Really anxious about entering Year 13. Any advice please?

Hi! I understand that most, if not all people, suffer from exam stress, so my queries are probably very common, but I was recently diagnosed with anxiety and feel so apprehensive about the next academic year.

I'm overjoyed with my new school - my mum fell ill last year (she's better now :smile:

), so my old school was too far to travel by bus realistically, so I now attend a more local one. The teachers are amazing, they actually communicate with me, which is a relief because I felt invisible during GCSEs, and I at least feel confident in History. I also take Sociology and Drama.

Drama - I'm not so troubled about this. The order of the course has completely changed and, for all we know, if a second wave hits then I doubt we'll get the chance to perform. However, our teachers have reassured us that they'll record our progress as proof to the exam board just in case. The written exam isn't too bad, but I really, really need to work on timing. We have to do 3 10 markers in 1 hr 15 mins (that sounds like a lot of time, but it's five lengthy paras per 10 marker), a 25 marker in 50 minutes I believe, then a live evaluation question in the remaining hour and a half.

Sociology - man, this is tricky. We finished Book One around May time (Education, Research Methods/MiC, and Families and Households), so I've been doing exam practice ever since and making cue cards. Yet, since June we've been learning Year 13 content too and it can be very overwhelming. So I'm trying to balance Year 12 recall and getting ahead for next year at the same time :/. Silver lining - we do Beliefs in Society and Crime and Deviance next year, both of which seem brilliant!

History - boy, oh, boy. Ironically, I'm doing the best in History, but feel the most pressure for it because I'm *hoping* to do a masters degree in it in the future. For both topics (USA 1865-1975; Wars of the Roses), we've done roughly 25 essay questions, but only 3 or 4 are 30 markers, which I seriously struggle with. Over Easter, I did a pretend mock for every subject in my spare time and the 25 marker took 1 hour 30 mins, when it should take only 50 mins I think, so I need to practice a lot more.

So, I could go on for even longer, but my general point is that my timing is a mess, I've been typing 70% of our classwork, homework and my revision since March, so my writing is even slower than it was prior to lockdown, and because my anxiety levels have been so high recently, I'm so worried that even if we do mocks in September, it will ruin my results.

I've contacted a counsellor in the hope that I can seek some guidance over summer, but as you're probably aware, lockdown means they're jammed pack as many people are struggling. I guess I'm here to ask for advice on how to improve my timing, good revision techniques for Sociology (because there are SO many theorists that I feel swamped), and how many hours I should revise over summer?

Is it even worth making cue cards at this stage, or should I spent my spare time just doing question papers? My History cue cards are sorted and I've made timelines, posters, etc, I've nearly finished the Sociology ones and we have a Drama revision pack anyway. Okay, thanks if you've taken the time to read this! :smile:

Reply 1

Anonymousamie

Shoot sorry, last thing! We've been advised to at least plan our NEA for History over the summer too, so how many hours should I spend on that e.g. per day?

Reply 2

jemima0103

Original post by Anonymousamie

Shoot sorry, last thing! We've been advised to at least plan our NEA for History over the summer too, so how many hours should I spend on that e.g. per day?

I'm also planning my NEA too

Reply 3

xenaaaa

I suffer from anxiety too and you sound exactly how I did before going into Year 13. Honestly, it sounds like you're doing a lot already but I know it never feels like enough! My advice for you would be to do as many past papers as you can and anything that you struggle with on those, THAT is what you need to use cue cards/mindmaps etc. for.

Doing past papers helps you with recall, essay structure and general practice which is super important. It's so important to understand where the gaps in your knowledge are so don't be afraid of answering past papers without a full working knowledge of every aspect. I also found it really useful to teach others about topics, as this solidifies the information in your brain.

With cue cards, these are mostly useful for figures and dates, but don't rely on them too much!

My timing was awful too, History was a huge struggle. The best thing to do is to look at all your past answers and highlight anything that you think was unnecessary and that doesn't answer the question - you may begin to see a pattern and then work to avoid this and reduce the time it takes to answer. For me, my History exam answers usually involved a lot of me showing off the knowledge I had instead of answering the question. A good answer doesn't need to be long, just directly linked to the question.

Make sure to give yourself a break too! I used to have a rule that I would never study past 9pm so that I could get enough sleep and could do something enjoyable for the rest of the night. I know that the coronavirus situation is making everything much more stressful for your year but when applying for a Masters in 2023/4 they will not be looking much at your A Level grade but your Uni grade.

Reply 4

Espançais

Heyy,
I would say cue cards at this point are worth doing if you learn well from them. Try to break them up into batches so you go over/ write out a few each day. With the timings, I would recommend doing one question at a time, getting as much down as you can in the time allowed. Start by doing the planning beforehand so you only have to write it up in the time, and work up. Then when you do full past papers, be really strict with yourself about finishing in the time. Try and find the most efficient way possible to write the answers - check if you get marks for style, and if not just make it as clear and concise as possible, even the style seems a bit brutal. I really struggled with timings too. Side note - is your handwriting noticeably slower than your classmates? Mine was, and it turned out once I got to university that I have a specific learning difficulty called dyspraxia. Not to say you do, just that if you're struggling with the physical handwriting of stuff it might be something to consider (feel free to pm me about it if you have questions)