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Road to 8s and 9s - Alina's GYG 2017-2018

Hi all! I've decided to enter Grow Your Grades this year as a way of staying motivated and productive in Year 10. My parents promised me a MacBook if I get all 8s in my GCSEs (and two As in my early AS-Levels)... so I need to work hard to achieve that!

I'm taking Triple Science (bio, chem, physics), English, Maths, RS (taking exam this school year), IT (still working on coursework, final exam this year), Spanish, History, Sociology, Italian (outside of school) and AS Philosophy. I should start another AS at the start of Year 11 and I think I will choose Statistics, but I don't know for sure yet.

My target grades are 7/8s in all my subjects (and a B in Philosophy) but I'm aiming for straight 8s- at least! I'm particularly aiming for a 9 in RS, History and Maths as they are my best subjects, but I'm aiming for the best grade I can achieve in all subjects.

I think my biggest struggle since I started GCSE content in year 9 is the sciences. I am in set 1, but... I have a lot of trouble understanding concepts and remembering facts so my main focus throughout Year 10 is finding a way to deal with that and improve.

Alongside all my in-school subjects, I have several languages I am studying, piano lessons, violin lessons, volleyball club, chapel, religion lessons and aikido classes... so, I'm busy! It's not unmanageable but I will work harder to focus.

Anyway, thank you for reading! I'm not likely to post much this week coming (you never know, I might) because it's half term, but I'll be sure to update you all!
Original post by pianostudying
Hi all! I've decided to enter Grow Your Grades this year as a way of staying motivated and productive in Year 10. My parents promised me a MacBook if I get all 8s in my GCSEs (and two As in my early AS-Levels)... so I need to work hard to achieve that!

I'm taking Triple Science (bio, chem, physics), English, Maths, RS (taking exam this school year), IT (still working on coursework, final exam this year), Spanish, History, Sociology, Italian (outside of school) and AS Philosophy. I should start another AS at the start of Year 11 and I think I will choose Statistics, but I don't know for sure yet.

My target grades are 7/8s in all my subjects (and a B in Philosophy) but I'm aiming for straight 8s- at least! I'm particularly aiming for a 9 in RS, History and Maths as they are my best subjects, but I'm aiming for the best grade I can achieve in all subjects.

I think my biggest struggle since I started GCSE content in year 9 is the sciences. I am in set 1, but... I have a lot of trouble understanding concepts and remembering facts so my main focus throughout Year 10 is finding a way to deal with that and improve.

Alongside all my in-school subjects, I have several languages I am studying, piano lessons, violin lessons, volleyball club, chapel, religion lessons and aikido classes... so, I'm busy! It's not unmanageable but I will work harder to focus.

Anyway, thank you for reading! I'm not likely to post much this week coming (you never know, I might) because it's half term, but I'll be sure to update you all!

What happens if you win the Grow Your Grades 2017 competition, which actually offers a MacBook Air as the winner's prize - i.e your parent's "Grade 8s = MacBook" pledge, or are they going to use the ~£1,000 on something else? And besides, how on earth do you cram in school, revision for 12 GCSEs and one AS Level, two musical instument tutorials, sports and martial arts, Christianity, and bedtime into a 144-hour week?
Original post by Carbon Dioxide
What happens if you win the Grow Your Grades 2017 competition, which actually offers a MacBook Air as the winner's prize - i.e your parent's "Grade 8s = MacBook" pledge, or are they going to use the ~£1,000 on something else? And besides, how on earth do you cram in school, revision for 12 GCSEs and one AS Level, two musical instument tutorials, sports and martial arts, Christianity, and bedtime into a 144-hour week?


You're right- if on the off-chance I win and get the grades I need, I probably won't use the £1000 because I asked for a decent laptop for my A-Levels and then uni and I'd feel bad about taking my parents' money and spending it on something I don't actually need. So, I might use it to buy some books and stuff but otherwise they'll just keep most of it.

To be honest, I think it sounds worse than it actually is- I've been managing most of these extracurriculars for years now and the time I'd otherwise have free outside of homework is what I spend on those things. The hardest part is that my violin lessons are during school so I have to catch up on the work, but other than that it's less of a problem. I do suspect I'll put some of them on hold when it gets intense (intenser) in year 11 but until then, the best way of managing them is keeping a timetable I actually stick to. A 24-hour printable is the best way to go, so I start with writing down my subjects, the time I wake up, get home, go to bed and the set times I have lessons. I need to work around them and be realistic about them, i.e. no five hour study sessions because let's be real, does anyone ever actually schedule them and actually do it? Dividing time up appropriately is what's got me this far, I think.

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