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Zoe's Journey to ABB

Hi! Thought I'd start this while I had the chance. I'm currently at work getting some online training done in the crew room as I leave school early on Thursdays. My job is in fast food which is pretty chill most of the time.

I'm trying to grow my grades from solid Cs to AAB. I'm somewhat naturally bright but I often have to juggle personal problems, my job and schoolwork. Last year, I passed all of my GCSEs (with even two A*s to boot) but prior to that, I'd dropped two subjects and had to take some time away from school because of mental health problems. Taking A Levels is a whole new ball game. It's been a lot of adjusting. New sixth form, new job, new friends... But it's starting to settle, which is why I hope I can now really put in the effort to bring my grades up in time both for mocks next month and then the real thing at the end of Yr13. Especially now I've set my eyes on two universities which both ask for ABB...

I take Media Studies, Religious Studies and English Language and Literature. Hope to update soon with what I'm actually gonna get up to!
(edited 5 years ago)

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Okay, now I have a bit of time to write, I'll just put down what I need to be doing in the next few weeks.

MEDIA STUDIES
- make sure I'm on target with coursework
- revise for AS exams

RELIGIOUS STUDIES
- organise and make up for missing work in philosophy&ethics folder
- make up for missing work in christianity folder
- revise for AS exams

ENGLISH LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE
- make up for missing notes in anthology book
- revise for AS exams

EPQ
- finish all of my reading for the topic
- look over candidate record form
- write first draft
- (actually do some work for it OMG)

I'm working eight hours today so it's pretty much a write-off. But I finish work at 3 tomorrow, so I'm hoping I get to do some work for EPQ then as well as do the RS homework set on Friday.
So is this some sort of diary, a place to keep memos, or both...?
Original post by Kian Stevens
So is this some sort of diary, a place to keep memos, or both...?


Honestly, not sure. Right now it's just kinda preparation, but I hope it will develop into a diary as I start making some progress.

Am I doing it wrong? :eek:
Original post by justzoe
Honestly, not sure. Right now it's just kinda preparation, but I hope it will develop into a diary as I start making some progress.

Am I doing it wrong? :eek:


There's no right or wrong. Carry on and hopefully it will turn into a big 'journey' (as you call it) throughout your whole A Levels :smile:
Original post by Kian Stevens
There's no right or wrong. Carry on and hopefully it will turn into a big 'journey' (as you call it) throughout your whole A Levels :smile:


Hey, thanks :smile: I hope it'll get to be like that too.
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Avatar for nyxnko_
nyxnko_
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Good luck!! :rave:
Original post by nyxnko_
Good luck!! :rave:


Thanks!
(edited 5 years ago)
So, let's talk university. The universities I have in mind are, in order of where I want to go most, are: University of Sussex, Queen Mary's University, Royal Holloway University Goldsmiths University, Canterbury Christ Church University and lastly Brighton University. I've actually already booked open days in the coming month for all of these places (+ a few more) so I'll definitely write down my experiences then.

I actually don't know what I want to study. I've always wanted to write for a show or even make my own film so I've been looking at courses such as the English and Film Studies BA at Sussex. We'll see. The important thing is that I get the grades!

I'll be the first to say I'm devastatingly good at procrastinating, but thinking now, I really won't be able to get much done on Monday. Brunch with my bff in the morning, bowling after college with my workmates... Oops. Oh well, just means I'd better get as much done as possible tomorrow afternoon, as well as in my study skills on Monday. Plus I have Media, so if I put my mind to it I can get more of my coursework out of the way. Hmmm.

Still a lot of umming and ahhing over what I'm gonna do, so apologies for that! Bye for now TSR <3
seems like a cool thread, keep it up :smile:
Original post by Jordzeyy
seems like a cool thread, keep it up :smile:


I'm really glad that people like it, for sure I'll continue!
Writing here so I can calm down a little.

So, I tried to do some work on my EPQ, but it wouldn't let me make any edits on the candidate record form and my laptop kept freezing which is... really frustrating. That kinda stuff can lead me into a spiral for a bit, but I know I can pull it together and get my EPQ. So, now I'm just gonna update my research and finish my reading. I'll update my candidate record form tomorrow during study skills, hopefully, it'll work on the school computer as the original version is on my drive. If anyone can help me get around it though, I'd really appreciate it. Basically, there are boxes under each question you're meant to fill in, but on MW it just says 'this selection is locked' and I can't remove it (so that I might write underneath) or anything.

