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Study Log for Me!

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2nd to last uni update (probably)

So I've received decisions from all my universities now and just need to visit applicant days and make my decision (although I'm pretty sure about my decision).

Here we are:
Hull - Music and Theatre - Conditional - Unconditional if I firm it
Huddersfield - Music - Conditional
Sheffield - Music - Conditional
Canterbury Christchurch - Music - Conditional
Bath Spa - Music - Rejected (I didn't attend the interview and expected this)

Got the unconditional "upgrade" through today and I'm really happy with it :smile: Overall I'm very happy with my offers. I remember after submitting my form, I was worrying about whether I'll even get 1 offer and was looking into what would happen if that was the case but I end up getting 4/5? I'm ecstatic! Plus I got one from my highest entry requirement one - I'm a grade off (I don't actually get this one. I'm predicted ABCC and they offered me ABB...).

I'll do a full update on my studies tomorrow :P
Update #4

So I'm back. Updates. What did I do this week?

Well on Monday I got my 1st draft of my English Language coursework back and the only thing my teacher said was to put it on a different website and to perhaps edit some of the language to a more non-specialist audience - I am SO happy with this because it's the least negative feedback I've ever received! :biggrin: Haha. I've got an essay to do and finish (need to do that tonight) for tomorrow so I'll get that done. I've also been planning to draw some mind maps for all the theorists I've studied and that I need then get an A3 piece and do a massive one on all of them (if that makes sense?). I wanted to do that this week but I couldn't so I'll try do at least one map a day next week. I've already done 5 for CLA. I also NEED to work on my AS coursework. I've got a new tutor who'll hopefully help me with that. My first piece is more or less done but my second piece... Well I need to start it! I'm struggling on finding a style model - if anyone can help, I'd really appreciate it! I'm looking for a persuasive letter to the PM or an MP. So yeah. That's a priority. I'll try and do some of that tonight and obviously do another essay next week. I think I should do it in timed conditions now because I'm not doing that.... Hm.

I've started to revise some AS vocab - I did the first unit, Los Medios, today and got round about 80-85% right after over 6 months of not touching them so looking hopeful. Will try and do some more tonight, perhaps do an AS essay this week. I'm slacking on my listening, reading and vocab a bit I think so I need to keep that up. I'm going to start writing flash cards again - hopefully the process of writing them down will help me remember them as well. However my essays. My. Fricking. Essays. Okay so I handed 2 essays in on Casa de Bernarda Alba and one of them, I was pretty proud of and I got a C/B on it. The other one, I decided to take the description of the themes of the play from the booklet we got, and twist that into essay form (adding in quotes), and got a B/A!!! :biggrin: Kiind of cheating I know but at least now I have a model essay to work from (and the question was quite a generic one so... :P ) so if I memorise at least set phrases from that, if I get a quesiton on the themes, I'll be fine! (hopefully... haha). Not much else to report back on Spanish. I've got some sheets on the subjunctive tense actually and I'm finding them quite difficult but I'll give them another study tonight.

Not much to say with Music. One embarrassing thing that happened though was in our composition lesson, one of my othe rmusic teachers came in to remind us of the homework she'd set us and asked me how I was getting on, all that, and asked if I wanted a second opinion on my AS one that I'd rerecorded so I obviously said yes. So I put my memory stick into the closest computer and she put some headphones on, listened to it and gave me some feedback but the headphones weren't working properly so she went to put it IN THE BLOODY SPEAKERS!!! So that she could hear it better!!! Luckily, there was only me and this other guy in the room who's alright so it wasn't that bad but COME ON!
Okay sorry, rant over.
I don't really have much to say. I didn't do too great in my Jazz essay. I really need to work on my Jazz because I'm not very good at it. I think I just need to sit down for an hour and just make a mind map or just write about/learn about all my pieces and listen to them. I don't listen to them enough. That needs to happen. And I also added another song to my performance playlist. Right now I'm thinking of Still Hurting from The Last Five Years, Another Hundred People from Company, Someone to Watch over Me by Gershwin and The Turtle Dove (don't know who it's by). I'm thinking of dropping Another Hundred People because I can't hold all the notes on... :/ I don't know. We'll see.

I've done no Japanese work so that needs to happen. More essay practise. More and more!

So this week hasn't been extremely productive but I've gotten some things done. I've been slacking on my bullet journal so I'm going to get on top of that and just be really strict with myself now. I may have gotten an unconditional offer, but I still need to work hard. I think just shutting my laptop or moving it somewhere else will hopefully help me. Also I need to improve my handwriting and it is getting better. It just needs to stay consistent now. So informative, I know.

