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Eat. Sleep. Study. Repeat: CoffeeAndPolitics' A Level Blog - Part 1

Reply 40

CheeseIsVeg

22

it's such a good blog title :daydreaming:

Original post by CoffeeAndPolitics

I was thinking about that and I was like right I know what to call my blog ... Eat. Sleep. Study. Repeat.

Reply 41

DeepInTheMeadow

18

Original post by CoffeeAndPolitics

Eat. Sleep. Study. Repeat.
CoffeeAndPolitics' A Level Blog: Part 1

Hi, everybody.

Welcome to my blog, where I'll be updating about my progress during A Levels and the notoriously stressful University application process. As well as that, I'll be updating about my extra curricular activities and I suppose anything else interesting that's going on in my life.

About Me:
My name is @CoffeeAndPolitics (or you can call me by my initials, JT if you prefer). I'm a 16-year-old male from South East London and I'm Chinese (I speak Cantonese). I'm currently a Community Assistant for Study Help, where I hold responsibilities in keeping the sub-forum tidy and help answer people's inquiries in my own capacity.

Given my username, I'm obviously into politics and I'm a proud Centrist. I'm currently a member of TSR Liberal Party and I currently sit as a backbench MP in the Labour-Liberal-Socialist coalition. I'm also known for being a "blithering idiot" according to @Airmed. :colondollar:

Well done on the GCSE results! I would love to be tagged in any future blog posts!! Good luck for A levels! I will also be doing Economics, so it will be interesting to see how you get along with that!

Reply 42

JT_888

OP

20

Original post by DeepInTheMeadow

Well done on the GCSE results! I would love to be tagged in any future blog posts!! Good luck for A levels! I will also be doing Economics, so it will be interesting to see how you get along with that!

Thank you! I will sort out the tag list for future blog posts and edit yesterday's blog post to include a tag list. I also wish you the very best for A Levels. :smile:

^JT

Reply 43

PixieDust_00

15

JT! Add me to the tag list!
I'm not the same level as you and I don't take the same subjects but I'm interested in your journey and DUDE! I LOVE THE PICTURE!!! It's not too big. Sorry for the Caps Lock, I'm starting to get comfortable hahahahahhaa :P

Reply 44

JT_888

OP

20

Original post by PixieDust_00

JT! Add me to the tag list!
I'm not the same level as you and I don't take the same subjects but I'm interested in your journey and DUDE! I LOVE THE PICTURE!!! It's not too big. Sorry for the Caps Lock, I'm starting to get comfortable hahahahahhaa :P

Sure, I'm always happy to add people in. :smile:

Reply 45

JT_888

OP

20

Remarks for English Language and History?!? - 30/08/17

Just a quick update from me ... This afternoon, I received an unexpected call from my school asking me to pop in to sign something regarding remarks. Turns out it was for English Language, which is very unexpected but that potentially would mean a possibility of getting a Grade 7 (I got a Grade 6 when I got my results last week). In terms of History, I'm getting increasingly annoyed and worried because I haven't been asked to sign anything regarding remarks but with the deadline being sometime in September, I'm hoping that this would be started by then.

Tags:

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Reply 46

JT_888

OP

20

Sixth Form Induction - 09/09/17

Apologies for the delayed update, I was extremely exhausted after the induction and I didn't have the energy to make this update. Yesterday, we started with a welcome assembly with the Year 13, which was basically senior Sixth Form staff introducing themselves and outlining the expectations at Sixth Form. It was honestly so boring that anyone could've fell asleep. After this, we spent quite a while trying to find a vacant desk, which was extremely difficult because I couldn't see one in sight. It didn't help when you have other Year 12s walking around carrying their folders without accidentally bumping into each other and causing a huge mess in the study area. It was only a while later that I found a vacant desk after literally walking up and down the study area to find one; I was extremely lucky because some people have to share a study desk apparently whilst I had a whole desk to myself. :colone:

Before break started, I went to one of the computer suites we had to log on to our school email to send an email to our Head of Year (it was part of this stupid induction day checklist which nobody finished :tongue:

).

