🖥 Grow Your Grades 24/25 - A Nerd's Journey (iive) 🖥
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I currently attend a non-selective state school and I’m hoping to join a grammar sixth form next year, I was wondering if you could share your experience etc?
Hey, I'm glad you're finding the posts motivating! I don't mind sharing my experience:
I'm currently at an all-girls grammar; used to go to a mixed comprehensive school. I think the main two differences between a selective school and non-selective school (in my experience) are a) typically you have access to more/better opportunities b) the grade standards.
Now with the grade standards, I can't lie there will be annoying/snobby people. My friend (external) heard someone say something on the first day that was looking down on people who did foundation maths or double science (which is frankly completely stupid). Everyone will want As and A*s which isn't the problem. The problem is that inevitably you'll get people who don't want to put the same effort in then look down at other grades. Now those people are thankfully either in the minority or you can ignore them and get on with your own life. The key thing is not to get swept up in comparing yourself to other people because you are in a race against yourself and yourself only. There will be lovely people there who challenge you in the right ways so that you both grow and discover things together. You won't get everything right all the time and that's OK and it's important that you don't become complacent either.
The school itself didn't have a great year last year and this was quite a dramatic drop in its usual performance. For my subjects: no one got A*s in CS, 2 people got A*s in Psych and 2 got A*s in Fm and 7 in Maths respectively from what I remember. Therefore, a lot of pressure has shifted onto us and now our common room is the "study room" with teachers monitoring our frees and study periods... The point I'm trying to get at is make sure to check out the school environment before applying to the place, just because it's a grammar school doesn't mean you have to sacrifice a limb or leg of your sanity for it. The sad thing is that I liked most of Y12 😭, my friends and I would play card games when we were done with work but yh the environment has kinda shifted a lot.
Though there are good things about grammar schools:
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Smaller class sizes! I feel like you know the people in your classes better and its just less overwhelming in a smaller class. Its also easier to have debates (Psych).
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Opportunities! I had no one idea about Ritangle and M3 Maths Challenge before joining and I could not imagine not doing them. Connections are very useful things and some staff at Grammar schools will either have "prestigious" backgrounds or know people or have links to different institutions to come in and do talks (this is very school dependent though so it's worth asking whether the school has established links or not). My school also had a lot of clubs and societies I could join!
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Teaching Quality! I feel like it's stronger (but not perfect) compared to comprehensive but obviously that depends on the staff and their teaching history etc.
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Uni Support! Again this is mostly due to connections that they are able to cater more efficient support systems especially for early applicants
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You are typically challenged more compared to comprehensive schools as I mentioned before in some posts (but there is also the importance of doing your own research into subjects you like and discussing this which I felt like my school had not done enough of until application season started rolling round)
Socially, I was able to make friends but even that's been kinda rocky now... What I will say is that who you make friends with at the start of the year don't have to be the same friends you keep for life. I've been distancing myself from two people who I was just straight up not happy with in the friendship but that's a story for another day. I think with sixth form in general, you start to figure out the people who you like to be round around, what you like in general, what you dislike, etc. You're becoming your own person and that means you don't have to agree with everyone on everything. You don't have to tolerate nonsense if you don't to and thats especially important in a high-pressure environment like what grammar schools can be. School is how you make it to be at the end of the day.
So yeah, I hope this post helps a bit. Let me know if there is anything else you want to know about!
private schools personalise their curriculums to produce very well rounded students....the reality is state schools cannot afford that luxury, but our free education should not be taken for granted - we are still quite lucky int hat sense!!
Yes that's true, I'm grateful for that when other people aren't given that same opportunity
Thank you so much for your support. If you have a few minutes to share to complete the surveys I have linked below. They're aimed at students from Y7 up to just graduating. I'm conducting these surveys as part of my CS NEA project for which I'm planning to make a work experience app that students could use to find different opportunities and network with each other and industries! Thank you for your help
CS NEA page
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Work on CS NEA Analysis Section - I want to finish up on researching existing systems and analyse results from primary research other stuff i need to consider; maybe start the features of solution section
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Revision for Approaches Test coming up this Thursday 💀
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Continue to add studies into my Psych Studies Book
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SMC practice
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Finish up a Networking course I started
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DofE Stuff - Gardening, Spanish, Exercise!
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Work on CS NEA Analysis Section - I want to finish up on researching existing systems and analyse results from primary research other stuff i need to consider; maybe start the features of solution section
•
Revision for Approaches Test coming up this Thursday 💀
•
Continue to add studies into my Psych Studies Book
•
SMC practice
•
Finish up a Networking course I started
•
DofE Stuff - Gardening, Spanish, Exercise!
