Follow me on my gap year adventure (aka why does my title suck)
Hey everyone, so I have never done anything like this before so please excuse my poor extended writing skills, I haven't wrote an essay in over two years 
. I'll start with some background information, here goes;
GCSEs
We will start here i guess as primary school and junior school was pretty insignificant, so during my GCSE years I would say that I didn't respect other subjects nearly as much as Maths and science, as they were what I wanted to do at alevel and probably at university so why should I care about humanities, immature mindset, and I paid for it with some mediocre results;
3 A*s - Maths, Additional Maths, Double award science (1)
4 As - DA Science (2), Economics, Spanish, R.E.
3 Bs - English, Technology, History
AS Level
Okay so I started AS in September doing Maths, Physics, Economics and Computing however I was hesitant on Economics because of the extended writing/essays which I hated oh so much. I talked to the Head Of Department in Maths about doing Further Maths A2 however the school didnt offer it and I was advised against it, so I continued with these 4 subjects until around Halloween, I was staying in for UKMT maths challenge practice when I asked a maths teacher about complex numbers, she responded by handing me a FP1 book, I spent halloween holidays learning about complex numbers and parabolas and it was terrific. So that's when I went to the principal and asked to drop Economics as I intended to Self teach* Further Maths. This went ahead and I finished AS with AAAA in maths, further maths, physics and computing
*self teach meaning I taught myself the content, I still had some occasional FM class when i was free and the referred to above maths teacher was free, she went over things I wasn't sure about etc
A2 Level
Okay this year started with another important decision, physics or computer science? I enjoyed the computing class much more and programming was lots of fun but I would have to repeat a theory paper as I didnt do so well. Physics was a much higher UMS mark however it was kind of boring, after some talk with my parents I decided to do physics as further maths was my fun subject and I should do the subject ill have an easier time getting an A or better in. So I studied Maths, Further Maths and Physics. Around January time I decided I would sit STEP 1 and 2 for the challenge in June and had a lot of fun practicing for that. Not much else happened during my A2s, everything was rather normal. Finished A2s with A*A*A in Maths, FM and Physics and a 1,3 in STEP 1 and 2, not too bad.
(module results are here under the About Me tab if you are curious; http://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/member.php?u=1663781 )
UCAS and applying to University
This time last year I applied to university for straight Maths, it was decent and I got 3 offers, Bristol, Bath and Queens Belfast. Rejected from Oxford and St.Andrews. I went to visit Bristol/Bath and thought they were honestly lovely places, the city of Bristol looked great and the Bath campus was amazing (the lakeside grass seems like such a peaceful place to sit on warm days). I decided to firm Bath and I was 90% sure I would go (i had the odd thought of a gap year).
This Summer - what happened
So my summer started very slow, only really seen friends twice a week and although i played games online with them I spent a lot of time on my own, so to keep me occupied I started following tutorials online to make my own game in java, something I loved doing so much during AS computing. There's something about sitting at 3am trying to code a rubbish 2d game that you would never look near if it wasnt yours that made me question whether I should give coding and computer science (/computing) another thought. I spent a lot of nights and lost a lot of sleep thinking about it but eventually decided that I wanted to study Mathematics with Computer Science since coding was so enjoyable for me and I spend lots of time on my computer and am quite interested in how they work.
This then made me think a lot more about talking a gap year as my plans about the future were being shaken up (I originally planned to PhD in Maths and do nothing but maths, maths and more maths forever) so I could take it all in. So here we are!
My Plans and why make a blog?
I hope to get a job soon in order to save up some money for University.
I am also doing Add. Further Maths and I'm going keep coding and reading book to get more in depth with that, especially Java.
For about a year now i have wanted to learn piano but just never started. I dont own a piano (slight problem) so I'll be digging my brother's old keyboard out from the attic and learning to play it, using online tutorials etc.
MAT will be taken and STEP preparation will be done to keep me sharp, dont know if I'll bother sitting STEP again though. Also might look at BMO stuff if I ever find myself wanting some new maths to do
Finally my brother is starting AS FM (self taught) so I'll be helping him if he needs it.