During the short break, I had a quick toilet break before meeting my friends in the Sixth Form common room, where we were then escorted to the hall for a session on expectations. The session was still boring but it wasn't as bad as the assembly we had. Also, my Year 11 History teacher, MPO, was there to help out with the session and finally I've signed the form to get my History paper remarked so hopefully that will mean I'll get a Grade A for History and a Grade 7 for English Language. After lunch, we had another session but with MHI, the Head of Year 13 about results at Sixth Form and a talk from two of the Year 13 to give us an idea what the Sixth Form is like. We also had a session with our Head of Year, CWA, who was leading a team bonding exercise. We had to build a structure out of marshmallows and sticks of spaghetti, which went badly wrong for my team because we totally destroyed the structure we had before time was up. There was also a school quiz which was extremely hard, such as "how many toilet blocks the school has?" - do I actually care smh :angry:

The entire session ended at around 10 past 3 when we were given our timetables, but it's currently messed up. To summarise what is wrong with it, my Sociology lessons at the sister school didn't show up and I had to go to the Data Officer's office to get it sorted out. It didn't really help when he told me I have Sociology on Monday, periods 3-4 and Thursday, periods 2,3 and 4 because for another student, it clashed with her other subject meaning that this is subjected to change. It's just annoying how they didn't sort this out ages ago. :s-smilie:

Hopefully, they tell me on period 1 on Monday, because according to my timetable, I have no lessons then.

Tags:

Spoiler

Reply 47

JT_888

OP

20

Settling In at Sixth Form - 15/09/17

My first full week of Sixth Form has been extremely tough and I'm not even exaggerating. In terms of the timetable problem, that meant that I had lessons on Monday when I was meant to have Sociology because apparently, the sister school was having an induction day. It wasn't until Wednesday morning that the timetable problem had been rectified which resulted in a year group assembly just so we can hand out the new timetable. Fortunately for me, Sociology was now showing on the timetable when it wasn't previously (I'll move on to talk about my timetable later in this post).

After the assembly, I had History with MPO which was really rushed because we were mainly dealing with admin work. That lesson followed with another Economics lesson with CFA where he went through the handout that's basically a basic economic guide by the economist, Ha Joon Chang which really helped. Followed with a short break, I had double History with LGR where we were getting started with the Russia unit that I'm doing with her. We looked at political ideologies and a little into the course content. We were given a handout to read during private study and were required to make notes on the political, social and economic aspects of Russia in 1894.

Now going back to my new timetable, I'm very happy with it because the lessons are spread out very well and I'm not that person who is unfortunate to have lessons every single period for one day of the week - I someone that does and it's actually not great.

My Timetable:
Monday - Sociology (MBA) @Sister School P1-3
- Private Study P4-6

Tuesday - Private Study P1-3
- Economics (CFA) P4
- Private Study P5-6

Wednesday - History (MPO) P1
- Economics (CFA) P2
- History (LGR) P3-4
- Enrichment: Model UN* P5-6

Thursday - Economics (CFA) P1
- Private Study P2-4
- Enrichment: Reading In Schools * - during my lunchbreak
- Sociology (MBA) @Sister School P5-6

Friday - Private Study P1-2
- History (MPO) P3-4
- Economics (CFA) P5-6

* The enrichment sessions typically take place on Wednesday afternoon, thought some sessions take place at other times. The Model UN is a basically a political society at my school where we debate the current affairs that matter to us and apparently we can debate with other schools who also have Model UN's and represent a country! With the Reading In Schools program, I've put that as my 2nd choice though I was offered it anyways but I don't mind about that as such because I can simply bring my own food on Thursday's and eat during my private study. The program is basically aimed at tackling the barrier that disadvantaged young students face with being unable to read at the required standard and by working with younger students and supporting other students, I'm essentially making an effort to help them break through this barrier that holds them back to be able to academically excel. It's a really rewarding project that I'm involved in and I'm actually excited to start knowing that even the smallest difference can have a huge impact. This is also something I'll be very proud of to write in my future personal statement for university.

