y12s/13s - questions from a y11 about 6th form

1.

I do geography and I use a laptop and written notes cuz I've not got an ipad, but if I had an ipad I would use an ipad, since its easier to write and edit stuff

2.

Google docs, organise it in google drive and make folders so its not too messy

3.

When i started year 12 I did no work like no work, do not recommend, it only adds more stress on you. Now i do on average from 1 hour 30 to 3 hours? Sometimes I do more if im feeling motivated

4.

Not much hw tbh, you do have to do wider reading like read articles, and organise notes and make them more detailed, like using essay plans to make revision more easy. Also do note writeups at the end of each topic, I did my note writeups at the end of year 12, like near end of year exams, and that was very rushed, and left not much time for revision. If you do maths or sciency subjects, or just any subject in general, do past papers often, practice practice practice
i'm kinda going off a tangent, but in the end of yr 12 in some subjects you'll get introduced to a NEA, its A LOT of work, so a lot to do over the Yr12 to yr13 summer holidays

5.

A big folder / ring binder to store notes and pages at home, a small folder to being to school, lined paper for school. I like using notebooks for lessons and sticking worksheets and stuff in, feels like scrapbooking and makes learning more fun

6.

If you do an EPQ, make sure you STICK TO YOUR PLAN, you'll learn about the plan later, but don't completely abandon it like i did/do, work on it like every week
Start looking at what universities you like early, like at yr 12 feburary to march ish, because by the end of yr 12, theres like NEAs and EPQs and mocks and personal statements, introduction to a lot of new stuff. Doing stuff early puts less stuff on ur plate later

btw how are your GCSEs going?🤔

1.

It's technically personal preference, but I found that basically everyone switched from written notes to ipad (usually with laptop as another device) in the first month of year 12.

2.

Onenote, any word processor (MS office, Libreoffice, Onlyoffice, Openoffice, etc), maybe Obsidian but I only use it for personal things. Depending on how much work you save, you might have a lot of documents.

3.

In year 12 you can get by just doing work in school as long as you understand the content. Your test results should guide you on how much work you personally need to do really.

4.

Depends on school but in my experience, it's reasonable. It might be worse if you're taking essay subjects (harder to cheat).

5.

Keep a few pens, a few pencils, the usual really. In terms of calculators, I recommend the (Casio) fx-991EX but you might have to settle for the inferior, uglier, newer model. A worthwhile investment for me was getting a massive whiteboard on a wall in my room, it's so nice especially for maths.

6.

If you actually pay attention in lessons and do the questions you find useful in them (ignore textbook questions imo), you should be fine. 90% of the necessary theory for some subjects can be found on PMT or some other website, being confident in your analysis and problem solving is usual more important than memorising (depending on the subject), although for cramming I'd still recommend just reading notes. For maths your only real option for revising is doing a lot of practice/exam questions. I found madasmaths the most useful website for this.