#y12 end of year exams :((

[oswinsdolma]

i've been reading a bunch of modern aus lately, and i've noticed that quite a lot are a bit uncertain about how the british education system works. it's not a problem by any means, but for anyone who wants it, here is a brief explanation:

we don't say "grades", we say "years", e.g. 7th grade would be year 7. we also don't say things like freshman/sophomore/senior etc. it's just the numbers.

however, some primary schools split into infants and juniors, infants being from yR-2 and juniors being y3-6

we also have a national curriculum all throughout compulsory education, which means everyone studies the same thing, more or less. there are discrepancies at GCSE/A-level with different exam boards, but in general, most people take either the same, or very similar exams, and are taught the same skills.

you start primary school when you are four or five in year R, and continue through primary school from years 1-6.

at the end of year six, you take the SATS, which are a really insubstantial national standardised test for english, maths and spag

it is also optional to take an exam called the 11+ at the end of y6. if you pass, you can go to grammar school. these can be state or private, and are basically redundant nowadays, and just used so parents can say that their child passed the 11+ and got into the Smart School. These are usually single gender and low-key cult like, but otherwise, are exactly the same as normal state "comprehensive" schools.

secondary school is from y7-11. at the end of y11, everyone takes the GCSEs (General Certificate of Secondary Education). you have to do english, maths and sciences, plus several other subjects. most people have between 7-13 GCSEs, and if you fail english language or maths, you have to retake until you pass, even into college.

GCSEs are graded on a scale of 9-1, 9 being an equivalent to A** and is the top 1% of the students who got 7+, and 1 being an F/U. the pass mark is a 4.

the grades you get in your GCSEs are kind of irrelevant, except they determine which subjects you can take for A-level.

After secondary school, you have to stay in full time education for another two years (allegedly, though ik a few people who dropped out), and most people do A-levels (Advanced Level Exams). Instead of doing loads of subjects like at GCSE, you pick 3-4 and study them for two years. these are a LOT HARDER than GCSEs.

if you do four a levels, you're kind of a try hard. honestly, if you do it, good for you, but as a cultural thing, so many people who did four a levels were the most insufferable people who only did it to gloat, and then couldn't handle the workload.

oh, also this entire system is pretty much 100% exam based. for 2/3 of my a levels, i had a coursework essay that was pre graded, but it was only worth 20% of my final grade, and those were rare occurrences. at GCSE, unless you do art or something like that, everything is exam based.

A-levels are graded on a scale of A*-E, and then a U if you literally get nothing. which happens more often than you might think.

this is the bit that i see a lot of people get confused about. in the UK, we don't call university "college". college, to us, is where you take your a levels. if it's an independent institution, it's a "college/further education centre". if it's attached to a secondary school, it's called a "sixth form" (because y12 was year six of senior school in the old system).

i'm sorry i'm trying to be as clear as i can but our education system is complex af

your A-level grades determine where you can apply to uni, which you HAVE to do through a system called UCAS.

UCAS (the university and colleges admissions service) is a national system where you put in all your details required to apply for uni. you start it in the june of y12 and send it in by January** IN MOST CASES

to apply for uni, you need to list all your qualifications/details, predicted grades, personal statement essay and teacher references. this all gets submitted by your school.

HOWEVER. if you are applying to medicine, vet, dentistry, oxford or cambridge, the deadline is in october, and you have to submit written work, do multiple assessments and do rounds of interviews in addition to everything else (would not recommend).

you can also apply to conservatoire for music/drama schools, which tend to have their own deadlines and systems because they're not technically universities

okay nearly at the end

the closest thing we have to an Ivy League is the Russell Group, but it's not as prestigious. Russell Group unis tend to be higher ranked, offer niche courses and demand high grade requirements.

Oxford and Cambridge are not normal universities. i CANNOT stress this enough. you apply through ucas, but the courses themselves are unique and highly competitive (the one i applied for had like 10 spaces)(i got rejected lmao). also they are arranged in colleges within the uni, so it's like a collection of tiny unis linked by a larger institution. colleges are not subject specific and most of them have weird cults. if you're writing oxbridge students, google it, not just for accuracy, but because it's absolutely hilarious.

interviews are also more like interrogations. i was reduced to tears on several occasions, and you also have to swear not to reveal the questions you were asked (everyone does it anyway but STILL IT'S WEIRD). for example, one of my interviews, i was given a poem about feet and asked to analyse it on the spot over a blurry zoom screen. they don't ask you about yourself. they don't ask you about school. they just quickfire questions at you for forty minutes and roll their eyes when you take more than a few seconds to answer.

we also don't have majors/minors. you choose one subject that you apply for specifically, and spend 3-7 years studying that subject pretty much exclusively. the only deviations from this might be if you were taking archaeology and took an art history class or something — everything is really closely related.

we can also drink at 18. not that an age limit has ever stopped anyone in the uk from getting drunk. getting pissed in a field is a major pastime for anyone from the ages of 12-28. it's a problem.

instead of having dorms at uni, most people live in flats. there will be like ten people on a corridor with a shared kitchen. you only live in university housing for your first year, unless you are at oxbridge, in which case i think it's mandatory to live in your college for your whole course.