Also 2 other non-study kind of things.

1: I'm going to start a series on my blog (Panda's Books on WordPress) called The Uni Files where I give advice and my experience on all the steps of applying to uni. From considering going to... Well wherever I get to. I'm thinking of uploading something every Thursday or Saturday. I don't know but the first post is done so if anyone is interested in that or knows someone who would be interested, I'd love you to check it out!
2: I'm going to apply for a higher volunteer role at my local theatre festival. That's all I'm saying for now.

Well I'll update again next weekend when I can.

Adios! :P
Also btdubz that uni update is 2nd to last because I'll do one when I choose where I'm going. Probably be up in a few weeks' time.
Update #5

Hola. So what happened?

I've had generally quite a relaxed week in comparison to before. I haven't had any essays (thank GOODNESS!) to do so I've just been doing smaller bits and pieces.

In English I managed to do 2 mind maps, one on Chall and the other on Frith and whilst I do need to learn those, I really should've done more. I'll keep working on that. I haven't done any work on my Media Text but there's not much to do on that so I'll finish it tonight. As for my AS coursework, I have my 2nd style model and I annotated it with my tutor on Friday so I just need to start writing it. I think I'll aim to start that tonight. I'll probably be back into doing essays so I'll try and do 2 next week if I can and I also hope to finish my basic draft of my 2nd coursework.

In Spanish again pretty relaxed. I began going through AS vocab and I'm done now so I'll start doing some kerboodle exercises. If I don't get too much this week, I think I'll try an essay in one topic as well. I've started making flash cards for my A2 vocab and I'm a bit behind but I'm going to catch up after tea tonight after my English. I'm behind on my listening and need to do some so again, if I can, I'll do some tonight. If not, tomorrow.

In Music I handed in a very difficult jazz essay. I rushed the ending a bit but I still got it in on time. I really need to listen to more jazz. I NEED TO DO IT!!! Urgh. I don't know how I'll combat that but I'll just have to see. I also handed in a Shost essay which wasn't too bad, not a nice question but it was okay. I've also got my performance date and time so I need to time my set and see if I need to add any songs. I'm thinking I really want to take out Another Hundred People... I'll see... :/ Didn't do too much on composition. Again, I'll do that tonight, if not tomorrow.

Again, nothing in Japanese. I'll try and write out 2 essays this week.

Overall this week hasn't been too bad. I haven't done a lot of major things but I've done a fair few minor and smaller things and I'm quite happy. Going to step it back up next week and get stuff done, do my singing and piano practise, write my essays. I'm going to do this! I've also been keeping my bullet journal up to date again so. Also have an applicant day for Sheffield on Wednesday. After that, I'm just deciding where to go. Pretty sure I'll firm Hull but we'll see.

I also started my blog series about uni on my blog so I'd really appreciate people checking that out :smile:
https://pandasbooks.wordpress.com/2016/03/03/the-uni-files-1-should-you-go/

Au revoir!
I've been very busy today in doing work and buying my friend's birthday present and procrastinating by reading Lady Midnight, I haven't had a lot of time so I'll do a full update tomorrow. Sorry!
Update #6

Okay okay, I'm sorry I haven't been on in like 2 weeks. I've been pretty busy with loads of work and revision so I haven't had a chance to properly sit down and type for this.
I had parents evening on Wednesday ( :/ didn't go too well) and my dad's going crazy in making me do all of these ridiculous things. He keeps trying to lecture me in English (as that's the only one he can do) in the way I write but his way is not any better. But thing is, he sits me down for like 2 hours trying to explain something my mum or my teacher could in 10 minutes... :/ Well, I'm getting my mum to help as well which is good.

So in English, now that my coursework's all done and handed in, I just need to work on my essays now. I'm planning to do an essay a day all of this Easter so I'll pick a text to do from my booklet today as well as doing this thing my dad wants me to do. Additionally, I need to start memorising theorists and perhaps do some background reading to help give me more points to talk about in my essays. My issue is that I have the points, they're just scattered everywhere and not really systematic, which doesn't get me any points really so I'm going to try really hard to work on that, maybe email some essays to my teachers over the holidays.

