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Week 6 - Day 4 (It's almost time to sleep for a week!)

Plans for yesterday didn't really go as hoped - but it was still a very productive day.
I went in for my progress review, my teacher told me I'm doing well in all subjects and was very proud of my 100% attendance (though I did mention that I missed a lesson on Tuesday, I just didn't get marked as absent).
After that I spent 4 hours (4 hours?!) catching up on my CPACs and now I'm virtually up to date minus 1 write up from this year that I need to do! Also did a bit more of my EPQ prep.
I went home - and I really don't remember how I spent my evening - I think I watched a few episodes of Merlin on Netflix? But I definitely did no work :colondollar:

I got a bit upset because of friends stuff - so I definitely spent time crying (will I ever grow up?) and didn't wake up in the best of moods this morning.
Today I started off with Further Maths - it was a relatively useless lesson - I did all the exercises that were set for the class (bar one) at the weekend, so I didn't spend my time in my seat.
I got a end of chapter test (polar co-ordinates) back and I got 92% and highest in the class so very happy (and pleasantly surprised :h:

) - the marks I lost were due to a stupid mistake - and I would kick myself, but **shrugs** - I also got my AS Further Maths paper from my teacher (which I did this evening)
After Further Maths I had Maths which was pretty dull, but I made plans with a friend to meet a couple of his friends and get food tomorrow afternoon, which will hopefully help a bit with the winter-blues and loneliness. At the end of class we got tests back (honestly don't remember what it was on) but I got 100% which was nice.
Then I had Biology. We got test on respiration back (also got 92%!) and carried on from last week with Photosynthesis and it got a bit confusing - because names can be quite similar (Photostystem 1 and Photosystem 2, cyclic photophosphorylation and non-cyclic photophosphorilation) but I think I get it - and it was quite an enjoyable lesson
Last I had a quick 30 minute EPQ meeting where the teacher (who is a complete gem) gave me a couple of research suggestions from her son - and then I finally left college and home I went.

When I got home, I went with my mum to do a mini food shop, and then got home, had a huge snack (I don't eat lunch), started the further maths paper, had dinner, and then finished the further maths paper - and here I am!

Very very tired - and very very excited for half term (note: Sleep, a Halloween party, blood donation, bake off semi-final and a trip to Bristol next weekend to visit two of my favourite humans)

Mental health has been pretty bad this week - I say this week, but it's been pretty bad for over a month. My mum wants me to make a GP appointment, my GP sent me a text to tell me to make an appointment, and I really need to change my medication and try and get re-referred to adults services, but it feels really pointless. I feel like I'm just fighting a losing battle and I just can't see the point in trying anymore. I've definitely been quite snappy and extra-tearful this week, and I wish it was PMS.

But that's my midweek update I guess?
And I hope everyone's had a superb week and wasn't as sad as I was about who got kicked off bake off this week

Spoiler

Reply 41

Toastiekid

you're allowed to cry :hugs:

everyone is :yep:

you're doing so well on your tests :woo:

bake off is amazing :gah:

(i still need to finish this week's episode, i keep falling asleep when it's on live so i have to watch it on the train)
going to the gp sounds like a good idea :wink:

(also i promise i'm not being creepy, i've been watching this thread for a few weeks now and have been meaning to comment and was about to hit send when i could see you've quoted me in something so i've added this to explain it. which tbh probably makes me seem even weirder- sorry :biggrin:

)

Reply 42

keep_drowning

Original post by Toastiekid

you're allowed to cry :hugs:

everyone is :yep:

you're doing so well on your tests :woo:

bake off is amazing :gah:

(i still need to finish this week's episode, i keep falling asleep when it's on live so i have to watch it on the train)
going to the gp sounds like a good idea :wink:

)

Who do you want to win?
I really struggle watching it live !(instead of falling asleep I get distracted by absolutely everything else 😬😬)
I'd been stalking you for a long while before I eventually commented on your thread - we can be weird together 🤷🏻*♂️🤷🏻*♂️