Good luck with your tasks! I need to work on my CS NEA Analysis section too.. Congrats on the maths test result!!
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Work on CS NEA Analysis Section - I want to finish up on researching existing systems and analyse results from primary research other stuff i need to consider; maybe start the features of solution section
•
Revision for Approaches Test coming up this Thursday 💀
•
Continue to add studies into my Psych Studies Book
•
SMC practice
•
Finish up a Networking course I started
•
DofE Stuff - Gardening, Spanish, Exercise!
Hello what I managed to achieve over the past 2 days:
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Finished Networking Course - very much took longer than I expected 💀 but very useful and I got a digital credential out of it (it's one of the Cisco Networking Academy courses)
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Went over Flaschards for Approaches Test - I'll make sure to do some practice questions over the next few days as well
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Psych Hwk - we've nearly finished the attachment topic which means another test is coming up 🥳
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Psych Studies Book - I have written in all the studies we have covered so far for the topics we have completed which now means having the tedious task of fact-checking all of them 💀
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Exercise ✅️
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Gardening ✅️ - just planted Garlic bulbs
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Currently working through NEA Research. I have a project lesson tomorrow and there's something I need to check out with my teacher first. Still waiting for more response for my survey if possible
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Finish off my Approaches Definitions List on bus journey (I appreciate I'm leaving this quite late 😭, I kept forgetting to bring my Psych Textbook with me so that I could refer to the glossary)
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Squeeze in either SMC or Spanish Practice if I can
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I'm meeting with my Spanish teacher in my free so I might ask her to go over some grammar
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MAT PSM Session and Phil Lecture with NLU in the evening
What I plan to do this week is:
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Go over the MAT papers I have done to mark and check them - note down questions to retry
•
Go over the feedback I got from my Problem Solving Matters Mentor and retry those questions again (very useful programme for TMUA and MAT practice; you have 3 in-person sessions (June, July, Sept) and you are given 3 worksheets to do over the summer which are marked. They also offer 4 online advice and practice sessions for each test during the month of September.)
•
Do MAT 2009 under timed conditions in Double Free
•
Senior Maths Practice (because a) it's next week, b) it's good problem solving practice)
•
Go over personal statement and note down key areas I have talked about (which I already did somewhere) and see what extra research I can do around the topic
Of course, keeping in mind I need to pace myself to avoid burnout 😅
Personal statements for Early Entry are due in today 💀. Good news is that I've revised it enough times that I like my end result. Just going to do a final check with my form tutor before submitting it in.
The courses I'm applying to are:
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Computer Science and Philosophy - Oxford
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Philosophy and Computer Science - UCL
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Computing (Security and Reliability) - Imperial
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Computer Science with Cyber Security - Southampton
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Cyber Security (with Industrial Experience) - Lancaster
Besides that, schools been alright this week. My psych teacher was nice enough to move our Approaches test to next week so that was a bonus. Still waiting for the result of my Maths test though. I'll probably use today’s free to finish up maths work or go through my psych notes.
Hello!! Congrats on getting your uni application done! I'm planning on applying to Southampton too, how are you finding Maths in year 13 so far??
•
Finished Networking Course - very much took longer than I expected 💀 but very useful and I got a digital credential out of it (it's one of the Cisco Networking Academy courses)
•
Went over Flaschards for Approaches Test - I'll make sure to do some practice questions over the next few days as well
•
Psych Hwk - we've nearly finished the attachment topic which means another test is coming up 🥳
•
Psych Studies Book - I have written in all the studies we have covered so far for the topics we have completed which now means having the tedious task of fact-checking all of them 💀
•
Exercise ✅️
•
Gardening ✅️ - just planted Garlic bulbs
•
Currently working through NEA Research. I have a project lesson tomorrow and there's something I need to check out with my teacher first. Still waiting for more response for my survey if possible
•
Finish off my Approaches Definitions List on bus journey (I appreciate I'm leaving this quite late 😭, I kept forgetting to bring my Psych Textbook with me so that I could refer to the glossary)
•
Squeeze in either SMC or Spanish Practice if I can
•
I'm meeting with my Spanish teacher in my free so I might ask her to go over some grammar
•
MAT PSM Session and Phil Lecture with NLU in the evening
What I plan to do this week is:
•
Go over the MAT papers I have done to mark and check them - note down questions to retry
•
Go over the feedback I got from my Problem Solving Matters Mentor and retry those questions again (very useful programme for TMUA and MAT practice; you have 3 in-person sessions (June, July, Sept) and you are given 3 worksheets to do over the summer which are marked. They also offer 4 online advice and practice sessions for each test during the month of September.)