In Spanish, I think I'm doing a lot better - it's easier to revise Spanish than English to be honest. I'm having trouble with forming tenses and speaking confidently without hedges or fillers in my speaking exam so my teacher recommended I have some answers and set phrases prepared for each subject. I'm also going to memorise my Casa de Bernarda Alba quotes probably by writing them out and saying them aloud, perhaps talking with my dad's friend's wife, who's Spanish. Vocab and reading I just need to get on with.

For music, I'm doing alright I think. I definitely need to work on my Jazz which I'll set aside some days to work on that. I'm also going into school to work on my composition with my teacher in under 2 weeks and I've signed up for the first slot so if I need to do more or comeback, he can tell me to do so. But before I do that, I 1st need to get a new SD card for my mic and rerecord my compositions and also practise playing to a metronome. I've got 2 essays to do over Easter. I think I'll try do them with my notes and music, then without them to see how I do. I'm going to guess dismal for Jazz but we'll see. Oh and I've done my performance, although I'm thinking of redoing one of my songs because I wasn't too happy with the way the accompanist played it... But I'm doing that song for my grade 8 anyway so that's on my belt to practise.

So that's it. I haven't done anything in Japanese - really annoying but I know I should probably be doing an essay or exercise a day so I'll aim for that but don't know if I can do it.

I'm going to carry on using my bullet journal, it is quite useful and perhaps daily updates on here on my methods of revsion and what I've done. We'll see.

I'll also be firming my universities within the next 2 weeks so I'll update you on that soon as.

Anyway
Ciao.
Update #7

It's been a month. I am SO SORRY!! I've ben a bit busy and procrastination... Sorry.
Well since I was last on, I've progressed in some, stayed the same in some and may have gone a little back in some. I'll chat.

English now is my weakest subject. Which is strange as it never was. I think my issue is writing the essay. Picking out the relevant things and writing them in a coherent, systematic way. Because I know the theorists and terminology, I just find it difficult to spot it, and when I spot it, figuring out how to put it in my essay. I really don't know what to do but I guess it's just practise. My English exam is 15th June so I have time. More essays it is I guess.
My coursework's been all done and handed in so I'm not worrying about that anymore (well I am but not... :P )

Spanish, surprisingly, I feel I'm getting better at. We have our speaking exam next Thursday and over the past 2 weeks we've just been doing loads of practice and all my Spanish teachers (my actual ones and my speaking one) say I'm getting better at spontaneous conversatioin. I still need to work at it and I'm not at A grade yet of course but I feel a lot more confident. Once the speaking's done I'm going to get on to doing more essays. I'm thinking of opting more to do the film essay than the play because I feel a lot stronger in the film. Also I don't have to memorise quotes. But we'll see how it goes.
I haven't been focusing a lot on listening and reading as I did okay in those in the mocks but obviously I'll be using the likes of Kerboodle, Languages Online and stuff to revise. I know of a Spanish radio station too so I have that! I'm also going to see my spanish tutor on Monday and hopefully some more times after that to help me with my AS resit.

Music is pretty much the same. Up and down a little but I basically just need to learn my facts and come up with reasons why it's effective in the music. Also do more aural practise. My performance is done and out of the way. My composition I just need to score out. My A2 one I need to score out the vocal melody and tab the guitar parts and put pedal marking in the score. My AS one I need to write a full chord sheet. I also need to write a review thing on my A2 which I have a sheet on. Just need to sit down for an hour or 2 to get that done.
I haven't been listening to the Jazz that I should be listening to. Will do my absolute best to try and do more of that.

Japanese I haven't done much on and starting to get worried. I need to learn loads more kanji and memorise phrases to put in my essays but with my other subjects I can't find the time. I really need to start being strict on myself. It's only 2 months to go. I can deprive myself of luxuries for 2 months.

Overall, okay. All I need to be doing is just essay practise and vocab/fact learning. I think the essays are the most important things that I need to be doing and I've got one to do tonight. I've got 2 English ones and planning 1 Spanish one to do before next Tueday. I'll update you on that. Realistically, I think if I work hard I could get BBCC. For my insurance I need 300 UCAS points with a B in music so I'm on track. I'm going to do a exam timetable update and final uni update in a sec so bare with.

