The Student Room Group

study blog : self teaching : at 18 years old

hey everyone, i have been self teaching since mid January and have chosen AQA psychology, AQA sociology and OCR religious studies. i chose these thinking i'd be going into nursing/social work/psychology or even sociology but ive had a deeper look into diagnostic radiography and making my way up to being a sonographer :smile:
i want to take IGCSE double science , IGCSE Human Biology and AQA Biology. i will be taking my igcse exams possibly in May/June 2024. i only need a pass so i can get into the course as science is a requirement. i wanted to do human biology purely because i love it and i looked at past papers and it seems pretty easy for me.
i will be taking my 4 a-levels in 2025 :smile: i will be 19 in over a week!! you are never too old to study a-levels or go to university or change career paths.
i would like to share my journey with everyone and let you know how it all goes in the process.
i'm starting my IGCSEs after my holiday (mid august) and my AQA A-Level Bio in september!
as for now, im going to keep studying my 3 a-levels for now.
if anyone has any questions about self teaching or being a private candidate please let me know!!
15th july 2023 blog:
so ive had one week break off of studying. ive been so lazy this week ! however, i did like 30 minutes of sociology yesterday but that is about it. i have done so many long hours trying to finish my year 12 content but now i have decided to take the exams a year after i'm ok with finishing the content in september/october :smile:. so im more relaxed and can enjoy my two week holiday (im going to cornwall on friday for 10 days and dorset for 4 days).

BUTTTT later on today, im going to do some psychology, sociology and rs self teaching from my textbooks:smile:. i do better in the afternoon/evenings if i have nothing on in the day. however, if im working in the evening i will study in the morning/early afternoon.

:grouphugs:
question of the day: what is your favourite a-level subject?
How are you finding self teaching sociology? I want to do this fast-tracked and have no knowledge of this subject but I’ve looked over the spec and it seems doable. Im currently doing A2 History and English lang/lit. Any advice?
Reply 3
Original post by Nfdhiygcyyguyt
How are you finding self teaching sociology? I want to do this fast-tracked and have no knowledge of this subject but I’ve looked over the spec and it seems doable. Im currently doing A2 History and English lang/lit. Any advice?

how are you finding it? im fast tracking a level sociology as well
Original post by alevelstudent090
hey everyone, i have been self teaching since mid January and have chosen AQA psychology, AQA sociology and OCR religious studies. i chose these thinking i'd be going into nursing/social work/psychology or even sociology but ive had a deeper look into diagnostic radiography and making my way up to being a sonographer :smile:
i want to take IGCSE double science , IGCSE Human Biology and AQA Biology. i will be taking my igcse exams possibly in May/June 2024. i only need a pass so i can get into the course as science is a requirement. i wanted to do human biology purely because i love it and i looked at past papers and it seems pretty easy for me.
i will be taking my 4 a-levels in 2025 :smile: i will be 19 in over a week!! you are never too old to study a-levels or go to university or change career paths.
i would like to share my journey with everyone and let you know how it all goes in the process.
i'm starting my IGCSEs after my holiday (mid august) and my AQA A-Level Bio in september!
as for now, im going to keep studying my 3 a-levels for now.
if anyone has any questions about self teaching or being a private candidate please let me know!!

I sat 2 A levels in 2022 and am now studying my other A level with plans to sit the exam this year because I dropped my third A level in my first year and if I ever want to go to uni in the future they want a minimum of 3 A levels. I'm studying online which honestly sucks in terms of having any kind of friends to work alongside with and complain about things with. Some of the discussion forums on the online system I'm using are from retired people who have the free time to do it although a lot of them don't actually take the exam in the end - they talk a lot about gardening. I feel a bit behind in work right now, procrastination is at its all time high to get things finished so I can start revising hopefully by mid Feb which gives me about 2 and half months of revision. I'm focused on the fact once I sit them, I'm actually sorta gonna be free from any educational pressures and I can just really enjoy my freedom although with a part time job on the side. As of right now anything I do which is not school work, I feel guilty about. I'm planning to take a gap year next school year - just working and living and maybe I'll figure out my next moves - maybe uni or apprenticeship idk.

