More Kidney Notes Before I Leave For Summer School At The University Of Cambridge!

02/09/18 - Preparing for Year 13 with a practice German essay!

Ok but do you ever get that one moment where you’re totally at peace and having the best time with no worries in the world, but all of a sudden you become aware of the imminent end of this perfect moment and you start thinking about it as a fond memory that you’ll recall on your death bed in (what’s hopefully) a very long time and get all melancholic and nostalgic for the present?

26/09/18 - 15/100 days of productivity - studying with a full-on cold :(

Happy Wednesday guys! I had a full day of lessons today. The routine is pretty much the same as Tuesday (and, as you’ll find out, Thursdays and Fridays too). Anyway, this is what my Wednesday looked like :)

06:45-07:20 Up, washed, dressed and out the house

07:35-08:00 Commute to school

08:00 German quizlets in the sixth form work room

08:30-08:50 Form time with my lovely bio teacher! Fun times

08:50-09:50 Chemistry ft a fun rant from my teacher (not really it scared me even though it wasn’t aimed at me!) about how we are all deluded if we think we are going to succeed by putting such little effort into things

09:55-12:25 Double German! (With a half an hour break in between, don’t panic). Half was spent studying Der Vorleser, the other half on grammar

12:30-13:30 French with my favourite teacher. I did a listening assessment and... not much else to be fair 😂

13:30-14:00 Lunch/ form competitions. I represented my form in skittle sorting with one hand. I won my heat but came in third overall so far. The rest of the forms play tomorrow. We are out of the running for the form prize but I did get the bag of skittles haha

14:00-15:00 Biology - the topic was regulating gene expression on the transcriptional level and I LOVED IT. What an amazing way to end the day!

15:40 Arrived home to chill out. Honestly I feel awful so I decided to take a break.

17:00 Tea time :)

17:30-20:00 Maths revision before I move on to A2 stats (ew)

20:00-21:00 A cup of tea for me... plus some Vick’s Vapour rub and paracetamol haha

Night all! I might do another of these when I’m not ill so you can really see my life - this is nothing compared to how I normally work. Yes it’s a lot but I have to plough through.

To any GCSE/A level students who have to teach themselves because of the coronavirus outbreak

Everyone is very much focused right now on Years 11 and 13, whose exams have been cancelled, but Years 10 and 12 will more than likely have exams next year that aren’t - and this time off means you’re losing a lot of teaching time. Whatever measures end up being taken for you next year, it’s important that you are still preparing yourselves for the eventuality that every exam goes ahead as normal. Even if it doesn’t, it’s better to be over prepared than underprepared. I imagine you’ll have been given resources to help you with this, but it’s not the same as being at school/college/sixth form.

So, if you need help with chemistry, French, German, biology or maths, I am happy to answer your questions. I took these subjects at A level and achieved A*AAAA, and I achieved 11 A* grades at GCSE. I am now doing a chemistry degree at a Russell Group university. I taught myself the A level maths course in a year, on my own - I know how difficult self-teaching is and I know that there will be people who will struggle more than others with this. I’m not saying this to brag at all; I’m saying that I am more than qualified to give you some tips if you would like them!

I have no doubt that your teachers will be doing their best to help you as well; I am just offering to do what I can because these are unprecedented circumstances. Nobody knows what next year will look like, or even if we’ll be able to return to our respective institutions in time for the new academic year. The best thing you can do for yourselves is to keep your heads down and do the best you can to keep learning, ready for your eventual return.

I know you probably feel a bit lost (or maybe you don’t - lucky you!) without a teacher in front of you to guide you, but if I were in your boat - and to some extent I am, because I still have to think about standing myself in good stead for next year - I’d be looking to do all I could to minimise my disadvantage.

(Obviously I am busy with my own work as well so I won’t be able to respond immediately, but wherever I am available I will try my best to give you a different perspective on a topic, or perhaps point you towards some new resources if I know of any!)

Good luck guys.

A Level hell has finally begun haha

Physical chemistry wasn’t so bad

Well fam, 6 hours of solitary confinement and two exams later I can say with 100% certainty I will not get A*s in German or Maths ahahahaha

KEEP UP TO DATE WITH FILING

No, seriously. Have a system for your binders, datestamp and label those notes you just took with the topic up top and bung them in a folder in the correct order.

I did this in year 12 and it helped a lot. I gave up on it in year 13 and just had a pile of papers that came up to my thigh from the floor across all 5 subjects. What happened? I lost all my revision materials right there.

