I am not a fish

Taking the academic scenic route one mitochondria at a time.

[takingtheacademicscenicroute]

Well that was not supposed to happen

After a few weeks I came upon a realisation which I was not exactly expecting: I have decided against astrophysics altogether.

This was a shock to me as well.

There are a few reasons for this, some of which are a little personal and I would rather not go into. Other than the personal reasons, I found it more close to my skillset, as esoteric as it might sound, it called to me. I think that really I was always going to go towards some form of biological or earth sciences and in reality, that 6 was the best thing to ever happen to me because without it I would never have given geology a chance, not properly.

This does mean that the blog url will be changed in the coming days to reflect more closely the new direction, and for anyone who was here for this specifically, sorry. I am still looking at doing some interviews relating to education from the perspectives of a range of people in my area.

Written: 28/09/2024

Posted: 28/09/2024

[takingtheacademicscenicroute]

Week One

I am aware that this was promised last weekend but life got in the way of actually posting it, so here it is now

After a first week, or more accurately, a first few days, term began on a wednesday, I can safely say that I am officially…enjoying myself? So, apart from Core Maths (which I will come onto later) I have enjoyed doing all of my subjects. This is not to say that I have had a revelation and have changed my mind and I never want to look at a physics book again, because I do, but this is to say that I am genuinely enjoying all three of my A-levels. Geology is utterly fascinating. It is the only one that I was planning on studying before I got my results back, but even without that, I really do think that it is becoming my favourite subject, though both of the others are also genuinely brilliant. Interestingly enough, though possibly obviously, there is a lot of overlap between the three which is very helpful when revising because it means that I am getting the concept taught two or three times in different ways. Overall incredibly positive. Then there's core maths. Now, I have to preface this by saying that this is in no way a reflection of the teacher or anyone else, I am purely talking about the syllabus and about my personal feelings towards it, and this goes as a rule for the blog, I will never speak negatively about anyone else, I will not mention anyone who is not relevent or who I dislike in any way (so if I mention them, assume that I , I will also never discourage anyone from taking any subject, this blog is not a "drama" blog, nor is it a vent blog. I do not dislike the actual lesson, any maths is good maths in my opinion, and my teacher is very good at explaining concepts. My issue is purely personal, it feels so much like GCSE maths in that there is not (so far at least) any expectation to understand the rationale behind the formulae that we are using. For many people I will say that this is an accessible way to continue with maths without the depth of A-level as there is not that expectation to go so far beyond GCSE, but for me it really does break my heart a little, because I really do love mathematics, but here we are and all that is left is to see what next week brings

written: 8/9/2024

posted: 13/09/2024

[takingtheacademicscenicroute]

I am not a fish: Introduction

"Looking at their work I would be expecting 8s or 9s"

My biology teacher said that when I was in year nine. It was not the first time someone had said something to that effect, and it was not the last.

The fact of the matter is that I spent most of my time, up until year 11, being told how far I would go, how high my grades were expected to be and how I could do anything that I wanted. People have said that, I just about nudged into the gifted category(though that is a nuanced discussion for another time), not like some of my friends who passed everything with their eyes closed, I definitely had to work, but I was honestly doing well.

My first set of mock GCSEs in year eleven came back and I was broken. Not one of my grades was above a six. This continued through year 11, I was not living up to the expectations that were set. This all came to a head on results day when I discovered that I had only just scraped a 6 which was not enough to do maths A-level, and without maths, I couldn't do physics. This was an issue. I want to be an astrophysicist, however, I have always been in a complex "situationship" with maths, and honestly, I think we might need couple's counselling, but I'm stretching this metaphor too far so suffice to say, I was not too proud of my performance.

So here I am, the day before my first day of college and getting set to do Biology, Environmental science, and Geology. And I will be the first to admit, I am still bitter, I am still upset, I am not over it, but if I could do all the subjects I wanted too, they would be next on my list after physics and maths. The idea is that I will retake my maths GCSE and then go back after college to do physics and maths, so really, in essence I am just taking the scenic route, and maybe, I will end up somewhere wonderful that I could never have dreamed of.

take it easy and good luck to everyone starting this new year

written: 03/09/2024

posted: 03/09/2024