Again sorry I've been off for a while. I'll try my best to update as much as possible from now on :smile:

Chus
Final uni update

So I've finalised firm and insurance:
Firm - Hull - Music and Theatre - need to get grade 8 singing (A Levels are unconditional)
Insurance - Huddersfield - Music - need 300 UCAS points with a B in music

Student finance is done, Hull accommodation applications open in May so I'll be getting onto that asap.
I'll hopefully pass my grade 8. I've only failed once before but I did skip grade 7 and grade 8 is quite a lot harder than 6 so... My pieces are alright but I'm really worried about the aural tests but I guess with practise for my music exam, it'll help. I'm also doing extra with my piano teacher to do my grade 8 aurals. I'm meant to be doing my grade 5 piano too... Hmmm... :P
Anyway, getting a lot tougher now, will not be going to my extra curriculars the day before exams etc but if there's a week in between, I'm letting myself go.

This has gone on far too long.

Auf wiedersein
Exam timetable

So:
AS Spanish - 24th May AM
Japanese - 10th June AM
English Language - 15th June AM
Music - 16th June AM
A2 Spanish - 20th June AM

I made myself a study timetable so I'll post a picture of that tomorrow with better lighting so you can see what I plan to do :smile:

Sayonara
Keep it up! I stumbled upon this through a search for Japanese - I'm planning on doing the full A Level next year - so I look forward to seeing how you revise for it! Work hard and I'm sure you'll get your grade 8!
Original post by roarchika
Keep it up! I stumbled upon this through a search for Japanese - I'm planning on doing the full A Level next year - so I look forward to seeing how you revise for it! Work hard and I'm sure you'll get your grade 8!


Thanks :smile: My revision for Japanese isn't going too well and I should be doing more but I'll keep you updated! Are you going to be doing both AS and A2 next year then? I read that the Japanese A level's going to be discontinued soon :P
Original post by HazMusicPanda
Thanks :smile: My revision for Japanese isn't going too well and I should be doing more but I'll keep you updated! Are you going to be doing both AS and A2 next year then? I read that the Japanese A level's going to be discontinued soon :P


Ah well, the exam is still a few months away! Sort of. For kanji writing, have you considered using anki to test yourself? It's what I'm doing with the GCSE kanji right now and it makes everything (almost, sort of) effortless! Yup, that's the plan! I'm a little worried it's all going to go downhill, but I really want to have the A Level before I leave school, and I don't want it to be discontinued before I can finish it! (I mean, CIE will still offer it, but their syllabus looks a heck of a lot harder than Edexcel's (QAQ)
Original post by roarchika
Ah well, the exam is still a few months away! Sort of. For kanji writing, have you considered using anki to test yourself? It's what I'm doing with the GCSE kanji right now and it makes everything (almost, sort of) effortless! Yup, that's the plan! I'm a little worried it's all going to go downhill, but I really want to have the A Level before I leave school, and I don't want it to be discontinued before I can finish it! (I mean, CIE will still offer it, but their syllabus looks a heck of a lot harder than Edexcel's (QAQ)


Few months? It's less than 2 months! I haven't tried that but I'll give it ago. I'll probably get my mum to test me on them as well. And good luck! I did 5 AS levels in year 12 and found it very stressful but I procrastinated a lot. AS isn't too bad. I got a B with about a week's worth cramming (and a liittle bit around the year) but A2 because you have a few set works, it's a bit harder. I would recommend doing them one at a time if you can. Reading up a bit on it, it seems they're trying to keep Japanese and "small-entry qualifications" so you never know :P
Original post by HazMusicPanda
Few months? It's less than 2 months! I haven't tried that but I'll give it ago. I'll probably get my mum to test me on them as well. And good luck! I did 5 AS levels in year 12 and found it very stressful but I procrastinated a lot. AS isn't too bad. I got a B with about a week's worth cramming (and a liittle bit around the year) but A2 because you have a few set works, it's a bit harder. I would recommend doing them one at a time if you can. Reading up a bit on it, it seems they're trying to keep Japanese and "small-entry qualifications" so you never know :P


.....well, y'know, 2 months is... a few months. Sort of. :biggrin: You'll be fine, I'm sure!! A2 is just 200 more kanji, right? So if you're doing 10/day that's just 20 days' worth of work! Parents are super useful as a revision tool, ngl. Thank you!! Yeah, if it weren't for the reforms I'd be doing 5 AS levels (+ the EPQ, which I've now thankfully finished) this year with Japanese next year, so in one way I'm kinda grateful for them.... in other ways, I'm really not. A B with just a week of revision is super impressive! I'm guessing you do the literature options, then? I've been considering doing the culture option and the school year option, myself, since I'm going to be doing a lot of literature in Latin... And that's good, it would be really awful if less-popular languages couldn't be examined in!
Update #8

It's er... been a while. Sorry!
I've got one more academic exam tomorrow morning and then I'm done! I still have 2 practical music exams to go, one of which my firm uni depends on, but the hard bit is almost over.
The exams in general have gone okay. I know I haven't gotten As at all but I hope I don't get anything below a C. I feel like I've done a lot better than last year - last year I had mind blanks in pretty much every single exam but I was much better prepared this year. I will admit I should've done more revision but I've been fairly organised and paying attention and working harder all year round. Still no excuse though.

I'm hoping for a B in my Japanese but I don't want to be too optimistic. The paper was alright, my 2nd essay went a bit wrong though.
Music, I need a B overall for my insurance (and my satisfaction really). The paper was alright. I was really worried that I'd have nothing to say because I didn't manage to get a lot of revision done but I was writing up until they said to stop so I clearly had enough to say. Whether it was relevant or not... I know I should've mentioned more musical features... :/
English I am SO worried for. I've been getting better over the past few months. Been getting Cs in my essays much more but I'm still very worried. I know my coursework resit is better than last year - that's what my teacher said but I still have this year's coursework as well... Oh god.
The Spanish AS resit paper was quite good. I really enjoyed the essay and think I got most of the answers right on the paper. I know there's definitely a few I got wrong on the grammar question but only a few?
So A2 Spanish tomorrow then my g5 piano next week and g8 singing last week of term. I'm going to do at least one essay today and my tutor told me I should spend about 2 hours just going over all of my grammar. I'm thinking of doing mind map things - I might upload them onto here so they don't go to waste after tomorrow.

As for treats and things, I've recently got back into Glee and watched the entire first 2 seasons in like a week but I managed to stop myself. Because I enjoyed it so much, I decided I didn't want to be watching it feeling guilty. So from tomorrow I can properly enjoy it! This is genuinely my motivation that's getting me through the season. Not my uni place, not my future. Glee. As Ron would say, I need to sort out my priorities. Haha. I've also got a bunch of recording to do for a theatre festival I'm helping out with so I'm planning to get majority of that done tomorrow (the exam's in the morning). I'm also hoping to do Camp NaNoWriMo again this year. I started a story back in November so I want to get more of that done!

Anyway, I know I've been neglecting this a lot. I am so sorry. But it's nice to be able to come back and just type through everything I've done.

Tiwonana.
Heeyyyyy

Been a while sorry! Results day is in 2 days time and I thought I should quickly update you on my position now.

The Spanish A2 went alright. The essay question was nice, the listening was quite difficult though. I'm worried but I'm hoping for a C (like really really really hoping for a C otherwise that's like £500 out the window :/ ).

My practical music exams I've already had results back for. Aaanddd I passed both of them with merit!!! This also means I've got my place at Hull Uni!! So no matter my grades on Thursday, I'll still be going to uni. But I'm still hoping because if I do well, I can get a scholarship so I really hope I can. It's just a shame that it's based on 3 A levels and not UCAS points cos with my extra A level, g6 dist and g8 merit singing, I could totally get a scholarship. Well fingers crossed!
I've also checked on track and it's been changed to unconditional too (although I didn't get an email from UCAS saying it'd been changed... :/ )!

Accommodation is sorted too. I'm in Thwaite if anyone's at all interested. Off-campus apparently isn't ideal for a music student but free bus pass and it's closer to the uni than the other off-campus halls.

Anyway. I'll let you know my results on Thursday (so fricking nervous) and yeah. I know I've been terrible at blogging this - I'm sorry. Guess I've missed out on the comp prize (but I mean I just got a laptop for my birthday anyway :P ) but I don't mind. It has bee useful to write this stuff out. So.
Thaankkss :smile:
What r ur gcse grades?

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Any revision tips
I am doing my gcses next year and I am struggling with edexcel maths and edexcel english literature and language. Will be helpful If u recommend me some useful sites and revising notes.

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Okay. So I did crap. Sorry to be so blunt. Won't say what subjects, but BCDD.
Really upset because I worked so hard this year and really thought I'd done much better.

Well I'm off to uni anyway so I think I'm really going to get my head down and try and do well at uni. It's my last chance to do well in education so I want to show people I can do better. And I'm going to.
I guess I'm lucky in that my uni place didn't depend on my grades. That being said, I still feel like sh*t from this.

Looks like this blog didn't really help after all.

But uni here I come! :smile:

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