I decided a blog would be useful as it will keep me motivated and working hard if I physically have to type and read about how much work I've done in a day. Also depending on my job I manage I will get quite lonely with my friends having left for university, I guess this will be somewhere to express my thoughts and finally hopefully it will help others decide whether they want to gap year if they can read my real time views and opinions on it, plus ill be help to answer any of your questions as the year goes on!
You stayed?
You read it all
thank you for reading 
hopefully you find this blog useful and if you have any questions please don't hesitate to ask.
. I'll start with some background information, here goes;GCSEs
We will start here i guess as primary school and junior school was pretty insignificant, so during my GCSE years I would say that I didn't respect other subjects nearly as much as Maths and science, as they were what I wanted to do at alevel and probably at university so why should I care about humanities, immature mindset, and I paid for it with some mediocre results;
3 A*s - Maths, Additional Maths, Double award science (1)
4 As - DA Science (2), Economics, Spanish, R.E.
3 Bs - English, Technology, History
AS Level
Okay so I started AS in September doing Maths, Physics, Economics and Computing however I was hesitant on Economics because of the extended writing/essays which I hated oh so much. I talked to the Head Of Department in Maths about doing Further Maths A2 however the school didnt offer it and I was advised against it, so I continued with these 4 subjects until around Halloween, I was staying in for UKMT maths challenge practice when I asked a maths teacher about complex numbers, she responded by handing me a FP1 book, I spent halloween holidays learning about complex numbers and parabolas and it was terrific. So that's when I went to the principal and asked to drop Economics as I intended to Self teach* Further Maths. This went ahead and I finished AS with AAAA in maths, further maths, physics and computing
*self teach meaning I taught myself the content, I still had some occasional FM class when i was free and the referred to above maths teacher was free, she went over things I wasn't sure about etc
A2 Level
Okay this year started with another important decision, physics or computer science? I enjoyed the computing class much more and programming was lots of fun but I would have to repeat a theory paper as I didnt do so well. Physics was a much higher UMS mark however it was kind of boring, after some talk with my parents I decided to do physics as further maths was my fun subject and I should do the subject ill have an easier time getting an A or better in. So I studied Maths, Further Maths and Physics. Around January time I decided I would sit STEP 1 and 2 for the challenge in June and had a lot of fun practicing for that. Not much else happened during my A2s, everything was rather normal. Finished A2s with A*A*A in Maths, FM and Physics and a 1,3 in STEP 1 and 2, not too bad.
(module results are here under the About Me tab if you are curious; http://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/member.php?u=1663781 )
UCAS and applying to University
This time last year I applied to university for straight Maths, it was decent and I got 3 offers, Bristol, Bath and Queens Belfast. Rejected from Oxford and St.Andrews. I went to visit Bristol/Bath and thought they were honestly lovely places, the city of Bristol looked great and the Bath campus was amazing (the lakeside grass seems like such a peaceful place to sit on warm days). I decided to firm Bath and I was 90% sure I would go (i had the odd thought of a gap year).
This Summer - what happened
So my summer started very slow, only really seen friends twice a week and although i played games online with them I spent a lot of time on my own, so to keep me occupied I started following tutorials online to make my own game in java, something I loved doing so much during AS computing. There's something about sitting at 3am trying to code a rubbish 2d game that you would never look near if it wasnt yours that made me question whether I should give coding and computer science (/computing) another thought. I spent a lot of nights and lost a lot of sleep thinking about it but eventually decided that I wanted to study Mathematics with Computer Science since coding was so enjoyable for me and I spend lots of time on my computer and am quite interested in how they work.
This then made me think a lot more about talking a gap year as my plans about the future were being shaken up (I originally planned to PhD in Maths and do nothing but maths, maths and more maths forever) so I could take it all in. So here we are!
My Plans and why make a blog?
I hope to get a job soon in order to save up some money for University.
I am also doing Add. Further Maths and I'm going keep coding and reading book to get more in depth with that, especially Java.
For about a year now i have wanted to learn piano but just never started. I dont own a piano (slight problem) so I'll be digging my brother's old keyboard out from the attic and learning to play it, using online tutorials etc.
MAT will be taken and STEP preparation will be done to keep me sharp, dont know if I'll bother sitting STEP again though. Also might look at BMO stuff if I ever find myself wanting some new maths to do
Finally my brother is starting AS FM (self taught) so I'll be helping him if he needs it.