Reply 43

Toastiekid

Original post by keep_drowning

not sure atm :dontknow:

, i'm still waiting to see how the vertical pies challenge gets judged :laugh:

then i'll know who's gone home
glad i'm not the only one! i keep having to yell at people at school who come very close to spoiling the episode for me :biggrin:

ahaa

Reply 44

keep_drowning

Original post by Toastiekid

not sure atm :dontknow:

, i'm still waiting to see how the vertical pies challenge gets judged :laugh:

then i'll know who's gone home
glad i'm not the only one! i keep having to yell at people at school who come very close to spoiling the episode for me :biggrin:

ahaa

It was a sad episode. But I love everyone bar one contestant so I guess there's still hope for the person I hate (sorry strongly dislike) to not win 🤷🏻 fingers crossed 🤞

(edited 4 years ago)

Reply 45

Toastiekid

Original post by keep_drowning

It was a sad episode. But I love everyone bar one contestant so I guess there's still hope for the person I hate (sorry strongly dislike) to not win 🤷🏻 fingers crossed 🤞

i'll finish it tonight :laugh:

Reply 46

keep_drowning

Half Term + UCAS Update 2

Half term has been going smoothly so far. Saturday I did a bunch of Psychology work and a few 16 mark answers to give to my teachers to mark when I go back. Sunday I did some Maths (tried to teach myself integration by substitution :s-smilie:

) and an A Level Psych paper, which I still need to mark. Yesterday I did a lot of maths and did integration by parts as well. I also went in to town because I realised I hadn't left North London for two whole months - so I just did a very boring walk (encompassing Camden market and Foyles (which I've never been in to and is huge!!). I also walked past a Harry Potter shop near Leicester Square which I never knew existed and I need to go to!
Today is hopefully going to be pretty chilled. I might go and visit my Grandma because she got admitted to hospital last night :frown:

(for the third time in about a month). I'm also giving blood late this afternoon so I need to make sure I'm warm and hydrated because my veins are an absolute nightmare to access. I'm also potentially going to a friend after that to watch GBBO semi final, which will be nice because I haven't seen her for a while.

This morning I got an offer from Lancaster :h:

. I'm not a massive fan of campus unis, but I love Lancaster. I visited a couple of years ago on a Physics summer school (back in the day when I wanted to do Physics at uni) and it just didn't feel as claustrophobic as other campus unis. I'm also debating on whether to switch Sheffield to Strathclyde - tomorrow is the last day I can swap - so I guess that will be my focus for today.

Hope everyone's had a great start to the week!

Reply 47

Lancaster Student Ambassador

Official Rep

Original post by keep_drowning

Hello,
Hope you're doing okay! Congratulations on your offer and let me know if you have any questions I can help you with about Lancaster.
Charlotte :smile:

3rd year Biological Sciences with Biomedicine

Reply 48

YouMadBro!

Original post by keep_drowning

Don't switch to strathclyde from sheffield! I absolutely love the course here for biomedical science in Sheffield, and not just the dissection in year 2. All the lecturers are really friendly and approachable. You hear horror stories of people not being able to get work experience for future jobs prospects on this forum, not in Sheffield! They give lots of advice and actual chances to meet employers secure summer or year long placements, as well as, you have the chance to do some actual exciting work in your lecturers labs, all you have to do is ask- Look up SURE scheme!

If anything make it your top choice, unless you get into oxford (for obvious reasons :tongue:

)

Reply 49

keep_drowning

Original post by YouMadBro!

)

Thank you for this!
It's too late now for me to change anyway, so Sheffield we are going with!

Reply 50

Toastiekid

hope half term is still going well :hugs:

i am a big fan of integration by substitution :gah:

an offer!

Reply 51

keep_drowning

Original post by Toastiekid

hope half term is still going well :hugs:

i am a big fan of integration by substitution :gah:

an offer!

Half term really isn't long enough :frown:

Wish mine was as long as yours!