community college and private universities aren't a thing either. when you apply to uni, you apply to student finance (unless your parents are absolutely LOADED and pay for you) and get a loan for your tuition, and also a maintenance loan based on your household income, which is used to pay for rent, food, etc. you cannot be exempt from financial aid but a lot of people do not receive enough, particularly in recent years when the cost of living in the uk has gone up so much.

university is roughly £9-10k per year (depending on where you study) which is a Lot. but why are people in the US paying hundreds of thousands of dollars, are you guys okay???

also, if you're scottish, university in scotland is free. they also have a standard four year systm rather than the three year system in england and wales (idk about ni i didn't apply there). why?? because the english government is absolute shite and they got rid of the state university programme for england (blame the tories)

don't do your research on the student room. just don't. for your own sake.

and a couple more cultural things before we leave off

we all wear uniform until we get to year twelve. everyone. even the four year olds.

Nottingham Trent university is just the butt of so many jokes and I really don't understand why (they're not even the lowest in the league table 😭😭)

Durham is full of Oxbridge rejects who are in denial about it, and is also the butt of a lot of jokes

everything i have mentioned so far is about STATE education. private education runs on different tracks: you have prep schools, which run from yR-8, and senior schools that run from y9-11, and most of them have attached sixth forms. there is a massive cultural and economic divide between state and private school kids, because they get so much more help applying for uni, and also there is so much nepotism in our government. like. politicians wear their old school ties in parliament so they know who to give favours to. it's AWFUL.

some private schools are so fancy they loop back around and are known as "public schools". they're schools like Eton, Harrow, Winchester, Marlborough, etc. really old institutions that basically guarantee you a place at oxbridge because of family legacy (though this has got a lot better over the last decade or so)(but they still have an unfair advantage).

a lot of compulsory education schools are really religious because education in the uk used to be run basically by the church, and the church still own a lot of schools. universities though, even the ones with roots in the church, are atheistic, their religious links symbolic or supplementary to their main purpose.

okay that ended up being way longer than i thought, but i hope someone finds this useful when writing, or at least interesting.

[shoveitevil]

this semester is going to be very very bad i can just feel it ive gone 2 days and already fainted ive nearly thrown up I’ve come in late ive completely fucked up my sleep schedule im tired the Ritalin helps me get through the day but on an empty stomach there is just a pit where my waist should be and ever since my dumb ass decided to look at godforsaken 4chan i now have 20 million new insecurities! year 7 babytrans me would have never imagined me getting fucking hand dysphoria! or knowing what a bideltoid width is! my coming out deadline has 11 more days and if i wait longer I’ll hate myself in the future im already kicking myself for not immediately coming out when I was like 12 if i have to go through the real permanent shit oh my god. whenever I look in the mirror now i can literally only look at my shoulders I hate it ughhhhhhhhhhhhh. what do I tell the school what do I tell my cis guy friends what do I tell my primary school parents what do I tell my nana and my aunt what do I tell my British family. and I need to do the whole transition suffer all the mood swings and awkwardness and everything while I’m studying for the second most important set of exams in my life. when do I stop boy moding because if I pass early than that means that people might treat me like shit but if I don’t even pass by the end of y12 I’ll cry. ugh god if I go through with this ill literally just be a talking point and people will stare at me and I’ll have to wear long sleeves in the summer

[meraisun]

HIII, saw that you did classical civ! I'm one of the 3 ppl in the universe that does a level ancient history so we're basically siblings-in-arms XD. how's y12 going and do you have any tips for dealing/coping with bad teachers. best of luck on your end of year mocks/as-levels 💙

hello!!! i haven't been on socials in two months and i come back to three asks ♡! i think a-level ancient history might be even more underrated than classics, i haven't met a single person who does it (and i know two people who do a-level accounting)! y12 has been mixed for me. the first half was a train wreck, i won't lie, but not even because it was a jump from gcses to a-levels, but rather because my teachers are not the best (ex. chemistry teacher not knowing what exam board we're doing, that same chemistry teacher allowing us to handle concentrated ammonia in an unventilated room with no fume cupboard, biology teacher not knowing viruses are not alive, etc.). it also doesn't help that some of the 6th form policies are draconian asf. i contemplated dropping out.

the second half of y12 has been so much better, i've settled into a schedule that works for me, i've met alot of new amazing people and i just feel way more sure of myself. i'll stop yapping and answer your second question.

SO, dealing with bad teachers. i'd say the number one piece of advice i have is that pre-reading is your best friend! before a lesson, i spend thirty minutes to an hour (either at home or during a free period, but usually at home), reading through the pages that cover the topic in the textbook and making quick shorthand notes and drawing diagrams to help me visualise the information. if we're also doing a required practical, i'll spend an extra 15 minutes reading the method on pmt (physics and maths tutor) and maybe watch a video of someone doing the practical.

even if your teacher doesn't do a good job at explaining the information to you or straight up skips over entire topics (as my teachers do 🧍‍♀️), by pre-reading, you already show up to the lesson with an understanding of the content which can be consolidated either in class or at home. even if your teachers are good, everyone should pre-read if they can find the time.