I decided a blog would be useful as it will keep me motivated and working hard if I physically have to type and read about how much work I've done in a day. Also depending on my job I manage I will get quite lonely with my friends having left for university, I guess this will be somewhere to express my thoughts and finally hopefully it will help others decide whether they want to gap year if they can read my real time views and opinions on it, plus ill be help to answer any of your questions as the year goes on!
You stayed?
You read it all
thank you for reading hopefully you find this blog useful and if you have any questions please don't hesitate to ask.Scroll to see replies
28/8/16
First official day of my gap year, it still feels strange to think that i have almost 400 days until "proper" education starts again for me. Today was good, I got off to a good start, wrote my first draft of my new personal statement and found a few nearby jobs which I will be applying to over the next few days.
Tomorrow and tuesday will probably just be used to go over Core modules (especially C1 and C2 as I will need to know them inside out for the MAT) and maybe some java work. Then on wednesday I will begin AFM.
First official day of my gap year, it still feels strange to think that i have almost 400 days until "proper" education starts again for me. Today was good, I got off to a good start, wrote my first draft of my new personal statement and found a few nearby jobs which I will be applying to over the next few days.
Tomorrow and tuesday will probably just be used to go over Core modules (especially C1 and C2 as I will need to know them inside out for the MAT) and maybe some java work. Then on wednesday I will begin AFM.
29/8/16
Today was a little less productive, woke up at 2:30pm... I did read through the C1 and C2 textbooks. I found the derivations of the sine and cosine rule pretty neat (I didnt know those before today). Spent some time on TSR and Youtube also. Will probably look at some Java related stuff later and maybe touch up my personal statement. C3 and C4 revision tomorrow then it'll be time to start Decision 1.
Today was a little less productive, woke up at 2:30pm... I did read through the C1 and C2 textbooks. I found the derivations of the sine and cosine rule pretty neat (I didnt know those before today). Spent some time on TSR and Youtube also. Will probably look at some Java related stuff later and maybe touch up my personal statement. C3 and C4 revision tomorrow then it'll be time to start Decision 1.
I guess I'll just update this every few days once I have enough to write about
30/8/16
Spent most of my day tidying my room (sorting old school books etc) and washing my car. Started some online lessons on piano which was fun, time signatures really confuse me though, hopefully they will make sense soon. Also started D1, I think my order will be Decision 1 and 2, S4 then mechanics modules 3,4 and 5 to finish. Didn't do any coding as I was occupied by TSR
31/8/16
Today was the opening day of my old school, I went in to talk about UCAS and also discuss a physics remark (got 265/300 ums, need 270 for A*). Came home and worked more on Decision 1, trace tables are a little tedious. Overall though it seems very straightforward so far. Will do some coding later after I go play games for a few hours
30/8/16
Spent most of my day tidying my room (sorting old school books etc) and washing my car. Started some online lessons on piano which was fun, time signatures really confuse me though, hopefully they will make sense soon. Also started D1, I think my order will be Decision 1 and 2, S4 then mechanics modules 3,4 and 5 to finish. Didn't do any coding as I was occupied by TSR
31/8/16
Today was the opening day of my old school, I went in to talk about UCAS and also discuss a physics remark (got 265/300 ums, need 270 for A*). Came home and worked more on Decision 1, trace tables are a little tedious. Overall though it seems very straightforward so far. Will do some coding later after I go play games for a few hours
1/9/2016 - 4/9/2016
A little more to write about now.
I am already so bored of decision maths and im only on page 30, chapter 1 was honestly the most tedious and boring maths chapter ive ever done. Hopefully it'll pick up as I still have D1 and D2 to finish
.
Completed my first BMO question on Friday which was fun, I really enjoy the style of questions however most of them are too hard, especially the geometry ones. They will be a nice challenge in the coming months.
Coding is coming along well also, although I am constantly needing to google things that I dont understand. Beginning Java feels like I've been thrown into a huge ocean, there is just so much to know but it will feel great once I get good with it.
Haven't done any MAT or piano since my last update, I'll do some of both tomorrow i think.
Went out on Friday with my group of friends from school for maybe the last time for a long while since most are leaving soon for university, I think once they leave it will really hit me that my gap year has started.
