#30dgbisc

[year13studyer]

30 Day Get-Back-Into-Studyblr Challenge #30dgbisc

This is a 30-day challenge I’ve made for myself to start using my studyblr again. It lines up with what I’m doing in the next month so it won’t work for other people, but feel free to use it and adapt it for your own use! And tag me (and use #30dgbisc) so I can read your posts, if you want to!

28 Aug: About me, update on what’s going on in my life

29 Aug: Things to do before summer ends

30 Aug: Bedroom organisation

31 Aug: Targets for my A Level grades

[Now I will change my URL to year13studyer]

01 Sep: Targets for other things (time management/organisation/etc)

02 Sep: Talking about applying for university

03 Sep: What I wear to school

04 Sep: How I’m feeling about going back

05 Sep: My first day back at school - how it went (today is also my birthday!)

06 Sep: Free day - talk about anything or have a day off

07 Sep: Online resources I use often

08 Sep: How did the first week go?

09 Sep: At an open day - what I thought about the University of Leeds

10 Sep: Thoughts on my timetable for this year

11 Sep: How is my UCAS application going?

12 Sep: Thoughts on my teachers for this year

13 Sep: Thoughts on A Level Maths and Further Maths

14 Sep: How is my further reading going? (for my Personal Statement)

15 Sep: Thoughts on A Level Computer Science

16 Sep: How I organise my school work

17 Sep: Thoughts on A Level Spanish

18 Sep: Am I keeping my bedroom and schoolwork organised?

19 Sep: Thoughts on being a prefect/doing clubs/helping at school events

20 Sep: How does Year 13 compare to Year 12 so far?

21 Sep: Create a 30 challenge for October

22 Sep: Another update on my UCAS application

23 Sep: At an open day - what I thought about Durham University

24 Sep: How do I want to continue using my studyblr?

25 Sep: Review of how my goals are going so far

26 Sep: Adapt any goals that aren’t working, add any that I think are necessary

[year13studyer]

30dgbisc for 6th September is a day off! Which is needed because I really can’t talk about studying right now, I just tried some homework and just didn’t get it and I think I need to go to sleep

[year13studyer]

5 September, Day 9 #30dgbisc

From challenge post here

Today’s topic: My first day back at school - how it went (today is also my birthday!)

First day back!

My school completely messed up the timetables and form groups for the new Year 12s. We have mixed Year 12 and Year 13 forms and I got sent by my form tutor to go to the Data Office to find out why she had timetables for about 6 people not in the room and no timetables for 7 people in the room (she often asks me to do this kind of thing - I mean, I'm happy to go and do things like getting the register and taking things to the office, but I don't like having to talk to people and explain things... I don't think she realises how much I hate talking to people). I joined the short queue outside the data office (which grew to the length of the corridor while I was there) but it still took about 20 minutes of waiting until I got to talk to the data manager to find out why we had the wrong timetables or the wrong people. Turns out that whole groups of Year 12s had been sent to forms that didn't have them on the register and therefore didn't have timetables for them, due to a "massive data crash" over the summer or something. Idk. That was what I did while the rest of my form got told all the important information about Year 13 or had an assembly.

I had two maths lessons and a computer science "ninth period" which is a timetabled lesson where your teacher sets work but instead of having your teacher you're supervised by a teacher (usually from a different department). The teacher for my ninth period was also supervising three other classes across two different rooms. I don't know if any other schools have anything like this but at my school in Year 13 for each subject you get 8 taught lessons and a ninth period. I spent it revising for the computer science test we have next week because I haven't looked at the topic for six weeks, and I also checked that the tiny amount of programming I've done for my NEA works on the school system. Annoyingly, the computers in the IT room we're in don't have some of the software we usually use installed on it. But at least we managed to end up in an IT room and not a normal classroom.

My maths lessons were with the new, combined further maths class. We had two separate FM classes last year but too many people dropped FM (either to retake maths or because they just changed their mind) and one of the teachers left so now we have one class with everyone still doing FM. I personally think the class is too big. I like bond you have in each class in sixth form but I just think the class is too big for that. I don't know if I've just been lucky to have small classes (Spanish and Computer Science have very small A Level classes) or if most lessons are like this and I just haven't experienced it before in sixth form. At least I like the teachers for maths! I got homework for tomorrow though.

Also, as I've said, today is my birthday! I went out after school with my friends to a cake/milkshake place and then we stood on a hill near the sea talking for a while. I did end up making dinner when I got home to save an argument about which of my parents should be responsible for making dinner *eye roll*. I'm having birthday cake and birthday celebrations with my family on Thursday because my mum's not working then. I am finally going to learn to drive because my main present was driving lessons! Which I'm pretty excited about!

Okay it's nearly midnight and I have to finish that maths homework so that's it for this post.

Tomorrow’s topic: Free day - talk about anything or have a day off

[year13studyer]

3 September, Day 7 #30dgbisc

This is a day late!

From challenge post here

Today’s topic: What I wear to school

I go to sixth form at the same school I’ve been at since Year 7, and although I no longer have to wear uniform, there’s still a relatively strict dress code to follow.

The dress code is either a mostly black dress, or a black skirt/black trousers with any colour shirt/blouse. We can wear black cardigans/jumpers/blazers. There are several restrictions (e.g. no leather, shoulders must be covered, skirts must be mid-thigh length, etc) but that’s what I’m allowed to wear. I quite like the dress code and wear the same clothes at school and at the weekend.

I have a couple of black skirts (although I only really wear one of them, the other doesn’t look that good) and several shirts to go with them. I got pretty much all the shirts I regularly wear from H&M. I also have several black dresses - only one is completely black, the others have patterns on them.

This is another short post so I don’t stay up late!