•
Do MAT 2009 under timed conditions in Double Free
•
Senior Maths Practice (because a) it's next week, b) it's good problem solving practice)
•
Go over personal statement and note down key areas I have talked about (which I already did somewhere) and see what extra research I can do around the topic
Of course, keeping in mind I need to pace myself to avoid burnout 😅
•
Finish off my Approaches Definitions List on bus journey (I appreciate I'm leaving this quite late 😭, I kept forgetting to bring my Psych Textbook with me so that I could refer to the glossary)
•
Squeeze in either SMC or Spanish Practice if I can
•
I'm meeting with my Spanish teacher in my free so I might ask her to go over some grammar
•
MAT PSM Session and Phil Lecture with NLU in the evening
Hello managed to tick off nearly all of the list. My Spanish teacher disappeared somewhere so I spent that free doing some Spanish Reading Practice. Managed to practice some 2005 SMC Qs on the bus which was good.
My Approaches Test got moved to next week again... which is wonderful.
I'll finish up the Integration by parts Exercise and Approaches Definitions List before calling it a night.
What I plan to do today:
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MAT Paper in my double free
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Some TMUA Qs at my problem-solving club
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Psychology Revision Club After-School
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TMUA PSM Session
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CS NEA - doing the last bits of Research so that I can focus on the completing the rest of my analysis
hope your day’s gone well!!
Hey! it went relatively well. I was happy with the MAT Paper, I felt like I could approach all the questions but I need to mark it first to see what I got scorewise. I'm kinda of worried about the CS NEA though because our soft deadline is next week but I have a busy weekend and I didn't get much done in lesson (just the hardware and software requirements). That and I've been sick the past few days so I was sneezing everywhere 😅 but other than that a productive day I would say
How about you? I hope your NEA is going alright
Yesterday, I'll admit I just needed a chill day to just do nothing 💀 so after-school I was just watching Ted-talks and Stephanie soo.
I felt that it helped with managing today because I was able to get both maths homework sheets done, catch up with the Integration Chapters🥳 and do the CS homework my teacher decided not to tell us about till that lesson 🤦*♀️. Still got a lot of maths mechanics to catch up on but we're slowly working towards it 😅.
So what I need to do between now and Monday:
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Catch up on Exercise 6C, 6D and 8B (Mixed Exercises if I can but realistically I don't have time to)
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Revision for Approaches Test this coming Wednesday (with comparison essay confirmed)
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Preparation for Senior Maths Challenge this coming Tuesday (thank God I've been doing MAT and TMUA prep though because that helps maintain problem solving mind-set🥳)
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Bits and bobs for DofE
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NEA CS Coursework - try to finish as much of the Analysis as I can before our soft deadline the upcoming Friday I believe
Wow! It's wonderful to hear your enjoying, and I've heard that Further Maths is more fun than Maths so wishing you the best for this year🫶
How about you? I hope your NEA is going alright
That’s good! Don’t be too hard on yourself, it’s ok to take a break and fall behind deadlines (especially if you’re sick!). I’m veryyy behind on my NEA because of my health but hoping to get quite a bit done over half term!
What I plan to do this week is:
•
Go over the MAT papers I have done to mark and check them - note down questions to retry
•
Go over the feedback I got from my Problem Solving Matters Mentor and retry those questions again (very useful programme for TMUA and MAT practice; you have 3 in-person sessions (June, July, Sept) and you are given 3 worksheets to do over the summer which are marked. They also offer 4 online advice and practice sessions for each test during the month of September.)
•
Do MAT 2009 under timed conditions in Double Free
•
Senior Maths Practice (because a) it's next week, b) it's good problem solving practice)
•
Go over personal statement and note down key areas I have talked about (which I already did somewhere) and see what extra research I can do around the topic
Of course, keeping in mind I need to pace myself to avoid burnout 😅
Good very early morning 😅,
What I managed to complete over the last week relating to Uni Admissions:
•
Go over the MAT papers ❌️ -> should do it before my next double free so most likely Wed evening
•
Go over the feedback from PSM Summer Sheets ✅️ & it was surprisingly quite good! Just need to do a few tweaks
•
Do MAT 2009 under timed conditions in Double Free ✅️
•
Senior Maths Practice (because a) it's next week, b) it's good problem solving practice) ✅️❌️ -> this is like a yes/no bc I've done some problems and worked on problem solving but I'm going to spend tomorrow cramming in last min practice which isn't ideal
•
Go over personal statement and note down key areas I have talked about (which I already did somewhere) and see what extra research I can do around the topic ❌️ -> not high priority rn so leaving that for now
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