Applied to 5 jobs today so hopefully I hear back from at least 1 of them
A little more to write about now.
I am already so bored of decision maths and im only on page 30, chapter 1 was honestly the most tedious and boring maths chapter ive ever done. Hopefully it'll pick up as I still have D1 and D2 to finish
. Completed my first BMO question on Friday which was fun, I really enjoy the style of questions however most of them are too hard, especially the geometry ones. They will be a nice challenge in the coming months.
Coding is coming along well also, although I am constantly needing to google things that I dont understand. Beginning Java feels like I've been thrown into a huge ocean, there is just so much to know but it will feel great once I get good with it.
Haven't done any MAT or piano since my last update, I'll do some of both tomorrow i think.
Went out on Friday with my group of friends from school for maybe the last time for a long while since most are leaving soon for university, I think once they leave it will really hit me that my gap year has started.
Applied to 5 jobs today so hopefully I hear back from at least 1 of them
great blog
dont give up
dont give up
Original post by Blackstarr
great blog
dont give up
dont give up
thank you
ill try my best to make this year worthwhile
Original post by DylanJ42
thank you
ill try my best to make this year worthwhile
ill try my best to make this year worthwhile
Great
M.A.T. 2007
Done my first MAT of the year today. Although it is an early paper and they will get a lot harder I now realise why people recommend looking at STEP in preparation for the MAT. Any manipulations of equations, expansions, spotting of patterns etc seem to come easier this year than it did last year and I really believe that is down to STEP. Also this year I have the maths w/ compsci benefit of not having to touch Q4
My score was 92/100. I guess I will do a Zacken style analysis of my papers since they were interesting to read (at least to me) last year
a good start, just need to read over the mark schemes explanations and work on how I word my own as they get very confusing and messy!
Done my first MAT of the year today. Although it is an early paper and they will get a lot harder I now realise why people recommend looking at STEP in preparation for the MAT. Any manipulations of equations, expansions, spotting of patterns etc seem to come easier this year than it did last year and I really believe that is down to STEP. Also this year I have the maths w/ compsci benefit of not having to touch Q4
My score was 92/100. I guess I will do a Zacken style analysis of my papers since they were interesting to read (at least to me) last year
Spoiler
a good start, just need to read over the mark schemes explanations and work on how I word my own as they get very confusing and messy!
This is a really nice blog. I too am taking a gap year and sometimes I worry that I'll feel regretful of it, but reading the adventures of someone in the same position as me really does make me feel better, and really motivates me not to waste this year! For example, I really want to get back into writing, and now I have ample time to
Keep it up
Keep it up
I'm taking a gap year too, haven't started studying again yet. I better get a move on though.
I've just been so stressed out about other things recently.
I've just been so stressed out about other things recently.
Original post by Abcdefghijk123
This is a really nice blog. I too am taking a gap year and sometimes I worry that I'll feel regretful of it, but reading the adventures of someone in the same position as me really does make me feel better, and really motivates me not to waste this year! For example, I really want to get back into writing, and now I have ample time to
Keep it up
Keep it up
Thank you
yea this site helps a lot with the scariness of a gap year since you can read about and talk to others who are taking a gap year, it makes it feel like a much more normal thing to do (I only know of 2 others from my school taking a year out, out of 110 or so). That's amazing, do you plan to start up a blog to share some of your writing? I will, gl this year
Original post by TheonlyMrsHolmes
I'm taking a gap year too, haven't started studying again yet. I better get a move on though.
I've just been so stressed out about other things recently.
I've just been so stressed out about other things recently.
It's hard to work when friends are still on summer bc of starting university in late September, once they leave it'll probably be easier to focus and get work done (at least I'm hoping that's the case).
stressed about alevels/gap year/university? or other things? I hope everything works out for you soon, being stressed/worried sucks
Original post by DylanJ42
It's hard to work when friends are still on summer bc of starting university in late September, once they leave it'll probably be easier to focus and get work done (at least I'm hoping that's the case).
stressed about alevels/gap year/university? or other things? I hope everything works out for you soon, being stressed/worried sucks
stressed about alevels/gap year/university? or other things? I hope everything works out for you soon, being stressed/worried sucks
I know, most of them are still here so I've been procrastinating by taking to them XD When they leave, and everyone goes back I feel like it will be easier.