[to-write-or-to-prompt]

hi! i have a lot of exams coming up in may that I need to prepare for so ill probably stop posting for now and come back some time in june-july. i know that technically i didn't post much anyways but still thought to inform you all. i have a ton of ideas tho!!

one last thing - i may or may not turn that angsty prompt that i was writing earlier into an actual fic or drabble!! im thinking about writing it for genshin as a modern au!! (zhongli or childe?? idk lol) anyway, that'll be later but it was just a cool idea i had. i'll still release the prompt tho but with a link to the fic/drabble if anyone wants to read it in the future.

cya all soon!

[thenighttrain]

girllll this is so weird. I’m Asian but was born in melbs n go to highschool here. We have two periods in the morning, a 25 minute break for recess, 2 more periods, a 48 minute lunch break and then 2 more periods. You’re considered late in the morning if u come to class after 8:50 and school ends at 3:10. These times are actually so wild. I thought I had it bad cos of all the tests and exams I’ll have to do in yr 12 coupled with the fact that I’ll have to write three essays in three hours for my English exam 😭 how do y’all do it I’m barely coping as is

that sounds so good omg what! no of course y12 in australia is still shit haha but yeah the workload and pressure in asian countries is a hundred times worse. personally i did my last 3 years of school in new zealand, and while my school was super academic, there wasn’t that societal pressure that exists in asia. in asia, kids have it ingrained in them from a very young age that education is #1; they have tuition for pretty much every subject, their parents are constantly grilling them and comparing them with other kids, etc, so i guess that it’s just how asian kids grow up. obviously it has a horrific effect on their mental health and it means that they never really experience a proper childhood :( but that mentality just continues into the working world - i worked in nz and people left the office at 4:45pm, whereas in asia it’s very common to stay in the office until late at night, and sometimes even go in on weekends. it’s WACK and honestly idk if i wanna go back and work in asia bc i’m used to not being that stressed lol

[historyy]

The Oxbridge Applications Masterlist✨✨✨

I’ve had a ton of people both online and irl ask me for this, so here it is. I’m sorry its a month or so later than I initially promised but I’ve been pretty busy. This is basically a breakdown of the application process, some advice, and my experiences as an applicant for History and Politics to Oxford in 2018-19; because of that its pretty Oxford / humanities specific. I was lucky enough to have some great resources available at school but applying for Oxford was still daunting, so I wanted to demystify it and give some advice. Hopefully you find it helpful!

Personal Statement

How you write it: 

My main advice with the PS is to get started early, because Oxbridge is early entry so you’ll have months less time than your friends. Do a first draft of your personal statement in summer Y12. Mine was pretty much done by September and it made that early deadline much easier to reach.

Keeping a list of everything relevant you’re doing will be useful when you come to write the PS, as well as for developing your ideas for interview. My list was split into Books, Academic Papers, Extracts, Documentaries, Podcasts, Lectures / Online Lectures, Other Publications, Courses, Newspapers, and Extracurriculars. I also had a list of my particular interests related to my subject. 

It will need lots of editing, but thats what teachers, friends, and former applicants are for! I edited so many personal statements for people in my year, because they knew I was a writer and thus good at cutting words and finding shorter ways to express.

With your first draft, write big. Go way over the character count and put everything you want to in it, then cut. A few tips for cutting: 

Don’t waffle on about irrelevant anecdotes 

‘Such as’ ‘like’ ‘indeed’ ‘including’ are useful but overused 

Rearranging sentence structure can cut lots of characters and make your syntax snappier. E.g I interviewed a civil servant which showed me… versus Interviewing a civil servant showed me…  

Semicolons will save your life.

It will hurt, but kill your Oxford commas 

You don’t need to give each author / source a bio, assume the reader knows their stuff, and you don’t need to use full names / titles 

What you write in it:

With the PS, a catchy opening is vital; you need to show why you’re interested in your subject and why you’re the right choice. Mine was:

The 2015 Leaders’ Debate sparked my interest in politics and the language surrounding it, when I realised I was focussed both on what the debaters were saying and how they were saying it.

The best advice I got is to treat your PS like you’re narrating your journey with your subject. Start with why you got into your subject, show what you did following on from that sparked interest, then how you built on that action, and so forth. You might want to map this out before you start writing. An example might look like this (this isn’t mine, but assume its for HistPol):

Saw an exhibition on Renaissance artists - interested in social and political context of the art - researched Italian city states focussing in on famed patrons of the arts who were politically eminent  - read Machiavelli’s The Prince as is based on Cesare Borgia - interested in other theories of rule and governed/govt relations - read Locke and Hobbes to compare later theories and the development of these ideas - entered an essay competition about the development of the state citing Locke’s ideas on the social contract

Then you build on this journey, talking about your reading and research. Cite specific papers / books / articles you’ve read, and engage with them. Did you agree with everything they said? Or not? How do they link to other things you’ve read? For example, I wrote:

D’Ancona’s ‘Post-Truth’ with its discussion of disinformation and the collapse in trust also influenced me, though I disagreed with his assertion that the post-truth era only began five years ago (Orwell springs to mind).

