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Tombre's 100 or so day journey to all A*s!





:biggrin:TOMBRE'S JOURNEY TO ALL A*S AT GCSE:biggrin:

Hey everyone, I'm Tombre and this is my second attempt at creating a GYG blog and I am hoping it will be so much more successful this time around.
My first exam is in 109 days time (as of 25/1/17) and it is Religion and Life Issues.

I am hoping to achieve all A*s at GCSE and I think that recording what I've done daily will really motivate me!

I already have 2.5 GCSEs:

A* in Mathematics (WJEC)
A* in Mathematics-Numeracy (WJEC)
B in Welsh Second Language (Short Course)






I did the Welsh in Year 9 and I think the B will annoy me for a long time, but I'm happy with it, I'm not great at Welsh and my work ethic was pretty much non-existent until Year 10 when I worked my arse off to get to the top.

Some irrelevant information about me:

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Regularly Updated -

I am studying:

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I have done some units for some subjects already and I achieved:

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Controlled Assessments:

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Subject Breakdown:

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I will be posting daily (hopefully) and saying what I did in my lessons in school, what I have revised and any extra information I feel the need to throw in! :biggrin:

Also be sure to check out Abusive's GYG, they inspired me to revive my own! https://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/showthread.php?t=4521790&p=69772356#post69772356

I'm also a huge fan of Niamh's A Level GYG! https://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/showthread.php?t=4300764
(edited 7 years ago)

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Good luck with this! Your current grades look great and I very much look forward to seeing your progress :smile:

(also thanks for the mention! :h:)
Reply 2
Original post by NiamhM1801
Good luck with this! Your current grades look great and I very much look forward to seeing your progress :smile:

(also thanks for the mention! :h:)


Thank you so much!

(no problem haha :biggrin:)
Reply 3
POW! FIRST PROPER ENTRY! ARE Y'ALL PROUD OF ME?
Idk why I just said y'all but let's roll with it.

TODAY IN SCHOOL:

ASSEMBLY
My school was saying that we should be making our revision timetables and starting to ease in etc, which I totally agreed with but then the teacher doing the assembly said that in the holidays we should get up at 9 and run through 5 hours of revision to mimic the school day, which I thought was utter crap ngl, nothing would sink in revising like that!

GEOGRAPHY
Geography was horrible omg, we entered the high control section of our controlled assessment on the Galapagos Islands and some dude from the WJEC was sat watching us all, checking everything was up to scratch (which was so off-putting). The actually assessment isn't too hard, just not as good as I was expecting it to be. I prefer physical Geography so was expecting ecosystems and wildlife, considering it's the Galapagos, but it's human based and about tourism. Yay! :colonhash:

ENGLISH
We went through the reading section of the Unit 2 paper we did and I got 33/40 which I was so surprised about. I'm getting the writing section back tomorrow and I actually need to finish my Unit 3 paper this evening for tomorrow. English seems to be going really well at the moment :biggrin:

SPANISH
I was starting to get tired of Spanish but I'm enjoying it again now! The topic isn't particularly interesting but I'm starting to get better at revising vocabulary and understanding, which is always good in a language, haha. We did a vocab test and I got 14/15, which I was thrilled with, as I don't usually do well in them! :smile:

MATHS
Our teacher wasn't in and considering we had our results last week we were in no rush to do anything, so honestly I did nothing. :tongue:

DRAMA
My group finished reading Blue Remembered Hills, we decided which scenes we're going to cut and tomorrow we are starting rehearsals for the exam in May. Part of me wants the AQA guy to be watching my group, but part of me also does not, especially considering how off-putting I found it in Geography today! :h:

This evening I have 80 minutes to finish my Language Unit 3 paper. I'm also going to try some Physics XUVAT/SUVAT equation questions. I don't think I'll be doing anything else. My timetable will start from next Monday onwards, so I may spend some time working on perfecting that too!
Reply 4
Some really nice grades overall so far, looking forward to watch this thread :biggrin:.
You need to teach me how to do well in Geography, I got 65/80 and now have to resit if I want an easier chance at getting an A*.
My work ethic was also terrible in Year 9, most of 10 but since then I think it's come a long really well.
I wouldn't worry about the B in Welsh considering you're most likely going to be studying out of Wales anyway later on in life. Good luck with your GCSE's we've both only got a few months left in Secondary school now :h:
(Also would thumbs up your post but I have to thumbs up some other people first -_-. Thanks for the mention)
(edited 7 years ago)
Reply 5
Original post by Abusive
Some really nice grades overall so far, looking forward to watch this thread :biggrin:.
You need to teach me how to do well in Geography, I got 65/80 and now have to resit if I want an easier chance at getting an A*.
My work ethic was also terrible in Year 9, most of 10 but since then I think it's come a long really well.
I wouldn't worry about the B in Welsh considering you're most likely going to be studying out of Wales anyway later on in life. Good luck with your GCSE's we've both only got a few months left in Secondary school now :h:
(Also would thumbs up your post but I have to thumbs up some other people first -_-. Thanks for the mention)


Thank you so much! :biggrin:
That's still an amazing mark in Geography! When I revised I made lots of very detailed, colourful notes and tried to rewrite them without looking at the original and eventually it all committed to memory. Geography is all about learning the case studies and applying them. If you find a case study you did in school hard then find an easier one online! I did that with a few.
Yeah, I just kind of floated along in Year 9, but I really did try in Year 10. You definitely have a great work ethic right now.
And I suppose that's true! I'm not planning on applying to a Welsh uni or anything and tbf I did it very early, so I'll excuse myself for that.
Thank you and good luck to you too (Not being in school sounds so scary oh my god)!
(Thank you! And no problem :tongue:)
Reply 6
ROUGH PLAN FOR THE NEXT WEEKish:

- Make notes for P3.2 (Wave Properties and Seismic Waves).
- Make notes for B3.1 (Plants, Water and Nutrients). This is the only Bio topic I don't like, so it's best to get it done with.
- Revise for my Geography controlled assessment.
- Start learning ahead for C3.1 (Additional Organic Chemistry).
- Reread An Inspector Calls.
Reply 7
BAM! I'M BACK (NOT THAT I WAS GONE TBH)

I'm so exhausted today. I got myself into an amazing sleeping habit through the start of January and I lost it, so I'm challenging myself into getting back into it. Today is one of those days where you're really bored but don't want to do anything, so tonight isn't looking productive.

TODAY IN SCHOOL:

BIOLOGY
Today we did most of B3.3 (The Nervous System). Last lesson we looked at the structure of the eye and today we looked at the CNS, responses, reflexes and more. We only have reflex arcs left to go. I'm really enjoying this topic! :biggrin:

MATHS
This was our last lesson of no Maths and starting from Monday we should all be splitting up into smaller groups, depending on what people want to do (drop Maths for study periods, drop Maths for a "Personal Finance" course, continue and possibly do Additional Maths - I will be continuing until June). I am up to date with all of my work, so I watched some YouTube videos with friends. :h:

CHEMISTRY
We did the second Controlled Assessment lesson. I finished writing my method for the Iodine Clock experiment and drew a results table ready for next lesson. :tongue:

DRAMA
Since my group finished reading Blue Remembered Hills yesterday, we started acting out the scenes. It's all super fun. It was also the last lesson with our student teacher, which was really sad as she was so awesome. :frown:

ENGLISH
We did some English Language exam questions and got back the rest of our Unit 2 past papers. I got 33/35 on the writing section which I was not expecting and am so pleased with! :bigsmile:
Reply 8
I have completed my February revision timetable! Every subject is in 25 minute blocks with a 5 minute break at the end and is followed by a contrasting subject. This revision will be light; making notes, reviewing work I did a long time ago etc, I don't want to burn out before I reach May :tongue:

Screen Shot 2017-01-29 at 11.19.02.png

Yesterday I made some notes on Alkanes, Alkenes and Alcohols, read up on the CNS and opened my Spanish revision guide and honestly read none of it (oops).
Reply 9
Original post by Tombre
I have completed my February revision timetable! Every subject is in 25 minute blocks with a 5 minute break at the end and is followed by a contrasting subject. This revision will be light; making notes, reviewing work I did a long time ago etc, I don't want to burn out before I reach May :tongue:

Screen Shot 2017-01-29 at 11.19.02.png

Yesterday I made some notes on Alkanes, Alkenes and Alcohols, read up on the CNS and opened my Spanish revision guide and honestly read none of it (oops).


