A-Level Stationary Shopping ~~

So sixth formers... I need to go shopping

What do you recommend?
What did you find useful?
What do you wish you had?
Anything else I need to buy???

Thanks in advance!!
Post your favourite study tools!

I started the year with everything; pencil case, highlighters, pens, pencils, rubbers, sharpeners, different sized rulers, etc, etc.
I finished the year with a pen.

In all seriousness, organisation is really important at A-level. I basically had one large ring binder which I took to college with me everyday. I had four of those A4 dividers and I wrote one of my subjects on each one, so that my large folder was divided into four sections - one for each subject. In those sections I kept all the current work that I needed so that I had all the work that I would need each day, but not too much.

I then had four smaller ring binders which I kept at home - again, one for each subject. In those I kept all the work we no longer needed in class everyday - like topics we had finished. Then when it came to revision, I had all my notes in one folder.

I also used plastic wallets - not everyone does this, but I found it really useful. I put all my handouts and copied up notes in a plastic wallet before I stored it in my large folder or one of my smaller folders. You can hole punch everything and store it that way, but I had so much work that everything started to rip out of my folder and I started to lose stuff.

I'd suggest buying some cheap A4 notepads. I started the year with WHSmith premium A4 notepads but I went through them so fast, so just settled for the cheaper ones. I had two sets of notes at AS - the notes I did in class, and the notes I made myself as revision.

You could either use four separate notebooks and keep all your notes written up in those. I prefer writing up all my notes and tearing them out of the notebooks so I can store them in my folders in plastic wallets - I just found it easier when it came to revision. You need to be pretty organised to do that though.

Now this, THIS is what I asked for - personal preferences
Thank you so much!! You have been really helpful

My collage stationary list

The Palgrave student planner by Stella Cottrell is the holy grail of planners/ diaries its a little excessive for A level as its mainly for uni students but if your an organisation freak like me its perfect. If you fill it in with all it asks for you will literally have the all the info for being the perfect studet at your finger tips.

Whats also very useful is an automatic pencil, may sound odd but depending on your subject choice your bound to get through a few packets of pencils, however if you have an automatic one you have it for life unless you lose it. you can get cheap ones or your can go expensive i've compromised with a Techniclick G 0.5 by Pentel which is not the cheapest but good quality and ergonomic. Using one of these instead of pencils also means you don't need a sharpener and most come with a built in rubber so its a win win.

Another tip is to use a retractable pen so your not constantly losing pen lids and or having to delve under tables and under people feet to retrieve your pen lid when it goes walk about.

Selotape is also another helpful itam to have because an alternative quick way of sticking sheets instead of glue also very helpful when sticking in double sided sheets (only applies when using a pad or exercise book) it also lasts longer so by the end of the year you don't get the badly glued sheets hanging out your folder. If you don't want to see the Sellotape you could use double sided tape although this is a bit more of a faf and is almost impossible use with out nail and it take longer. However i have seen someone with a thing that directly applies the double sided tape for you (it looks and works a bit like the tip ex strip appliers).

also its always useful to have a sharpie for labelling and other stuff.

Another useful item is a binder popper wallet which is basically a popper wallet that goes in a binder, its useful for putting random notes and sheets that don't really have a place or will be organised into place in the future, you can also put any odds and ends in there without risk of losing them. (try Rymans for this)

Also having a pooper wallet or some sort of small file holder is useful for preventing letters or forms being lost or being crumpled beyond usefulness in the bottom of your bag.

hope this helps