Dragonhunter&#x27;s uni quest

OP

Term 2 week 1:

I've just returned from spending the past 3 weeks trekking to Everest Base Camp (what), and now have so much work to catch up on from school:

- English lit coursework x2 (due Nov 21)
- French background questions on La Haine (overdue)
- Music composition coursework (due end Nov) [started]
- Music programme notes essay (due end Nov)
- Music Vivaldi essay (overdue)
- Full texture harmony prep (overdue) [finished]
- Missed notes from today (jet lag sucks) and the week I missed before half term
- Many many hours of sleep

Most of the time I manage to stay on top of work, but most of this was supposed to be done over half term and handed in today. I didn't have enough space or weight allowance or energy to get much work done while trekking, hence the amount now. I took today off to try and recover, as of tomorrow it's back to the grindstone.

I'll start the French background and English prose tomorrow. Send me hugs xx

(edited 7 years ago)

Reply 2

Original post by dragonhunter

- French background questions on La Haine (overdue)

We're doing La Haine for one of the cultural topics as well :smile:

Reply 3

OP

Original post by CatusStarbright

We're doing La Haine for one of the cultural topics as well :smile:

Oh cool, what do you think of it? We're also doing L'Etranger (Camus), wbu?

Reply 4

Original post by dragonhunter

Oh cool, what do you think of it? We're also doing L'Etranger (Camus), wbu?

Ah we haven't started it yet - we're currently doing our other cultural topic of mai '68.

Might I ask what your strategies were to get full marks in AS French?

Reply 5

OP

Original post by CatusStarbright

Ah we haven't started it yet - we're currently doing our other cultural topic of mai '68.

Might I ask what your strategies were to get full marks in AS French?

I did a lot of past papers and practise aural interviews, and made up my own questions in the style of exam papers. I went through each topic in the textbook and wrote down different view points for each. I also went through examiners' reports and the mark schemes to pick out particular phrases which examiners seemed to like which I then memorised. I did a lot of independent exercises (not past papers) on grammar/verb tenses as they are my weakest areas.

That being said, my family did live in France for a few years and I homeschooled myself using a French board once I returned to England so I did go into the exam room with a natural advantage, especially in vocabulary. I'm finding this year more challenging with the analysis, so I'm treating it more like I did English lit in terms of the amount and type of work I do for the subject.

Hope this helped in some way!

(edited 7 years ago)

Reply 6

Original post by dragonhunter

I did a lot of past papers and practise aural interviews, and made up my own questions in the style of exam papers. I went through each topic in the textbook and wrote down different view points for each. I also went through examiners' reports and the mark schemes to pick out particular phrases which examiners seemed to like which I then memorised. I did a lot of independent exercises (not past papers) on grammar/verb tenses as they are my weakest areas.

That being said, my family did live in France for a few years and I homeschooled myself using a French board once I returned to England so I did go into the exam room with a natural advantage, especially in vocabulary. I'm finding this year more challenging with the analysis, so I'm treating it more like I did English lit in terms of the amount and type of work I do for the subject.

Hope this helped in some way!

Thanks, yeah. I was 1UMS away from an A at AS and this year I'm planning to make it a solid a at A Level! Ironically, I've studied French for years and I've never actually been to France - it is my dream to go someday soon.

Reply 7

OP

Term 2 week 2:

Aaaahh well last week was stressful. Don't think I've ever slept so much and worked so little, and still felt so tired! Also our school (specialist music school) had one of our symphony orchestra concerts which meant 15 hours of extra rehearsals last week… Not good.

On the upside, I was luck enough to get an interview from Trinity College, Cambridge to study ASNaC!!!!!! How cool is that?! I was the first person to hear back and am currently only one of 3 at my school to have heard, so I'm now that annoying person stressing everyone else out muahaha. (I swear I am actually a nice person. Deep deep down inside somewhere)

In terms of work not done yet (lol help):

- English lit coursework x2 (due Nov 21) [I've started both, almost finished one]
- Music composition coursework (due end Nov) [going well]
- Music programme notes essay (due end Nov)
- Full texture harmony ex 3 [started]
- French La Haine presentation
- Interview prep (only bad thing about getting an interview is I actually have to know stuff now)

Anyway… Wish me luck surviving. I can relax in 3 weeks!
Dragonhunter xx

Reply 8

OP

Original post by CatusStarbright

Thanks, yeah. I was 1UMS away from an A at AS and this year I'm planning to make it a solid a at A Level! Ironically, I've studied French for years and I've never actually been to France - it is my dream to go someday soon.