Don’t just name drop books etc, actually engage with them, or you might as well not have read them.

In terms of what to include, Oxbridge don’t give a damn if you do Grade 5 piano or were the lead on your ballet show; you should focus your PS on the subject you’re applying for. When I mentioned extracurriculars it was in relation to the subject; I was editor of the school magazine, and I interviewed a senior civil servant on Brexit’s impact for it, increasing my understanding of current affairs and I gave a presentation on sexuality in the Weimar Republic at our LGBT society, exploring oft forgotten facets of history.  

I would suggest that only 10% of your PS should be about extracurriculars, and even those should be related to your subject, or linked to transferable skills.

You should end your PS with a brief concluding statement or paragraph which summarises why you want to study your subject.

Aptitude Tests 

I did the HAT so this is skewed towards that, but other tests are similar.

The aptitude tests are stressful but formulaic, so once you’ve worked out the formula and done as many practices as you can, you should be fine. You don’t need to get a high mark, only pass the benchmark to secure an interview, so it won’t be perfect. No one gets full marks; I think the benchmark for the HAT was 60% last year. 

My main advice on the tests is to go to all the sessions on them with your teachers that you can, and if your teachers don’t offer sessions ask them to hold some, or find a former applicant. Do lots of practices, starting not in timed conditions and work up doing them in time. Talk through your completed papers in detail with your teachers. If there are other applicants doing the same test, talk with them — orally write the essay together and bounce ideas off one another. 

Learn how to pull together an argument in a way which will grab the reader’s attention and show that you’re interested and engaged, and that you think outside the box and are different to the other candidates. For example in our HAT, the source was on a 16C woman’s relations with her servants, and I talked about her household as a microcosm of a class stratified and hierarchical society with moral expectations of servitude.

Basically, its an exam paper, treat it as such! 

Interview

The interview is, on the whole, more important than the PS. If you’re lucky enough to get one it means you’ve already done better than most people. I found the experience to be a mix of absolutely terrifying and weirdly enjoyable. 

I had two interviews, one for History and one for Politics, but you can be called to interview at other colleges. I know someone who had six…

The interview is basically like a tutorial will be if you get in, and there are different types (this is a bit humanities specific, sorry). You can get asked about your PS and reference, though this is rare. Extract interviews are common, for my Politics I was given an extract about citizenship. You can also get asked about your submitted work, as I was for History. 

In terms of prep, make sure you’re familiar with your submitted work and PS, as well as all the stuff you say you’ve done in your PS and your reference. You can get asked about any of it. Bring copies of these and your reading notes with you to interview so you’re familiar with them. Also look into some other key concepts of your subject, for example I looked at a lot of historiography, and in the interview talked about the concept of history as teleology and how I disagree with it. I think I was actually asked if I agreed with the Idea of Progress, having read on that a lot I felt equipped to answer it. 

Do as many practice interviews as you can. I got lucky as we had teachers who could do these, and I also did one at my sister’s school. However even if you don’t have that access, ask a friend, parent, teacher, a previous applicant, or even someone online. Even just talking about your subject helps. On the flip side of all this, don’t do so much prep your answers are stale and formulaic, you need to show you’re thinking on your feet. 

Both my interviews were only 20-25 minutes. My Politics interview was really chill, I had an hour reading time before in which I made notes on an extract and basically wrote a script for myself. The questions I was asked were actually given to me in this time so I had lots of material to work with. The man was really nice as well, and I enjoyed the experience. In contrast my History one was a disaster and I felt like I was being interrogated by the two women the whole time, though they were nice.

Don’t be scared if you screw up, in my History interview on my Tudors essay on Tudor parliamentary changes (which I’d been studying only 2 months), my interviewer was an expert on Tudor parliament, writing a book on the subject. This one question about groups of people represented strongly in parliament really threw me, and I went through three answers before I found the right one (lawyers). At another question I blanked for thirty seconds before speaking. I came out in tears and was certain I’d failed, but clearly I did okay…

General advice

Don’t be afraid to ask for help. Go chat to that scary teacher who told you your essay was too journalistic and not historical enough and just because you want to be a journalist you can’t write like one in academia (personal experience? me?). Ask them for advice and just talk to them about the subject! 

Leading on to: JUST TALK ABOUT THE SUBJECT. Talking nonstop about History and Politics helped me know my interests inside out and it gave me a way to develop my speaking skills as well as my love for my subject.

Also, read. JSTOR is your bff for academic articles and Niche Stuff here, but you can find plenty of good books at libraries and shops. The A Very Short Introduction series is amazing for this, as they’re all really short and written by Oxbridge academics, I read tons of them. You can even just dip into longer books or collections of articles. 

Keep asking yourself And so? — take your ideas further. This was my History teacher’s advice for essays, but it works for PS, tests, interviews, and general critical thinking. 