Revision table is looking good, but please make the 5:00 time the same width as the rest of the times, it's driving me insane lol
Reply 10
Original post by Abusive
Revision table is looking good, but please make the 5:00 time the same width as the rest of the times, it's driving me insane lol


Oh my god I didn't even notice and now it's driving me insane too!

Fixed:

Screen Shot 2017-01-29 at 12.45.16.png
Reply 11
SOME GOOD NEWS AND SOME MEH NEWS

I missed 1.5 lessons today because of an orthodontic appointment (they put a hella thick wire on, ow - well, in comparison to the last one). But my teeth have progressed so much, so I'm hoping I won't have to have them too much longer, though I don't mind them all that much tbh.

DRAMA
This was the lesson I missed. :angry:

PHYSICS
I missed half the lesson but when I did get there... oh my god... My class has to redo our Controlled Assessment. The teacher isn't giving out marks, she just says that she doesn't think we're all going to be fully satisfied, so she's giving us another shot at a completely different CA. The previous one was about speed, depth and waves, this new one is about resistance and current. I'm going to work so hard for this and am going to be CONDUCTING (badum ts) research tonight! That is the meh news. :colonhash:

GEOGRAPHY
Here comes the good news! I got 38/40 on my Fieldwork Assessment, so I've now officially got 50% of Geography in the bag at an A* (Unit 1 and this). We then continued working on our DME Assessment, but towards the end I couldn't focus because oh dear lord I needed to pee. :biggrin:

MATHS
We did some Additional Maths questions on proof. The class is officially splitting up on Wednesday and we are getting new timetables. :h:

GAMES
I literally have no idea where 80% of my class was for this. I worked on the cross trainer for a while but the brace pain started kicking in at about this time so I just sat massaging my mouth and looking stupid for the last 10 minutes. :s-smilie:

So tonight I'm going to do my Physics research and maybe look at some Spanish vocabulary.

Also, Primrose Kitten (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCBgvmal8AR4QIK2e0EfJwaA) has started making revision videos for WJEC (she's covered most of all the other exam board's content). Only B1 is out so far, which I have done so isn't much use to me, but once she makes Unit 3 videos for the sciences it'll be very useful, so if you're on the WJEC board and have noticed a lack of resources in comparison to other boards, there ya go! Here is her B1 video - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SjKYckSm5f0 :biggrin:
Reply 12
TODAY IN SCHOOL (ALSO ADVICE NEEDED PLZZZZ)

SPANISH
We learned a bunch of vocab for describing a historical town and were also introduced to the terms "tan" and "tanto" for making comparisons. :tongue:

WELSH BACC
We're currently on the Enterprise and Employability Challenge. My group is "making" an app which can help you find tutors in your local area and upgrading includes revision videos, predicted papers, end of topic tests and uni application help, including prep for the UKCAT, BMAT and LNAT. Would be great if it was real tbh. I'm in charge of marketing in our little "company" and so had a 1 to 1 discussion with my teacher about marketing our product. :smile:

DRAMA
We blocked a scene in which four of the main characters brutally attack a squirrel and feel remorseful. It's an odd play, but I do love it. We watched some scenes from other groups and some of them were hilarious. We're performing a scene on Friday. :biggrin:

ENGLISH
I received my entire Unit 2 paper back and I got 91% and I am so so happy! This is the first Language paper I've ever done, so the journey can only go up from here! We then looked at diary writing (in the context of space). :colondollar:

WELSH
I honestly have no idea what the qualification we're working towards in Welsh is, but it's pretty random. We have a portfolio of work to complete so we spent the lesson catching up on that. I spent the hour doing a storyboard of the folk tale Gellert.


This evening I had my Spanish tutor and we looked at the topics of the environment and illnesses (very random together, I know).

