Going into college / sixth form soon!

Hi everyone, ive just finished doing my GCSE'S (hopefully ive passed) and am going into college or sixth form soon so i was wondering what should i take in for the first day and if anyone has any tips? Everyone ive asked has told me to run away and not do a-levels so any advice better than that would be sooo useful.

Reply 1

username6885847

Hello!
I did my GCSE's two years ago and just finished my a levels, studied at sixth form.
I took biology chemistry and English literature for reference.

I would definitely say be prepared to not be prepared. Teachers will often stress to you, YouTubers will stress to you, people who have done a levels will stress to you, that the jump from GCSE to A level is a leap.
You shouldn't be necessary scared, it's more just a change of tactics. For example you cant scrape a good grade by studying night before last minute like you could possibly do in GCSE's. The marking schemes will be something you need to be familiarised with because they are more precise, so you will need to learn precision. And mostly you will need to be a lot more organised than GCSE.

Again, sixth form isn't something to be scared of but it gets more stressful the more content you learn, the harder the content gets and the closer it gets to exams so its a gradual thing and you will learn and eventually moan about it and then warn year 12's DONT DO A LEVELS.

You dont HAVE to do a levels. If the degree job you need such as medicine/vet/dentist then yes a levels are a must but you can take a college course and there are many alternative routes. But I can't speak for the level of difficulty difference it will have to sixth form.

Some tips I have is some that you won't listen to and I DIDN'T at first but then you will get to a point in your life when you will listen to the advice usually in year 13 because it gets more serious.

to use ur frees for studying.
you won't listen to this one because its exciting the jump from year 11 to year 12 to have free periods to do whatever. And I GUESS in the beginning you won't be using that time to study but oh gosh, there were time in year 13 I wish I HAD MORE FREES TO STUDY. Content increases in sixth form so being solid on the basics is important and that's what frees are for- for you to get solid.
Some tips I have for using your frees effectively:

do your lesson, ask your teach immediately after class on anything you dont understand

go to your free and revise the lesson (even ask your teacher for the powerpoint) make sure you actually understood what was being taught. redo the questions. do new questions. Do flashcards.

next lesson you will be more solid and can ask any further qs

FLASHCARDSSSS
start NOW. well in September. when you have your first lesson. when you learn smth new. at my school you were allowed to bring flashcards during class and write them straight onto flashcards so ask your teacher if during lessons you can write your flashcards as it saves time. therefore at the end of the year all your flashcards are made and you can juts focus on questions and conslidation.

DECORATE YOUR ROOM
This is a tip for subjects that require memory such as biology, history etc. this is quite a weird one but it works!
Write a little post stick note, make a poster, make a fun mnemonic or rhyme and stick it all over your room. like your mirror, so when you wake up and get ready you will see it. Make it your screen saver or even around your house if your parents allow you.

I hope this helps!! Good luck.