A Levels is a lot different than GCSEs and here are some tips from a recent graduate.

It needs a lot more revision.

The jump from GCSEs/O Levels is enormous.Even though you go from having 8/9 subjects to ¾, much more studying is required. There’s a lot more to cover and all the topics are more elaborated. Overall, everything is just more difficult. Knowing this ahead of time can really be beneficial. Don’t think studying a week before midterms or exams will be a good idea because it won’t be. Your best bet would be to study as you go along.

Do not skip classes unless absolutely necessary.

The second mistake was skipping classes. So the first time I ditched, I told myself it would only happen again if it was an emergency, but alas, not the case. After my first time ditching, I almost stopped attending Economics classes completely because I thought I could study on my own, because I didn’t like my teacher. I regretted this when we had our mock, where the questions that were given to us had already been gone through in class.

Don’t waste your free periods.

I had a lot of free periods, and in all of them, I’d chat with friends, walk around the school, do nothing of sustenance, basically. These are ideal for studying or revising because you’re technically already in the right mindset seeing as you’re in school. Also, if you get enough done at school, you’ll end up having to do a lot less at home! I’m not saying do this every single time, but just realize that there’s more to free periods than social gatherings.

Pick subjects you enjoy.

Every subject is going to be difficult in it’s own way, and you’re going to most likely get fed up of everything. By picking something you enjoy, you may be able to deal with it a lot better and spend more time working on it. I spent the most time in AS on Economics because I loved it and it was so interesting to me, and much less time on Psychology just because it didn’t give me the same excitement. This was blatantly obvious when I got my AS results.

Your friend group will change,

I thought I’d be friends with the same people all throughout it. I was wrong. Over just two years, I lost a lot of people I considered to be close friends, but I also made so many new friendships. Friend groups change and it doesn’t have to be due to drama or whatever, it kind of happens naturally. Don’t be alarmed if this happens, because you’ll meet so many new people over the course of your A Levels.

Ask questions.

Don’t be afraid to raise your hand and clear your concepts if you’re confused. That’s literally what your teacher is there for! If you don’t want to ask in front of your class, ask in their office hours! It’s better to have accurate information than flipping through different books a week before the exam trying to make sense of it.

Join extracurricular activities and clubs

A Levels isn’t going to be fun if all you do is stay locked up studying. To make new friends, meet new people, just have a better time, you can join a club or an activity or something sports related! I joined like three clubs in AS and ran my own in A2, and let me tell you, it was amazing. I met people I would’ve never been friends with if it weren’t for the clubs. Yes grades are important, but some universities may prefer it if you seem like an all rounder.

If anyone has any other tips on starting A Levels please mention them! 

13-14/11/18 - 65-66/100 days of productivity

14th - well today has been long. I had an applicant visit day to the uni of Birmingham, which was so much fun - until it came to getting home. I was supposed to be on a quarter past four train to be home for half seven. It is now ten to seven and I am waiting another 30 minutes for the final leg of my journey home to start after standing for 2 hours on a packed and very late train. I should arrive at my finial station at nine.

It’s not the staff’s fault necessarily, but we were turned away by a staff member when our train was actually boarding, so we missed it.

HOWEVER I did get to make good progress with Selam Berlin! And I got to play with sodium alginate and calcium chloride, and experience a lecture on why transition metal compounds are coloured.

I did my German catch-up work on the train to Birmingham, too. Now to make some important emails!

I’ve just hit 50 followers and my tumblr has blown up today because I have thrown myself into the community. You all are amazing my friends, even if I cannot physically message everyone individually to tell you that.

REBLOG IF

- you are a studyblr

- you are super friendly

- you love when people message you

- you want to support everyone in the community 

one thing i love about this community is that it is one big family and everyone is ready to support eachother. reblog this and follow the people that also reblog and start some super cute supportive friendships because you all deserve the best 

2/3/19

Sorry for a the long absence!

So I have the flu and am sofa-bound but not even an uncomfortable illness can keep me away from Les Liaisons Dangereuses. It’s all written in letter form so I can read small chunks at a time.

So if you’re not familiar: this is an 18th century scandal among the Parisian aristocracy. The two main characters basically plot to exploit a young, newly-engaged, fresh-out-a-convent virgin girl and her fiancé to bring shame upon their names all because said fiancé rejected the salty antagonist. That is MAJORLY oversimplified but the gossip in here is very juicy haha

Have a great weekend!