Reply 52

keep_drowning

End of Half Term 1 + UCAS Update 3

Just got back from Bristol and I'm absolutely exhausted.
It was really lovely seeing friends and catching up with some people I haven't seen for years, but I feel pretty :yucky:

right now and I'm not looking forward to going back tomorrow. I've got a test at lunch because I finally have a hospital appointment for my tooth (story for another day) 11 months later and I don't remember anything I've revised.
I did a fair bit of my EPQ on the coach there and back - I got some more sources and read a lot about Kantian deontology and some other really interesting but a bit complex philosophical stuff and I started my first draft and am probably about 1/4 of the way through. I think my plan for my EPQ now is to just write and write and write, and when I've finished that, I'll started cutting it down massively - much like a personal statement!

And the UCAS update...?

Well not as interesting as I'd like - but I got offered an interview for Lancaster which could turn my conditional into an unconditional.
I'm debating whether or not I should go - Lancaster isn't my favourite, and if I get a Durham offer, I'll definitely be firming Durham and probably insuring Glasgow - and travelling up to Lancaster for half a day feels a bit like a waste - even though there is the potential for an unconditional.
I'll wait for the official letter to come, I guess before deciding :dontknow:

Hope everyone's had a lovely weekend and hopefully has a good week ahead!

Reply 53

Toastiekid

Glad you had a good time in Bristol :woo:

Enjoy going back to school :hugs:

Reply 54

Lancaster Student Ambassador

Official Rep

Original post by keep_drowning

Hope everyone's had a lovely weekend and hopefully has a good week ahead!

Hello,
Congratulations on your offer for Lancaster! Let me know if there's anything I can help you with so you can make your decision.
Charlotte :smile:

3rd year Biological Sciences with Biomedicine

Reply 55

keep_drowning

Week 7 - Day 3

This week has honestly been pretty uneventful as of yet - But I'm definitely not complaining.

I overslept on Monday and missed my alarm. And that's literally never ever happened. I rushed to college with trousers on but still wearing my pj top and without any breakfast (and thankfully I made it :blow:

). Other than that, my lessons went smoothly, my hospital appointment took ages - but went fine (tooth extraction scheduled for 26/11) and I had my favourite soup waiting for me when I got home.
Yesterday after class I printed out some practise questions for Biology. I did fine on the pathogen set but when it came to photosynthesis it went terribly :argh:

- Admittedly we haven't actually finished photosynthesis yet, but I'm a tad freaking out so I think I'll spend tutorial today writing a comprehensive set of notes.
I'm very excited to go to bed this evening - I'm absolutely exhausted (and I've been awake for 45 minutes) :sleep:

Hope people have had a great start to the week :colondollar:

Reply 56

keep_drowning

Week 8 - Day 1 + UCAS Update 4

Heya - Guess I'll start off with the UCAS update.
On Wednesday I received an email from Sheffield asking about the topic of my EPQ and a short summary - I sent that off, and then this evening I got an offer!
Over the weekend I was thinking about Sheffield and I'm considering insuring it rather than Glasgow if I get an offer from Durham.
At Glasgow I'm applying for Genetics whereas at Sheffield it's Genetics and Microbiology - All the modules look really interesting for both - so it's a matter of deciding whether or not straight genetics is going to feel a bit too specialised or not. I'm also debating going to the Lancaster interview just as a back up in case my mental health goes ploop again - Having a (potential) unconditional might help me feel less stressed.
But who knows
:dontknow:

Anyway, moving on.

The weekend was meh - On Saturday I saw a friend but wasn't really in the mood and was very tired - but I got some really good food - which is always a plus. On Sunday I was meant to go to my Grandpa's stone-setting but decided against it because public crying is a bit of a no no :s-smilie:

I got the Starbucks Halloween drink (It was really good!) and then went out for dinner which my mum and had a really sad falafel. Recently all the falafel I've had has been really bad and I just want some decent food :nothing:

I ended up having a good ol' attack of the insomnia last night and took nytol fairly late and decided to turn my alarm off. I woke up at 11 (still feeling as exhausted as ever) which meant I missed Maths and Biology, did some work that I knew we'd be covering today, and then went in for psychology.
I got 100% in a Psychology test I did last week (Including 16/16 in an essay?!!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?! Back in AS i'd never get more than 8 or 9 out of 12 in an essay, so getting into band 4 and getting a high band 4 was a real shock (but a good one!))
When I get home (a lot later than usual), I had a snack (or two... or three... (Jelly, soup and rice-cakes)) and then got on with school work.

