2017/2018 Road to A*A*A*A and Durham pls

Yaaay that's so cool! What course? I'm pretty excited for the SMC! I've always been really safe with the questions but I think since it's my last year doing it I'm just gonna go for it and really answer as many as I possibly can - you never know, you might find it fun yourself Thank you so much I really appreciate it

Psychology, I have a grow your grades too if you fancy checking it out I think the SMC will be good, I've just not done it since year 9 so I've forgotten what it's like!

Omg you’ve been through it all! Hope you get an interview at Oxford, I’ve applied too and MAT is just death haha.

Love your posts hope SMC went well (I did it today as well!)

Thank you so much! Ahh not as great as I would've hoped, should've worked faster but oh well, it's just for fun! How did you find it?

You’re welcome and it was okay, I love maths and literally only did it for fun, I’m applying for chemistry. I’m sure you did amazing !!

Sorry I haven't done any major posts for the last few days - I' would say I've been terribly busy but embarassingly I've been terribly not! Ever since I did the TMUA I've been having a bit of break to compensate for working myself a bit too hard (even if I didn't really get anywhere) and I've been trying to go easy on the maths especially! I had my piano lesson on Thursday when I realised that I have just over a week to prepare for my Grade 8 piano exam (and because of all this maths prep I literally haven't touched a piano in ages) so I think it's about time that I prioritise my piano next over all of the things coming up! I've also been forced to play the piano as a musical interlude thing during prize-giving (the day after my piano exam) which I'm incredibly stressed about too, considering my past performances at school haven't been the most successful (let's just say I've built up a reputation for stopping and starting and messing up lool!) so considering this will be in front of many important people, I've got to start practising properly! (Let's just ignore the fact that I didn't practise today...) Nevertheless I'll give you a rundown of what I did today!

11 November 2017
Today I woke up at 8am from an alarm but obviously fell back asleep and didn't wake back up until around 10am! I went downstairs and had some toasted brioche and cheese for breakfast before going back upstairs to check social media for over an hour. I then realised I should probably start on some work so I opened my planner, and decided to start on the music homework I had been given the day before, on researching Javanese Gamelan music and analysing its influence on Debussy's 'Pagodes'. I googled and accumulated a bunch of information on Gamelan music, but soon got distracted with studyblr youtube videos! I then decided after that I would leave the rest of that homework until later, and decided to go onto some maths. I have a Binomial/Poisson Distribution test on Monday, so I decided to start revising a bit for that. I made some Binomial Distribution notes, did some exercises on that chapter in the textbook and I think I got the hang of it by the end. Not going to lie, during my recent S2 classes I've been slowly lagging behind everyone else just because I absolutely despise statistics and I for some reason cannot grasp it because I lose concentration (because I find it so boring!), so finally getting used to the questions was a great feeling! I then decided to make some Poisson Distribution notes before attempting more exercises in the textbook. Here's a little photo of what my desk looked like around about that time (disclaimer: my desk typically looks like this - a drink, food, textbook, paper, and a ton of pens and fineliners messily lying about!).



Before I could start on some past exam questions, my mum, dad and brother surprised me with a trip to Beefeaters for dinner, so I had a couple more hours of relaxation, before returning back home and washing my hair (because it felt gross). I then intended to do a bit more of the S2 Poisson Distribution questions from the textbook whilst watching Strictly, but inevitably ended up getting distracted! I then spent a couple of hours online window shopping and planning where to go tomorrow (you'll know why in the next paragraph) so I didn't really get much done after that, and here I am writing this post.

Tomorrow I probably won't get much done because I'm going to London to get a pointe shoe fitting at Bloch (since I need new pointe shoes!) and I'll be there for the whole day! Therefore the things I did today was probably the most I'll be able to get done this weekend Right now I plan on quickly doing a bit more of the Poisson Distribution exercises from the textbook and then finishing off the music Gamelan homework. Annoyingly I planned on getting more work done today to compensate for missing a whole day's worth of work tomorrow but I guess I always overplan and procrastinate! I really need to stop getting distracted! What are you guys up to this weekend? I'd love to know!

