Chronicles of my struggle to AAA

A-Levels: Oh god, what have I got myself into?

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Yo MTV,

Welcome to my crib.

Thought I'd start my GYG blog with a really bad joke!

Anyhow, my name is Aaminah Saleem and I'm on my first year of A-Levels.

This blog will relay my journey and show updates of progress (hopefully!)

Academic information:

I have recently completed my GCSE's & this is what I got:

Spoiler

I was happy but I was upset with the B's as I was predicted A*'s in these subjects. Anyway, the motivation to start this GYG blog is so I can track my progress and motivate myself into working hard.

The A-Levels I'm taking are and my predicted are:

Business Studies: B
History:A
Geography: A

I do want to get business up to an A- that would give me more options when applying to universities.

I will be undertaking an EPQ but I keep changing my mind on what topic, I hope to use a human topic I've been doing in geography as the basis of my EPQ.

Exam boards & topics:

History OCR: Civil rights in the US (controlled assessment), American Revolution & Birth of USA (1740-1796) and Britain (1900-1951)

Geography Edexcel:

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Physical geography: Tectonic process & change, coastal landscape, water cycle & water insecurity and carbon cycle & energy insecurity. 2 hours & 15 minutes and is 30% of the A-Level & 105 marks.

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Human geography: Globalisation, regenerating places, superpowers and migration, identity & sovereignty. 2 hours and 15 minutes, 105 marks & 30% of A-Level

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Synoptic: This is the unseen papers (20% of the A-Level & 70 marks, 2 hours and 15 minutes)

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Independent investigation: 20% of the A-Level and is 70 marks and is 3000-4000 words.

Business is AQA and we have 24 chapters (BUSS3).

Personal information:

Throughout year 10 and 11, I suffered heavily with social and exam anxiety which made the exams I took difficult to put it simply. I wish I did seek help out sooner rather than the March of year 11. This had a huge impact on my mental well-being and when I opened my results; I was proud because I managed to actually achieve good grades (to me). Anyway, onto me!

I am 16 years old and an Aquarius.

I am a bit of a self-proclaimed nerd! I'm known for being able to binge-watch Sherlock, Dr Who and Harry Potter. However the downside to that is sometimes getting so emotionally invested into a show I may end up neglecting my work which I'm trying not to.

I have a lot of hobbies. Public speaking is one. As a child, I was bullied a lot and ridiculed and had low self-confidence so a teacher entered me into a debating competition which I actually won. Ever since then, I've become increasingly more confident when speaking in front of a large crowd.

This sounds typical but I love reading and writing. Most of what I write is poems- I'm very politically minded so I penned a few poems on the refugee crisis out of frustration, anger and sadness. I have written a few short stories which I keep private because I'm very self-critical of my work and I never think it's good enough.

Reading is something that is as important to me as oxygen- I know it's a horrible cliche. Jacqueline Wilson, Roald Dahl, Enid Blyton and Cathy Cassidy were authors I'd read. Past my bedtime using a torch I had from a residential trip- every time I heard a footstep, I'd be acting asleep which wasn't always convincing! However, I strained my eyes so badly I got glasses!

Singing is another hobby which I'm bad at. I'm into a quite a wide range of music. Pop music, classical, alternative and french music are the broad categories I love listening to. I'm not the best at singing but it doesn't stop me from jamming out in the shower!

I have 4 sisters- when I talk about my personal life it may get a bit confusing. 3 are younger and 1 is older than me.

My goals:

I want to study Geography at Glasgow or Aberdeen or Royal Holloway.

I will be posting updates around once a week- or twice a week to update you with test scores, achievements, setbacks and life in the sixth form.

Mini Progress:

I'm part of the Aspiring High group at my school and we've had visits from admissions tutors from Oxford and Cambridge & I have a 1-1 mentoring session with a teacher.

Feedback from the session:

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I have done a lot of extra-curricular activities and wider reading along with geography based activities

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Focus on getting my AAB to AAA or maybe A*AA (A* in geography)

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Make links with what I study to what I read to the news

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Watch more documentaries and look at listening to some podcasts

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Stay up to date with the news (Brexit, refugee crisis etc.)

