-11.10-biology lesson. Basically copying notes off the board

11.10-11.30-break:smile:

11.30-12.30- chemistry lesson.

12.30-1.30- english

1.30-2.10- lunch:smile:its short but still enough time for the usual greggs run

2.10-3.10- english. very tired at this point or hyper, depends on the day

3.10 is home time:biggrin:

i actually dont know what I do after school, time flies! i check the clock and its already 11pm. sometimes revise, watch TV just do whatever really.
:wavey:

Quite a few of you mentioning procrastination :wink:

Here's our new article on busting it for good :rave:

http://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/showthread.php?t=3163135&highlight=procrastination
Original post by Heffalump .
Stressful as ****
No time for anything other than work
and when you're not working you feel guilty for not doing it
:smile:)) It's great
-.-

Couldn't agree with you more XD
I'm in Lower Sixth doing 4 AS levels in biology, chemistry, French and maths. This was my day today, although of course this varies:

0700: Wake up, get ready for the day etc.
0815: I leave the house- it's around a 30 minute walk to my sixth form which, like you requested, is in a city centre.
0845: I arrive at school, sign in and go to form assembly which is held in the library. We get the announcements and any other admin is done here too. On a Friday morning we have main assembly with the year above, and House meetings with the younger years are held on a Thursday.
0915: First period begins. Each period is 35 mins, and this morning I had triple French which is always knackering :biggrin:
1100: Break time, in which I normally go to the common room unless I have a meeting to attend.
1115: Fourth period begins. Today I had double maths.
1225pm: Sixth period begins, a single of chemistry today.
1300: Lunch time! Luckily my lunch time is the same time every day. We have a separate servery to the junior school, with our year going first and Year 13 from 1335. Today I only had 15 minutes to eat because I was on prefect duty- I also do this on Wednesday lunchtimes.
1335: My only free period of the day, and one of only three I have timetabled in during my week. In my sixth form we are required to be in study for all our free's bar one timetabled social period. Registration is taken and we have silent study- they're a bit strict about it but not all schools are the same.
1415: Final two periods of the day, and I have double biology. By now we're all a bit knackered and we tend to do theory (or a test) for 45 minutes and spend the rest of the time pretending to work but really chatting with our teacher :wink: On Tuesdays and Wednesdays we have enrichment classes during these two periods. I do Health and Japanese.
1525: Home time! I have extra-curricular activities on a Monday, and often have extra French classes on a Tuesday so I'm in school until 4:30/5:00 these days.
1600: I get home, collapse for 20 minutes or so and then the madness begins. I'm a young carer so I do a lot of work around the house helping my mum out with my siblings. We make dinner and tidy for a bit until my dad gets home from work about 6pm.
1800: I (normally) start homework and study around this time. Sometimes I manage it earlier and other days much later.
2100: I get ready for the next day, and then I relax for a bit. I tend to go to bed around 10:00pm.

That's me! Not overly exciting but definitely a day in my life :wink:
(edited 9 years ago)

Quick Reply