year 13 - diary

i havent touched 50 percent in any maths test and I get what you mean by being limited to certain marks

which exam board

edexcel

Oh wow, its been a long time - so much for the diary idea HAHA!! I'll try and post more frequently in the leadup to exams to keep the motivation up. No promises though.
So.. an update since I last posted (5 months ago...oops):

That's all the key updates I have, and I've really just been doing a lot of work. I find my grandparents house to be very good for studying.
Now, onto my aims. So, my extremely unrealistic goals are to get 100% in each exam. Now I know this is incredibly unlikely (and almost impossible), HOWEVER, aiming for a percentage goal, rather than a letter goal is much more useful for me, as it allows me to see little improvements in my tests, and gives me a lot more leeway. The grades I would be happy with, and my (slightly more) realistic goals are:

Obviously, I'd love A*'s across the board, but like my 100% goal, its just not realistic LMAO! In any case, I'll be happy with whatever grades I get in the end, as long as I can say that I've done my best. Well, maybe not happy. But content. Those words mean the same thing, don't they? HAHAHAH

Hi I typed in Lancaster in the search and found your year 13 blog 🙂 .
I help out on the Lancaster forum, since my daughter is a year 4 physicist there and going onto Manchester for her phd in research in neutrino physics at the NEXT experiment.
I do also have a blog on here as well with open days we did, and the first year at uni when she updated us with her time there.
She applied to Oxford, Lancaster York and Leicester. She did look at Durham but at the time chose Lancaster for two courses as back then it would advertise as physics particle physics and cosmology(she took)/ physics with astrophysics. It all comes under the word physics now and branded that way, but the module choices are the same, so she went through the particle physics route and cosmology.
She didnt get into Oxford, she got as far as interviews. She did UNIQ, and a work placement at nottingham uni in particle and you did really well getting to Rutherford . She did maths fm, chem and physics and same, she nearly dropped chemistry, but glad she kept it. She just did not put in as much time in as the other three.
Regarding Lancaster, the physics dept has been an absolute godsend. She got onto her supervisor regarding a internship in first year. usually no-one gets an internship in first years but she perservered and they said theres an unpaid one remotely for 2 weeks so she did that in tau neutrinos (with DUNE). Second year she got a paid on in the summer on proton decay, also through the uni (DUNE).
Second year was a tough year for her physically and mentally so her grades suffered. no fault of the uni or her, but it was just one of those things where she was tired all the time and there was a physical reason for it. So she got a 2;2. But she sorted herself out over the summer on new medication, and she spoke to her supervisor, head of department and they worked with her all of third year, having regular meetings checking in how she was doing, anything she was struggling in, improving exam techniques, the lot. And she came out with a first, and is averaging on a 2:1 now. So in terms of support, Lancaster has been amazing in the physics department. And they also helped with her applications for her phds as well.
Physics has gone into clearing every year at Lancaster but it does get snapped up quick though. within a day they are gone.
These were last years clearing grades as I copied and pasted them onto my blog, however it is subject to change every year. So should you choose elsewhere and not get in, Lancaster is worth taking a look.
Physics : BSc Hons : F300 - ABC
Physics : MPhys Hons : F303 - ABB
Physics with Astrophysics : BSc Hons : F3FM - ABC
Physics with Astrophysics : MPhys : F3F5 - ABB

Thank you so much for this Ghostlady! Your daughter sounds awesome, I bet you're extremely proud of her! I'm doing a similar thing regarding Chemistry, hopefully it doesn't come back to bite me on results day. I think I am going to put Lancaster as my insurance choice, because from what you've said about the clearing grades, it looks as though they would accept me if I didn't quite get the 3 A's I need. I did like Lancaster a lot, and I think this has solidified my choice - thank you again!

Your welcome 🙂 . Should you not quite get the grades, its always worth checking out on their webpage and giving them a call. I am very proud of her 🙂 I hope you get into durham though with it being your first choice