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Shoot for the Stars

Shoot for the Stars

A very late GYG post but seeing as A-levels are just around the corner and my revision has been almost non-existent I thought I would start one to keep me motivated.

-A bit about me-

I'm in Yr13 and studying Maths(Edexcel), Further Maths(Edexcel) and Physics(AQA).
I'm taking Turning Points as the optional module in Physics and M1/M2 as the optional modules in FM.
I play a lot of chess in my spare time( although I'm still not very good) so if anyone else plays let me know and we can play sometime.

-How its going-

Yr13 Mock results-

Maths: Oct-92%, March-95%

Further Maths: Oct-90%, March-97%

Physics: Oct-82%, March-81%


Extra Competitions-

SMC: Gold

Maths Kangaroo: Merit

Physics Olympiad: Bronze( was 1 or 2 marks off a silver apparently:mad:)


University-

Cambridge Natural Sciences : rejected after interview and still waiting on feedback, though i'm guessing the main reason was a poor section 2 in the NSAA (3.5). This one hurt as it would have been my first choice :frown:.

Imperial Physics with Theoretical Physics : rejected, not too sad about this one as i had already decided i probably wasn't going to go, but a rejection still hurts especially as i'm not exactly sure how i could have improved my application.

Warwick Maths and Physics : Accepted, Most likely my firm choice as i'm still a bit unsure on which subject i would enjoy more at uni.

Manchester Physics with Theoretical Physics : Accepted.

Southampton Physics with Maths : My insurance Choice.


-Goals-

Minimum Grades A*AA with A* in maths, i need this for both warwick and manchester so this is the lowest i can get.
Aiming for A*A*A*, mainly a pride thing honestly but as i also qualify for Cambridge's august reconsideration pool i want to get the highest grades possible, even if its a pipedream.
(edited 1 year ago)

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Original post by Skiwi
A very late GYG post but seeing as A-levels are just around the corner and my revision has been almost non-existent i thought i would start one to keep me motivated.

Will edit this to make it more presentable soon:smile:



Best wishes for studying, exams and the blog :smile:
Reply 2
Original post by TriplexA
Best wishes for studying, exams and the blog :smile:

Thank you :u:
Reply 3
My aim for the Easter Holidays is the revise a consistent amount each day.
I want to do 1hr of Physics, 1hr of Further maths and 30min of maths a day.

-Key Topics-

Maths- All of yr1 stats, Vectors ( specifically the ones on the pure side), Numerical methods ( actually one of the easiest topics i've done but as i rarely have to use it anywhere else i forget).

Further Maths- Linear transformations, Vectors, yr2 series( specifically method of differences), yr2 volumes of revolution( will help with integration as well), general further calculus revision, Elastic strings and springs, Elastic collisions in two dimensions, Both yr 1&2 centers of mass( most unfun topic in all of fm)

Physics- Electricity, Gravitational fields and all of paper 3 (practical questions).

Physics will be the hardest to revise as i don't enjoy revising it all, so i'll try to get it out of the way

I'm starting tomorrow and will try to update regularly
Reply 4
First day over and I've already veered off schedule(what a surprise). I really need to find a way to stop procrastinating.
Ended up doing about 90 minutes on electricity. I got through 71 marks of exam questions which is about 10 minutes faster than exam pace ( 71 marks = 100min roughly). Although i got 67% overall so i definitely need to put a lot more time into this.
Also did about 20-30 min on difficult chain rule questions to practice it a bit.
Probably won't be able to much tomorrow as i'm busy almost all day, so will have to catch up on Wednesday:frown:
Reply 5
As expected yesterday was very busy so didn't get much time to do anything, hence why I forgot to post.I'm happy I managed to fit almost 2 hours of complex number revision in the morning. Although it got a bit annoying as the questions and the mark schemes had a lot of mistakes, which lead to a lot of double checking and testing out my equations numerically.
Hopefully I get more time today, I'll update tonight if is remember. Want to get some more electricity revision, go over standard deviation and finish the remaining complex number questions ( 8 to go).
Reply 6
Once again I've not completed what I set out to do.

Managed to do about 30-45 min of electricity questions. Ended up doing 6 questions and got 89% overall. A big improvement over Monday but may be down to the fact two questions were on potential dividers which I find very easy.

It then turned out I'd not seen the back page on complex numbers, so this 8 questions turned into 17. With more misprints and mistakes in ms it took me almost 2 hours to get through. 135 marks in 2 hours isn't too bad though. I'm pretty confident I could answer almost anything they asked for in the exam ( Except sum to infinity of complex numbers which I'll go over tomorrow as the sheet didn't have any). Also learnt how to prove de moivres by induction for all integers, previously only knew how to for positive integers ( I think my spec only requires positive integers but it's good to know anyway).

Planning on going over standard deviation tomorrow. I'll do it first to get it out of the way, then move on to some thermal physics questions and finish off the last bit off complex numbers.
Reply 7
A mixture of laziness and being busy for the entire afternoon means I only did about an hour of revision today. Although reasonably effective. I've completely re-learnt standard deviation as well as the rest of the 2nd chapter. It's significantly easier than I remember but this may just be that I'm more competent now than at the start of yr12.