Also, I got my undergrad prospectus from University of Sussex today. A little lacklustre, but at the same time, I'm keeping it on my desk. Reminds me of what I'm working for. It might not seem like I'm doing much... which is definitely true, but I have a bit of faith.

I guess I I hope this just helps anyone else on TSR who struggles with procrastination, mental health problems and other stuff that interferes with getting the work done.
Keep going!! :rave: You're doing great!!
I crashed a little there. End of term blues maybe.

Getting a little overwhelmed with the Media coursework, and we're not even at production stage yet! Oh well, hope I can work with the teacher to sort it all and make an action plan this week.

EPQ's going great... but I'm starting to consider handing it in next year instead. Religious Studies is also.... well. I missed 6 marks on both a 10 and a 15 marker in an exam so uh, not good. But I'm doing the homework and keeping up to date?

Ah, this reeks of false positivity.

Just thought I'd update with where I'm at, even if it's not sounding good. I'm gonna make this thread thrive!
:rave:
You're doing great!
Hand it in next year if you feel you can't cope with it right now. At least you'll have summer to work on it then.
Original post by nyxnko_
:rave:
You're doing great!
Hand it in next year if you feel you can't cope with it right now. At least you'll have summer to work on it then.


Awww, thank you for the love!! Really appreciate it. And I'm definitely considering that.
Okay, so here's an update.

I'm taking two weeks off work, and cutting down my hours for a bit after that. This will ensure I have time to prepare myself for mocks, and sort myself out with the coursework for English and Media.

I've sorted everything out with my EPQ and made some good progress with that Media coursework, but am now primarily focusing on my mocks. I've made revision tools for Media which ranges from flash cards (key terms, theories) and fact sheets (case studies). I'm now going to do the same for English and Religion. I think that's all I need to be doing right now, as the mock exams will be from the 18th.

I absolutely adore TSR for a good half of my revision resources. I found a really good Tess D'Ubervilles resource the other day, although what I really need is stuff on All My Sons. During the time the book was covered, I was struggling quite a bit and was unable to attend some lessons... But I'll do what I can and my sister (who did really well in her own A Level) will start setting me some questions so that I can improve on essay technique (which I also missed out on).

Mhm. Aside from that, I need to tidy my room and get my nails done. Just to clear my head a bit. Can't let myself get too stressed - if I do, then what will happen next year? Or at uni?

Oh, and the University of Sussex and the University of Brighton are having Open Days this weekend!! I'm excited, no lie.
Back again!

The University of Sussex Open Day was... amazing. I'd love to hear what you guys thought of it if any of you went. Since then, I've been super motivated and generally just Getting Sh*t Done.

I'm getting tutoring for English now, which will be a great boost for mock exams next week. My God, next week! I've done quite a bit more revision for all three of my subjects now, which means a LOT of flashcards. As I've had quite a few problems with English, though, they said they weren't going to base my predicted grade just on that, or even on all my work this year. They've been really understanding, but I would still like to do well anyway, if just for myself.

Coursework: For Media, I have a deadline this Friday to hand in all my research and planning, and I actually think I'm going to meet it. That has to be some first-time record for me, actually handing something in on the due date! For English, I'm going to meet with a teacher in about... an hour and twenty minutes so we can go over my fiction piece, and I can hand in my non-fiction piece. Once that's all edited and the best it can be for the while, I'll move onto my commentary. It's coming together, guys.

I still keep going from thinking I can't do this, to being on a high and thinking I'll ace it, We'll see how it goes. :smile:
glad to hear your work's been going well:smile:
Original post by entertainmyfaith
glad to hear your work's been going well:smile:


Thanks! Positivity is always good....

Because tomorrow my mock exams will begin!

After 11 hours of revision yesterday, and hopefully five hours of revision tonight (had to work a 9-5 shift), I'm feeling pretty prepared. Or am I? Ahhh.

No, I'm feeling good about it. After talking to a bunch of my teachers, I think I'm on track with all my coursework/EPQ, and that's definitely helping with the stress - once I finish these mocks, I'll get to take it easy for awhile. I'm even thinking of booking a few spa treatments aha.

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