For example in the HAT (I’m making up this example, it might have asked you what you could learn about social norms of a time from a source): You could say: The woman bosses her servants around but is subordinate to her husband so we can learn about gender and social roles. Or you could say: The woman commands her servants, yet remains servile to her husband, indicating the prevalence of hierarchical gender and class relations in the society of the time; her role as wife is clearly interlinked with her position as ‘head of the household’, which she is unpaid for. Viewing this through the lens of feminist theory, one can infer that an unequal sexual division of labour exists in this society, and women’s contributions to society are not appreciated, as when the husband ‘dismisses’ his wife. While her command of the servants shows she is elevated by her ‘great wealth’, her subordination to her husband suggests that a woman in this society was unable to further her position as easily as a man could. 

Don’t fret about choosing a college on the form, 1/3 of people (including me) get pooled. 

And finally, don’t set your heart on Oxbridge. They’re by no means the only good universities out there, and they’re not for everyone. If you’re not enjoying the research for the PS, or are finding the aptitude tests unbearable and the interview style uncomfortable, it might not be for you. But if you do decide to apply, good luck!✨

[theworkofartplacement]

Visit Ten - 03/02/20

After having missed my usual Monday session last week as I was ill, I was looking forward to coming back and getting stuck into work again. I started the day after the staff briefing by going into a Y12 graphics class and presenting the exhibition brief as I’m conscious we haven’t had many submissions and the deadline is 2 weeks away. I felt like it went well and I hope to be able to go and chat to more classes next week as a final push for submissions. 

I then spent most of the day using InDesign making the graphics for the Arts Award social media campaign.These contained captions and images of the students to do with each daily theme (see previous blog post). It took me a while to get used to the program again and at first I wasn’t happy with having to cut down the captions in order for them to fit on the page (and stay in the font size of the template I was using), but after experimenting with different font sizes I was able to get more text in without taking away from the overall effect of the template. It also took me a while to work out how to clip certain sections of the photos but after a few trial and error attempts I was happy with how they all turned out! They will get sent off to the head of graphics / social media presence and edited in order to make sure they are consistent with the school’s branding and then I will be in charge of posting them onto instagram with the relevant captions and hashtags during the week of the campaign (10-16th Feb). 

Picture of one of the images I made:

I also went and sat in on Y13 Fine Art in which they had just been given their final exam paper for the end of the year. The students are given the paper in Feb and then expected to prepare and research their chosen question/topic (filling around 2 whole sketchbooks with preparatory work + research) and then create a final response / piece during the 15 hour examination in May. The lesson consisted of Hannah presenting the questions and some initial ideas her and Ruth had had in response to the themes and artists outlined in the paper. We then collectively brainstormed some initial ideas and responded to two of the questions: Family and Surfaces. All of the questions looked really interesting and I look forward to seeing how the students take a broad theme and take it in a personal and specific direction. 

The Year 13 final exhibition was up in the VAC all day and I was really impressed by the high quality and experimentative nature of all of the work. Being in this kind of environment really makes me want to be more creative..!!

[confessionsofawannabemedic]

day 1. 15/08

So my exam results came today!

I swear this is going to kill me.

To give some context, I’m currently doing Biology as one of my A Level choices - because of the exam board I’m doing, we have to sit an external exam (the ‘AS’) at the end of Year 12. The system has its merits and faults, but I’m not going to get into that just yet. The highest mark you can get at AS level is an A, which was naturally what I was aiming for

Anyway, the exam’s in two parts - Paper 1 is about ‘Core Principles of Biology’ or something, which covers mitosis, cell structure, and all that jazz, and P2 is more about learning key processes like digestion. Being the cocky Y12s we were, we strolled into the exam hall for P1 literally saying “This is going to be easy!”

How wrong we were.

I almost cried after that exam. 3 things flashed across my mind at once -I’ve failed, I’m going to have to resit, I’m not going to get to the uni I want. I couldn’t sleep that night. Paper 2 went better, but I just couldn’t shake that ‘I’m going to fail’ feeling.

7:00 this morning and time for results - I could barely keep it together. This was it. 

Results: I got an A on both papers

I almost passed out from relief.

[physiiological]

Hi !!! Thankyou so much for the advice you gave me at the beginning of the school year on year 12 😅 I feel like I was doing really well in term one and two and now I've had holidays I feel so much more lazier hahah, and it's really not the time to be procrastinating D: do you have any advice for getting past this and preparing for mock exams ?! Thankyou so much, hope you are well xx

hey hi hello lovely! so nice to see you pop up in my inbox again ♡ sorry for the late, school has been v overwhelming eep!!it’s so good to hear that you’re doing well and even better to hear that the year has been great for you so far! and can i just say; same girl, same. I hope that you’re well replenished, but since we’re here to talk about productivity, here goes! I hope my tips will help you but in all honesty…. I can’t even get myself out of bed early anymore so ;___; but no fear! I am here to help :D click the ‘read below’ for my advice on how to stay on top of things/stop procrastinating. 

Now let me just put it out there; procrastination is inevitable. Regardless of whether you absolutely love or loathe the subject, there’s always going to be that funny meme that capture your attention and all your time, and that’s perfectly okay! But there comes a time when you know enough is enough, so in order to maximise your productivity, I follow these tips to make sure I achieve my goals (to the best of my ability, of course. #nopressure). 