Moving back on to Sociology, I'm increasingly frustrated with the sister school because they have cancelled all my lessons this week because on Monday they claimed that they had an induction day for their Year 12s and yesterday (Thursday), it was cancelled due to a some progress check or something in between the lines of that. I've already complained to both MHI (Head of Year 13 - a very important person) and CFA (Deputy Head of Sixth Form/my Economics teacher) and they're aware of the whole issue and are hopefully going to tell off MBA (Head of Sixth Form at sister school/my Sociology teacher) for the poorly planned events on those days.

Given that I'm short for time, I'm not going to ramble on further about my week but I will simply say that I'm struggling to keep up with the workload in Economics whereas History is manageable though I need to sort out my notes from today's lesson with MPO. Below, is a picture of my desk which I'm sharing with my best friend due to a lack of study desks. Enjoy! :h:

Tags:

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Reply 48

JT_888

OP

20

The Struggle - 24/09/17

Song: Jess Glynne - Don't Be So Hard on Yourself

Apologies for the delayed update, I've been extremely busy with sixth form life and the stress has taken it toll on me. Before, I get further into this post, I would like give a shout out to @Quizlet who's an fantastic TSRian and fellow CA; he's now taking an indefinite leave from TSR due to a serious illness (which you can read here) and obviously I wish him the very best for his health and his future endeavors. It's been a real shock for me to read about this and I'm sure you, the readers of my blog, would wish him well. :console:

On Monday (18th September), I started my first Sociology lesson at my sister school and CFA (my Economics teacher/Deputy Head of Sixth Form) drove me and my classmates over to the sister school. I have 3 hours with WWH on Mondays who will teach me the Education module of the course and I have 2 hours with MBA on Thursdays who will teach me the Families and Households module of the course. To be completely honest, I'm struggling to settle in with my Sociology class because 1) the environment I'm in is obviously completely different and it just feels weird being in a different place 2) the teaching style over at my sister school is a lot different compared to my school - WWH's teaching style takes the approach of explaining things clearly but breaking it down to the extent that probably Year 6/7 students would understand. However, MBA's teaching style is a whole lot different, she teaches in the style of lectures (which I'm absolutely not used to) and then expects us to consolidate what's she's telling us into revision format and it's just a uphill struggle for me. To say that I'm not enjoying it so far is probably an understatement but I'll stick for it for now, things should get better soon. Tomorrow (25th September), I have a 3 hour lesson (with a break) with WWH whom I prefer out of my Sociology teachers and hopefully we should be given a textbook so I can then do some further reading to get on board with what they're teaching.

Also my timetable has changed again only very slightly (I got a new timetable on Friday 22nd September) whereby I now co-tutor Year 11s during the main school's tutor time and also on Tuesday, I have tutor time during the first period (of which I'm free) apparently with the Head of Sixth Form, TMcI because it clashes with my lesson on Wednesday first period.

Summary of my week with other subjects:
Economics (CFA): We're doing Theme 1 (Introduction to markets and market failure) and Theme 2 (The UK economy: performance and policies) side by side at the moment and I'm going to sort out my classnotes (after finishing this post and on Monday afternoon).

History (MPO/LGR): We've finished looking at Churchill's views on India and we're now set homework to do some further reading for next lesson. For LGR's lesson, we didn't do much because the majority of the class was absent due to the IntoUniversity program meaning that it was technically a free lesson for us - I just used that to do MPO's private study work.

Finally, I would like to end with saying that I'm enjoying the Model UN I do as an enrichment on Wednesday afternoon - it's been extremely fun debating with others and I'm looking forward to the Reading In Schools program that I'm starting on Thursday lunchtime (think the day may have been changed) with Y7s.

Amazing People Who Reads My Blog:

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Reply 49

JT_888

OP

20

NB: Tag didn't work in blog post. ^^^

Amazing People Who Read My Blog:

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Reply 50

JT_888

OP

20

Getting There ... - 30/09/17

Major Lazer - Know No Better (ft.Travis Scott, Camila Cabello & Quavo)

Apologies for the late update again, I think from now on, I'll make the weekly updates on either Friday or Saturday and if I have the time, I may make more frequent posts on this amazing blog.

