AstroNandos road to Cambridge

Introduction to AstroNandos :borat:

So a little bit about me real quick, I was an army child, went to not-so-great schools (my previous one had a 56% pass rate in English if a C is a pass, I thought it was 55% but meh), but managed to get pretty decent GCSE grades (4A*s, 5As, 2Bs). The problem is, this road I'm on, It's not particularly smooth. My dream is to go to Cambridge for engineering (Trinity college maybe), but it's one hell of a journey. Maybe sharing it with TSR will encourage fellow procrastinators to change their ways...

I currently study maths, further maths, physics, chemistry and critical thinking at AS level, so what I get this year is going to matter, a lot. I'm not really motivated, I hand in homeworks late constantly, don't revise for tests, I don't even organise my notes, but that's why I made this blog. My December report was AABC, and my target is AAAA, so I'm going to try and reach that.

We're in the middle of having mocks, well I don't think I have a physics one or further maths, but I do have a chemistry and maths one.

Mocks

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Maths C1 - B (86%), yeah I didn't really revise, it was before I started this blog

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Chemistry - 2nd Feb, so long as homework isn't thrown at me tomorrow, revision starts then!

•

Physics - ???

•

Further Maths - ???

Targets:

•

Create a revision/homework timetable☑

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Raise c1 to 92%

•

Get an A (90%) in the chemistry mock, I even placed a £2 bet on it with a friend for motivation! :cool:

•

Stick to any timetable I make

•

Get more than my average of 5 hours sleep a night

If anyone even reads this, then thanks, and LET'S DO THISS! :woo:

(edited 9 years ago)

Scroll to see replies

Reply 1

AstroNandos

Original post by Gott

Why are you frustrated exactly? You seem on course for Cambridge: 4As at AS

That's my target, but I'm not achieving it. I've also got problems with homework, organisation, revision and I don't really do anything outside of school, so I'm going to try and change that :biggrin:

Reply 2

L'Evil Fish

Should be easy enough to crack down from now, good luck

Reply 3

AstroNandos

Original post by L'Evil Fish

Should be easy enough to crack down from now, good luck

Hopefully it won't be too bad! Thanks :smile:

Update 1:

I have now created a timetable for what I'm going to be doing and when, and I've probably overdone it. If I don't have any homework or don't need to revise, then I guess some of the filled slots can be free, but I'm going to try my hardest to stick to this, but if it's genuinely too much I'll change it :biggrin:

Spoiler

timetable.png12.3KB

Reply 4

AstroNandos

Update 2:

It's been a few days since I posted. I've applied for a 4-6 week work experience placement in engineering/physics in the summer holidays now, so hopefully I'll get a reply about that soon! I've been mostly keeping my revision timetable, although since i started it half way through the week, I started on a day with no homework scheduled even though I had some to do. Plus I might ignore which subject it says I should revise for, as it might change depending on what's going on that week. I have a busy week coming up, chemistry mock, chemistry coursework and the chemistry olympiad, so I'll keep whoever actually reads this (if anyone :tongue:

) posted!

GL man

Original post by BBeyond

GL man

Thanks, I'm going to need it! :biggrin:

Reply 7

username1415362

Original post by AstroNandos

Hopefully it won't be too bad! Thanks :smile:

Spoiler

Can I have the file for this timetable? It looks really awesome.

Reply 8

AstroNandos

Original post by alifleih

Can I have the file for this timetable? It looks really awesome.

I just made it on publisher real quick, but I'll have to put it up later when I'm home :biggrin:

Reply 9

AstroNandos

Original post by alifleih

Can I have the file for this timetable? It looks really awesome.

Right, I think I've attached it. I guess anyone can use it if they want to :tongue:

Also chemistry mock felt like it went well, I should find out what I got soon :biggrin:

(edited 9 years ago)

timetable.zip12.3KB

Reply 10

AstroNandos

So I ended up not continuing with this because I couldn't get this verified, but I feel like coming back to it.

I ended up giving up on a set timetable and went through a phase of having zero motivation, and I was rejected by the Nuffield work experience. I didn't do any revision for months!

But things improved. I got more sleep, won a pretty big robotics competition, and suddenly found a new motivation, I realised I really want to get good grades and hopefully get in Cambridge, especially since I've not had any direct family go to university!

And I've done 2/12 exams, c1 which went pretty well (except a couple of marks I derped on) and fp1 was pretty difficult, so I'm counting on D1 and D2 to boost my UMS up to 90%+ for further maths. Doing around 6-7 hours a day of revision at the moment too :biggrin:

Now I work until either my death or the end of exams, and fingers crossed for results day! :biggrin:

Reply 11

Asurat

Original post by AstroNandos

Now I work until either my death or the end of exams, and fingers crossed for results day! :biggrin:

How did you find FP1 in the end? I reckoned that it wasn't much worse than the last 2 papers apart from the last question being totally alien

Reply 12

AstroNandos

Original post by Asurat

How did you find FP1 in the end? I reckoned that it wasn't much worse than the last 2 papers apart from the last question being totally alien

FP1 didn't seem to bad. I dropped 1 mark on the last question as I did 32+3=35 instead of 32-3=29, but quadratic question which had a complex number in I couldn't do, but I think I can do it now after the exam -.- I wasn't overly keen on the paper, made some mistakes I shouldn't have, but the revision I did really did save me :biggrin:

Any ideas on the grade boundaries? I reckon around 60-62 and I think I got around that so it's going to be a close call!