It's definitely easy to compare myself with my friends - all in their second year of uni and I'm still doing A levels, they're all chasing their dreams while I'm still in limbo.

I'm gonna be a private candidate, which I'm sorta nervous about (the whole going to a school I haven't been to and sitting exams there). The thing about the school I'm going to sit the exams is pretty prestigious so I feel a bit out of place going there. I don't know anyone else who is going or has gone before. I think the only edge/advantage I have is that I'm only studying 1 A level whereas they'll be studying an upwards of three to balance with.

It would be cool if we could be friends and you're right you can be any age to study - I'm 19 too, turning 20 in August.
heyy ik this is not really relevant but i wanted to ask if you knew if i could sit my gcse in another school not my own for personal reasons. I’m not retaking it or anything im sitting them this year but is it possible to sit it elsewhere as an external candidate
Reply 7
Original post by tokiohotel_08
heyy ik this is not really relevant but i wanted to ask if you knew if i could sit my gcse in another school not my own for personal reasons. I’m not retaking it or anything im sitting them this year but is it possible to sit it elsewhere as an external candidate

Hey, I'm a private candidate - so sitting at a school I've never actually been to. You would probably have to pay if you want to sit elsewhere as I'm not too sure you can transfer to a different school just to sit exams + I'm pretty sure most exam centres will be full/booking isn't available anymore since it's pretty late and exams are in 1-2 weeks.
Hope this helps
Original post by SilverJet
Hey, I'm a private candidate - so sitting at a school I've never actually been to. You would probably have to pay if you want to sit elsewhere as I'm not too sure you can transfer to a different school just to sit exams + I'm pretty sure most exam centres will be full/booking isn't available anymore since it's pretty late and exams are in 1-2 weeks.
Hope this helps


sorry to bother again 😅 i wanted to ask how can i quickly revise for bio paper 1 and english lit paper 1 i’m genuinely nervous esp for english cuz idk anything and i wanna know how to analyse properly can u pls help me in ways of analysis and good quotes pls for macbeth and the strange case of dr jekyll and hyde
Reply 9
Original post by tokiohotel_08
sorry to bother again 😅 i wanted to ask how can i quickly revise for bio paper 1 and english lit paper 1 i’m genuinely nervous esp for english cuz idk anything and i wanna know how to analyse properly can u pls help me in ways of analysis and good quotes pls for macbeth and the strange case of dr jekyll and hyde
Not that I did my GCSES due to COVID so I'm pretty limited in what I can help you with, but if you aren't already, I used this revision resource called Seneca which helped a lot with just the general background information on things and then to help with analysis and quotes I think the best way is to create a table of quotes and what themes/person they co-align with and use this to do do pass papers so you get used to using them/remembering them whilst active recalling information. To find good quotes I used Quizlet to find some study sets which had them so I didn't have to all the hard work of finding them. Reading exam reports/mark schemes can also help with getting marks for analysis too.
Reply 10
Original post by alevelstudent090
hey everyone, i have been self teaching since mid January and have chosen AQA psychology, AQA sociology and OCR religious studies. i chose these thinking i'd be going into nursing/social work/psychology or even sociology but ive had a deeper look into diagnostic radiography and making my way up to being a sonographer :smile:
i want to take IGCSE double science , IGCSE Human Biology and AQA Biology. i will be taking my igcse exams possibly in May/June 2024. i only need a pass so i can get into the course as science is a requirement. i wanted to do human biology purely because i love it and i looked at past papers and it seems pretty easy for me.
i will be taking my 4 a-levels in 2025 :smile: i will be 19 in over a week!! you are never too old to study a-levels or go to university or change career paths.
i would like to share my journey with everyone and let you know how it all goes in the process.
i'm starting my IGCSEs after my holiday (mid august) and my AQA A-Level Bio in september!
as for now, im going to keep studying my 3 a-levels for now.
if anyone has any questions about self teaching or being a private candidate please let me know!!

Heyyy,have you got any notes/tips on igcse human biology,got an exam in 4 days 🤭

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