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Tips for college...

I’m starting college in September, and I was wondering if anyone has any tips and ideas on how to prepare?

How does everyone organise their folders?

How much independent study does everyone do per lesson?

Reply 1

Flakeeee

To be honest before I started I didn’t do loads of work to prepare me for my a-levels, when you start they’ll ease you in starting with easier /simpler topics. I personally skim read a few textbooks around my subjects to see what it would be like and if I would enjoy it. Though don’t rely on that too much as an indication of your subject being too hard/ not enjoyable , because I picked up a law book and found it incredibly boring but now it’s my favourite subject :smile:

.

Organisation - make sure you have all your folders ready! I prefer to have a small folder where I put all of work in until I’ve finished it and then I transfer it to my larger file. (If this doesn’t make sense watch eve bennet / theunjadedjade videos on yt about file organisation). - trust me you can’t carry one large file around its a massive hassle by October ! Make sure you have a diary or planner to write down h/w, important dates ect; Keep up with your emails and try to talk to teachers if you need help.

Independent study- to be honest I think everyone’s different with time they spend for studying. My college recommend 3-5 hours per subject if that helps. To be honest , I just try to do it all during my frees so after the college day I only have h/w to do .

FE college?

Original post by PetitePanda

FE college?

Yes

Reply 4

PetitePanda

Study Forum Helper

Original post by Grace Appleby

Yes

What level 3 qualification are you doing and could you specific which ones?

Reply 5

Grace Appleby

Original post by PetitePanda

What level 3 qualification are you doing and could you specific which ones?

I’m taking A level History, Philosophy and Ethics, Psychology and Core Maths. They are all on AQA

Reply 6

PetitePanda

Study Forum Helper

Original post by Grace Appleby

I’m taking A level History, Philosophy and Ethics, Psychology and Core Maths. They are all on AQA

Definitely strengthen your GCSE maths, especially higher, for core maths. It would be good to get some context for history so maybe watch some youtube videos on the time period or some documentaries. If you want to do something for philosophy and ethics, maybe do some wider reading on the topics or case studies.

You probably want to get some of your stationery before you go into sixth form but you dont need to prepare for all of it. You will need pen, pencil, ruler, rubber and a highlighter. A calculator for Core maths (a scientific one will do you fine) and 3 level arch folders for now.

I only do one essay subject so I can only give you how I organise my folders for History. I have three folders now but I only had two at the beginning and I probably need like two more at least but I'm not in A2 yet. For the Breath study (I do AQA btw), I organise them into categories (e.g. economic, religion, politics and etc); for depth study, I organise it chronological order. For Physics (if you are interested), I separate them into AS topics and for maths, I separate them into pure, stats, mechanics and past papers.

Wdym by independent study per lesson??? Do you mean per subject?

Reply 7

Stanza03

Original post by Grace Appleby

I am lucky enough to go to a college that is well organized when it comes to folders.

My teachers already had folders prepared for those who needed it and separators to put things in their respective section.

Don't go crazy for work booklet, majority of the time you will be working from a booklet only buy a working booklet for like revision keep it for every 'module' of your subjects.

My course are: Film, Classical Civilisation and Law (now dropped for Media).
•Film was organized per module
•Classics organised per module in different folders but within those folders had subsections to put work in.
•Law was organised by modules again but those were very content heavy modules so I had to get another folder.

Look at your courses specification from the exam board and make an educated guess as to how you can organise.it.

As for independent study outside of my lesson I barley did none unless it was homework. lol don't be like me but also learn to have fun in those times and don't fill it up with studying.