Gradebusters: The SEQUEL! (A Year 11 GyG: 2021-2022)

omg COOL! people who took german are superior lol! most people in my year took french, so I often feel a bit odd for taking german, but I like it sooo....

AND I'M GLAD TODAY WENT GOOD FOR YOU! GREAT START TO MOCKS!

not so great though, is having BIOLOGY AND CHEM ON THE SAME DAY??? that is such a bad combo..... i mean, you mentioned this to me already, but it's still a shock! i am sending you so much strength ahah! absolute best of luck (though I'm sure you don't need it, as from what I can tell, you've worked really hard) whatever happens, you're amazing and your grades don't define you <3

and don't worry about updating your gyg (unless you want to and have the time to) - I didn't have the time or effort or sleep capacity to update mine the entirety of mocks, so I understand

GOOD LUCK FOR THE REST OF YOUR MOCKS IN CASE YOU'RE BUSY AND I DON'T HEAR FROM U! YOU'LL DO GREAT!

YESS German‘s much more superior to French in my opinion. We did French for 2 years but I don’t remember a word…

THANK YOU

THE STRESSY EXAM PREP BEFORE WAS HORRID but the actual exam was not too bad!! Aw thank you so much, you’re so nice!!

Lol thanks so much! I agree - it’s too chaotic!

THANK YOU - nearly done now! Only maths and German left!

mid-week update: wednesday 15th december 2021



tomorrow is the day.


for all subjects, I've already gotten my scores back, and they were okay/good, but that is totally different to what gsce grade I'm gonna get..... SCARY

I'll let you guys know what scores and grades I got for everything once I can gather the energy to compile it into a list!

anyways, I think that's basically it as I need sleep lol <3 goodnight and thanks for reading!!!!

LOL NEITHER! it's actually kind of appalling how 3 years of French just left my mind

And no worries! <3 My experience was similar in that the prep was always worse than the actual exam... but, I'd rather that than the revision process is okay and I come out of the exam hall sobbing haha

YAY SO ARE U FINISHED WITH UR MOCKS NOW???

CONGRATS

tomorrow is the day.


for all subjects, I've already gotten my scores back, and they were okay/good, but that is totally different to what gsce grade I'm gonna get..... SCARY

I'll let you guys know what scores and grades I got for everything once I can gather the energy to compile it into a list!

anyways, I think that's basically it as I need sleep lol <3 goodnight and thanks for reading!!!!

goodluckkkk, also ill hav a tag lol

LOL I WILL NEVER UNDERSTAND WHY

OOH EXACTLY. I got very lucky on many occasions as nothing too major came up on the topics that I didn’t have time to revise.

YES!! I. AM. DONE.
I AM SO READY FOR THE HOLIDAYS (EVEN THOUGH I SHOULD PROBABLY REVISE)
HASN‘T QUITE SUNK IN YET - BUT WE DID IT!!!!!

omgz that sounds quite scary - good luck!!
Good night too - you go catch those Zs (?!)

How are you all?

another long-overdue life update because I'm #inconsistent

hello guys! so obviously, it’s been a whileeeeeeeeeeee since I last updated my blog and you probably wondered where I disappeared to (or not; I don’t reckon I’m that memorable or important to any of you lol. Either way, I hope you’re willing to forgive me for probably my 1000th hiatus during the time this GyG has been running )

There are mental health and general well-being reasons behind my disappearance (e.g. being so tired I’m fighting the urge to collapse and sleep anywhere and everywhere, lack of motivation , lack of time (<< busy bee, get it? lol), overwhelming amounts of stress and anxiety , big life changes ahead etc.), but they’re standard issues of mine and some that I’ve explained before on this blog, so I won’t write a huge essay about it. For real this time though, I’m so happy to be back! Everything about this feels so natural, and every time something significant in my school life happens, I only wanted to tell you guys So, grab a snack (or two.. or three… you might be here for a while) and prepare for an excruciatingly long life update from yours truly,

the most inconsistent “blogger” ever, who has the audacity to drop in once every two decades with another apology and awfully long autobiographical post catching you up on what happened whilst I was AWOL.

or just Yemisi. Whichever you prefer.