Tomorrows topic: How I’m feeling about going back

[year13studyer]

4 September, Day 8 #30dgbisc

From challenge post here

Today’s topic: How I’m feeling about going back to school

I’m mostly excited to go back to school! I was hoping to know my timetable by now, and I do know some of it but my school seems to have messed it up and put this year’s timetable over last year’s timetable in June/July - so I can see a mixture of lessons from both years. I get my timetable tomorrow anyway, and usually have each subjects once a day (or twice a day for maths) but I wanted to know in advance.

I do feel a little bit nervous about going back but not too much. It’s also my birthday tomorrow so the two things balance out.

I’m keeping this post short so I don’t stay up too late!

Tomorrow’s post: My first day back at school - how it went

[year13studyer]

2 September, Day 6 #30dgbisc

From challenge post here

Okay I’m 10 minutes late because I couldn’t be bothered to get off my bed and press post but oh well.

Today’s topic: Talking about applying for university

I’ll be applying for university this year! For anyone outside the UK, here we have to apply to university through UCAS, where you send the same application to all the universities you apply for, and (initially) you can apply for a maximum of 5 courses.

I’m currently trying to choose the five I’m going to apply to. I’m already certain on applying to Cambridge for Computer Science (with maths in first year) and Warwick for Discrete Maths (a joint CS and Maths degree). Ideally I’d love to go to Cambridge. Going to Warwick would also be great. My ideal vision for January 2018 is to have offers from both and be on track to meet the conditions of the offers.

I’m also probably going to apply to Leeds for Computer Science with Maths, which has slightly lower entry requirements (so would be good as an insurance choice) but I still like the look of the course - I’m visiting Leeds next week and I really hope I like it.

The other universities I’m considering are: Durham, Bristol, UCL, Exeter and Birmingham. I think I’ll probably choose Durham (hence why I’m going to an open day there later this month), but I’m not sure about the others. UCL, Bristol and Birmingham all have open days on the day I’m going to Leeds (and Birmingham has another one that’s after I have to submit my application :/). Exeter had an open day today and doesn’t have any more, so getting to visit any of these universities other than Durham is looking unlikely. I guess I’ll have to do a lot of research and decide based on that.

I can see myself at Durham (I’ve been to Durham a couple of times as I have a great aunt who lives there), but I can’t really see myself going to university in London - I live fairly close to London, just close enough to justify living at home rather than paying quite a lot to live near the university, so maybe not UCL.

Tomorrow’s topic: What I wear to school

[year13studyer]

1 September, Day 5 #30dgbisc

From challenge post here

I’m still missing Day 3, I will post that as soon as I can!

Today’s topic: Targets for other things (time management/organisation/etc)

‘Other’ means other than targets for grades, which yesterday’s post was about.

So I suppose my first goal is to be more productive and spend less time procrastinating. Procrastination has been a big problem for me, and so has a lack of motivation. I’m hoping to be considerably more productive than in previous school years, doing at least a couple of hours of work after school each day (including homework) rather than rushing through homework due in the next day at 10pm/leaving it until the morning it’s due in.

I’m also hoping to spend more time a weekends doing school work. These are my targets in the format ‘Basic target (ideal target)’:

Finish homework due in the following week (finish and write neat summaries of notes from the previous week)

Spend an hour on my Spanish independent research project (spend time practising vocabulary from the previous week and grammar)

Spend one or two hours on my Computer Science non-exam assessment (continue with unfinished typed notes from Year 12 content)

Do the minimum amount required to keep up with my plan [which I still need to figure out] for learning extra maths units (learn a bit more)

Unfortunately my weekends are looking pretty busy for the first half term (Saturday 9th At an open day, Saturday 16th Probably helping at school for the 11+ exam because I need the money, Saturday 23rd At an open day, weekend of 7th and 8th In Spain with school, then there’s one more weekend before half term)

At school I’m aiming to work pretty hard during most free periods - I’ll designate a few to not working, instead of just deciding day-to-day if I can be bothered to do any work, which is what I did in Year 12. That way I’ll know when I’m supposed to be working.

Another target I think is important is keeping my bedroom and desk tidy. A lot of the time I just don’t do any work because my bedroom isn’t tidy and I feel like I should tidy it first (and then I don’t tidy it, so I don’t do any work).

In summary I suppose my targets are:

Spend 2 hours+ on homework after school each day

Spend weekends productively

Work hard during free periods

Keep my room and desk tidy and organised

I’ll be checking back in on these targets later in the month!

Tomorrow’s topic: Talking about applying for university

[year13studyer]

31 August, Day 4 #30dgbisc

From challenge post here

I still can’t do the first post for yesterday and I have 8 minutes for this one before it’s not today

Today’s topic: Targets for my A Level grades

I’m aiming for (A*)A*A*A in (Maths, already achieved), Further Maths, Computer Science and Spanish. These aren’t predicted grades from my teachers, just what I think I could achieve if I work hard.

I think my target Further Maths is pretty realistic - I got high UMS in Maths this year and I’m also doing at least one extra unit of maths (which gives me an extra chance to bring my UMS up if I do better in the extra unit that one of the other units).

I’m not sure about my Computer Science target. I got a high A in the end-of-year exam and I’m guessing if it was that percentage in an A Level paper it would be an A*? It’s a new specification (I’m the second year to do it) so there isn’t much info on grade boundaries. But I think I can do it, if I do well enough on my project and start revising early.

I’m more worried about Spanish - I got a B in the end of year exams (A in the written papers, C in the speaking) and Spanish is definitely harder than my other subjects. I am considering dropping it, but I’m going to wait to talk to my teachers and see what they think.

Okay that’s 8 minutes of writing so now I must post it quickly, then change my URL as it will be September

Tomorrow’s topic: Targets for other things (time management/organisation/etc)