I think one of the most important things to look at is your long-term goals; eg what you want to at university/future career paths/get e endorse in y12/ all that good stuff. Towards the end of last year, finally realising what I wanted to do really helped me push myself to just make it until the end of the year. 

But here are some smaller tips if that’s too overwhelming bc like i’ve said before; learn to eat the elephant in bits and not as a whole! 

create a productivity inspiring workspace - find somewhere that you can set up a study space, whether it is an actual office or just a desk. Organise everything that you will need. In my room and in front of my desk, I have motivating pictures, mindmaps of important ideas and some sticky notes just as reminders! These really help me bc every time I look up, I am reminded of what I’m doing and why i’m doing it. So, if you’ve got space, put up some motivational pictures! Decorating your workspace is always an a plus and is a great place to start bc it motivates you to do better and to not let all that effort to go to waste!! (in saying that, I need to redecorate :c) 

my next tip is ( u already kno ) to stay organised!!!!!!!! #goalsgoalsgoals planners, to-do lists, calendars - whatever works best for you, use it to plan plan plan!!! I believe I talked about utilising a planner when internals get messy and hits you all at once but trust me once you get into a habit, you realise the wonders it does for you bc all your thoughts are collected in one place!! If you want to plan long term (i.e say for your upcoming mocks), then maybe use a timeline/create a timeline? Make a list! What resources do you need? How will you get those resources? Keep asking!! Here is a list of what I did last year, and it might be helpful, it might not but I found that being collected is what really helped me get through that holiday phase.  those give you a bigger view of things and by doing that + integrating the steps you’ll take to get to the mock exams/be prepared, it puts a lot of things into perspective and you feel like a new person. In saying that though, it’s okay to skip days, you’re doing your best in what is a difficult time for us all #nzqastruggles and although some days it feels like it’s enough, I’m hella proud of u , go girl

something to also trial/adapt is study techniques. If there’s any time to try out that ‘forest’ app or that cool website which helps u w/productivity gurl trust me it’s now!!! now I’m gonna be rlly annoying and tell you that you have to find your own and find what works for you BUT I HAVE A GOOD REASON FOR THIS! There are millions of study techniques out there (20-30 minutes 5 min break, pomodoro, apps to help w/productivity, visual, aural, all those) but you have to find what works for you. Adapting a study technique will not only help you for the long run (eg in externals) but will definitely benefit you when you get to uni when everyone is losing their minds over what the heck an university even is. Just like planning, knowing yourself best and how you study will truly benefit you in year 13 and for many,many years to come :-) message me if you wanna know more about these techniques, for I am more than happy to help

If all else fails, find some new stationery - splurge and treat yoself. weirdly enough what I find works is buying stationery bc I get to use new things and get to be organised and eeeee it makes me so excited about school (weird as it sounds) it instantly makes you want to be productive. Head to the shops and spend a little something on a new pen, highlighter or notebook! (or all three, cus like i said, treat yoself guuuurl) 

All in all, it’s perfectly okay to lounge around and have your lazy days even when school starts, I know I haven’t been the most productive this week, but it’s all about letting yourself just sooth into school (and not go flying in and crashing in burning that’s not good gal, wellbeing first

As I always say; my experiences have been different and I just found that these tips worked well for me :) I’m sorry if I waffled but I hope this helps!

(p.s lowkey want you to come off anon so we can be friends you seem so cool aw

[captainkirkk]

did u do hsc? i'm in y11 hsc (just started) and im gettin really nervous. in y12 i'm going to b doing general maths, eng advanced and eng ex1, 5 unit history and a language. do u have any tips or things u wish you had done differently during year 12? thanks :)

I’m not familiar with the term ‘hsc’ since I’m from West Australia, but I did do ATAR which is pathway to uni, essentially. It’s been over a year since I graduated, and I... probably wasn’t as focussed as I should have been, but I did survive and ended up with a pretty good score

From what I remember, the workload is pretty heavy but you can do it. Don’t freak out. You’ll be fine. Just: pay attention in class, and keep note of when assignments/tests are due so nothing catches you by surprise (my school gave out weekly planners and it was like my tiny bible that helped me remember all my homework and assignments). Make sure you actually study before in-class essays and tests - pre-making essay plans was super helpful for me! Take notes (the semester 2 exams might be on the entire year’s content, so don’t throw notes out!) If your teacher is offering it, and you feel like you need it, go to after school tutoring/study sessions. 

That all seems obvious, but it’s stuff I didn’t always do. I let myself get pretty lazy, especially in y12 when graduation got closer and I got sick of being in school. I also had friends in a lot of my classes. My math class got fully converted to ‘free time’ and I paid 0 attention in class and failed math hard in y12. (But I didn’t end up using math for my ATAR score, so it worked out fine.)

JUST. Pay attention in class. Study and don’t leave assignments until the night before (or the DAY OF. Doing assignments the period before they’re due is STRESSFUL, do not do that, learn from my mistakes). If there’s something you don’t understand fully, clarify it with the teacher, they’re there to help. And don’t panic, you definitely can do it! If I could, you can too :))

[illgetittogethertomorrow]

Hello people of Tumblr!