Tag Squad

Sorry I haven't done any major posts for the last few days - I' would say I've been terribly busy but embarassingly I've been terribly not! Ever since I did the TMUA I've been having a bit of break to compensate for working myself a bit too hard (even if I didn't really get anywhere) and I've been trying to go easy on the maths especially! I had my piano lesson on Thursday when I realised that I have just over a week to prepare for my Grade 8 piano exam (and because of all this maths prep I literally haven't touched a piano in ages) so I think it's about time that I prioritise my piano next over all of the things coming up! I've also been forced to play the piano as a musical interlude thing during prize-giving (the day after my piano exam) which I'm incredibly stressed about too, considering my past performances at school haven't been the most successful (let's just say I've built up a reputation for stopping and starting and messing up lool!) so considering this will be in front of many important people, I've got to start practising properly! (Let's just ignore the fact that I didn't practise today...) Nevertheless I'll give you a rundown of what I did today!

11 November 2017
Today I woke up at 8am from an alarm but obviously fell back asleep and didn't wake back up until around 10am! I went downstairs and had some toasted brioche and cheese for breakfast before going back upstairs to check social media for over an hour. I then realised I should probably start on some work so I opened my planner, and decided to start on the music homework I had been given the day before, on researching Javanese Gamelan music and analysing its influence on Debussy's 'Pagodes'. I googled and accumulated a bunch of information on Gamelan music, but soon got distracted with studyblr youtube videos! I then decided after that I would leave the rest of that homework until later, and decided to go onto some maths. I have a Binomial/Poisson Distribution test on Monday, so I decided to start revising a bit for that. I made some Binomial Distribution notes, did some exercises on that chapter in the textbook and I think I got the hang of it by the end. Not going to lie, during my recent S2 classes I've been slowly lagging behind everyone else just because I absolutely despise statistics and I for some reason cannot grasp it because I lose concentration (because I find it so boring!), so finally getting used to the questions was a great feeling! I then decided to make some Poisson Distribution notes before attempting more exercises in the textbook. Here's a little photo of what my desk looked like around about that time (disclaimer: my desk typically looks like this - a drink, food, textbook, paper, and a ton of pens and fineliners messily lying about!).



Before I could start on some past exam questions, my mum, dad and brother surprised me with a trip to Beefeaters for dinner, so I had a couple more hours of relaxation, before returning back home and washing my hair (because it felt gross). I then intended to do a bit more of the S2 Poisson Distribution questions from the textbook whilst watching Strictly, but inevitably ended up getting distracted! I then spent a couple of hours online window shopping and planning where to go tomorrow (you'll know why in the next paragraph) so I didn't really get much done after that, and here I am writing this post.

Tomorrow I probably won't get much done because I'm going to London to get a pointe shoe fitting at Bloch (since I need new pointe shoes!) and I'll be there for the whole day! Therefore the things I did today was probably the most I'll be able to get done this weekend Right now I plan on quickly doing a bit more of the Poisson Distribution exercises from the textbook and then finishing off the music Gamelan homework. Annoyingly I planned on getting more work done today to compensate for missing a whole day's worth of work tomorrow but I guess I always overplan and procrastinate! I really need to stop getting distracted! What are you guys up to this weekend? I'd love to know!

Tag Squad

Sounds like you've been really busy

Love a good desk photo

So errr recently I have obviously been slacking off writing posts, but mainly because I haven't been really doing anything productive or interesting - I fell asleep in my free yesterday as the library was quiet, so I wasted a whole hour I got a power nap though which fuelled my brain in the music lesson I had after, where I correctly identified all the modulations we had to name without looking at the score! I was pretty pleased with myself not gonna lie, partly because that was literally the only decent thing I had done all day :' Despite not having very many lessons today, I'll summarise what happened anyway!

