Bryony's Path to University

Bryony's Path To University

Hi,

First of all a quick introduction:

My name is Bryony, and I am currently in Year 13 studying Maths, Physics and Chemistry. In September I hope to be going off to university to study Mechanical Engineering with an aim to go into Sports Engineering afterwards. I am a keen hockey player (in goal) and also do a bit of discus and shot putt. I also play netball, but not competitively. I am also a member of the Girl Guiding Senior Section and a lifeguard which end up taking up a bit of my time!

Where Have I Applied?

Exeter - AAB
Loughborough - AAB (January)
Brighton - BBB
Wolverhampton - 260 UCAS Points
Bath -

Based on my current offers I am probably going to firm Exeter and insure Brighton however it depends on my offers from Loughborough and Bath.

At AS, I didn't have the best run, achieving a B in both Maths and Chemistry and a C in Physics. I am retaking all of maths, unit 2 of chemistry and unit 2 of physics with the hope to improve my grades.

Recent Grades:

Maths (C3)- U
Maths (C4)- U
Physics (Unit 4)- E
Chemistry (Unit 4)- U

Yeah, they didn't go too well but it has encouraged me to buck up my ideas and actually get on with some work!

I am aiming to achieve at least AAA in my summer exams to ensure that I get into Exeter (or potentially higher if my other offers come in)

I plan to update this blog regularly although am yet to decide when I will post!

Thanks for reading,

Bryony (:

(edited 8 years ago)

Scroll to see replies

Reply 1

WhiteyBread101

I hope you do well @BryonyG98, good luck! :awesome:

Reply 2

BryonyG98

Original post by Gingerbread101

I hope you do well @BryonyG98, good luck! :awesome:

Thanks! Hopefully this will motivate me further in my studies!

Reply 3

Black Rose

Best of luck, bryony :h:

Reply 4

Sayless

Best of luck, I'll be reading you here!

Reply 5

BryonyG98

My AS Results

Sunday 24th January

I thought I would post my results from last year so that I can show any improvements and it will also help me keep track of my goals.

Maths:
C1: 76/100
C2: 68/100
C3: 45/100
C4: 29/100
M1: 29/100
S1: 71/100
S2: 29/100 (Dropped Module)

This year I am retaking all six modules.

Physics:
Unit 1: 86/120
Unit 2: 62/120
EMPA: 56/60

This year I am retaking Unit 2

Chemistry:
Unit 1: 93/120
Unit 2: 82/120
Unit 3 (Practical): 56/60

This year I am retaking Unit 2

Last year I also took Economics, which I have since dropped.

This year I will also be sitting:

Unit 4 Physics
Unit 5C Physics (Applied Physics option)
EMPA

Unit 4 Chemistry
Unit 5 Chemistry
Unit 6 (Assessed Practicals) Chemistry.

This totals 12 exams and 2 Practical Assessments.

Last year I lacked motivation as I did fairly well at GCSE with minimal revision. These marks have led me to improve my work ethic and have increased my motivation levels. I am currently working on rewriting my Unit 2 Physics notes as they were not up to standard which may have contributed to my low mark. I am determined to improve these marks this year and hopefully having people watching will help!

I hope everyone is enjoying reading my blog and I hope to keep it updated regularly.

Bryony (:

(edited 8 years ago)

Reply 6

youreanutter

Original post by BryonyG98

Update 1 - Sunday 24th January

I thought I would post my results from last year so that I can show any improvements and it will also help me keep track of my goals.

Maths:
C1: 76/100
C2: 68/100
C3: 45/100
C4: 29/100
M1: 29/100
S1: 71/100
S2: 29/100 (Dropped Module)

This year I am retaking all six modules.

Physics
Unit 1: 86/120
Unit 2: 62/120
EMPA: 56/60

This year I am retaking Unit 2

Chemistry:
Unit 1: 93/120
Unit 2: 82/120
Unit 3 (Practicals): 56/60

This year I am retaking Unit 2

Last year I also took Economics, which I have since dropped.

This year I will also be sitting:

Unit 4 Physics
Unit 5C Physics (Applied Physics option)
EMPA

Unit 4 Chemistry
Unit 5 Chemistry
Unit 6 (Assessed Practicals) Chemistry.

This totals 12 exams and 2 Practical Assessments.

Last year I lacked motivation as I did fairly well at GCSE with minimal revision. These marks have led me to improve my work ethic and have increased my motivation levels. I am currently working on rewriting my Unit 2 Physics notes as they were not up to standard which may have contributed to my low mark. I am determined to improve these marks this year and hopefully having people watching will help!

I hope everyone is enjoying reading my blog and I hope to keep it updated regularly.

Bryony (:

what exam boards did u do and how did ur gcses go and how did economics go
also howcomes you done all 6 maths modules in year 12
and was m1 really hard as it was your joint lowest score

Reply 7

BryonyG98

Original post by youreanutter

what exam boards did u do and how did ur gcses go and how did economics go
also howcomes you done all 6 maths modules in year 12
and was m1 really hard as it was your joint lowest score

Exam boards are Edexcel for Maths and Chemistry, AQA for Physics. GCSEs I got mostly As with a B in English and RE. Economics I got a C overall.

I did all six modules in year 12 because I was hoping to do Further Maths this year however life got in the way and I was spreading myself too thinly so we decided against it however I learnt some of the content to help at university.

M1 wasnt that hard; I was quite ill on the day of the exam which I think affected my result unfortunately. I also didnt do enough revision as I had found it easy when learning it. This year I hope to considerably improve that score.

Are you entering the competition too? What level and subjects are you studying?

Reply 8

youreanutter

Original post by BryonyG98

whats the competition lol
and so m1 isnt that bad as im worrying myself and couldnt you have done further maths AS this year ? best of luck with your exams btw

Reply 9

BryonyG98

Original post by youreanutter

whats the competition lol
and so m1 isnt that bad as im worrying myself and couldnt you have done further maths AS this year ? best of luck with your exams btw

The grow your grades competition. This blog is to track my progress over the next few months in the hope of improving ny grades.

M1 really isnt that bad, i just had a bad day and my results suffered because of it unfortunately!

I could have taken AS further maths this year as i have learnt the majority of the content however it was decided by myself my parents and my school that it was in my best interests to only pursue Maths and aim for an A* as opposed to getting two Bs

Thank you!

What subjects are you studying? I presume you are either in year 12 or 13 as you are doing m1 and clearly you are studying maths :smile:

Bryony (:

(edited 8 years ago)

Reply 10

BryonyG98

An Offer and An Achievement

Tuesday 26th February

Well I have some great news! I got an offer from Loughborough, AAB. I'm still waiting to hear from Bath :smile:

Today I did a C1 past paper, achieving 75/75 can't remember which paper it was though. I think it was June 2007. I can now easily do a C1 paper in 50 minutes so i can mark it in the last 10 minutes of the lesson and ask any questions needed. I aim to be able to do this with each module although i think it will be unlikely for C4

I have been being productive in my frees; mainly writing up physics notes, I'm going to try and spread my time more evenly between chemistry and physics now. I have plenty of time in maths currently but if I start to struggle I will put more time in outside of the classroom.

Bryony (:

(edited 8 years ago)

Reply 11

BryonyG98

Past Papers and a Lost Book

Thursday 28th January

Yesterday I sat an M1 mock for which I will get the results back tomorrow. I think it went quite well however I mucked up the last question as I forgot what to do with tension and thrust! However I sussed the vectors question which is something that I have always struggled with ☺

I also did a Chemistry Unit 4 past paper with notes which helped to highlight what I didnt know. Hopefully I will receive the marks back for that soon.

Today I started a C1 Solomon Paper. It was much tougher than I thought but I think that that is what I need. I aim to finish it tomorrow and mark it. I will let you know the result!

Also today I have come across a slight hurdle that I have to overcome. I have managed to misplace my physics question book which has all the prep that I have done throughout the year. My teacher wants to see all my work tomorrow so that is 9 (perhaps 10) chapters of summary questions for me to do in one night. Looks like I wont be getting much sleep tonight! (I am writing this in a break)

I also have some physics notes to write up but I will probably leave that for my free tomorrow.