I’m an Italian girl living in Dubai, currently in y12, my first year in the IB program. This blog will mainly be a studyblr to keep accountability for myself and act as a motivation to study since I struggled with procrastination throughout my GCSE exams… although in the end i got straight As and A*s. I was thinking of posting tips to beat procrastination weekly and review them at the end of the week to see if they work; you’re welcome to message me if you already have some that work for you, or if you find mine helpful in any way!

[salsa-cas-blog]

Term #2 Reflection

My goals for each section are as listed:

- Increased awareness of your own strengths and areas for growth: Creative: My results for my piano diploma really encouraged me to apply the same attitude for other tasks or challenges, such as with my clarinet practice. I’m extremely pleased with the outcome of my piano exam; I believe that I have developed more knowledge not just on music theory or music composers, but what type of preparation really works for me in order to achieve the standard I’d like. It has been quite the eventful term for my creativity activities, as I am now enrolled into taking the Grade 8 clarinet exam, which I never would have expected had I not had meaningful conversations with my new teacher and constantly practiced. Something I have noticed is that I’ve become much more stable and confident in my clarinet playing due to the guidance that my teacher has provided me, as well as the fact that I have gained a genuine passion for clarinet; I really find myself enjoying the time I dedicate to practicing my pieces. To improve, I believe the technical part of my playing needs to be enhanced, and this can only happen if I spend my time playing more exercise-based pieces, which will hopefully train both my speed and stamina.

Activity: Something I wanted to work on this term was to construct a workout plan, consisting of a variety of exercises, so that I could work on strengthening and toning different parts of the body, whilst improving other aspects of my fitness such as my endurance, speed and stamina. Whilst I already do Body Pump, which is both strength and cardio, I added on hiking as a regular activity, which focuses on resistance and endurance training, as well as the occasional yoga classes and table tennis games with my father. Something I will need to push for next term is to either try out a range of new activities and stick with a few, or make the current ones regular.

- Undertaking new challenges: Service: This term I aimed to tie more closely together both the members within the council and the members in my year group, and to be more accepting of others especially when working with new or simply different people when organising an event. This was made possible through the events we organised such as the Y12 Social at the beginning of the term, where I saw different people mingling with other groups, and genuinely having fun. We also had the Sixth Form Music Social, which I’m extremely proud of; it was the first big event we planned, and the execution was almost flawless, because of how well we all worked together despite working with a larger group - I hope to be able to extend this ability to develop a fellowship and good workmanship with others to other events in the future.

Activity: I wanted to work on training my strength and stamina in preparation for the Gold Duke of Edinburgh trip coming up this summer, and so I aimed to do this by bringing a backpack filled with weight (e.g. shoes, water, books) and increase in weight every few weeks. Whilst I did try to be consistent about this everytime I did go to Bukit, the fact that I did not go regularly made my training inconsistent, and so there wasn’t much of a progression in my training. I will aim for the same thing next term, but to be more consistent with it or perhaps try out something else that is just as effective.

- Planned and initiated activities or part of an activity: Creative: My goal this term was to participate in a concert, which is exactly what happened! Despite almost missing the opportunity, I managed to pull it together just before the deadline and thankfully was successful in my audition. The night went very well overall, and I enjoyed listening to the other proficient performers.

Service: As mentioned previously, Plugged in the Park was the main achievement of this term - a completely new idea, executed with unexpected fluency, and reflected upon well too. It was quite a large-scale event as well, which our council initiated and followed through throughout, which I am extremely proud of.

- Collaborate with others: Service: Being in the Upper Years Council constantly places one in an environment where they have to work with others, no matter the differences in their character. This opportunity was given to me in our student-initiated events, which we looked at and reflected upon very carefully (such as with the social at the beginning of the term). Something I learned and would like to put into practice more to achieve better efficiency is the idea of specialisation and motivation: getting each member to do what they’re best at, praising them, and pushing them forward helps to form good teamwork, easy management, and top quality results! Furthermore, detailed pre-planning can never go wrong.

Activity: This skill is required in another one of my activities: Duke of Edinburgh. My group is quite a socially mixed group, though despite this, the practice weekend showed that we were all able to put our differences aside and work to the best of our ability; I am delighted to be able to say that about our group. I personally aimed to take a more active and supportive role in my group, which I believed I managed (and will continue to do so), especially on the trek in regards to helping one another and splitting jobs up.

- Shown perseverance and commitment: Creative: Adib and I are more frequently meeting up to discuss ideas and produce songs, which I find very encouraging and pleased about as I enjoy doing so. Though I prefer our first song, this newly released song has a different feeling to it, a more nostalgic and melancholy tone, which is exactly what is needed in a “good artist”: variation. I hope to make more songs with him in the near future, and explore different genres and even instruments that we may like to feature. In regards to the other two activities, I am happy with where I am as even after my piano diploma, I am continuing to play pieces that I am interested in myself and therefore simultaneously practicing my sight-reading skills, whilst with clarinet, I am making my weekly practice much more regular.

