hi!! okay so i’m a post-year 12 sixth form student going into year 13 (wtf i’m not ready) in september, and i know a lot of year 11s will be going into sixth form/starting a levels then. i had no clue on what to do or how to manage my time or ANYTHING which i know now that i wish i knew back then, so i thought i’d make this guide on how to survive hell, aka a levels
obviously this impacts your a level career a lot, and will affect what courses you can apply to at university (if you’re going to uni) as well
if you have a general idea of what subject you want to study later on, make sure to check out a few universities and their requirements as some require certain subjects to be taken !!
however, if you don’t 100% know what you want to do, i’d suggest taking a range of subjects – but subjects that you like and enjoy. don’t take maths just because you think there’s a possible chance you’d want to do astrophysics at uni – it’s a lot of work (as are all a levels) and so make sure it’s something that you relatively enjoy, because it makes doing the work and revising for the exams that slightest bit better
also, i don’t know about every place but at my school we had like a two-week adjustment period where we could drop or change classes if we realised we didn’t want to continue them, so check with your school/college if you can do that and don’t worry massively if you’re not mega sure on what you’re wanting to study. it’s a big decision after all
i’m sure you’ve heard a thousand times that a levels are difficult and time-consuming etc etc etc, and i’m not going to lie and tell you that they aren’t – because they are – so make sure that you only take on as much as you can cope with. don’t take 4 subjects if you don’t think you can deal with it, and only do it if you seriously enjoy the subjects. universities won’t favour you over others who have only taken 3, even the top ones like oxbridge. i know 3 people in the year above me from my school who all got offers from cambridge and none of them took 4+ subjects
please please please utilise your free periods
i know it’s great having this new found freedom where you can just sit in the common room or wherever and just chill and not have to do anything
and if you’re having a bad day, you’re really tired or just generally don’t feel like you could pick up a pen that’s fine !!! if you need to rest then rest. don’t torture yourself
but on the other hand, don’t waste 10 hours a week that could be spent doing homework or going over notes because you will regret it
what i did from march onwards was spend pretty much every free period in the study room that my school has, either doing homework that i had or revising for my exams (past papers, rewriting notes, mind maps, etc)
i’d suggest doing as much homework as you can at school because then when you get home, all you have to do is revision. it makes the workload seem easier
plus don’t think that you’re lame for going to the study room so much. there’s always other ‘regulars’ who go, usually from the year above, who are great to make friends with because then if they take the same subjects as you they’ll be more than willing to help you out if you need it, whether it be classwork, exams, uni stuff, etc.
and if your friends complain or make fun of you for studying so much honestly just get new friends
honestly a levels are gross and will make you question all life choices, more than once and so if you want to, get drunk my friend
parties are a great way to make friends quickly, just pls don’t get drunk when you have maths first period the next day bc dear god it is not fun trying to do trigonometrical identities when you have a hangover
use!!! your!!! teachers!!!
if you’re stuck, please ask your teacher for help. or a friend, someone on the internet, whoever – just please ask somebody because i promise you won’t be the first nor the last to ask that same question
if you have a shitty teacher, ask another teacher in the same subject – i was lucky enough to have 2 teachers for each of my classes this year, and so if i was stuck on something but my teacher was crap then i’d ask the other one. however, if you only have one teacher, find another one to help you !! i promise that no (decent) teacher will turn you away
if you need to, talk to them. we have a staff member who is like the administrator person for just the sixth form and she’s honestly like the sixth form mum. i’m not joking when people go to her and have literal breakdowns if they need to, or generally just need somebody to talk to. whether it’s that you got a bad mark on a piece of homework or you fell out with your friends and don’t even know how you’re going to go on without them, she’ll talk to you – i guarantee there’s gonna be someone at your school/college who would do the same for you
please just don’t suffer in silence
aight so i’m gonna tell you one thing about a levels
and it’s that they use up a shit tonne of paper
i shit you not i went through three 250 page notebooks just for maths problems – not including past papers or revision sheets
i’d suggest at least having 2 notebooks per subject, one for class notes then one for writing up notes in neat (if that’s your system), i did this then bought new notebooks per term
pls for the love of god use folders
i’d get one for work and then one for exam stuff, per subject again
whatever works best for you !!!
invest in a lot of pens and pencils too
and a small but handy ruler, i like those staedtler ones that fold in half
i’d also massively suggest having a system for when you’re at home for how you file things and everything like that, and knowing what you need to go over etc
also for the love of god, date and title each piece of paper you write on
my friend just titled all his work for maths ‘classwork’ and it came round to bite him in the ass when it came to exam season
so yeah do that, it makes it mega easy for filing !!
please please please, get enough sleep
eat regularly too. personally i don’t eat breakfast because it makes me feel sick but i’d recommend having 3 proper meals a day. a levels are a lot of work and you need to be able to focus
don’t become a hermit. i can say from experience that this is a very easy thing to do, especially during exam season but if going out one night will help you de-stress and lets you and your friends reconnect then one night off from studying won’t kill you
remember to put yourself before your studies. always. nothing is as important as your health, both physical and mental.
pack your bag the night before, that extra 5/10 minutes in the morning can be a lifesaver
during the first week or so, before the work starts piling on, do go to the common room and socialise with people – having friends is key to surviving these two years of hell, bchaving people to bitch, whine and laugh with makes it seem that bit easier to cope with
it’s not impossible to balance a part-time job and sixth form. if you can survive without one, then great!!! but i promise it isn’t hard to have a job and go to school at the same time if you balance your time right, use your free periods and don’t overwork yourself
failing isn’t the end of the world. i know it may seem so but you are more than a letter.
there’s always someone to talk to (including me!!), please don’t isolate yourself and think whatever you’re worrying/stressing about is pointless and stupid. it isn’t.
try and make friends with your teachers – they’re going to be your mentors for applying to post-18 things (uni/apprenticeships) and if it means bumping your predicted grade from a C to a B so you can apply to that uni course, it’s worth it
i know that’s a lot to take in, but these are things i wish i knew before i started year 12. good luck babies !! and feel free to message me whenever. x
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