Reply 13

Asurat

Original post by AstroNandos

Any ideas on the grade boundaries? I reckon around 60-62 and I think I got around that so it's going to be a close call!

I was thinking a third consecutive 62 would be decent. Personally I managed to forget to simplify a matrix and lost about 4 marks there, as well as drawing an argand diagram incorrectly (L O L) and not even making it to the last 3 marker,
what score you do think you got? Also you feeling pumped for mechanics??

Reply 14

AstroNandos

Original post by Asurat

Yeah it's irritating realising what you do wrong not to long after the exam >.< But I think I got around 60/61, probably my worst maths exam tbh. Wbu?

And physics mechanics tomorrow? Hell yeahh, Done 3 past papers today, I'll do another one and then revise for D2 on Wednesday. I much prefer mechanics to EWP :tongue:

you?

Reply 15

Asurat

Original post by AstroNandos

you?

I reckon tops I got 67/68 and bottom I got about 60, I'm thinking 65/66?? I counted that I lost 8 marks, 3 for an unattempted question, 3 accuracy marks and maybe a method mark for matrices, 2 I probably couldn't find somewhere??? Not going to make any assumptions as I probably missed something, D1 and D2 have to be A/A* now because FP1 gave no wiggle room at all. Well done on your FP1 by the way because that was really a funny paper :smile:

I reckon that I prefer EWP to mechanics for no real reason, I just like bigger exams
Personally I'm probably going to print off the spec one more time and look through everything (I say that as if I can get 100% easy but I don't think I've ever gotten more than 50 marks first time once). I'm hoping that I get lucky though :biggrin:

I'm going to try and do the June 2014 paper one last time as the last time I did it was for my mock and I didn't even finish, and I didn't even look at it again so I'm using it as a remock :smile:

Have you decided what sort of engineering your going to apply for at Cambridge if all goes well?

Reply 16

Radk

Original post by AstroNandos

Any ideas on the grade boundaries? I reckon around 60-62 and I think I got around that so it's going to be a close call!

Don't ask man, im so pissed off about that FP1. :frown:

Reply 17

AstroNandos

Original post by Asurat

I'm going to try and do the June 2014 paper one last time as the last time I did it was for my mock and I didn't even finish, and I didn't even look at it again so I'm using it as a remock :smile:

Have you decided what sort of engineering your going to apply for at Cambridge if all goes well?

Well 65 wouldn't be a bad score at all, that'd be what, 95+% UMS? Assuming there's low-ish grade boundaries. But yeah well done to you too haha. I'm hoping I do muchh better in D1 and D2 seeing as they are relatively simple, but I think the only issue is if you mess up part way through a question you lose soo many marks.

Ah I hate EWP, mainly because of the electrons side. Waves is alright, and I like photons tbh. And that's not a bad idea, I've never actually bothered looking at a specification for anything before :tongue:

Maybe now is the time to start. Was June 2014 the paper that was either 49% or 59% for an A, either way it was hard as hell??

Well I would probably specialise in aerospace and aerothermal engineering (which I think happens in the 3rd year?). Are you an aspiring Cambridge undergraduate too?? :tongue:

Original post by Radk

Don't ask man, im so pissed off about that FP1. :frown:

I take it that it didn't go too well? I would be expecting low grade boundaries seeing as a lot of people seem think that, so don't be too pissed :biggrin:

Reply 18

Radk

Original post by AstroNandos

I take it that it didn't go too well? I would be expecting low grade boundaries seeing as a lot of people seem think that, so don't be too pissed :biggrin:

Thank you

but yeah idk if you remember but that monstrosity of a last question was soul destroying. Then I threw away like 4 marks due to exam pressure on that Argand diagram question which I could have done easily (if I do say so myself). So yeah. And to top it all off I've been told I need 95 UMS in FP1 to be predicted an A* in A2 Further Maths, which i'll need if I apply to the top unis in Maths eg Cambridge.

Reply 19

Asurat

Original post by AstroNandos

Cambridge was sitting quitely in the back of my mind but that FP1 means it's GG since I want to do maths and/or economics, I wanted to go to a London university primarily so I would be over the moon if I could get into LSE or UCL!
Plus I doubt I'd be getting 95% UMS+ as last year for my exam board that would have gotten me about 83 UMS, but I don't mind too much because it's still an A (if I didn't mess up elsewhere :tongue:

)

And yeah it was for EWP (59/100) but for mechanics it was 43 and I only scraped a 44 just now (which is 16 more than my mock which is okay I guess) so I'll see how tomorrow goes :s-smilie: