The Student Room Group

liquity's grow your grades to at least AAB blog

liquity's Grow Your Grades blog!

So a little introduction to myself and my blog:
My name is Ellie (obviously known on here as liquity) and I am 17 years old. I have an obsession with dogs and Lush. I have applied to do Zoology at Bristol, Exeter, Newcastle, Cardiff and Reading and have offers from all 5 but I'm currently deciding whether to put Exeter or Newcastle as my insurance, with Bristol as my firm.

My grades from last year were:
Geography OCR AS: A
Biology OCR: B
Physics AQA A: B
Chemistry OCR B (Salters): C (I dropped this for A2)

In June I am retaking the Physics Unit 2 paper (as I got a C in this one and an A in the other so it will hopefully push up my grade), the AS Physics ISAs (which I got a D in whoops) and the Biology F212 paper to again, try to get more marks as I got solid Bs across all 3 units.

I am aiming for an A in all my subjects obviously, but I need AAB to be accepted into Bristol so ultimately that is what I am aiming for, I'm hoping that the B won't ironically be in biology as it is ultimately the subject I want a degree in, just animal specific :rofl:
Original post by liquity
liquity's Grow Your Grades blog!

So a little introduction to myself and my blog:
My name is Ellie (obviously known on here as liquity) and I am 17 years old. I have an obsession with dogs and Lush. I have applied to do Zoology at Bristol, Exeter, Newcastle, Cardiff and Reading and have offers from all 5 but I'm currently deciding whether to put Exeter or Newcastle as my insurance, with Bristol as my firm.

My grades from last year were:
Geography OCR AS: A
Biology OCR: B
Physics AQA A: B
Chemistry OCR B (Salters): C (I dropped this for A2)

In June I am retaking the Physics Unit 2 paper (as I got a C in this one and an A in the other so it will hopefully push up my grade), the AS Physics ISAs (which I got a D in whoops) and the Biology F212 paper to again, try to get more marks as I got solid Bs across all 3 units.

I am aiming for an A in all my subjects obviously, but I need AAB to be accepted into Bristol so ultimately that is what I am aiming for, I'm hoping that the B won't ironically be in biology as it is ultimately the subject I want a degree in, just animal specific :rofl:


:rofl: I remember doing AQA Physics ISAs, not easy stuff I tell ya.

Dogs are wonderful things. :love:

Good luck with everything! :woo:
Reply 2
Original post by SeanFM
:rofl: I remember doing AQA Physics ISAs, not easy stuff I tell ya.

Dogs are wonderful things. :love:

Good luck with everything! :woo:


Thank you so much! Yeah the ISAs are the worst but I'm powering on through, the one for this year just sounds abysmal :frown:
Reply 3
Tuesday 26th January
First update on my grow your grades blog!

Very proud of myself tonight, worked from 5-8.45 with a break for about half an hour for dinner.

Firstly I did some biology notes on immobilising enzymes following my practical in my double lesson this afternoon (first unofficial practical in months!) and then did some notes on genome sequencing in preparation for my lesson on Thursday; now I kind of understand what the lecturer in the labs at Bristol was on about when I went to visit! Also did 2 pages of a homework booklet which I have until Monday to hand in, hoping to get 2 more pages done tomorrow evening.

Also started my notes for my medical physics option on the eye which I actually found super interesting, so glad I chose this module with my interest in biology and how few calculations there are, more wordy stuff is my thing!

Also I think I have decided which unis to put as my firm and my insurance! Pretty sure I will firm Bristol but I didn't know what to put as my insurance choice as I only had Newcastle and Reading as my lower grade offers of ABB. I'm pretty sure I'm going with Newcastle because the course is more research intensive which is definitely more my thing, I'm too nervous to actually click the options on Track though! It will just be a split second impulse of YEAH LETS DO IT and I'll probably sit and cry that it's all been done and over with!

Looking forward to my bed tonight (and a better night's sleep than last night) and an equally as productive day tomorrow hopefully!
Reply 4
Wednesday 27th January
Got an A* in my nuclear fission prep, 91% which I was very proud of :smile: I have had a slightly more relaxed day today, did some more notes for my medical physics in my double free this morning. For the rest of the day I worked on my geography investigation and I had games this afternoon in which I did aerobics and then went for a run on the treadmill in the gym which made me feel very healthy. Then had a driving lesson with my dad's fiancée after school in my car, which actually went really well, I can finally make hill starts without stalling! Got some biology notes done and half my homework for Monday is now done. Feels like I'm getting ill though :frown:

My life has felt a million times more organised since I made myself a bullet journal. I have all my information in one place, to-do lists prevent my procrastination and I can plan out my months as I have been doing this evening! Planned out February this evening and realised just how busy it is going to be! 3 parties, multiple family and friends' birthdays, mock week, I'm going to be super busy but I'm looking forward to it :smile:
Original post by liquity
Wednesday 27th January
Got an A* in my nuclear fission prep, 91% which I was very proud of :smile: I have had a slightly more relaxed day today, did some more notes for my medical physics in my double free this morning. For the rest of the day I worked on my geography investigation and I had games this afternoon in which I did aerobics and then went for a run on the treadmill in the gym which made me feel very healthy. Then had a driving lesson with my dad's fiancée after school in my car, which actually went really well, I can finally make hill starts without stalling! Got some biology notes done and half my homework for Monday is now done. Feels like I'm getting ill though :frown:

My life has felt a million times more organised since I made myself a bullet journal. I have all my information in one place, to-do lists prevent my procrastination and I can plan out my months as I have been doing this evening! Planned out February this evening and realised just how busy it is going to be! 3 parties, multiple family and friends' birthdays, mock week, I'm going to be super busy but I'm looking forward to it :smile:


Can I ask, why is that dog quarreling the horse? :indiff:

Spoiler

Reply 6
Original post by Imperion
Can I ask, why is that dog quarreling the horse? :indiff:

Spoiler



ahaha are you talking about my profile picture thing?
Original post by liquity
ahaha are you talking about my profile picture thing?


Yes :tongue:
Reply 8
Original post by Imperion
Yes :tongue:

I have no idea I didn't take it, I just like it because it has a horse and a dog in it and they are like my faves :P
Original post by liquity
I have no idea I didn't take it, I just like it because it has a horse and a dog in it and they are like my faves :P


It looked like that to me :tongue: Nice photo nonetheless.
Reply 10
Original post by Imperion
It looked like that to me :tongue: Nice photo nonetheless.

I'm glad I have impressed with my choice of photo
Reply 11
Thursday 28th January
Not much to update on today, finished my physics homework for Monday so I have less work to do at the weekend, booked in for my AS Physics ISA Retake on the 11th Feb which is okay, feeling pretty relaxed about my workload right now which makes a nice change.
Reply 12
Saturday 6th February
It's not that I've been unproductive recently I've just had like no time to update this because I've been so exhausted! I have mocks the week after half term which sucks but revising hard for those, have my first medical physics test on Wednesday which I also have to revise for! Have a black tie party tonight so I am kind of distracted thinking about everything I have to prep for that and I find it so hard to be productive on days like this!
Reply 13
Monday 8th February

Evening,

I have had a fairly productive day surprisingly! After my weekend of 0 productivity and throwing up at a party on Saturday night I was revived after a good night's sleep last night and I have nearly finished my geography investigation finally, it's only taken a month :wink: I dropped 1 mark in my physics homework which I got back today which made me so happy, my teacher wrote 'outstanding' and 'this is SO good' on one of my written answers and it actually made my day! Focused surprisingly well in my double biology lesson which is usually such a drag and having missed a lesson on Friday to attend a funeral of a family friend, and I am working on catching up on the notes.

I'm very happy because I bought myself 4 boxes of green tea today and green tea always makes me feel happy (if not the biggest white girl ever) and I made brownies for my tutor group tomorrow and I have so many spare and they turned out really well :smile:

I also love my organisation with my bullet journal, everything seems manageable and easy to deal with, I'll try to get around to posting a picture of it at some point in the near future :smile:
Reply 14
Tuesday 16th February
Half term revision time yaaaayyyyy. It's not that bad because I took the first weekend of half term off to have a bit of a break and I'm breaking down my subjects throughout the week to get enough done for my mocks which is making the whole ordeal much less stressful. I'm trying to do 5-6 hours a day which leaves me time to still do things I enjoy like seeing friends and stuff which is quite nice. Finally got my geography investigation handed in which gets that off my chest so everything isn't looking too bad right now thankfully.
I'm a bit of a Lush obsessive so the only thing that will get me through my hangover from my friend's 18th last night is the prospect of a bath with one of my new bath bombs later!

Edit: Completed my to do list! I did about an hour of physics writing unit 4.1, 2 and 3 flashcards, finished my climatic hazards notes for geography and wrote flashcards for all of respiration and started some practice questions. I was unable to finish the practice questions due to complete lack of focus probably due to the lack of sleep I had last night. I have planned out my day tomorrow after my mock driving test and the dentist and should hopefully be a bit more productive. I did go running today which was actually surprisingly enjoyable despite how cold it was. I am planning to post a picture of my flashcards tomorrow :smile:
(edited 8 years ago)
Original post by liquity
x


How did you revise for biology?
Reply 16
Original post by Ribenas
How did you revise for biology?

Throughout the year I have been making notes in an A4 notebook from the textbook as we learn the topic to kind of cement my understanding of it and bring up any points I needed to go through with my teacher. Then I highlighted those condensed textbook notes to start condensing them further and then I make little flashcards with the basic information that I can rote learn (and it helps because I'm writing the notes yet again but in a condensed form) and I will constantly read over these in the lead up to the exam. After I have made the flashcards for a particular topic I will do the practice questions on that topic from the textbook to test my understanding of it all.

Hope that helped!:h:
Original post by liquity
x


Thank you :smile:
Reply 18
Good evening, I have had a bit of a boring but full on couple of days. I've finally finished all my Biology A2 Unit 4 flashcards (ready for my mocks, I have attached a picture so you can see the kind of thing I'm talking about) and I'm planning on doing a past paper or two tomorrow to really test myself! Got a surprising amount of physics done, probably because the rote learning stuff is actually pretty basic and concise, practice questions are the best way to learn physics really but for some reason my brain has this aversion to doing practice questions it just bores the hell out of me! Geography is also going well, slowly gathering all my notes and updating things. So yes I have been very productive I'm extremely proud of myself for having the drive to do it all!

On another note I finished the 4th Game of Thrones book today and I always feel so happy when I've finished them because they are such massive books and can be such a drag but this one was so good! I'm reading Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn next which I've been looking forward to since like November when I bought it!
IMG_4366.jpg

Spoiler

Reply 19
Wednesday 24th February

Afternoon, I have been busy revising for mocks! I got an A in that medical physics test I was revising for, 28/35 which I was so happy about. I have the day off school today because we have study leave for mocks and I have my biology F214 and half of F215 tomorrow at 1.30. I am slowly losing motivation to work, might have to take a nap! It's just getting very mundane, and I'm really struggling to revise physics for 8.30am on Friday because the past papers are just so difficult :frown: Basically just fine-tuning my weak areas and doing loads of practice questions on them; for biology that's the excretion stuff mostly so I'm struggling through that but definitely getting better!

Quick Reply