Ah that sucks! You should definitely go sometime, it's a beautiful country tho I'm biased :wink:

. Where a bouts would you go?

Reply 9

Original post by dragonhunter

Ah that sucks! You should definitely go sometime, it's a beautiful country tho I'm biased :wink:

. Where a bouts would you go?

I would obviously love to go to Paris. Lyon looks nice and I'd also like to go somewhere coastal, like Nice or Cannes.

Reply 10

OP

Term 2 week 3:

I legit cannot believe how fast these two weeks have gone. I feel like I did nothing but work last week either… I've pretty much caught up with work though, which is good. The next 2 evenings are going to be long, trying to meet deadlines, but after that I should have some more time to work on interview stuff which is good.

- English lit coursework x2 (due today lol) [I've submitted, just tweaking the other]
- Read The Road (due Monday) [it's only 300 or so pages, he's given us so much time!!]
- Watch V for Vendetta and make some sort of presentation on it (due Friday) [watch: today, work: Thursday]
- Music composition coursework (due next week) [I have written half the material, that is this weekend's problem]
- Music programme notes essay (due Thursday) [I don't even know my rep yet how did I get into this mess]
- Full texture harmony ex 3 (due goodness knows when) [draft 1 complete]
- French La Haine presentation (due Wednesday) [this is tomorrow night's problem]
- Interview prep (I'm doing about an hour a day, and it seems to be going well)

Okay well I thought I was more organised than I am, apparently.

IN OTHER NEWS FANTASTIC BEASTS IS OUT GAHHH

Dragonhunter xx

(edited 7 years ago)

Reply 11

OP

Term 2 week 4:

This was exeat weekend, which means the whole school shuts down and all the boarders have to go home, and so naturally I expected to get a lot of work done. And of course naturally I ended up spending far more time than planned catching up with my family, which was really nice. My Cambridge interview in exactly a week, and I'm doing the thing where one day I'm confident, and the next I wonder if they really meant to invite *me*, and if my application didn't get mixed up with someone else's, somehow. I'm also staying up well into the the early morning most nights, working, which isn't great. Also my roommate has started snoring really loudly ahahha help.

- English lit coursework x2 [first drafts back, second drafts in the works]
- Music composition coursework (due tomorrow) [I've done as much as I can be bothered to do for the first draft]
- Harmony ex 3 draft 2 (due tomorrow) [half done]
- English Handmaid's Tale extract analysis
- Interview prep HEEEELP

This looks so much better than last week's post, I'm quite pleased with myself!

Hang in there guys (and also me, hang in there Dragonhunter) xx

Reply 12

OP

Term 2 week 6:

Sorry, just realised I didn't post anything last week!! I HAD MY CAMBRIDGE INTERVIEW ON MONDAY and it was actually really enjoyable :smile:

. Couldn't for the life of me say how well I did but I loved talking to these people about my subject, and it was really nice to meet other potential future Trinitarians

In terms of work…..

- English lit coursework x2 (due before Christmas) [first drafts back, second drafts in the works]
- Essay on McCarthy's writing style in The Road (due Thursday)
- French scenes booklet thing (due Wednesday) [you can probably tell how much I've done on that…]

Also I'm feeling weirdly un-Christmassy, it's a little sad. My dorm is undecorated save for a BB8 advent calendar (yaaassss), my bestie dragged me to a Christmas market yesterday and still nothing. Eh, maybe when I finally get home at the end of this week…

Dragonhunter xx

Reply 13

OP

Christmas hols week 1:

Work I have to do: revision for mocks, read dystopian novels, solve world hunger, find a cure for cancer.
Work I want to do: NA
Work I have done: 0

Basically sums it up...

Reply 14

OP