I was meant to tell you that, you know, a tad closer to the time and not a month late, but I truly didn’t have the mental capacity or morale at the time. The festive wasn’t so festive for me this year, so that sucked, and I can’t even say I did any revision or homework to compensate But I did get some much-needed rest , and as you may or may not know, sleep is one of the rarest, most beautiful, cherished things to me in my life at the moment. I guess what they say is true: Distance makes the heart grow fonder. And my distance from a good night’s sleep made my heart grow immensely fond

Obviously, that didn’t last long and my sleep schedule went back to being distorted as soon as that first Tuesday back at school came, but it was nice whilst it lasted…



new year, new me?

It’s 2022 and that’s an absolutely terrifying thought. 2022 - the year I do my GCSEs, the year I leave secondary school, the place I’ve spent 5 years growing into a completely new
w and unrecognisable person, the year I start 6th form (saying that feels illegal), the year I let go (of a lot of things, but especially friends and good memories and familiarity), the year I push myself, the year I exceed my boundaries), the year I change… a lot.

I think about this and sometimes stop breathing. I remember I’ll never be as young and fruitful as I am now, and I remember I’ll never stop changing - ever. I remember that the time will never stop ticking and the Earth will never stop orbiting the sun, and as much as I want to hold onto the things and people I love, I can’t. By the laws of life and the cycle of humanity, I physically am. not. allowed.



But 2022 will be a great year for me. Change is good, albeit daunting, and I’m trying to embrace it.

Moving on from my existential crisis:
Here are some study-related New Years Resolutions of mine:

If I think of any others, I'll let you know, but for now, let’s just hope I can keep up with the ones I’ve got as of now!

mocks

So mocks. Mocks that happened in November. Mocks that happened how many months ago. Mocks that happened last year. Mocks I kept promising to update you on, but I just didn’t????

Honestly, I won’t go too much into my mocks now because of how seemingly long ago they were and I’ve got far more relevant and imminent things to discuss with you guys, but I will tell you my general thoughts on them, how I did and what I learned.

so, on the first day of my mocks, I had English literature as my only exam. I was so so incredibly nervous and overwhelmed that literally a few minutes before we went into the exam hall, I started welling up and then proceeded to sob . I didn’t feel like I had had enough time to revise and I was really worried about what would happen if I couldn’t remember 'an inspector calls' quotes (I was struggling to remember eric, Gerald and Mrs Birling quotes, and funny enough, neither of the question choices were on them hahaha so funny). I was also worried about the poetry quotes. I consider English my strongest subject, so I put a lot of pressure on myself to make sure I did well because if I didn’t, I would go into a crippling depression of feeling useless and untalented and bad at everything I do lol. for me, it’s very much ‘if I can’t do English, I can’t do anything' and I was terrified to do badly and disappoint not only myself but my English teacher who always believes in and encourages me. He was marking the paper, and I feared he’d read it and be like “lol what in the world is this?”. well, guess what? the poem we were given was an incredibly pleasant one to analyse and one that matches hand-in-hand with a poem I know like the back of my stupid hand????? what a waste of tears lol

after that, the rest of the exams, whilst still slightly nerve-wracking, weren’t half as bad. I didn’t stress out. I didn’t overwhelm myself. I didn’t hyperventilate and cry as a pre-exam ritual, which I’d say is pretty successful lol. by the second and final week of exams, I barely felt anything walking into the exam hall every day. In fact, I felt quite bored of exams and wanted them to be over ASAP. I was also excruciatingly tired and burnt out, which definitely played a part in my sudden change of attitude towards my mocks.

Anyways, my scores weren’t that bad!!!

Here were the grades I got!

drama

Moving on, you may or may not remember me talking about my crazy drama teacher changing our GCSE DRAMA PIECE (LIKE 15% OF THE ENTIRE QUALIFICATION) literally days before it was meant to be performed and graded.

