A Level Lower Sixth Disaster

Short Version of this very long post:
I got all D's in my A level mock and it made some hard decision moving forward from A levels. I thought about quitting and starting again but decided it is better to stay with my current college. Wanted to drop one of my A levels but realised it was Law all along and that I had fixated my life around Law but in reality I didn't enjoy law at all and would spend all my revision time on Law. To maintain my grades in Law it was hard i had to constant revise but i spent too much time on it.

I took Law A level as I thought I would possibly do it at a university level so by taking it now, I could have a possible idea as to what it could be like at university. As you know law isn't really at the top of my possible university list anymore so I see no point in doing Law A level anymore.

After deep thought about the subject I've realised that a lot of my revision time was spent revising Law. I had placed that subject at the top of my revision ladder and didn't make time to look at my other subjects.

I understand that I get good grades in most of my in class assessment but just to even maintain them grades I was focusing all my energy on Law.

I created a false future around Law that I now don't really see myself doing. I said to myself I would still want the experience in the legal industry and if I like the experience I would go on and do the year conversion course into Law after finishing my undergrad in whatever degree. There are newer ways to get into the law industry now without having to do Law as my initial undergraduate degree.

I would be dropping Law to do Media in a year. I know it will be hard to have both upper sixth lessons and Lower Sixth lessons but I am willing to make that sacrifice as it is my fault I didn't fully think through all my options when picking my A levels.

My Alevels are in:
Film Studies - fairs I was expecting a D in this subjects as I didn't do a lot of revision and in class assessments I would get C's/D's but I always knew that whatever I got I would keep going and move forward. Film was a subject I kinda took as joke and an easy A but as I stayed with it my passion for film died out. I have now found this passion again and LOVE film a lot cause my teacher is honestly the best. I am now working toward higher grades now but we doing coursework.

Law - I was getting A*'s and A's and the occasional B, but at the cost of my other A levels, would spend hours in the library studying this and doing my notes. I thought I wanted a future in Law but I don't really know anymore.

Classical Civilisation - Love finding out about the classical world like the Greeks and Romans. Also love their mythology (Norse is better tho don't @). I thought I was a massive failure in this but after some word of confidence with my teacher I feel better about this.

I was thinking of dropping Classical Civilisation because I really didn't think I was good at it because looking through my colleges mark book (my teacher didn't give out grades but scores) for a 30 mark question I would be getting marks between 15 - 23 markers but mainly around the 20's/ 20 markers i would be getting 10-15/ 10 markers I would get 5. So looking through these past markers, I just feel disappointed in myself. I know it’s bad to allow grades to define me but I secretly do, I want to do so well but I’m just not capable in achieving my aspiration.

When I thought I was going to do Law at University, I’m going to be honest with you, I would put all my study efforts into my Law Alevel revision. By focusing my energy into that subject, Film and Classics just kind of feel into the background of my mind, I was so fixated on Law and Law alone. The thought of me getting D’s in my mocks would have fully broken me, but through me talking to friends and family they helped put me in the mindset of looking outside of law. I started looking outside of the law industry and had found other industries I would be interested in like Digital Media and Video Journalism, these are not set in stone course but I am still looking around industries but those 2 are the top contenders.

Moral of the story:
PLEASE to all the people in year 10 or 11 fully look at all the courses college you are thinking about going and also think of an industry you would love to work in don't fixate on one industry or degree look around and discover what you want. Don't make the same mistake as me cause I am now going to have to do a whole A Level in a year.

(edited 3 years ago)

Reply 1

musicalrose

Good luck for next year! You're gonna smash it! Do you know what you want to do at A level yet? Your A levels all sounds so interesting :smile:

Reply 2

Azzer02

From reading this it sounds as though law is your passion. If that is the case, then dropping law seems a strange move - given that your challenge seems to be more around time management.

It is not unusual for young people to concentrate on the thing that interests them - I did it and even Einstein did it:

https://youtu.be/2zwZsjlJ-G4

It is an approach that doesn’t end well I agree, but at least you have spotted it early.

Good luck with whatever you choose.

Reply 3

Stanza03

Original post by Azzer02

Trust me I only spent so long on it because I needed to maintain my grades in it. I truly have no passion in it. My lessons would drag and I would just be as confused untill I spend half a day drilling it into my head.

For me I would say I did more memory work than actually understanding the work I was studying.

As I said on my post somewhere that I still want the experience in law after completing my undergrad. If I like that experience I would be willing to do a year conversion course, yeah it's going to take longer but if it is something I enjoy then I'll be willing to do it.

Also I'm dropping it cause it's so content heavy. I've only don't Law of Tort and literally don't remember anything unless I to back through all my notes and spend a sold day on it.

I truly have a passion for Film and Classics as I have really enjoyed those not as a lessons but now learning to enjoy and appreciate them being taught to me.

Reply 4

Stanza03

Original post by musicalrose

Good luck for next year! You're gonna smash it! Do you know what you want to do at A level yet? Your A levels all sounds so interesting :smile:

Thank you so much for the positive message. I truly hopes it comes true.

Yeah I'm going to drop my Law and try and do Media Studies instead as it is a top contender in what I want to do at university level.