I'm apparently doing the Intermediate Maths Challenge on Thursday and WHAT? I have never done a Maths Challenge before and I looked up the past papers and they are so hard! If anyone has experience, please help me out and put my mind at rest. AAAAAH!
(edited 7 years ago)
Original post by Tombre
TODAY IN SCHOOL (ALSO ADVICE NEEDED PLZZZZ)

SPANISH
We learned a bunch of vocab for describing a historical town and were also introduced to the terms "tan" and "tanto" for making comparisons. :tongue:

WELSH BACC
We're currently on the Enterprise and Employability Challenge. My group is "making" an app which can help you find tutors in your local area and upgrading includes revision videos, predicted papers, end of topic tests and uni application help, including prep for the UKCAT, BMAT and LNAT. Would be great if it was real tbh. I'm in charge of marketing in our little "company" and so had a 1 to 1 discussion with my teacher about marketing our product. :smile:

DRAMA
We blocked a scene in which four of the main characters brutally attack a squirrel and feel remorseful. It's an odd play, but I do love it. We watched some scenes from other groups and some of them were hilarious. We're performing a scene on Friday. :biggrin:

ENGLISH
I received my entire Unit 2 paper back and I got 91% and I am so so happy! This is the first Language paper I've ever done, so the journey can only go up from here! We then looked at diary writing (in the context of space). :colondollar:

WELSH
I honestly have no idea what the qualification we're working towards in Welsh is, but it's pretty random. We have a portfolio of work to complete so we spent the lesson catching up on that. I spent the hour doing a storyboard of the folk tale Gellert.


This evening I had my Spanish tutor and we looked at the topics of the environment and illnesses (very random together, I know).

I'm apparently doing the Intermediate Maths Challenge on Thursday and WHAT? I have never done a Maths Challenge before and I looked up the past papers and they are so hard! If anyone has experience, please help me out and put my mind at rest. AAAAAH!


Well done on all you've done today - and congratulations on the English that's amazing! :biggrin:

I did the IMC in Year 10 but only got a bronze, and I've done the SMC and STMC as well.
They are incredibly challenging, they're supposed to be. They're multiple choice but if I remember rightly you lose marks if you get an answer wrong so don't go guessing willy nilly! They are however just a bit of fun - if you enjoy maths then you should like it. Good luck for it though, I'm sure you'll do well :h:
Reply 14
Original post by NiamhM1801
Well done on all you've done today - and congratulations on the English that's amazing! :biggrin:

I did the IMC in Year 10 but only got a bronze, and I've done the SMC and STMC as well.
They are incredibly challenging, they're supposed to be. They're multiple choice but if I remember rightly you lose marks if you get an answer wrong so don't go guessing willy nilly! They are however just a bit of fun - if you enjoy maths then you should like it. Good luck for it though, I'm sure you'll do well :h:


Thank you very much! I was so surprised by the English haha, I hate Language.

Congratulations! Wow the SMC and STMC must be impossible. So would you say to avoid answering a question if I'm not confident? I'll try and have fun haha, Maths is okay :biggrin: that must be painful for the Maths queen to hear, oh well. Thank you so much! :tongue:
Original post by Tombre
Thank you very much! I was so surprised by the English haha, I hate Language.

Congratulations! Wow the SMC and STMC must be impossible. So would you say to avoid answering a question if I'm not confident? I'll try and have fun haha, Maths is okay :biggrin: that must be painful for the Maths queen to hear, oh well. Thank you so much! :tongue:


You should be very proud of it! I hated both types of English equally haha :tongue:

The SMC was really tough, I didn't even get a bronze certificate for it. The STMC wasn't so bad, it was quite fun at times. Generally no, but if you have a good feeling about something then I'd go for it - I think you get 5 marks for each correct answer and lose one for each incorrect so sometimes guessing is worth the risk. Maths queen :colondollar: and no I'm fine with it haha, I know not everyone loves it. You're very welcome! :h:
Reply 16
Original post by NiamhM1801
You should be very proud of it! I hated both types of English equally haha :tongue:

The SMC was really tough, I didn't even get a bronze certificate for it. The STMC wasn't so bad, it was quite fun at times. Generally no, but if you have a good feeling about something then I'd go for it - I think you get 5 marks for each correct answer and lose one for each incorrect so sometimes guessing is worth the risk. Maths queen :colondollar: and no I'm fine with it haha, I know not everyone loves it. You're very welcome! :h:


I must say, I love Lit a lot.