You may be wondering what I mean by the title "Getting There ..." but if you have been following my blog very closely, you'll understand that I've been struggling with sixth form life - the workload, the stress and most importantly, just sixth form life in general. :frown:

Having started sixth form, I have struggled with keeping up with the demanding workload, how to manage my stress and most importantly just getting used to sixth form life; however, I believe that slowly I'm getting there though it seems the demanding workload never ends. :o:

o

Sociology (WWH/MBA): We have just finished the introductory stuff for Sociology and from Monday 2nd October 2017, we will be splitting off to do Education (WWH) and Familes and Households with (MBA). Also on Monday, we have finally received our AQA A Level Sociology textbooks.

Economics (CFA): Instead of the plan to split Theme 1 (Introduction to Markets and Market Failure) and Theme 2 (The UK Economy - Performance and Polices) into roughly equal lessons, CFA thought that it would be best to do more of the Theme 1 content (Microeconomics) to gain a better understanding for the Theme 2 content. This week we have finished off looking at 1.1.4 Production Possibility Frontiers, 1.1.5 Specialisation and the Division of Labour and we also jumped straight to 1.2.1 to look at Rational Decision Making which we'll finish on Tuesday's lesson.

History (MPO): We're currently consolidating our knowledge on Churchill's views on rearmament and appeasement before moving on to look at what happened under Chamberlain's stinct as Prime Minister. We have been set Private Study/Homework to read the photocopied handout and to make notes on it. We have also received our textbooks for this unit.

History (LGR): We're currently behind slightly because of what happened during last week's lesson. However, we're making sufficient progress with economical, political and social problems that Russia faced under the Imperial Russia. We have also received our textbooks for this unit.

Other News:
1) Sixth Form Pass: I've got my picture taken on Monday and I'm just waiting for the pass to arrive with the lanyard.

2) Reading In Schools Program: It's been a rocky start to the session but my partner and myself introduced ourselves to the Year 7s and they did the same. It was mainly a session to get to know that, what their interests are and talk a little about the book we're going to read. I'm going to make a plan to make the session more interesting because I think my partner might've bored them to death. :s-smilie:

3) Model UN: My school is going to be part of the London's Model UN Conference on both 25th-26th November 2017 at King's College London where we'll be joined with schools like Eton College and many others across London. Given that we're the first cohort to do this, it's going to be both exciting and scary at the same time. Who knows if I'll bump into @Michael_Fishy at King's.

4) The Access Project: I have received an email saying that my application has been received and now that it's being reviewed and that I should hear back on Monday. Without being too overconfident, I think I'm going to be accepted anyways because I've out through a very strong case to be involved in the process, wish me luck.

5) Folder checks: By far the most annoying thing that my school does 6 times a year - I have passed with 2 ambers (meaning it's okay) and 1 green (good) though I suspect I got another amber for my Economics folder.

Textbooks:

The Amazing People Who Read My Blogs:

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Reply 51

Captain Holt

20

Ooooooo J since when did you have one of these? Tag tag tag

Reply 52

JT_888

OP

20

Original post by zq01

Ooooooo J since when did you have one of these? Tag tag tag

You'll be added to the tag list for the next post.

Reply 53

Airmed

21

Original post by CoffeeAndPolitics

You'll be added to the tag list for the next post.

Tag me too, as your glorious DL. :colonhash:

Reply 54

JT_888

OP

20

Original post by Airmed

Tag me too, as your glorious DL. :colonhash:

You're in my tag list but IDK what's going on with those stupid tags, will get it sorted. :smile:

Reply 55

Airmed

21

Original post by CoffeeAndPolitics

You're in my tag list but IDK what's going on with those stupid tags, will get it sorted. :smile:

Are you just copying and pasting them over? It's not working right for me, so I have to manually type out my tags for mine :lol:

Reply 56

JT_888

OP

20

Original post by Airmed

Are you just copying and pasting them over? It's not working right for me, so I have to manually type out my tags for mine :lol:

Yeah, I've copied and pasted them over. Will try doing it manually but I'm that lazy ******* lol. :lol:

Reply 57

Airmed

21

Original post by CoffeeAndPolitics

Yeah, I've copied and pasted them over. Will try doing it manually but I'm that lazy ******* lol. :lol:

I know the pain :lol:

Reply 58

JT_888

OP

20

Sixth Form Lanyard & Pass - 07/10/17

Shawn Mendes - There's Nothing Holdin' Me Back

It's been another relatively stressful week at Sixth Form and I finding it difficult to compare whether it was worse this week or whether it was last week - someone help me out! As you can see in the title "Sixth Form Lanyard & Pass", I've finally received my pass on Wednesday which was a bit later than I expected but at least I got it now. My Sixth Form pass is just one of those pass that will enable to: open the doors around the building, scan and release jobs for printing (I had to set this up myself) and for some pupils they can use their pass to sign in - I'm going to try to get this sorted because it will honestly make my life a lot easier.

Subject Updates:
Economics (CFA): There's been a change in CFA's plan to split our 5 lessons to cover the Macroeconomics content (Theme 2) and the Microeconomics content (Theme 1) because he has concluded that this plan wouldn't work well. Instead, we will be covering all the Macroeconomics and Microeconomics across all different themes in our 2 year course and he has given us a breakdown as to how this will work. I haven't got hold of the breakdown at the time of writing this because we had to had it in after RAG (Red, Amber Green) rating the different topics in the spec.

History (MPO): We're picking on the pace and have now looked at Chamberlain's views on German rearmament and appeasement and a little bit on how Churchill managed to get back in power 1940. We have also practiced a source based question and this is the second time in MPO's lesson that we've done an exam style question - hopefully I did much better from last time.

History (LGR): We've looked at the opposition to the Tsardom and talked a bit about Marxism i.e. the bourgeoisie, the proletariat etc. but we're still being set Private Study to read about the problems with reform to help us understand the opposition to the Tsardom better. Essentially, next lesson will be a consolidation lesson of what we've read.

Sociology (WWH & MBA): In WWH's lesson, we've started to look at what functionalists, neoliberals and the New Right on Education and we've been set an exam style question worth 20 marks. As with MBA's lesson, we've started to look into the meaning of the word family and look at couples as a topic - this will span over next week's lesson.

Other News:
1) The Access Project: On Monday evening, I've received an email from them saying that my application has been approved and now I will be interviewed by someone from The Access Project on this Monday coming. I'm absolutely excited and I can't wait to get extra support with my studies, especially in Economics and if possible History as well.

2) Reading In Schools Program: After last week's rocky start with the program, it couldn't have got worse when my partner went missing around the other side of the school building leaving me panicking about what to do with my group of 5 Year 7s - it was so awkward and I guess they sympathised with me. :redface:

Anyhow, there was a better system brought in of which we start off with discussing how everybody's week has been before moving on to discuss what they've read by consolidating their understanding of the book before we take it in turn to read a bit. Given how lovely they were, I've asked my HoY (CWA) to give them merits on the system and I'm planning to buy them some sweets to reward them.

3) Folder Checks: I've got an amber for my Economics folder but I wouldn't really let that bother me as such.

4) Model UN: We had this guy come in to explain to us how the Model UN works etc. but if I have to be totally honest, I found it quite boring with him explaining stuff and there was only a handful of us debating about something completely random. Hopefully things will get better especially when we have to attend the London Model UN conference on both 25th-26th November 2017 at King's College London.

5) Student Voice: I've attended this meeting yesterday after school to discuss about the problems we have about how the Sixth Form is functioning and I was raising concerns about the noise in the study room and some other issues were being discussed by the teachers. At the moment, the Sixth Form Study Area has had a reconfiguration to address the twin issues of noise and space and they're trying to change the layout of the entire room to fit in more desks and to reduce the number of people required to share a desk and suffer from inadequate working space. I've already spent last night, typing up a letter and making tables to get an idea of people's views on the matter.

6) Predicted Grades: We get our predicted grades on this coming Tuesday and I'll be making SMART targets based on those.

My Amazing Blog Readers:

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Reply 59