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Look at the recommended reading list set

As part of the programme, I actually mentor a Year 11 which I hope is useful for her!

(edited 6 years ago)

Reply 1

username3589930

Congrats to you for still being able to achieve the grades you did while struggling with anxiety.
You said you wanted to study at Royal Holloway, was it the spotify ads that convinced you?
Are you looking forward to the new season of Doctor Who?

Reply 2

username3592258

Original post by IAmNotStressed

Thank you so much- it's really kind of you to say that! There are times where I regret not working hard enough and it makes me feel really good when people are so kind about it! :smile:

I have an older sister who was looking at universities when I was in year 10 and I picked her up with my Dad. Entering it was shocking. The campus was surreal (I likened it to Hogwarts) - that little drive to pick up my sister piqued my interest and ever since I was looking at it . I have an uncle who did geography at Royal Holloway and he absolutely loved it! Royal Holloway is close enough to my family that I can come back whenever I wanted and the area is lovely! I'd say it was a mixture of those factors! Looking forward is an understatement- I've been going on about the new season so much, my sisters made a petition to stop me speaking about it!

Reply 3

username3592258

Half-term update:

I really love my subjects and I'm actually ahead of my studying. I went to the same school so I've branched out a bit and made a new group of friends. We've had end of term tests and throughout we've had essay questions and end of topic tests. I've been set 4 essay questions and a business project which I want to get done on Monday and use the other days to make revision notes and relax! I'm actually really proud to say that this term I was awarded an award for academic attainment in geography out of my year and I got a position as an Year Ambassador- I gave tours for our open evening and I was proud of being confident and actually talking comfortably around people. I've been asked to introduce a programme to Year 9 in an assembly. I am doing an assembly in front of Year 11 about work experience and summer schools.

I've been getting involved a lot in school. Attending a philosophy club and I've taken advantage of all of the Eton College events available (I go to talks at Eton College for the geographical and environmental societies). Writing for the school newspaper. I'm proud of these contributions. Also since my handwriting is really bad, I sometimes take my MacBook to school to type up notes using my textbook in free periods and to make my lesson notes. I got an iPad to take to school- less dangerous and it's got a bluetooth keyboard which still has charge from when I got it in September (I use it for around 2-3 hours a day).

During half-term I'm going out to London to go Oxford Street, Imperial War Museum and I'm going to go to Westfield (time-permitting) with my youngest sister who has a history project to complete. On Sunday, I'm going to the BBC Radio 1 teen awards with my other sister.

I have become much more organised- at GCSE I hated doing it but now I've got 6 folders. 1 for human geography and 1 for physical- I didn't want to separate AS and A2, human and physical seemed to make more sense .1 for Britain (1900-1951). 1 for American Revolution & Birth of the US (1740-1796). 1 for business chapters 1-12. Another for chapters 12-24. I was struggling with file dividers for business so I bought a set of numbered file dividers on Amazon 1-30. The others may be used for other subjects or for revision.

Progress:

History:

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I have done a quarter of my notes for the British side of the course (1900-1951)

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My USA notes (American revolution & birth of the USA 1740-1796) are actually just over half way done!

Essay results for the British side:

Summer homework: looking at why the national government was formed in 1931 (12/20). I was happy with this because it was a C and I was 2 away from a B- considering I did this without knowing how to structure a 20 marker was pleasing as my target is an A so I'm actually on track! My improvement was to focus more on the question and not to waffle as much.

Essay 1: to what extent do the sources support how Britain was a thriving country (15/30). I was surprised by the result because I thought I would've got over half but I understand what went wrong. I talked too much about the NOP of the sources & needed to insert more knowledge. This essay was done on the second week- we were given it to see how we would approach a 30 marker so without knowing how to structure it and the level of analysis- this result was okay.