Other things I'm afraid
Thankyou so much. Hopefully i'll be back on track asap.
Good luck with everything though, sounds like you're off to a good start
(edited 7 years ago)
5/9/16 - 11/9/16
Literally just realised its been almost a week since I've updated this
I basically done nothing this week except sit on the computer since I've had a temperature as past 3 days
Managed to do some Java work though which is good, the game creation is getting interesting now as the foundations are done so I'm looking forward to working on it tomorrow again
D1 is going less well, im only on page 50 and I cant bring myself to do more, I cannot wait to finish it! and I still have D2 to do
Haven't done any keyboard either. Damn this week has sucked!
Will do another MAT on Monday or Tuesday once I am feeling good again I think. Ill try do 10 pages of D1 tomorrow and monday also.
Literally just realised its been almost a week since I've updated this
I basically done nothing this week except sit on the computer since I've had a temperature as past 3 days
Managed to do some Java work though which is good, the game creation is getting interesting now as the foundations are done so I'm looking forward to working on it tomorrow again
D1 is going less well, im only on page 50 and I cant bring myself to do more, I cannot wait to finish it! and I still have D2 to do
Haven't done any keyboard either. Damn this week has sucked!
Will do another MAT on Monday or Tuesday once I am feeling good again I think. Ill try do 10 pages of D1 tomorrow and monday also.
M.A.T. 2008
Quite annoyed with this one, I messed up Q5 a lot and missed out on 90+
Score: 86/100
Q1: 40/40, my working for C was pretty unconvincing but still got it right, everything else was good here.
Q2: 12/15, everything right except for iv). I got too caught up in the fact a and b values had to be considered, oh well
Q3: 14/15, didnt really show the translation work as much as I should have. I just done it as a little scribble at the side so I deducted one mark
Q5: 7/15, lol I changed locker states randomly and forgot about 40 as a factor of 1000 in part iv. Such a straightforward question too
Q6: 13/15, this one was fine, my explanation in iii) was bad so i deducted 2 here
Quite annoyed with this one, I messed up Q5 a lot and missed out on 90+
Score: 86/100
Q1: 40/40, my working for C was pretty unconvincing but still got it right, everything else was good here.
Q2: 12/15, everything right except for iv). I got too caught up in the fact a and b values had to be considered, oh well
Q3: 14/15, didnt really show the translation work as much as I should have. I just done it as a little scribble at the side so I deducted one mark
Q5: 7/15, lol I changed locker states randomly and forgot about 40 as a factor of 1000 in part iv. Such a straightforward question too
Q6: 13/15, this one was fine, my explanation in iii) was bad so i deducted 2 here
Original post by san Lai
Great！
Keep the post QAQ
Keep the post QAQ
thank you
12/9/16 - 18/9/16
I always thought I was quite a productive guy but obviously not. Yesterday saw most of my friends leave for University so maybe ill have less distractions now and will be able to work.
This week I have got myself up to page 100 of Decision 1 (I usually just do 10 pages per day so for most of the modules you'll probably find me going up in multiples of 10). Only about 50 to go
I also spent a day doing a MAT and other general core maths work as a break from decision
Done some Java work also and haven't done any keyboard, whoops.
And i think that's all I've done, spent most of the week either out or playing games.
Targets for the end of September:
Time to make some targets. I would like to have D1 finished and a past paper done. 2/3 more MAT papers done. Start consistently with keyboard and finally "finish" the java game I am working on and get starting on reading "Head First Java".
I always thought I was quite a productive guy but obviously not. Yesterday saw most of my friends leave for University so maybe ill have less distractions now and will be able to work.
This week I have got myself up to page 100 of Decision 1 (I usually just do 10 pages per day so for most of the modules you'll probably find me going up in multiples of 10). Only about 50 to go
I also spent a day doing a MAT and other general core maths work as a break from decision
Done some Java work also and haven't done any keyboard, whoops.
And i think that's all I've done, spent most of the week either out or playing games.
Targets for the end of September:
Time to make some targets. I would like to have D1 finished and a past paper done. 2/3 more MAT papers done. Start consistently with keyboard and finally "finish" the java game I am working on and get starting on reading "Head First Java".
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