Pushing back what I didn't do today to tomorrow. Hope to revise a bit of thermal physics, finish complex numbers and maybe make a start on yr2 fm series
Reply 8
Probably my most productive day so far :banana:
Finished 7 thermal physics past exam questions with an average of 80%, reasonably happy with this. I actually have a strong understanding of the topic and wasn't caught out on any question, I just need to brush up on the specific definitions which is where I lost almost all my marks.
Also finished off complex numbers, and I'm pretty confident that if this comes up in the summer I'll get the question right or if it's a horrendous question at least make good progress on it.
Made a start on yr2 series by brushing up on method of differences which like I remembered is quite easy.

I'm going to be busy all of tomorrow afternoon and most likely all of Sunday, so I'm aiming to finish off all the series chapter ( higher derivatives and maclaurin series) tomorrow morning and hopefully make some notes on particle physics ( one of the easier topics in the spec but one that requires a lot of memorising)
Reply 9
Early post for today and probably not going to be able to revise any more until Monday.

Spent some more time on methods of differences trying to find some challenging ones that weren't just use the same method over and over again, found a log one that was quite interesting. Then moved on the higher derivatives which was relatively straightforward as differentiation is one of my best topics. As maclaurin series is an extension of this I didn't have many problems with the main chunk. Though I kept forgetting to include the range of values it was valid for and messed up a couple of the nth terms of the series ( normally only 1 or 2 marks at the end of a question but would rather not lose them).

Didn't get any physics done though ☹️

Monday I'm going to do some general normal maths revision, finish off yr2 series with some harder questions and make a start on particles.
Reply 10
Going to update this now as I doubt I'll do much more today.

Did 6 periodic motion questions( circular motion and simple harmonic motion) for physics.
Average score of 72% although this was mainly due to me doing terribly on the last question. Really need to do specific revision on practicle paper 3 questions, I just find them so tedious to do. Other than that the other 5 questions were good. I actually know most of the definitions already and due to doing both topics in fm M2 find the maths relatively straightforward.

Did some general normal maths revision ( a couple of pure questions), no problems found.

Finished off yr2 series and also did some reviewing on polar coordinates, hyperbolic functions and mean value of a function. Polar coordinates I found generally alright, though the sketching can get frustrating at times. But one question completely stumped me.

Spoiler


Hyperbolic functions are completely fine and is probably the chapter I find easiest in CP2.


Mean value of a function is fine as long as I can integrate the function itself( hardly surprising) but all the questions I've seen so far have been relatively simple.

Aiming to do some heavy particle physics revision tomorrow, alongside some general integration revision for both fm and normal maths.
Reply 11
Not a great day :frown:
Woke up late and spent most of midday procrastinating. I then proceeded to do 0 physics revision ( really didn't feel up for it). Slightly redeemed myself by doing a good amount of integration work. Questions ranged from parametric volumes of revolution to hyperbolic integration so I got a good variety.

Won't be able to get anything done tomorrow afternoon so I really need to be productive in the morning. Hoping to do the particle physics revision tomorrow. I'm also going to finish off the integration questions I have left and go over how the standard results in the formula book are derived. Also want to do a couple more general maths questions just in case I flag up a specific sub-topic that needs work.
Reply 12
Very late post today but overall a decent day revision wise.

I made notes on half of the particle physics content, did about an hours worth of normal maths questions ( again no problems) and a couple of fm integration questions.

Not going to say much more because im tired.
Reply 13
Feeling a bit down atm as i finally got a response from warwick regarding swapping my course from the joint maths and physics to straight maths. Answers no:frown:. I'm not really sure what to do, i'm between taking a gap year and re-applying for straight maths or just going onto the joint course and seeing what happens. I'm confident i could reach a grade 2 in step for warwick with an entire year to prepare and i feel like i could make a good attempt at the 1,1 Cambridge want but i don't really want to take an entire year out. Whilst on the maths/phys course i have the opportunity to swap into straight maths at the end of the first year( although this is far from a guarantee as they have to have space and i'd have to be doing very well),
and it's not like i dislike physics, the opposite, i really enjoy it. I just feel that i would enjoy the maths course( i've looked at some of the lecture notes on some of the early modules) slightly more, also the fact it has slightly more flexibility with what modules you can take. If anyone has any advice or has been in a similar position i'd love to hear your thoughts:smile:

Revision wise todays been ok

I finished my particle physics notes and did 3/7 of the past paper questions i had. Scored 90% across the 3 questions and will do the other 4 tomorrow. Pretty happy with how particle physics is going, i just need to make sure i completely memorise all the quark compositions so that i dont make any mistakes in the exam.
Also did 4 random normal maths questions without any problems.
And finished off the fm integration questions i had left.

Tomorrow i'm aiming to finish the particle physics questions, do a couple more normal maths questions and go over the derivations for the standard results in the formula book( the differentiation ones/ integration ones and hyperbolic identities).
Reply 14
Not a great day today, was busy in the morning and procrastinated most of the early afternoon.

