Thank you
Revision website wise, I'd say Quizlet was an absolute life-saver for me. Physics equations, English quotes, German vocab - you name it, I made a set. There's even a brand new edit now that allows you to merge sets, meaning you can make a set per idea or concept that you study, and once you've learnt these, you can merge them all to form one massive set of everything you need to know per subject. Memrise is also quite helpful, especially with foreign languages and science (I know we did a couple of chemistry sets back in Year 10), but personally I favoured the simplicity of Quizlet.
Honestly? A bit of both. I don't want to stand here and say it was 100% revision, because I know that it wasn't, and it wouldn't be fair to you to say that it was. I'd say there was a bit in me that had managed to pick basic concepts up from right at the start of Year 7, and this helped with understanding some stuff. However, that's not to say that revision didn't help me at all, because if I hadn't revised I wouldn't have got anywhere near as good as I got. Revision sessions were particularly helpful, even if you can pull your teacher away for a 1-to-1 session that's amazingly helpful, because sometimes it's as simple as the way you've written your notes doesn't quite make sense in your head and you need someone else to explain it to you. Please, please,
please, don't be afraid to not understand, even if it means asking your teacher to repeat something 10 times in 10 different ways.
Nope, state school all the way!
Moving sixth forms: don't be afraid to be yourself, and stand for what
you want. Despite my grades and to my parents' dismay (though they wouldn't admit it now, and I'm more than happy with the place I'm at) I made the decision to go to a college instead of a sixth form, mainly for the combination of subjects it allowed me to do, but also because of the laid back atmosphere it had in comparison to the rather strict (in terms of addressing teachers, uniform) secondary I went to. Go around to as many different sixth forms as you can get to, even if you've got your heart dead set on a particular place, because something in your heart might change later to the date. Above all else, though, this has got to suit you, so you need to be the biggest decision maker. But in terms of making new friends: throw yourself in there. If other people on the induction day/s or your initial lessons aren't starting conversations, start them yourself. The only way you're guarenteed to not make any new friends is if you don't socialise with anyone new at all.
I started most of the important stuff I
knew I didn't understand early on, but my mind works better closer to the date so I did a lot of the actual studying from Feburary half-term of Year 11 (but many, many hours a night). Find what works best for you, but don't decide you're just going to leave it to the last minute too late, or you might find that you haven't left yourself enough time, and there's no going back at that point.
Ultimately: keep up what you're doing! Take advantage of your teachers, and keep putting in the hard work, but don't burn yourself out. Hope this helps