Bryony (:

(edited 8 years ago)

Reply 12

BryonyG98

A Partial Success and Catching Up

Tuesday 2nd February

First of all apologies for the delayed post; manic weekend coupled with being ill for the past few days left me with a lot of work to do!

Okay so I only got my M1 mark back yesterday as I wasnt in on Friday. I got 48/75 which isnt bad considering I didn't do much revision for it (I have a plan and the M1 mock was thrown in last minute). I have been through it with my teacher and know where I went wrong and how to correct it in the future. A number of the marks were lost due to silly mistakes and forgetting simple techniques (such as the j vector means up-I had a bad moment!)

I am yet to receive my marks for the Chemistry Unit 4 paper, but hopefully that will come soon.

I didn't get chance to finish the C1 Solomon Paper, however having marked up to Q6, I had only dropped one or two marks so it wasn't going badly.

Physics I am catching up on the questions I lost which is aiding my Unit 4 revision which is a bonus!

I am up to date with Physics notes and have started re-doing my Unit 2 notes as they were non existent last year.

Yesterday I had a C2 test which I did and marked in 50 minutes (75/75 January 2005 paper) and I have another in a few minutes. I also had a Chemistry test on the reactions of benzene in which I got 80%.

All is going well and I hope to keep you updated!

Bryony (:

(edited 8 years ago)

Reply 13

BryonyG98

An Important Discovery

Saturday 13th February

Okay so it has been a while since I have done an update purely because of how busy life has been the past week! But it is now half term and I hope to be updating more regularly (as more should be happening!)

I finally got the Unit 4 Chemistry Paper back; 81/90 which is good even though I used my notes for a few questions. My teacher was impressed.

Since my last post I have done a Physics chapter 9 and 10 test. In which I scored 68% this may not sound great but it is my highest physics score so I have now found a method which helps me learn. This, as you can imagine is a huge benefit and I will go into further detail later on.

In maths I have done a C1 and an M1 paper this week. In the C1 paper I got 70/75, 91 UMS. So whilst it isn't my best score total; it is my best that was under exam conditions. 3 of the marks were silly mistakes; but the other two I realised as soon as I handed it over to be marked; which is always the way.

In M1 everything was going well until the last question. Up until that point I had only dropped 4 marks total. Then in the last question I got 3/16 which clearly reduced my total score significantly. Bringing it down to 58/75 which may well still be my best score. I will have to check on that one.

Back to Chemistry and this week I had an assessed practical and got full marks which I was so happy about!

Due to my lower than expected grades I have now been put into "supervised study" which is there to ensure I work in my free periods at least 5 times a fortnight which I do anyway but now have to do in the presence of a teacher in the classroom and be registered for. Whilst this is kind of irritating I guess it could be beneficial.

Last week we also had "study seminars" which involved sitting in a room with your peers and a teacher (mine was the headmaster) and discuss methods of studying and how/where/when you study. I actually found it to be fairly useful but most found it to be a waste of time.

What I have found is that I an unable to learn unless it is in my handwriting and so my revision mostly consists of writing out notes and flash cards and then condensing them down and making the final copy colourful.

As it is half term I will probably end up doing a lot of past papers and revision notes so I hope to be doing more regular posts as in all honesty I have struggled to type this much on my phone in one go and have cramp in my thumb!

Bryony (:

(edited 8 years ago)

Reply 14

BryonyG98

How Long Do I Have Left?

Sunday 14th February

So, today it hit me. It is 3 months until my first exam; 10 and a half weeks; 94 days. That is rather frightening and has caused me to buck up my ideas a little bit. I now realise just how much I have to do and how little time I have to do it. During this half term I will have 4 and a half days working (I think). These will be Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday and half of Sunday. In this time I aim to:

Do past papers from C1, C2 and M1 for Maths.
Do past papers from Unit 2 and 4 for Chemistry.
Make Physics notes and do a Unit 2 and 4 past paper. I also have summary questions to do for Physics.

I aim to stick roughly to my school timetable so I will still be getting up as though I would for school etc.