I finished off the last 4 particle physics with an average of 86%, happy with this topic and probably won't work on it at all until the last couple of days before the exam.
Did a couple more normal maths questions, got through them fine but i think i need to go over radians a bit as i was rusty( question took me way too long to do)
Proved most of the given further maths identities in the forumula book for integration/differentiation and hyperbolic functions.

My aim for tomorrow is to go over some more yr1 stats, do some more difficult fm integration questions and then find some tough differential equations questions( my favorite cp2 topic). Maybe do some questions on wave -particle duality and the photoelectric effect if i feel up for it as well lmao.
Reply 15
Not a great day today,

Revised binomial distribution from yr1 stats, like standard deviation it's easier than i remember.

I also did a couple more integration questions from my fm textbook.

Thats it.

Hopefully i get more done tomorrow.
Reply 16
Even worse day today:tongue: but I've kinda decided I'm going to relax for the last 2 days of the holidays and restart once terms starts.

I only did about an hour of differential equations today.

Tomorrow I'll probably do some differential equations and maybe some photoelectric effect.

On another note, I've finally looked at the exact dates of my exams. And turns out I've got 3 exams within 4 days:eek:, physics paper 1 and further core 1 are before the half term so I'll focus revision on those specifically towards the latter half of the term. FM2 is a full week after every other exam, so I'll leave revision for that mainly until then.

Now that Easter is over I'll stop updating daily, will probably do 2-3 times a week.
Reply 17
With the easter holidays officially ending today:frown: i though i would recap what i've managed to do over the past week and a half.

Maths: Recapped 3/4 of yr1 stats, did a decent amount of general questions to make sure most topics were fine.

Physics: Revised electricty, periodic motion, thermal physics and particle physics. Very happy with particle physics which is great because according to the advanced info it's the topic that carries the most marks in paper1.

Further Maths: Pretty much reviewed all of CP2, only thing i touched sparingly was parametric volumes of revolution and modelling with differential equations. Did an obscene amount of questions ( well over 200) and am now feeling really good about all the content:smile:. Here's hoping there's a fat coupled first order differential equations question in one of the papers that's worth a ton of marks.

All in all i'm really happy with how much i got done and hope to carry the momentum forward.
Reply 18
Momentum has kinda dissipated:redface:, I've not been nearly as productive about independent revision as i was over the holidays. Although the fact i'm back in school is making up for it a bit so there's that....

I did about an hours work on matrices and 30min on vectors yesterday afternoon. As well as some roots of unity/general complex number questions today.

In school we're finally practicing paper 3 in physics and honestly it's not as bad as i thought it would be. I scored very highly on the mini test we did in class and because interpreting graphs is one of my biggest strengths I've found that i can almost always pick up a good number of marks on most questions. In terms of the optional module, milikans experiment and special relativity are fine( more derivations and maths heavy than most topics) whilst i'll need to look at youngs double slit in more detail at some point.
We've started the last applied topic in maths, normal distribution. Really liking it so far, probably on par with the binomial distribution from year 1 as my favorite stats topics( makes sense given how similar they are).

Looking to get some more fm vector revision in and hopefully some general fm and physics as well over the weekend.
Original post by Skiwi
Shoot for the Stars

A very late GYG post but seeing as A-levels are just around the corner and my revision has been almost non-existent I thought I would start one to keep me motivated.

-A bit about me-

I'm in Yr13 and studying Maths(Edexcel), Further Maths(Edexcel) and Physics(AQA).
I'm taking Turning Points as the optional module in Physics and M1/M2 as the optional modules in FM.
I play a lot of chess in my spare time( although I'm still not very good) so if anyone else plays let me know and we can play sometime.

-How its going-

Yr13 Mock results-

Maths: Oct-92%, March-95%

Further Maths: Oct-90%, March-97%

Physics: Oct-82%, March-81%


Extra Competitions-

SMC: Gold

Maths Kangaroo: Merit

Physics Olympiad: Bronze( was 1 or 2 marks off a silver apparently:mad:)


University-

Cambridge Natural Sciences : rejected after interview and still waiting on feedback, though i'm guessing the main reason was a poor section 2 in the NSAA (3.5). This one hurt as it would have been my first choice :frown:.

Imperial Physics with Theoretical Physics : rejected, not too sad about this one as i had already decided i probably wasn't going to go, but a rejection still hurts especially as i'm not exactly sure how i could have improved my application.

Warwick Maths and Physics : Accepted, Most likely my firm choice as i'm still a bit unsure on which subject i would enjoy more at uni.

Manchester Physics with Theoretical Physics : Accepted.

Southampton Physics with Maths : My insurance Choice.


-Goals-

Minimum Grades A*AA with A* in maths, i need this for both warwick and manchester so this is the lowest i can get.
Aiming for A*A*A*, mainly a pride thing honestly but as i also qualify for Cambridge's august reconsideration pool i want to get the highest grades possible, even if its a pipedream.
Not school related but want to hit 1600 blitz on chess.com by the end of summer.

Didn't know you had a GYG! I'm watching!

I do M1/2 as well! but I do astro for physics. Congratulations on your offers.

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