Service: Being in the Upper Years Council requires a lot of commitment; despite each of our busy schedules regarding our academics and school life, we have to keep check of our progress ourselves, initiate events with our original ideas, and stick to the plan throughout, and motivate and push along others when needed. This was shown through the main event of this term, Plugged in the Park, which was a 5 month project we had to make sure resulted in something of top quality. This meant that we had to have weekly meetings, distribute tasks equally or to people who specialise in certain areas, etc. Whilst there were issues with deadlines for some people, we managed to bring it back up in the end and created an unforgettable moment, for many members of the Sixth Form.

- Global significance of activity - “Think globally, act locally”: Service: This is probably the objective that I need to work on most - as I am not going on the Borneo Project trip at the end of the year due to the Gold Duke of Edinburgh trip clashing, my service with Borneo Project stops this term as the teacher organising BP only requires those going on the trip for the rest of this year. Even so, I did have one last chance where I was able to contribute raising money for the trip; that was through both the Y12 Social (the money from the barbecue and drinks went to BP) and Plugged in the Park, where the money raised for the internal school stalls went to the school’s charities: Cambodia Project (in which the money goes to funding a heart operation for a child in Cambodia) and Borneo Project.

- Ethical implications of your actions: Service: Being a part of the current council as well as the council next year has meant that I am placed in an environment where I will need to work with different types of people all the time, learn to negotiate, and handle people well during more difficult or stressful periods of time. This is why I aim to be a cool-headed, open-minded and supportive member of the council, as well as to the whole student body. This came through when organising Plugged in the Park, in which we had a team of 15 people working behind us - no big issues were present, which is a great success for us as first-timers. I also try to be a positive figure in each of our daily school life, and I do so by asking people outside my circle how they are every once in a while, or simply by greeting others whenever I pass them.

Activity: The same applies to working with my group in the Gold DofE - though one’s own safety is the top priority, I tried to help out my team members both mentally and physically whenever I could. This is a good trait to have as it does not only make others feel supported and confident; it is a reminder to yourself that you are able to make a positive change in someone’s life, which I intend to keep doing.

- New or extended skills:

Creative: Something I aimed to achieve was to become more technically fluent in my clarinet playing. This included the ability to have nifty fingering, as well as adept tonguing, and being able to adopt the required style for pieces from different musical eras. Doing Grade 8 was not just a surprise for me; it is an opportunity for me to exercise these skills that I intended to achieve, and I believe that with more practice I will do exactly that.

Activity: As mentioned in my previous reflection, I really wanted to train my weaker and smaller muscle groups, such as my shoulders and triceps. I would say this term’s exercise routine has allowed for some success - I did manage to pull through many of the previously difficult tracks, as well as increase my weight - though I believe I can still push myself further for the next term.

All in all, this term was definitely more productive than the last, and I hope for this level of productivity to continue for the next few! I am extremely pleased with my progress so far, and would like for it to continue at this rate. Something that I will need to work on for all my areas is the regularity and consistency in attending certain things, such as with Bukit.

[salsa-cas-blog]

Service: Upper Years Council (Y12 Social 26/01/17)

As Year 12 Captains, we aimed as a whole to make the students within our year closer to one another, especially seeing as many of us do not see each other due to the difference in A Level timetables and IB timetables. This was our first social, and was one that we actually learned a lot from.

In regards to preparation, we actually hoped for this social to take place at the end of Term 1, on the 8th of December. However, due to a lack of drive with the event among our team, the initial plan was not possible, and so we looked for another date - the 26th of January was perfect, as it was the last day of our first mock exams as a year group, and was in fact the last day of school before a long weekend. My fellow colleagues and I split up our jobs for this - we all contributed to the plan of the social (it was originally going to be a bonfire beach social, however due to safety concerns we had to alter the plan), and how we would make it an enjoyable experience to those who came. Thus, one of us made sure the equipment needed for the day was available, another few planned what else we would have during the afternoon apart from activities (food, drinks, music), and I took on the role of emceeing on the day and planning out how the afternoon would go.

We had a few activities for the afternoon, and the turnout was smaller than expected, but it was still a cozy amount, and the atmosphere was very lively and relieved as well, which was what we hoped for. The teams played two games - one where they had to get a hula hoop across all members in a line without using their hands; and another where it was a relay race composed of egg-spoon races, wheelbarrow races, three-legged races, and more.

The teams were actually quite boisterous during these games, and all were quite set on winning each game, so this was very encouraging! However, I would say the main issue was getting them to listen - despite the microphone, I had to repeat my instructions numerous times before they really got the gist of it. This showed that I needed stronger communication skills (and they needed better listening skills), which is something I will work on and look for different approaches when the next opportunity arrives. The other problem was with the planning - we should have asked for volunteers to help out with the event, as two of our council members were occupied with the cooking of the food for the whole afternoon, whilst another could not make it. Essentially, we did not plan it as well as we could have, and we did not think through thoroughly of any problems that may occur, such as the lack of utensils for grilling sausages (...). 

Even so, people seemed to enjoy the afternoon, as it was very relaxed and just a time for them to have fun. Both before and after the activities, people mingled about and played their own games - football, cards - and seemed quite content in doing so, so I would say the social was not a complete failure. The main thing I need to work on for next time is my communication, the planning, as well as being more engaging overall in order for it to be a truly successful event.