We've got Ofsted in tomorrow for a surprise visit - but hopefully that shouldn't have too much of an impact on things. I've also has my Friday Further Maths lesson moved to tomorrow afternoon as a one off, so it's going to be a long day.

And that is that!

Really not liking this weather - but I better get used to it for the next 5 months :nope:

Hope everyone had a good weekend and a relatively okay Monday!

Reply 57

keep_drowning

Week 8 - Day 6: Boy am I tired

I've been very very tired this week (no surprise) - but I think all in all it's been a good week.
We had a surprise Ofsted inspection because (no shock) last year my college wasn't graded particularly well - But they never came in to any of my lessons, so didn't have to deal with that :dontknow:

Eh really not much happened last week in the slightest so I really don't know what to mention!

I was trying to work on my EPQ this afternoon and I just couldn't do anything with it - The tone I was writing in was awful (very informal, more like a speech) so I made a new plan and I think I'm going to start it from scratch tomorrow .
Other than I think I've been fairly productive today. I started hyperbolic functions (which we'll be starting on Thursday), and got a couple of psychology essays written and made some very condensed notes - I have two timed essays this week - we haven't been given a title for either - and I'm really struggling trying to cram everything in - so hopefully the condensed notes should help.

Also very unrelated but I bought three books from Amazon this week and my dad also gave me a book to read and I'm quite excited to get stuck in!
I've also been watching a couple of Israeli shows on Netflix which I've really been enjoying. One's a docu-series about a murder and it really highlights some of the issues of Israeli society (Completely aside from the Israel-Palestine conflict) - I've also started watching David Attenborough (though mainly whilst I do my homework) and I find it so fascinating!

I really think that's it for this week :dontknow:

Next week aside from the two timed essays I have a maths mock (which surprise surprise I won't be revising for - though I really should). Hopefully I'll soon hear back from Durham (definitely wishful thinking though) and yeah?! T'is all

Hope people have had a good week (hopefully a bit more eventful than mine) and a great and restful start to the weekend!

Reply 58

oldaccount-333

Original post by keep_drowning

Heya

I'm Alby and this will be my second GYG attempt. Last year massively failed - I started hibernating around Christmas and still haven't really woken up yet but eh

Surprised myself with my (external) AS Grades (I started revision the night before the exam and did virtually no work during the year) and my predicted grades will probably be one grade higher:

Maths (Edexcel) - A
Biology (Edexcel B) - A
Psychology (AQA) - A (post remark)
Further Maths (Edexcel, doing Decision and Further Decision) - B

I also have AS Levels from my old sixth form (which I miss so so much :frown:

)
Maths (OCR MEI) - A
Physics (OCR B)- A
Computing (AQA) - B
Further Maths (OCR MEI) - B ( :colone:

still haven't improved two year later :colone:

)

Aims for the year:
- Get into uni! I want to apply for Biology/Biosciences and am considering Durham, Bath and Glasgow at the moment. Oxford is the dream but it feels so unlikely.

- Try and keep attendance up. My attendance was 70% on the last day of the year (which I was pleasantly surprised with) Probably should trying going in for more than one or two lessons a week. And 9ams, as impossible as they may be.

- Be okay. Mental health has been something I've been struggling with for the past 6 years and I'm finally making progress with treatment (meds and waiting list for therapy). I need to try and make some time for me and actually tell someone when I'm not feeling great.
I'm only allowed to do 4 A Levels this year if my mental health is okay (well more if they think my mental health is okay) so I do have something to work for.

So yeah **shrugs**

I start college on Friday and boy am I not looking forward to it, but here goes!