On the 9th of November, we performed it and it went okay! We had to run through it quite a few times, and at parts, I was really stressed because of all the sudden and last-minute feedback we were receiving from my drama teacher and others watching the performance before it got recorded - like, this was my actual GCSE performance, and minutes before the version that would be recorded and sent off for GRADING was to be filmed, our group was still messing up. But we acted upon the feedback accordingly, and pulled it together, even though I didn’t and still don’t think the performance was impeccable. It was good enough to get me AT LEAST an okay grade, which I’ll accept given all the turmoil and unexpected challenge we faced in the development of this one piece of theatre. When we did our final recorded run through, most in the class were watching, and after, when it went silent and the lights went down, everyone clapped and started hugging each other (because they knew how many times we had been forced to drastically change our piece, even till days before the graded performance). It was a really proud and monumental moment for me - it made all the effort and tears seem worth it I’m very glad to have had such a supportive class. I then stayed to watch the others practice and record their performances is. It was a successful day, and I’m incredibly proud of how everyone in the class pulled together (even under difficult circumstances).

Honestly, I can’t remember much else about that situation because the whole debacle caused me so much stress, I wanted so. badly. for it to be over and done with. Like, when it was done, it completely left my mind because I literally never wanted it to think about it again. Ever. Again.

When we came back to school after Christmas, we did a timed 1h 30min evaluation of our performance, which is a very important part of the grade we receive for this component of the Drama GCSE. I think it went okay, especially since I consider writing one of my strong suits. It was done over two lessons in class, and is now being graded! I ended up writing about 5 pages, of which I’m really proud of, but I’m sure my grammar suffered because of the sheer amounts I wrote lol. Again, not thinking too much about that because it’s in the past and there’s not much to say about it till I receive my grade back, but yeah! I’ll let you know about any further progressions!

textiles

Further, I finished my Textiles Practical work!!!! I still have the portfolio and other writing bits to finish, but I’m so happy the physical skirt is complete!!!! I think it turned out so well!!! I’ll attach a pic!!!!

german speaking

As part of my upcoming February mocks, last week we had Language Speaking Exams. Unlike the speaking exam practice we had done way back when last year, this time it included the general conversation (worth 30 marks!!!!!!), which I was terrified for. It was my first time doing this so I didn’t really know what to expect, and that anticipation made the whole experience so much more stressful than it had to be. I felt, like I do with most exams, that the revision I had done wasn’t adequate (even though most times it is). It turned out okay though! I did the photo card, role-play and general conversation fairly easily, and (most of) the topics I was asked questions on were surprisingly pleasant!!! the last topic I was asked questions on was ‘Holidays’ though, which is unfortunate because that’s the topic we did most recently, I knew relatively little about and I revised the least, not thinking it’d come up. I was able to get through with general German knowledge, but it probably wasn’t as fluent or cohesive as it could have been. I was also asked to ask a question at the end and my mind totally froze and I got super overwhelmed and panicked and hated my brain for not being able to think faster, and after a while, I just asked my teacher if I could leave it. This probably lost me a mark or two, but next time, I know not to let my nerves dominate me and to ask the question during the conversation (without a prompt by the examiner at the end) with a topic I’m more comfortable with (the question I asked had to be related to ‘holidays’ as that was the topic we were currently discussing, and I suck at the holiday topic).



We find out our scores this week, so I’ll let you know what i got out of 60!

A-Level and Sixth Form

Now, the question that has caused me so much stress… What am I taking for my A-Levels?

I had always known what Sixth Form I was attending, so that was never a problem, but OH MY GOD, figuring out what subjects I wanted to do for A-Levels was the dictionary definition for ‘a problem’. I’m a really clingy and indecisive person, in that I have a hard time letting things go and not dwelling on ‘what could have been’.

What if in Year 13, you suddenly decide you want to become a vet but you didn’t take biology and chemistry?
What if you suddenly decide fashion isn’t your passion?
What if you actually want to become a geographer or climatologist or marine biologist?
What if you end up hating your A-Level choices?
What if you get it wrong?

The fact I’m not really sure what I want to do with my life apart from something ‘creative’ didn’t help much either.

Realistically, I know what I take at A-Level isn’t the be-all and end-all, but it feels that way, and I can’t seem to shake the subtle, but simultaneously overbearing, feeling that one mistake messes up my whole life. This is the first time (in my life probably) I’ve had to narrow down my options so much, and the thought of letting so much go is hard. Maybe this is something I should see a therapist about lmao.

Anyways, all the subjects I considered were:

And I had to half that….
Down to four….
Max.

Three, ideally.

It was immensely difficult and I felt so much pressure, like the world would implode and I would disappear.

