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Tips for year 12

Hi everyone,

I am going into year 12 next week and the subjects I am taking are: English Lit., Maths, Biology and Psychology.

I am not sure which one I will drop (probably maths/ biology) because I might take maths for 1 year and do the AS level exam as I have already studied year 12 maths - further maths GCSE.

I am really aiming for high grades and I just wondered if generally anyone had any advice on studying, and balancing it with socialising, even making friends and also balancing work with team sports as I play lacrosse, and train often, I'm worried that I am planning to do too much, as I want to rewrite out my notes in my own words after each lesson, then import them into Gizmo AI - a platform that tests you (I used it alot for GCSEs)

But I also don't know about specific things I should do for each of my subjects, so if anyone does any of the same subjects, let me know what you did.

But, I have never done year 12, I don't know how difficult the work is and I don't know what to expect and how to be prepared. So really any advice - academically, socially etc. would be really helpful.

Thanks,
Chloe :smile:

Reply 1

curious_wisdom

Original post

by Chloew1709

Hi everyone,
I am going into year 12 next week and the subjects I am taking are: English Lit., Maths, Biology and Psychology.
I am not sure which one I will drop (probably maths/ biology) because I might take maths for 1 year and do the AS level exam as I have already studied year 12 maths - further maths GCSE.
I am really aiming for high grades and I just wondered if generally anyone had any advice on studying, and balancing it with socialising, even making friends and also balancing work with team sports as I play lacrosse, and train often, I'm worried that I am planning to do too much, as I want to rewrite out my notes in my own words after each lesson, then import them into Gizmo AI - a platform that tests you (I used it alot for GCSEs)
But I also don't know about specific things I should do for each of my subjects, so if anyone does any of the same subjects, let me know what you did.
But, I have never done year 12, I don't know how difficult the work is and I don't know what to expect and how to be prepared. So really any advice - academically, socially etc. would be really helpful.
Thanks,
Chloe :smile:

Hi Chloe!

I'll give you my tips, but I'm international so I'm not doing A levels, although ig I can still tell you what I learnt in the equivalent year!

I absolutely understand the feeling of thinking you may be doing too much but at the same time you don't want to drop anything! I'd say this is trial and error. If you feel too tired or stressed or you aren't getting enough sleep it's time to start thinking about what may be a bit too much. Maybe you can still not quit it but reduce the hours?
That being said, don't quit doing lacrosse or whatever you like to do because it takes your mind off school work and it's proven that people with hobbies and extracurriculars have better time management skills and productivity.
Always keep in mind that your friends are going through the same thing, and so are people around you! It's important to spend time with them so you're not alone. My top tip for socialising would be to not just talk about school (you may start with that because it's easy), but turn the conversation a different and unrelated way because then you'll meet more interesting people and seem more interesting yourself!

Academically, revising after each lesson and rewriting your notes is great, but you have to ask yourself if you really need that. I used to be the person spending hours on beautiful mind maps I never actually used. Maybe what would be more useful for you would be to learn to take clean notes and paraphrase in your own words during class (it takes practice, but it really is possible). If you still want to revise (smart of you) after each class you can still use the AI, but with the notes you took from there. At the end of the day, what's most important is to understand everything really well.
Along the same lines, don't spend more time than you need working on a subject you already understand. For example, if you're practicing with a sheet of 100 maths exercices, maybe you get it at 20 with full understanding, so stop (if it's optional of course). It's not laziness, it's thinking smart. Even if you think that doing 80 more would help you progress a bit and won't do any harm, if you know you're getting the same grade you can stop, really, specially because you need to sleep.

I don't really have subject specific advice for you because I did 9 subjects in your year (crazy system) and the only one we have in common is maths. I'd say that it's really important to pay attention in class, ask all your questions even if you feel stupid, participate to feel more engaged... And if you can, try to ask for the proof or deduction to the formulae and stuff, as that's really useful for reasoning.

Also, definitely get started on your UCAS asap. If you don't know what you want to study talk to people and read into the course structure and modules so you know if it's right for you!

Finally, it's not the end of the world, you'll do great. Aim high but don't be discouraged for one bad mark because you can always make up for it later!

You can do this!

I hope that helped haha

Reply 2

Robinw_1000

Original post

by Chloew1709

Hi everyone,
I am going into year 12 next week and the subjects I am taking are: English Lit., Maths, Biology and Psychology.
I am not sure which one I will drop (probably maths/ biology) because I might take maths for 1 year and do the AS level exam as I have already studied year 12 maths - further maths GCSE.
I am really aiming for high grades and I just wondered if generally anyone had any advice on studying, and balancing it with socialising, even making friends and also balancing work with team sports as I play lacrosse, and train often, I'm worried that I am planning to do too much, as I want to rewrite out my notes in my own words after each lesson, then import them into Gizmo AI - a platform that tests you (I used it alot for GCSEs)
But I also don't know about specific things I should do for each of my subjects, so if anyone does any of the same subjects, let me know what you did.
But, I have never done year 12, I don't know how difficult the work is and I don't know what to expect and how to be prepared. So really any advice - academically, socially etc. would be really helpful.
Thanks,
Chloe :smile:

Hey, I'm a yr13 doing English literature, my recommendation for the start of yr12 is to figure out how you want to annotate your books, like what colour means what kind of thing and how you are going show each theme. Also read the books that the teacher gives you right away, don't procrastinate like I did, I'd also recommend that after you've studied the books look for podcasts on them, I've listened to quite a few and I've found then very helpful for looking at the texts in a different way.

I love using Gizmo, I find it very helpful, I've organised flashcard decks for each text, then that includes context, critical quotes, themes, summaries, and of course quotes with analysis. My user name is Robin Williams, its the profile with the pansexual and genderfluid flags as the picture, have a look and see if you are doing the same texts as me or not.

Also talk to your teacher whenever you don't understand something or need help, as it's their job to help you.

Any questions, please let me know 😁

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