Year 9 Advice

Hi, I wanted to get some advice for year 9 and the extracurriculars I'm taking. I want to get into a top school for computer science or engineering. I'm in chess club, am playing an instrument, and aim to get to grade 7/8 by the end of A levels. I will also join coding club, and in sports i am going to continue ultimate frisbee until a levels.

I get good grades generally, and have gotten all 7/8 in my previous IB School. I have done a couple Unity courses, am learning python and know C++ . Anything else i should do?? Thanks

(edited 6 months ago)

Reply 1

flowersinmyhair

Clearing and Applications Advisor, Study Forum Helper

18

Original post by Darsh Rathod

Hi, I wanted to get some advice for year 9 and the extracurriculars I'm taking. I want to get into a top school for computer science or engineering. I'm in chess club, am playing an instrument, and aim to get to grade 7/8 by the end of A levels. I will also join coding club, and in sports i am going to continue ultimate frisbee until a levels.

I get good grades generally, and have gotten all 7/8 in my previous IB School. I have done a couple Unity courses, am learning python and know C++ . Anything else i should do?? Thanks

Just try to enjoy yourself, do your best and don't put too much pressure on yourself. You need to make sure you give yourself a break so you don't burn out.

Reply 2

Darsh Rathod

OP

8

Original post by flowersinmyhair

Just try to enjoy yourself, do your best and don't put too much pressure on yourself. You need to make sure you give yourself a break so you don't burn out.

I'm just seeing so many people that have already specialized and are going to boot camps and stuff, so I was wondering whether that is needed to get into top uni, or if I could worry about that later... And also, is being a prefect or a head boy considered by uni? Should i run for it?

Reply 3

flowersinmyhair

Clearing and Applications Advisor, Study Forum Helper

18

Original post by Darsh Rathod

I'm just seeing so many people that have already specialized and are going to boot camps and stuff, so I was wondering whether that is needed to get into top uni, or if I could worry about that later... And also, is being a prefect or a head boy considered by uni? Should i run for it?

You should run for prefect or head boy but probably in sixth form as then you'll be able to mention it in your personal statement. I mentioned that I am a prefect in my personal statement, for example.

Reply 4

Darsh Rathod

OP

8

Original post by flowersinmyhair

You should run for prefect or head boy but probably in sixth form as then you'll be able to mention it in your personal statement. I mentioned that I am a prefect in my personal statement, for example.

Thank you so much :smile:

Reply 5

PAT_22

12

Original post by Darsh Rathod

I'm just seeing so many people that have already specialized and are going to boot camps and stuff, so I was wondering whether that is needed to get into top uni, or if I could worry about that later... And also, is being a prefect or a head boy considered by uni? Should i run for it?

My 2 cents

As someone coming to Oxford, yea there are loads of people who've done loads of stuff since Year 9 etc. but there are also people who didn't "start" until later, but they did well in school since the very beginning and have a very solid foundation coming from the work they put in a few years ago in whatever they're excelling now. Basically compound interest. [eg I started trying to learn calculus and physics back in Year 9, but I didn't do it well, so I took a pretty long while to master it, but I saved a lot of time and stress later down the road in A Levels and could understand topics building on calculus more easily, so I considered it worth it even though I was upset I could've explored more and have more fun with better study habits.]

If you really want to get ahead in the game, my advice is to try hobbies you're interested in - a couple you may find that you really understand the underlying ideas, and enjoy learning new skills in it. Could be chess, could be playing a musical instrument, could be competitive programming, could be maths olympiads or a sport or video making or entrepreneurship or whatever. If new things in this area pique your interest, try to master them - there will be a lot of opportunity to learn, and you may not realise some fields exists too! You'd like to aim for that level of performance stress where it's not too difficult you don't understand, but not too easy you're not learning much. It's really satisfying once you get the hang of new things that you can relate to old ones, it's just both beneficial and fun. And if you stick around to exploring for a long enough time, compound interest will increase your skills in it exponentially. Just ask yourself once in a while: are you learning things? Are they interesting, and stuff you can apply later on? Did you get stuck on what seems to be a wall that you can't cross? (Ask for help! A more experienced person may guide you through a solution :smile:

) Eventually you can probably make a career, or benefit your own career with these skills, but no pressure to stick to it, it's just a hobby after all, and the point is to make it something you'd like to do over and over again.

Specifically for unis, policies, admissions, situations can change, so it's not 100% worth going into specific details for now, e.g. Oxbridge admissions is changing up, NSAA is being scrapped, STEP 1 is no more, Cambridge Pre U ran its last cohort this year. Better to develop yourself first imo, and you'll be in a better position to sell yourself to unis later.

Also, don't forget about compound interest. It adds a lot over the long run. iirc Warren Buffett started investing in stocks since 10, and the extra years multiplied his wealth by a large factor. Maybe you're not into investing in stocks, but doing things early and for a long period of time and you reap exponentially more later on.

Year 9 Advice

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