Essay 2: how far do the sources support the view that the Taff Vale case was the main reason for the creation of the Labour Party (8/30). I was gutted when I got my result and my history teacher pulled me over to the side and she showed me that all I did was analyse the sources and the NOP of them, I didn't really explain how they showed it and I didn't insert any knowledge about the Taff Vale case.

On the US side of the course I've had one essay which was summer homework. 20 marker about the stamp act (was the reaction to it justified). I got 17/20 which I was ecstatic with.

My results have shown me and my classwork that I struggle more with Britain.

I also went to a taster day for History at King's College which was really interesting. If I change and want to do history, I'd like to go to a London university because of how it's a cultural and historical hub.

Geography:

Our first two topics are tectonic hazards and globalisation.

Hazards:

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I have a new geography teacher and she's absolutely lovely! I didn't enjoy the physical side of geography that much at GCSE but now I really like it.

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I have made notecards and mind-maps of all of my case studies.

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I've been making a lot of progress with my work and notes

Essay results:

Evidence of continental drift (10/12)- I was really pleased with my result and I needed to just bring in another piece of evidence or further analyse the evidence I gave

Benefits and risks of living near an area of volcanic activity (11/12)- the extra mark would have been obtained if I structured my answer more coherently

Globalisation:

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Globalisation is my favourite topic: it's the most interesting and topical

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We've had some debates and I've participated heavily in them

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It links really well with business studies so I have a lot of overlap

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I have a new geography teacher for this side- she was at my school last year and taught my friends class

Essay results:

Explain the benefits and problems associated w/ globalisation (using examples) 10/10- my teacher said it was a model answer so I have no complaints- a tiny thing I hated was my introduction so I rewrote it

Business Studies:

I was a bit reluctant about it because of the grade I got but I have actually done well! I realised that I need to pay attention to more economic news so I've got an subscription to the Economist. We had to do a summer report on a Business and I got a B in it- my improvements were to use more secondary data and look at share price trends.

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We've covered 2 topics: what is a business? and managers and leadership and decision making

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Started finance and marketing

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My test scores have been consistently high which I'm proud of

Essay results:

9 marker: 9/9 (using the case study, why has the business been profitable). I'm happy with this result because my teachers said it was a model answer and he was really nice about my progress

9 marker: 8/9 (to what extent has profit always been the objective of Samir and Jack. I didn't read the case study entirely so I know what information I could've included

Finance initial assessment: 30/30. I was the only one to finish and get full marks which is really nice to hear especially since I was really nervous about the result. My only criticism was making my writing legible.

16 marker: Which option should he choose? (new camp in Scotland or add new facilities to the existing camp). 14/16 marks. My criticism was that my answer was too long which I agree with- I'm trying to focus on reigning in on what I write

9 marker (7/9): Analyse benefits and drawbacks of scientific decision making. I didn't include anything about bias or where the information actually comes from- doing that would've given me 9/9

16 marker (14/16) : Should James start a campsite with Fellow Farms? To get the top marks I need to look at the bias of the figures in the case study as they are from a salesman so I shouldn't have considered them to be 100% reliable

(edited 6 years ago)

Reply 4

username3592258

Update 2: Revision, stress and progress

So, this update is to give people reading this, insights as to how I study and try to manage stress and anxiety along with tracking progress.

I never found the right revision technique until a month before my GCSEs. I wasn’t someone who could just power work for hours- many times I got bored or I felt like I was doing too much.

Don’t fall into the trap that I did. Staring at a textbook trying to remember things.

I’ll go through techniques for each GCSE I did.

GCSE Techniques:

Spoiler

A-Level Revision Techniques

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How I manage stress and anxiety?

Spoiler

Reply 5

username3592258

Monday the 23rd Update:

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The BBC Radio 1 teen awards were absolutely amazing!

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Today I got a lot of holiday homework done: my business project is done, I have done my USA essay on 'was war inevitable at 1765?', my geography essays are done but I did leave one thing out- doing some questions on Ireland based on a handout given to us in History (Britain) which I'm going to try and do tomorrow. I did write up another 6 pages of Britain notes & I did 10 pages of geography