15 November 2017
So today I got up and ate a croissant with apricot jam for breakfast (I've really been loving brioche and croissants recently) before I ran out of the house and to the train station to catch the train. I got there just about it time, and managed to hop onto one of the last coaches on the platform. I then naively went on my phone and browsed the TSR app, browsing all the different threads on the MAT, SMC (the thresholds got released and was so disappointed - if I had not made all the mistakes I did I would've gotten into the Senior Kangaroo!) and the maths applicants threads. I got so distracted that I ended up missing my stop (first time I've done this in the morning), which meant I had to get off at the stop after, and wait and this station for the next train which was at half an hour! I felt so stupid but I've definitely learnt my lesson and it will not happen again! Anyway, I got into school at 9am and ended up missing assembly, but luckily I had a free first so I managed to get some S2 done - I wanted to consolidate/relearn chapter 3 (Continuous Random Variables) because in our recent S2 lessons I've managed to zone out and literally learn nothing, which is not ideal considering the modules I'm most likely to do awful in are S1 and S2 So I tried doing some textbook exercises but only managed to do a couple of questions before the bell went!
I then had physics where we discussed CCDs and I again zoned out - before starting the Astrophysics topic I was so looking forward to it because it was something new, and I thought I'd enjoy it just like I did with the Particles and Radiation topic, but obviously not I'm hoping as we delve in deeper I'll find it more interesting, but for now all I see it as, is another boring physics topic

I then had another free where I tried doing an S2 Continuous Random Variables worksheet I realised I had been set ages ago as homework but never touched because I was caught up in MAT and TMUA prep Out of guilt I tried completing it but got stuck on a part of a question, so after staring at it for ages I basically gave up afterwards - I'm hoping we'll go through some of it in the lesson so I can see how to actually do it! I feel like it is something so easy and obvious but I just can't get there... Genuinely worried about my Maths A Levels now o.o

In the afternoon I had double PE so I did some aerobics which definitely got me sweating (TMI?) but I'm glad I did it because it felt pretty good afterwards knowing I had done a pretty hardcore workout! I then went home and found that a dress I had ordered to try for the school ball had arrived pretty quickly - I tried it on and needless to say I almost couldn't take it off, it was way too small! I had to call my mum in for help because I was at a point where I literally thought I'd have to cut myself out! But no way was I gonna lose £40 So my mum helped me escape and then I repackaged it to return via the post office tomorrow!

I also had my last piano lesson today before my actual Grade 8 exam which I'm petrified about... we did a mock and I started off with some measly scales - they were probably the worst I've ever played them! It started off smoothly with the normal similar motion legato scales, but gradually went downhill as I moved through the scales in thirds, sixths, LH Bb major legato scale in thirds particularly, and I just made a complete and utter fool of myself! (My piano teacher even said afterwards 'your scales were a huge disappointment' which kinda made me realise how much I need to work on them) I then went onto my pieces which I played through fairly well - I had a few minor blips but managed to play through them without any major stops which was an achievement in my eyes! And then we moved on to the sight reading which was a complete and utter disaster (it always is, so it came as no surprise) and aural! It took a few tries before I was able to repeat the lower part of the melody, it again took a few tries for me to nail the sight singing, missed the first chord of the interrupted cadence (I said IV instead of II xD), I got the modulations and needed a bit of help in extending my answer on the describing the music part. Ahhh my mind always goes completely blank during this so I end up having to make up a lot of it and it just goes a bit pear-shaped! Overall my piano teacher gave me 123/150 which was a merit, but I think he was being too nice. Even if a merit would be good, since it's my last graded exam it would be amazing to receive a distinction, so I need to work my butt off in this last week! I think the sections I need to focus on the most is scales and maybe a bit of aural; I think it's too late to improve on the sight reading. I just hope the examiner gives me a nice piece to sight read! I do honestly think that a fair amount of marks you get in a graded practical exam are down to luck i.e. which examiner you get (how lenient they are/how much they want to give you a distinction), whether you're having a good or bad day, what sight reading/aural/scales you get given etc.

Right now it's 11pm and I haven't really done much else since I got home from my piano lesson - I need to make notes on the Maclaurin and Taylor Series for the test I have on Friday, so I might do that and then call it a day! The past few days I've been incredibly tired and exhausted though, so I'll have to start going to bed a bit earlier; then again I always say that but never act on it :/ Oopsies! Hope you guys aren't as tired as me right now!

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