how not to be a shambles: my GYG 2019/2020

right,,, salutations mes amies!
(that french GCSE really jumped out)




i have no idea how this entire thing works im so bad at forum posts aaaaaaaa

anyways...

ive read a few of these while procrastinating studying sOOoooOO i decided i would do a Grow your Grades for my first year of A-Levels!

i am so sorry if this entire thread is a complete mess by the end of this but here we go



MY PROGRESS:

A LITTLE ABOUT ME SO YOU GUYS KNOW IM REAL:

SIXTH FORM THOUGHTS:

WHY ON EARTH AM I DOING THIS?:

WHAT A-LEVELS AM I DOING?:

WHAT GCSE GRADES DID I GET?:

so thats basically it,,, go read some of my updates!!

Good luck with your GYG! sounds like it'll be a very busy couple of years
Any plans for topics for your EPQ yet?

UPDATE NO. 1: starting off small

i'm so technologically inept when it comes to TSR forums, I don't know how to like start a new GYG thread so I can update my original one aaaaaaaaa

(if anyone has any tips and tricks to mastering this please let me know by replying thank u)

ANYWAYS!

welcome back to my GYG 2019/20, its been a while since I updated but BOY has some stuff happened...

so firstly, I retook my english language and maths exam. im not sure if I mentioned this in my introduction post but I was unhappy with the grades I got in the summer exams and I decided it wouldn't hurt to retake them, and honestly... im happy I did.

i did edexcel in both papers (I took higher maths) and I think I did alright.

not gonna lie, was EXTREMELY thrilled with the English papers. they were probably some of the better papers ive seen and I went in wayyyyyyy more prepared than last time and it really paid off; I managed to answer pretty much everything in confidence and now its just a waiting game until the 16th January

maths was..... well maths. I think I had a bit more of an advantage this time, seeing as a lot of the maths I used in GCSE ive been able to master in physics a level, so i felt more confident in the exam than normal. saying that though, I did struggle to answer some of the questions but Id like to think I did well enough to go up a few grades eeeee

now back to the exciting stuff: a levels

a couple of weeks back we did our first 3 week test (just to see how we were getting on) and I didn't do as well as I hoped. they were pretty tricky tests but regardless I was disappointed with myself

In biology I got a D (about 43%)
in physics I got a C (about 58%) and was one mark away from a B
in art, well, you don't really get a test for art but my teacher is fond of my stuff so far so that good I guess?

the biology one really hit me, I was so upset when I got my test back as I worked hard for it too. since then, ive been trying to switch the ways I revise around. im beginning to use Seneca and resources on TSR to help me improve and I think its working? practise questions help more than I can begin to describe but theyre so difficult to get right, and me being me, I get frustrated easily so its difficult to motivate myself to do them.

to add to the obstacles im currently facing, im under immense pressure from my school at the moment to do well. my 'friends' are also causing me a lot of stress. ive been getting more and more sick, and more easily sick too. I took a week off school about 5 weeks ago as I had a stomach bug which meant I kept vomiting and I spent most of my days asleep so I was already behind from that. I also took a week off recently due to a really bad cold I caught off my mum, whicb set me back further. my anxiety is at the worst its ever been, like EVER. I have multiple panic attacks every day and cry every day when I get home because of a release of stress when I get home and im struggling to sleep at night. I also have started shaking much more and ive passed out on some occasions. it gets me really down and I struggle to get out of bed most days, (I get up at 6:30 as i like 2 hours from my school) which makes me late to school which makes me more stressed and gets me even more down and a lot more depressing stuff I wont go into on here but yeah.

on that note, ive got two options;


at the moment, im just taking each day as it comes, and trying to get through chunks of missed work step by step. ive got the whole weekend to focus on that as im away with my grandparent and ive got no plans, so its gonna be easy to sit and study comfortably.

ill update this again when im a little further into the term, probably at the end. if you guys ever have any questions or want to chat, leave a reply and ill get back to you <3 it means a lot for you guys to want to join me on this adventure. and I look forward to what the f u t u r e o f s t u d y had to offer ^-^

signing off,

ruby <3

Since I’m nosy, I’d like to know the art story (GCSE).

Was there a specific reason that you redid maths and English? IMO you’ve already got great grades.

Well I’ll give my 2 cents. You were probably busy revising for the GCSEs which you didn’t factor in. That really raised your stress level. I would take a half term to try and cope. That being said, that would be best for me, maybe not for you, but still think about it.

Also yeah bio, I’m in the same rut. But what I am doing is answering one q at a time (the long ones/graph ones) and then checking the markscheme and writing it down. Ignore the marks for now. If there is not enough time or you can’t be bothered, think about the key words you would use and then check if they are correct.

Also get a hobby, or something to look forward to. Idk, a musical instrument or sport, something that gets you up in the morning. It’s a great motivator!

Also GoOd Luck!

that sounds very stressful, I’m sorry you went through that
Have you been getting help to deal with the panic attacks?

thank you so much for this, it helped to hear what someone else thought! ill defo take that advice about the bio as that sounds like a good way to go about things... thank you so much!


I retook my GCSEs just because I felt disheartened when I got my results back, I expected higher results in English as I worked hard for it, and I retook maths as my school required a 7 in maths to take Physics GCSE, but they let me on the course on the condition I got the grade in a retake; since in the summer exam I was about 2 marks from a seven; hence the special consideration.

art is my hobby at the moment. even though I take an a level in it I find myself doing artistic projects outside of school i.e painting my favourite albums on my shoes or painting playing cards with my favourite memes on it to decorate my wall... its hard to factor in time to do things like this though especially with the amount of work at A-Level, but ill definitely try and get some more in!

im going to make a post about the art story now, just as I feel it deserves its own post to really explain things aha

Won’t lie, same thing happened to me for English lit (got the same grade as you).
Nice work on the physics and good luck for the results!
That’s great! A hobby is wonderful. Could you paint my shoes too?

The art teacher and school policy sounds absolutely disgraceful. It’s a good thing you can redo it though. Have a 4 note song that you sing when about to sleep or when relaxing. Then in stressful situations sing it then and it is calming. Takes a while to work though.

hiya! yeah i have, i see a therapist weekly when i have a free afternoon and ive also started taking anti-anxiety tablets, but only until I can manage it myself. im also trying to surround myself with new people which helps. I still have special accommodations in my exams which is helpful but im getting better every day!

thank you for those ideas, I haven't heard those before but I will be using them as im learning about new techniques to destress every day, and it sounds like it works!


it really is. they publish the results for the school every year and they always go from 9-U so they show what each student gets; our school prides itself on its results as its a grammar school, but I felt it was kind of dodgy when they published them this year the didt include anything below three, even though I know some students who got U's and 1's because of other circumstances… all a bit fishy!!

I am actually thinking of starting an etsy to promote selling the things I paint, so if I do, ill put it on here but m always ready to take my first order ahahahah

Seems like your school is a bit too focused on grades! Speaking of them, did you get back your GCSEs certificates today?
Nice! I’d definitely offer if my shoes weren’t already bright yellow. Everyone seems to think it’s too bright for some reason.