I couldn't imagine doing the SMC so even taking part is amazing. Ahhh okay, thanks for the tips! :biggrin: Is there anything I should revise or should I just show up?
Well you are acing FM and Maths at A Level, so the title is earned, haha :tongue:
Original post by Tombre
I must say, I love Lit a lot.

I couldn't imagine doing the SMC so even taking part is amazing. Ahhh okay, thanks for the tips! :biggrin: Is there anything I should revise or should I just show up?
Well you are acing FM and Maths at A Level, so the title is earned, haha :tongue:


That's cool, what makes you like Lit but hate Language?

Ah thanks! No worries, and nah I don't think you can really prepare that much - the questions are nothing like standard GCSE or similar. At the end of the day it's not a qualification or anything, so don't stress about it. Just turn up, give it your best shot and try to enjoy it at least a little bit :tongue:
Aw thank you, haha :h:
Reply 18
Original post by NiamhM1801
That's cool, what makes you like Lit but hate Language?

Ah thanks! No worries, and nah I don't think you can really prepare that much - the questions are nothing like standard GCSE or similar. At the end of the day it's not a qualification or anything, so don't stress about it. Just turn up, give it your best shot and try to enjoy it at least a little bit :tongue:
Aw thank you, haha :h:


I love reading books and just being all pretentious and coming up with analyses. I know most of it is utter frogswollop, but I kick I kick out of it. I like writing, but I find Language way too restricting with what I have to write - the new spec is pretty dull. I also don't like the type of texts you analyse in Language, whereas I feel like I've gained something by reading a great novel/play in Lit.

I'll just get a good nights sleep and hope for the best then :biggrin: No problem!
Reply 19

NEW TIMETABLES, MATHS SPEECHES AND SODIUM THIOSULFATE


Today we had an assembly where we were given new timetables. We now all have hours of independent study and each person can have up to 9 (though my friend actually has 15 because she opted to do 2 GCSE options instead of 3). I have 4 less Maths lessons, but I still have 5 as I have decided to continue with Maths until the summer and do Additional Maths/Further Maths - idk which one I'm doing yet, different teachers have used different terms. My study hours are in those 4 Maths-free hours. The hours of independent study seem really good and I will definitely put them to good use!

LESSONS TODAY:

CHEMISTRY
We did the practical for our controlled assessment. It went really well, the results were as predicted, ALTHOUGH, I had some kind of brain explosion when I thought I had done a completely wrong hypothesis and wrote directly proportional when it should have been inversely, but I have mulled on it all day, remembered my results, done some calculations AND REALISED I WAS RIGHT AND IT IS DIRECTLY PROPORTIONAL! :biggrin:

GEOGRAPHY
We continued with our DME. I'm getting more into it now! :smile:

ADDITIONAL/FURTHER MATHS
My class has lost about 20 people and now consists of only 11 people! The rest of the class has their other 5 study periods while we have Maths. As this was our first lesson, we had a guest speaker from a company promoting Mathematical careers. It was interesting, but I'm not interested in Maths based careers. I love my new, smaller class, everyone in it is really nice and I'm friends with them, but I'm the only one not taking A Level so they all find it funny that I'm even bothering to show up to Maths now. :tongue:

SPANISH
Today we studied Spanish fiestas. Some sound hella cool, others are hella controversial, but interesting none the less. :wink:

BIOLOGY
We finished B3.3 after just 3 lessons! I loved learning about The Nervous System, it's really cool and I also found out about the knee reflex response, where you karate chop just below your knee and your leg rises! I'm easily impressed. Next lesson it's onto B3.4 - The Role of the Kidney In Homeostasis! :h:


Today is the first of February and that means the revision timetable I posted a few days ago is in place from tomorrow (I gave myself the first day of Feb to relax). I'm actually so tired posting this, so I'll probably get an early night, especially ahead of the UKMT Maths Challenge tomorrow!

Another GYG that I've been watching recently is Shaaayxp's! I love the format :biggrin: https://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/showthread.php?t=4484460

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