BMAT

I'm not doing Medicine in those 4 other universities that I wanna go to, just Neuroscience (not going anywhere near that minefield lmao) but thank you! I guess I just needed to be told resolutely that Oxford isn't for me even though I know I should stick with not going, despite how family feel. I'm just so confused as to which uni to be my 5th choice and I get there are open days but I don't feel strongly about any uni as to my 4 choices. for some reason I feel drawn to Leeds?

I'm at Leeds atm albeit I'm a medic.

honestly OP don't even worry about your 5th choice. you dont even have to put one im pretty sure. if you're good enough to consider oxford, theres no way you won't get an offer from the other 4.

I could just be really unrealistic in terms of my choices 😂 but thanks. My current grades are A* A A but mocks are next week and that's what my school is basing my predicted grades for UCAS on and only mocks so I'm freaking out. Plus I doubt my PS would be good enough for anyone to let me in no matter what I write but I just really want UCL to accept me because of their research facilities and the fact that it's London so I'll never be bored, not really. Let's just hope you're right!!

the PS is not the be all end all for your application just do some wider reading, (especially some scientific journal articles and discuss them) and show that you truly have a passion for your subject. small little paragraph about hobbies and extra curriculars and youre sorted! UCL like academic supercurriculars and a few good varied extra curriculars

good luck with your mocks! all you rlly need is AAB/ABB for your school to predict you A*AA if that's what you need for UCL.

I've done a draft of my PS and wrote about my EPQ which was about neural correlates of consciousness and what I learned from it as well as other things but I'm not sure if it's really good lmao. Also at my school they give us our predicted grades as just the grade we got in the test with no increase, unless we write to the headmaster with an explanation for extenuating circumstances as to why we didn't get the grades needed. I really don't want to be in that position so I'm really stressing. I only need AAA for UCL but the mocks are going to be made up questions from the school so even that's questionable and to top it all off I'm in a new sixth form with teachers who don't really know me well. I think I'm at the point where I'm physically vibrating with anxiety...

wow i can't believe your school isnt using a past paper for your mocks? thats quite unusual i think. plus to not inflate your predicted grades at all?? you can't even get an A* on the AS spec so its really unfair not to predict you one or two grades higher at least. i think maybe your school might be saying that to scare you into studying for these mocks? and then afterwards there may be more leeway.

on the bright side, the teachers will probably pick questions taken straight from your spec. what exam board are you? look through the spec for your subjects and make sure you're comfortable with everything mentioned.

honestly the worst thing you can do is work yourself up into a frenzy. if you're stressed out this much you won't perform as well as you could on the exams. just had a look and kings and edi are AAB and they're both fantastic research universities so if worst comes to worst and you get predicted AAB you can still go to a great university.

also - you don't have to apply this year!! you can take a gap year, apply with AAA achieved and then you'll have an unconditional offer for UCL i would honestly recommend this for you, the pressure of trying to reach particular grades in y13 is immense and it might be easier for you to focus on a levels without the thought of having to get set grades hanging over you. just a thought though!

I'm doing AQA for all subjects and I'm going through past paper questions and revising my notes made according to the spec. Psych is a bit difficult considering my teacher hasn't taught as much to do with the spec and he teaches what he thinks is interesting so we have to learn the content at home and hope for the best. For biology they're having the top 7 people predicted for A*s and the next 20 people for As. I have no idea what's happening for chem. I tried not being stressed (took some anti depressants) but they made me so emotionally blunted that I didn't care about going to uni (which isn't me) so I got off them and I'd rather care too much than a little because i feel more like myself now. Also would love to take a gap year but I just have to leave my house ASAP - it just isn't healthy for me to be there. Easiest way to leave is to go to uni because it just makes sense so it has to be next year. I know a lot is riding on this so i understand the whole thing about the gap year but for my own mental health I need to worry to make myself feel better because if I don't worry, I worry about having missed something out if that makes sense??? I am very aware this is unhealthy so another point of me leaving to go to uni (especially in London) is to get the help I need without sneaking around with antidepressants and therapy sessions during school time when my family think I'm at school but I have late sign ins to school some days so I can go. I really appreciate all your help though!!!! Invaluable advice - especially about Oxford which is what this thread was supposed to be about 😅

im really impressed that you went for help for your mental health without support from people around you, that's really brave honestly

your school is ridiculous with their grading, it's just not realistic. you're not only competing with those in your school but with the whole country so predicting the top 7 an A* is a joke! what if the top 3 get 90% and the next 4 get 55%?? can you really predict them all an A*?

good luck though, im sure you'll smash it. some of your unis may be lenient with A*AB instead of AAA as well, i was offered alternative conditions from Bristol for biochem with those grades.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ukLnPbIffxE these are the revision techniques i use, they're the most effective according to research for learning information and making it stick

Yeah there's a lot of things wrong with how the head of Bio is doing this but no one wants to stand up to him. He's marking our essay questions (yes he's added an essay question for an AS level exam) too and he said he wants to see a paragraph of extra reading beyond the course and I doubt he'll give us many marks if we don't include it. Thanks for the reassurance about my mental health - with the conversations I've been having with people lately it feels like I'm doing things wrong really. Also thanks for the video! Trying Anki flashcards and they're so helpful! I'm really glad to see that I can remember what I've been revising, showing that I've actually been revising properly!!