One Year Oxford Plan

Writing this down because there's pressure to fulfill it if it's in the public sphere...so here's my one year plan to get set for Oxford!

One Year Oxford Plan

Background
Though this is technically a one year plan for Oxford, realistically I probably will not get in but you know what they say; shoot for the moon and you'll land among the stars!

At GCSE I achieved: 13 A*. Pretty happy about this and it means I'm in no disadvantage to shoot pretty high, and as of now, I have three main universities and courses I want to study:

1) Oxford University - PPE | AAA
2) Warwick University - Economics, Politics and International Studies | A*AA
3) Durham University - Economics and Politics | A*AA

These are my goals - though courses may change so I may consider UCL if they offer courses I like the look of, KCL if they climb up rankings or LSE if it does look likely I'll get an A* in maths.

I'm currently studying history, economics, maths and politics at A-Level.

Targets
In order to have a chance at meeting these unis, I need to be predicted (not AS due to new changes) at least A*AA. We've got no official targets just yet, I do have personal targets (these may change) and they are:

History: A (potentially A*)
Economics: A*
Maths: A
Politics: A*

A*A*A therefore is my overall target for predicted grades. A*A*A* being the upper bound though (I could pull of an A* in history but that would be difficult) and A*AA being what I need (An A* at politics at A2 would be tough, though I think no matter what I could pull off an A* at economics).

For this I need at AS level, essentially an AAAA for all my subjects.

Well that's the easy bit done...

The Plan
My targets I do realise are high. Very high...and the jump from GCSEs to A-Level is noticeable already. I've heard the horror stories about A* students becoming C students due to a lack of hard work so I pretty much need to up the tempo.

Academic
I need to do a little bit of revision every day essentially. Maths is certainly my weakest subject so I have to practice a bit every day. Aside from this, my initial plan at the start is to designate one module a day to updating my revision notes a bit. Thankfully I've drawn up a revision timetable: At least like 5 mins a day to start off with should help. It's not very intensive so hopefully it's possible.

As far as academic stuff for school goes, can't really think of a lot much else. Do h/w, revise for tests etc. Obviously come exam time I'll have to sort out a new plan then, but for now I think this is the best way to go - I need to keep up with notes, as well as keep my knowledge up to date. I do these notes in the form of flashcards which I can periodically look through so I hope that helps.

I'll also hope to do an EPQ, which is probably going to be related to middle-eastern history. For that I pretty much need at least an A.

Extra curricular
This is the hard one - I need to stand out one way or another. I write articles for a couple of sites so I need to continue doing so, and the plan is that my next year I would have written at least 30 articles for various publications I can refer to.

Also in terms of lectures, I'd like to start going to them more. I've been to a couple, so the plan is by next year I would have at least been to 20.

Next extra-curricular help I need is extra reading - which I definitely need to do for my subjects, so I personally need to aim for about a book every 2 weeks. By this time next year I want to have read 20 books related to my studies (not a lot...but I need to also read for pleasure eh...)

I've got a bunch of other minor things I could do: subject prefectships, positions of leadership,, things I do outside of school running clubs and activities, doing debating, etc. Don't really have a number or anything here but I do need to keep these in mind definitely.

Finis
I don't really know what to say anymore. I imagined this would be a lot more concrete and in depth when writing this down but really there's not a lot I can do other can keep these in mind early on.

I'm not looking for this to be read, just want to have this in one place. Though if it is, and anyone has ANY advice, ANY tips, wants to offer ANY help I would be more than grateful.

Obviously from next year is when the real challenge begins, where I'll need to be worrying about interviews, TSA, personal statement, UCAS, etc. This one year plan is more about putting myself in the best position I can before the real worry starts. It's not even really a plan is it... Anyway. Here it is. I guess I'm done huh. Thanks for reading if you did! Once again any help is appreciated.

Reply 1

TSR Jessica

Sorry you've not had any responses about this. :frown:

Are you sure you've posted in the right place? :smile:

Here's a link to our subject forum which should help get you more responses if you post there. :redface:

Just quoting in Danny Dorito so she can move the thread if needed :wizard:

Spoiler

Reply 2

Plagioclase

Sounds like a good plan! The only thing I'd say is that you shouldn't feel pressured to reach some kind of book or lecture "quota" - it's of course excellent that you're planning to engage in your subject as much as possible but quality is really a lot more important than quantity (admissions tutors are going to be more impressed by insightful thoughts about a couple of books or talks rather than just being given a massive list) so if you feel like you need to slow down a bit, that's absolutely fine.

Good luck!