Ladies and Gentlemen (or other), I welcome you to my Journey through A-Levels...BACKGROUND INFORMATIONBefore I jump right into this, I thought I’d give you a little insight into who I am.Being a relatively new member of the student room (of this actual account, I have used the service for a few years now), I don’t completely understand how everything works. Regardless of how many times I read “how to…” threads I still struggle. And let’s face it, with the task of tackling A-Levels, who has time for life anymore?
I am in my second year of sixth form studies (my subjects include Biology, Chemistry, History and EPQ), I’m from West Yorkshire, I am female and I own a cat. (I think I’ve covered the basics, now let’s get into the important stuff).
AS LEVELsI struggled massively last year, not with the content or even the exams, but I was quite ill (still am in fact). The school have been informed, but there’s not much they can do when it comes to exams. Gratefully, they have blessed me with “special arrangements” by sitting me at the back of the hall so I can leave in a rush if I need to and a beautifully cool wall to rest my head on when I get a headache (although, when they assigned my seat I don’t think that’s what they were thinking about).
When I got my results, I was very upset, but I was also proud. In Biology, I achieved a B, I was predicted an A and although I would normally have been devastated by this news, I was quite happy – I hadn’t worked as hard as I could have, I had a lack of motivation last year and was going through quite a rough spot in my life mentally. I got a C in history, which was a bloody miracle, because the paper was very difficult for my year – there was a question on a section which we had overlooked (at least it taught me the importance of revising literally
everything). Finally, Chemistry; unfortunately, I was very ill in the first exam, ended up crying and didn’t write half the paper, so that completely flunked. I only achieved an E.
Of course, I believe I was a good student at GCSE, I achieved 8As, 3Bs and 2Cs (French and Further Mathematics, ugh). I thought I was good, that I had handled this dramatic change that everyone had spoken about. I dropped English Literature to focus on the subjects that would get me where I wanted university wise…
It was my fault at the end of the day. I spread myself out too thinly and didn’t have enough time to prepare. So, of course I was heartbroken, but it gave me the determination necessary to get better, improve and grab life by its balls! (Can I say that on here?)
In conclusion….
2015 AS Level Examination Results:
AQA Biology
BAQA Chemistry
EEdexcel History
CPREDICTED GRADESAfter explaining all the above to my wonderful, caring teachers (in case they read this and recognise me, hi Mrs M!) thankfully made me feel much better. They offered me the support and guidance to continue pushing for better grades, they even gave me a remarkable reference which made my Grandma cry because she was so surprised that I was good at sixth form (I know, thanks Grandma, totally haven’t spoken to you about it every day).
They awarded me the predicted grades…
AQA Biology
AAQA Chemistry
CEdexcel History
AAQA Extended Project
A*I know you’re thinking, what the hell? How can she possibly achieve that compared to those *****y AS Level grades and to be honest, I don’t have an answer. So far this year I have made flashcards, started to pay attention in a higher percentage of my classes (I still zone out a little bit, but I’m working hard on it) and have organised some revision folders.
My year is more difficult than ever before, we must resit all our AS exams as well as A2 (which in my case may be a godsend…) and I feel so stressed out about everything, but I am determined for the following reason…
FALLING IN LOVE (with a University)I admit it, I was always the person to tell everyone that I would go to Oxford and that it would be the best thing to happen to me. At 10 years old, I would tell my Grandma’s my entire futures regarding London and Oxford/Cambridge. But let’s face it, I grew up.
I found the love of my life after watching one YouTube video by Alice Thorpe, who showed me around the campus of
LINCOLN UNIVERSITY (In Lincoln, duh). I don’t think it was love at first sight, but I can’t completely be sure. I remember watching the videos (around her accommodation, around the campus, her subject – completely different to mine) and knew that I had to at least visit. So, there I went, after booking an open day and dragging my supportive parents on. And I was fascinated, like a kid in a candy shop, something clicked and I finally felt like a belonged (you might think that this is A. cheesy or B. extremely exaggerated, but I genuinely feel that way). It was just the applications now…
UNIVERSITYI’m not stupid, I knew that to get the best chance of getting into at least one university, I had to apply to more than one at the time. I selected Lincoln, Chester, Cumbria and York – all with varying entry requirements from AAB to CCC, to give me the best possible chance.
I applied before the Oxford deadline, I sent my (hopefully) polished application to UCAS in October 2016. A few weeks later I had two replies, another week passed and my last two came in. The first was… Lincoln, they had offered me Masters Biology, the thing I had spent nights dreaming over. Chester, Cumbria and York all offered Bachelors Biology. I felt accepted, I was accepted.
It’s a weird feeling when you get all your offers, it’s not to brag, but it almost feels like an extra push in the right direction. I felt like these institutions had acknowledged the fact that I could do this, I could have the future that I wanted. So, I have replied to my offers with Lincoln as my firm choice and Chester as my insurance.
LET’S GET PERSONALConstructive criticism is always welcome, new ideas for revision are always welcome, I just ask that everyone is kind to each other in the replies section of this blog post. I don’t tolerate nastiness or bullying in any format – please keep it constructive, whether that be to me or anyone else that is commenting, I’m always looking for areas to improve.
If you have any questions about me, my college, my GCSEs, my experiences, anything I can help you with, please don’t hesitate to ask, I’ll be trying to update this blog as often as possible, with at least one to do list a week (keep on at me if I don’t or if I forget, I forget things a lot).
MOCKS IN JANUARY 5th November 2016 to 12th November 201612th November 2016 to 19th November 2016