The turnaround... From BBD to AAB

Hello, welcome to the turnaround (that sounds like a gameshow on a Saturday night!). :smile:

I am currently undertaking Maths, Physics and Business Studies at A2 with the aim of AAB and studying mech engineering at one of the Russell group universities. I have been round Manchester, Leeds, Liverpool Northumbria and Newcastle already and I am really impressed, especially with Newcastle. Leeds has very high entry requirements (which would be a dream) and Northumbria is my fallback incase something happened during the course of the year. So my 3 realistic choices are Manchester, Liverpool and Newcastle, with Newcastle most likely being my firm.

History:
GCSE: A*AAAABBBBBB (Not the best but meh they were GCSEs).
A* - Maths.
A - Chemistry, Religion, English Language and P.E.
B - Spanish, Further Maths, Physics, Biology, Geography and English Literature.
AS: BBD.

I was honestly so underprepared for my AS exams. I had done nowhere near as much work as I should have and came out with better results in my mocks than my finals! (ABC) It shows I have the potential, to achieve this I need to put the effort in. I did do CS however I dropped this after my AS exams as I found that it wasn't for me.

Targets & stuff:
I am making this blog in order to motivate myself to fulfil my potential. My teachers have suggested the following target grades:
Maths(OCR) - A* (I achieved a B at AS, however I was 2 marks off an A, which was a kick in the teeth, as C2, supposedly my stronger module let me down. I plan to resit this and hopefully achieve well in C3 and C4. I have set myself a personal target of an A as I think that is achievable, and once I achieve this there is no reason why I should not go on to achieve an A*).
Physics(AQA) - A (I achieved a D at AS, which was majorly disappointing, I know that was my own fault for not dedicating time and effort to revise all the topics thoroughly. I think I can achieve an A as long as I attend revision sessions and consolidate my knowledge from lessons).
Business(AQA) - B (I achieved this grade at AS too, it is my least prioritised subject, it is only there for the UCAS points, as I don't really enjoy the subject because the teacher presents the content in such a dull way, i.e. I write it on the board and you copy it... There is also so much stuff to learn, from last year as well. I know I must keep up with the work but for me, Maths and Physics take priority).

Summary: So yeah, I plan to update this every few days with each post stating the progress I intend to make by the time I post again, and the following post will state how close I have came to achieving this aim and what I am to achieve next.
If you have made it this far, thanks for reading! Good luck to everybody else taking their exams. It may seem a bit early, but I don't want to take any chances, and come out with CCD and having to retake A2.

Mock exams:

:biggrin:

Maths (Target A) :biggrin:

Paper: C2 -- Date: Week commencing 07/02/17 -- Mark: __/75 -- Grade: __
Paper: C3 -- Date: Week commencing 07/02/17 -- Mark: __/75 -- Grade: __
Paper: C4 -- Date: Week commencing 07/02/17 -- Mark: __/75 -- Grade: __
Paper: D1 -- Date: Week commencing 07/02/17 -- Mark: __/75 -- Grade: __
OVERALL MARK: __/300 -- OVERALL GRADE: __

:colondollar:

Physics (Target A) :colondollar:

Paper: Paper 1 (Year 12) -- Date: Week commencing 07/02/17 -- Mark: __/85 -- Grade: __
Paper: Paper 2 -- Date: Week commencing 07/02/17 -- Mark: __/85 -- Grade: __
Paper: Paper 3 -- Date: Week commencing 07/02/17 -- Mark: __/85 -- Grade: __
OVERALL MARK: __/255 -- OVERALL GRADE: __

:frown:

Business (Target B) :frown:

Paper: Paper 1 -- Date: Week commencing 07/02/17 -- Mark: __/100 -- Grade: __
Paper: Paper 2 -- Date: Week commencing 07/02/17 -- Mark: __/100 -- Grade: __
Paper: Paper 3 -- Date: Week commencing 07/02/17 -- Mark: __/100 -- Grade: __
OVERALL MARK: __/300 -- OVERALL GRADE: __

Note to mods: Please move this to the correct section if needed. (Grow your grades I think it is called?) It wouldn't let me post there

(edited 7 years ago)

Reply 1

username2428827

Well I'll kick this off with what I hope to achieve by Friday:

Maths
I really need to go over some trigonometric identities in C3, they become easier with practise. I am going to go through some questions off the internet and hopefully be able to forget about them! I also need to learn the rest of those identities that we aren't given in the exam.

Physics
Look over SHM and circular motion and just check that I am comfortable with everything I am doing.

Business
Argh, well I'm just going to look through the textbook as we have a little mini assessment coming up next week. As long as I get a reasonable score, I will be happy.

Hmm, I've got two frees tomorrow, one on Thursday and four on Friday, so I can hopefully get some work done!

Goodluck with this

Original post by Inspiringvisons

Goodluck with this

Ah thanks, words of encouragement do help :smile:

Reply 4

Randall13

Amazing you seem very focused. Just to give you some motivation.

I achieved BBC at AS and managed to turn it around to AAB at A2. Keep on task.

I did biology,chemistry and Maths.

All the best.

Reply 5

username2428827

Original post by Randall13

Amazing you seem very focused. Just to give you some motivation.

I achieved BBC at AS and managed to turn it around to AAB at A2. Keep on task.

I did biology,chemistry and Maths.

All the best.

Out of interest what was the C in? Wow, thats great though well done

Reply 6

Randall13

Thanks a lot.

Got the C in chemistry and turned it around it to an A.

Reply 7

username2428827

Original post by Randall13

Thanks a lot.

Got the C in chemistry and turned it around it to an A.

Good job

, damn I've been a little slow on updating this, I should get in to a habit or a routine, I'll post a full update tomorrow!

Reply 8

Crabb1ey

I wish you the best of luck! I went through a similar thing where at AS I got BBCE (Biology Geology, Chemistry, Physics), my sixth form did not teach A2 Geology so I had to take Physics. At the end of A2 I'd got CCE and a B at EPQ. I'd already discussed retaking as my exams hadn't been going great and so I ended up doing a retake and an extra year at sixth form. I ended up with ABC, my A was extremely close to an A* and my C near a B. I did retake some of my AS exams so I actually have AAC in Biology, Chemistry and Physics AS. So don't worry about it, and if it comes to it having to retake your A2's can be upsetting but you will get through it.

For Physics I revised a lot through reciting my notes daily, doing past papers every day and I did end up getting a private tutor. I also went to revision sessions and really focused on my coursework - I got an A on my coursework! You've done amazingly at Maths so you should be fine.

Reply 9

matchalatte

Original post by Randall13

Thanks a lot.

Got the C in chemistry and turned it around it to an A.

Wait, did you resit your AS or you just continue with it and got an A overall?

Reply 10

username2428827

Original post by Crabb1ey

Wow well done to you! This does give me the motivation to do well! :smile:

Reply 11

username2428827

Maths
I was able to go over trigonometric identities and memorised the ones that aren't given to us in the exam. This has helped and I also managed to go through other aspects of Core 3

Physics
I am very happy with SHM and circular motion now and feel confident!BusinessDone as much as I needed to to get through!

I also picked up a copy of 'How To Ace Your A-Levels' and wow, this book gives you some great techniques to succeed. I'd recommend it to anybody taking their A-Levels