94 days really isn't a long time; and whilst I only have 2 exams before half term (C1 and C2) I want to be ready for all of my exams by the time exam season starts so that I can relax a bit more during it rather than cramming because I will already know the content.

I know that this has been a fairly short update but I feel it was a necessary one!

Bryony (:

(edited 8 years ago)

Reply 15

kawehi

Good luck Bryony!!! Hope everything goes well :smile:

I'm here to help if you need anything in maths or chem, I'm doing/done all of the modules that you're doing (besides C3/4)

Reply 16

BryonyG98

An Unproductive Few Days

Thursday 18th February

So over the past few days I have been rather busy and to top it all off, my computer broke (with all of my class notes on it from this term!) and so I have been rather stuck for a while. Today I went off to buy a new laptop and have come home with one so I am hopefully on the road to recovery.

That means that this afternoon and tomorrow are going to be filled with revision in order to make up for it. I will update this evening with everything I have done and if it is interesting I may even include pictures! I hope that saying I will post this evening will encourage me to make sure I revise.

Bryony (:

(edited 8 years ago)

Reply 17

BryonyG98

An Insight Into My Revision Techniques

Thursday 18th February (2)

So this afternoon I feel I have been fairly productive and I am also going to take this opportunity to tell you little more about my study techniques.

Over the past few weeks I have learnt that I am a mixture of all three types of learners:
-I love to use colour and posters and flash cards really help me.
-I can't have silence whilst I'm working and controversially I find that watching T.V or listening to music is the best way for me to revise (currently my programme of choice is Pretty Little Liars). Whilst some may say this distracts me I find that it helps keep me calm and allows me to work for longer before needing a break. I also find I am more productive in sessions where I have something playing in the background as I find myself less inclined to constantly be checking my phone to find out how long I have left (I tend to work for 2 episodes and then take a short drinks/snack break) and therefore work for more of the time I think I am (I hope that makes sense!)
-I find that copying out my notes and condensing them also really helps (originally in black and then gradually adding in colour to make key points stand out.

Also, which I forgot to put in my earlier post, was that yesterday I went to an Exeter offer holders day. Visiting the University motivated me to revise to ensure that I get the grades to go there. There is now no question in my mind about my capabilities and I am more determined than ever.
Also on the motivational front, recently I put down a £90 deposit to go on holiday with my friends in the summer to a cottage, unfortunately at the time of payment I did not have the money due to short notice. However my dad kindly agreed to loan me the money. I had all intentions of paying this back as soon as possible however he has now said that if I get the grades to go to Exeter of Loughborough (AAB) then I do not need to pay him back; which is an added bonus and was incredibly generous of him. I think he wants me to think of the holiday as a treat after results day (:

So, onto what I have done today ( I will edit as I do more this evening and add pictures):
-Started flash cards on the symbols used in physics. Whilst this may sound like a pointless exercise to some; in my Unit 4 mock I knew what equations were for what but didn't know what the letters stood for. I am determined not to make this mistake again, hence the flash cards.
-Made notes on the following physics topics:
-The Ideal Gas Equation
- Boltzmann's Constant
-Deriving the Pressure of an Ideal Gas (this took ages for me to understand!)
-Explaining Charles' Law and the Pressure Law
-Root Mean Square Speed
-I also took a tip from another blog (CSLady) and have made a table to go into my planner (or potentially stay on my computer which has all the past papers on it so that I can record my marks and see my improvement and record which ones I have done. (Feel free to use and edit this for your own purpose!)

Bryony (:

(edited 8 years ago)

Past Paper Record.docx13.6KB

Reply 18

Ara8311a

Yay! Someone else watches TV whilst revising! I'm watching once upon a time at the moment but my sister keeps trying to get me to watch Pretty Little Liars. :smile:

Good luck with getting the results you need to go to Exeter! From what you're doing already you'll have no problem!

Reply 19

BryonyG98

Original post by Ara8311a

Yay! Someone else watches TV whilst revising! I'm watching once upon a time at the moment but my sister keeps trying to get me to watch Pretty Little Liars. :smile:

Good luck with getting the results you need to go to Exeter! From what you're doing already you'll have no problem!