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e's year 13 journey - GYG

Hello hello!
It's the end of half term for me! (a week off - yay!) I thought now would be a great time to start a GYG having completed a few weeks of year 13.
I study English Lit, Biology and Maths and I'm predicted A*AA. I've applied to Oxford and Birmingham (Human Sciences), Leicester and Lancaster (Human Geography) and Nottingham (Liberal Arts) and I've begun to hear back from them already, which I was slightly taken aback by.
I'm enjoying year 13 so far, there is a lot of work but I'm finding it mostly manageable. For Biology, I'm focussing on revising a lot of year 12 content before I begin the past papers, English I'm trying to nail quotations and key scenes and for Maths I'm trying to keep afloat with the current topics and then going back and revising year 12 ones.
Has anyone got good maths revision tips? I'm finding just doing mixed practice in the book and questions from last year for difficult topics just doesn't work too well for me - I end up even more confused!
I'm using a retrospective revision planner which is working really well and I'm enjoying using as it takes a lot more of the pressure off trying to plan my day out down to the minute and I can easily see at a glance what topics I still need to revise!
Anyway, that's enough from me!
I'll hopefully remember to keep this updated! :smile:
Original post by squemily16
Hello hello!
It's the end of half term for me! (a week off - yay!) I thought now would be a great time to start a GYG having completed a few weeks of year 13.
I study English Lit, Biology and Maths and I'm predicted A*AA. I've applied to Oxford and Birmingham (Human Sciences), Leicester and Lancaster (Human Geography) and Nottingham (Liberal Arts) and I've begun to hear back from them already, which I was slightly taken aback by.
I'm enjoying year 13 so far, there is a lot of work but I'm finding it mostly manageable. For Biology, I'm focussing on revising a lot of year 12 content before I begin the past papers, English I'm trying to nail quotations and key scenes and for Maths I'm trying to keep afloat with the current topics and then going back and revising year 12 ones.
Has anyone got good maths revision tips? I'm finding just doing mixed practice in the book and questions from last year for difficult topics just doesn't work too well for me - I end up even more confused!
I'm using a retrospective revision planner which is working really well and I'm enjoying using as it takes a lot more of the pressure off trying to plan my day out down to the minute and I can easily see at a glance what topics I still need to revise!
Anyway, that's enough from me!
I'll hopefully remember to keep this updated! :smile:

Welcome to Grow Your Grades! :yeah: Revision planners are so helpful, and they're also great because throughout the year you can look back at how much you've done, which can be a real boost. What text are you studying for English?
Reply 2
Original post by Pwca
Welcome to Grow Your Grades! :yeah: Revision planners are so helpful, and they're also great because throughout the year you can look back at how much you've done, which can be a real boost. What text are you studying for English?


Thank you! I'm studying Othello, Gatsby, and Richard II, Crime Poetry, Rime of the Ancient Mariner, and Atonement! my favourite is probably Gatsby, I really enjoyed that text! I'm looking forward to be able to practice all of the questions when I've finished studying all of the texts!
What exam board do you do for biology?
Reply 4
Original post by flowersinmyhair
What exam board do you do for biology?


I do AQA! what about you?
Original post by squemily16
I do AQA! what about you?

I do Edexcel A, it's different to most biology courses as it focuses each topic around a story such one about forensics or about cystic fibrosis
Reply 6
Original post by flowersinmyhair
I do Edexcel A, it's different to most biology courses as it focuses each topic around a story such one about forensics or about cystic fibrosis


Oh wow! That’s really interesting! I think I’d like that as it gives a real-world application to each topic which I’d find really useful!
Original post by squemily16
Oh wow! That’s really interesting! I think I’d like that as it gives a real-world application to each topic which I’d find really useful!

It is really interesting and I really enjoy it. I'm applying to uni to study biology
Original post by squemily16
Hello hello!
It's the end of half term for me! (a week off - yay!) I thought now would be a great time to start a GYG having completed a few weeks of year 13.
I study English Lit, Biology and Maths and I'm predicted A*AA. I've applied to Oxford and Birmingham (Human Sciences), Leicester and Lancaster (Human Geography) and Nottingham (Liberal Arts) and I've begun to hear back from them already, which I was slightly taken aback by.
I'm enjoying year 13 so far, there is a lot of work but I'm finding it mostly manageable. For Biology, I'm focussing on revising a lot of year 12 content before I begin the past papers, English I'm trying to nail quotations and key scenes and for Maths I'm trying to keep afloat with the current topics and then going back and revising year 12 ones.
Has anyone got good maths revision tips? I'm finding just doing mixed practice in the book and questions from last year for difficult topics just doesn't work too well for me - I end up even more confused!
I'm using a retrospective revision planner which is working really well and I'm enjoying using as it takes a lot more of the pressure off trying to plan my day out down to the minute and I can easily see at a glance what topics I still need to revise!
Anyway, that's enough from me!
I'll hopefully remember to keep this updated! :smile:

Good luck with your studies. Would be interested to hear more about your retrospective revision planning as I've heard good things about the method, but never given it a go... yet! :smile:
Reply 9
Original post by brainzistheword
Good luck with your studies. Would be interested to hear more about your retrospective revision planning as I've heard good things about the method, but never given it a go... yet! :smile:

Thank you so much! The retrospective revision method is working well at the moment! I’ve got a spreadsheet split into each of my subjects with all topics/spec points/units/texts depending on the subject in each with an initial RAG rating. I then have a number of columns and I put the date revised in and give it a new RAG rating. It’s useful to see then how revision has worked for each topic and I can instantly see what I’ve revised recently and what needs more attention. I generally follow the same revision method for each topic for each subject - eg. Biology I use Seneca, then YouTube, then quizzes made by the department, then past papers. I occasionally skip a step or two if I’m more confident. For the initial RAG rating, most were based on previous exams or a mindmap in 2 colours of pen, one for own knowledge, one for corrections/missed info from text book! Let me know if you give it a go! I’m finding it so helpful!
Original post by squemily16
Thank you so much! The retrospective revision method is working well at the moment! I’ve got a spreadsheet split into each of my subjects with all topics/spec points/units/texts depending on the subject in each with an initial RAG rating. I then have a number of columns and I put the date revised in and give it a new RAG rating. It’s useful to see then how revision has worked for each topic and I can instantly see what I’ve revised recently and what needs more attention. I generally follow the same revision method for each topic for each subject - eg. Biology I use Seneca, then YouTube, then quizzes made by the department, then past papers. I occasionally skip a step or two if I’m more confident. For the initial RAG rating, most were based on previous exams or a mindmap in 2 colours of pen, one for own knowledge, one for corrections/missed info from text book! Let me know if you give it a go! I’m finding it so helpful!

This sounds like such an efficient method!

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