(Here’s some photographic evidence of me and my friends struggling to pick my subjects haha)

However, after weeks of harassing my friends for their opinions, drawing excessive amounts of pros and cons lists, talking to teachers, and non-stop overthinking, today, I finally decided what subjects I want to take after a meeting with my school careers consultant, which was conveniently timed considering I have to submit which subjects I want to take tomorrow.

I still feel unsure and don’t really know if the decision I’m making is right, but I’m trying to trust and reassure myself that there is no “right” decision and that whatever feels right to me, is right.

So: here are the A-Level subjects I’m taking:

Why:

Now, it was between German and Geography, but I think I’ve decided German for now. I can always change from German to Geography in the first few weeks of 6th Form anyway (though I’d prefer not to) so I’ll see how I feel in a few months time! I’ll tell you why I wanted to take Geography, so you can offer any opinions or advice you have, given the other subjects I’m taking, perhaps, experience and just general knowledge!

So: Why did I consider Geography at all?

Anyways that’s it I think?

Opinions much appreciated!! I like German and Geography basically the same, so this is a really difficult decision I’d appreciate input on!

Okay well this is getting really long, so I’ll cut it off there, but I hope you guys feel well updated! Thanks for reading, thanks for listening, thanks for sticking around with me, and see you in the next post (which I promise won’t be next year lol) <3 Let me know if you have any questions or if there’s anything I missed!!

Congrats on everything so far, I think keeping this blog has worked out well!

I remember my geography teacher saying geography is a facilitating subject, and it was just a load of ‘common sense’. but I agree with you on the questions. They can be unpredictable. I remember opening my mock paper and the first question was - Define an extreme weather hazard. Everyone was baffled by it 😂

But with German you can definitely get as many benefits - I think knowing a different language puts you at a better position in the career industry too. Also I can’t believe you can go on that exchange! Sounds so fun even though I could never deal with kids 😂

And obviously if you feel you’re missing out on Geography, get talking with a friend who might take it and you could help them revise whilst they teach you what they’ve learnt, or see if there is a Geography Club or Society in 6th form, or just learn about the world in your own time.

Weekly Big Update (Every Sunday but not on Sunday because when have I ever committed to writing this on Sundays)

hey guys!!! it's been a few weeks since my last update and I feel a big update is overdue just catching you up on some bits, so here goes!

(p.s. obviously, Sunday (when these updates are actually supposed to happen) is in two days, so there's no need for me to do a big update then as well, so I'll just make sure I cover everything - right here, right now - and when I make goals, later on in the update, they'll be for next week!

A-Level Subjects



I know, I can't believe it either lol.

well done for picking your a-levels bestiiii

quick brain-fuzzy update because it's sooo late, i start school again tomorrow *vomits* and i'm meant to be sleeping rn

hello hi so this post is going to be in absolute shambles and not clear at all because the half term is over???? School starts tomorrow???? Which i don't think i've processed????? And this sudden realisation has spiralled me into all 5 stages of grief???? And i have so much homework???? And i'm currently typing ferociously at my keyboard trying to get this done????? And i'm so overwhelmed????? And i currently hate hate hate myself for doing what i always do which is leaving stuff till last minute????? Have i not learned????? Obviosuly fricking not???? I had a whole week to be productive and revise and get stuff done????? And i did nish????? Oh mg god im kinda of losing it rn lolz????? Mocks begin in a week???? Yeah..... Did i mention mocks r in a week????? I've done zero revision...... Yemisi. Your gcses are in 3 months oh my gosjh pullit togethr?????

Idk i'm just really disappointed in myself right now. I want to be productive. I want to enjoy my studies. I want the next few months to be as stress-free as they can when you've got really really really important exams coming up. And despite that, i just can't do it. Now i'm sitting on my bed staring at my smhw (show my homework) in absolute fear and disgust. How am i gonna pull this off this time?

Honestly, i'm super bummed out right now and so so so annoyed at myself so i'm going to bullet point some important bits, and elaborate on them when i can

okay:



anyways, i've got to go, but pleaseeeeee if you have any advice or kind words or motivational words (or even scolding/disappointed words because i deserve it to be honest lol) it'd be much appreciated <3333 i really really really need to get myself out of this cycle of self-destruction because my gcses are approaching and i'm losing time i'll never get back and i'm stressing out :/ okay goodnight mwah mwah mwah