A Sixth Form Update

Hey everyone!

It’s been a while since I’ve gotten a post out but I’m hoping to change that. I’ve written out a list of posts I’d like to write and I’ve allocated a day a week of blog writing (provided I’ve actually finished all my homework). So, after finishing another term at Sixth Form before Christmas, I thought I’d give you an update on how I’m finding Sixth Form. If you’d like to read about my first term at Sixth Form, you can here

I Dropped English Literature!

Who saw that happening? English Literature was the one subject I knew I was going to take at A Level but at the start of this last term, I decided to drop it. I was getting stressed and kept falling ill and so I knew I had to drop a subject. English Literature was the subject I decided to drop as it was the one I disliked the most. It was a hard thing to do as I love books so much but dropping English Literature doesn’t mean I hate books, it just means I don’t like analysing them and reading the books chosen for you. It was a hard thing to do but I’m happy I did it.

Dropping Out of Opportunities

Do remember that Enterprise Club, well my friends and I decided to stop doing it. It wasn’t enjoyable at all and was just another bit of stress we did not need. I also applied to help the younger years as a mentor but the times to do it clashed with my lessons so I didn’t technically drop out of that one, I just couldn’t do it.

Mock Exams

I had mock exams and I actually did really well in them. So, I got:

• Media Studies – B
• History – B
• Drama – A

I honestly have no idea how I managed to get an A in Drama but I’m very pleased with it. My teacher apparently changed the given grade boundaries so I would have actually got an A*. For my first set of mocks, I’m very happy with those results but I know with revision and practice, I can definitely get higher.

Deciding About University

Aargh!! University really confused me last term. You see, I had my mindset on going to University to study English Literature and Creative Writing but that’s not happening now. I’m definitely thinking about going down a media route at university. At the moment it’s between Television Production and Journalism but Journalism definitely has the lead at the moment.

What’s next?

Well, the most important thing happening this term is that I have work experience *groans*. I’m doing mine at my local council which should be really interesting but then again, it’s not really in the area I’m interested in. I did try to get to work with my Dad but that, unfortunately, wasn’t possible. This term will as well be deciding more about university and I’ve actually signed up for this Oxbridge thing about universities although I wouldn’t want to go to either of them.

• Related posts:
  • Year 12
  • My work experience

I hope you all found this insight interesting and have a wonderful day!

Bethany x

12 Days of Bethany – Day 5

Hey everyone!

So I mentioned in one of my Blogmas posts that I would do a study with me post and here it is! I hope you enjoy it.

To-Do List

So this was actually the day before my History mock exam Sam so I decided to create a To-Do List so I would get round to everything I needed/wanted to do for my exam tomorrow.

Blurting

I had heard of blurting before this but had never personally tried it and it actually worked quite well. The premise of it is to just grab a piece of paper and just write everything you know about a certain topic. This was amazing at seeing what things I knew well and what areas I needed to focus on.

Flashcards

I find flashcards the best way to revise the key information for History so I decided to go through my flashcards. I went through them at least three times that day and it really helps to get the information in.

How to answer each Question

If you’ve ever studied History, you will now that for every single paper there’s a different style of question so not only do you have to learn the content, but you have to learn how to answer the questions too! I made a summary on how to answer the two questions I had on my exam and it really helped me.

Summary Sheets

For all the topics I needed to know for my exam, I created a summary sheet. I used my revision notes and textbooks to create a summary of each section which allowed me to condense a large topic into a single sheet of paper. This worked really well the morning before the exam as I was able to read all the information quickly before the exam.

Quizlet

I hadn’t really used Quizlet before GCSE but I could tell that if I continued to make physical flashcards, I would end up having too many. I decided to try out Quizlet and it has honestly changed my life. The learn section is absolutely amazing and I’m now using it for History and Drama and I’m sure I’ll end up using it for Media Studies too.

• Related posts:
  • Year 12
  • How I’m finding Sixth Form so far

So that’s how I revised for my History mock! I hope you all found it interesting.

Bethany x

A Sixth Form Update

 

Hey everyone!!

So I’ve finally finished my first half term of sixth form *throws confetti*. I now have a week off which I’m going to use to do my homework, sort out notes/revision and write blog posts. I thought it would be interesting to share how I’m finding my sixth form so far so here we go:

Taking 4 A Levels

Yes, I am insane. For A-Level I decided to take four subjects even though most take only three. I had four subjects that I was interested in and so I decided to just take all of them. Being honest, I haven’t found it too difficult to balance four (and the most packed at that) so I’m very happy with my choice. I just have to manage my time well which I’m luckily good at.

English Literature

So I have two different teachers for English Lit (like all my A-Level subjects) and with one teacher I’m studying A Streetcar Named Desire and with the other, I’m studying A Thousand Splendid Suns. I’m definitely enjoying Streetcar the most as it’s one of the main reasons I wanted to take the subject. All I need to do is make sure I’m keeping on top of my note-taking and make good notes but I’m really enjoying it overall.

Media Studies

I LOVE Media Studies. It was a bit slow in the beginning as it was everything I did for GCSE but now we’re getting into it properly and it’s so good. We’re doing set texts with one of the teachers and with the others we’ve started analysing Life on Mars which I’m really enjoying.

Drama

I wasn’t sure whether to take Drama or not but I’m so glad I did. I’ve already performed in front of the class which has really helped with my confidence when it comes to having a class of new people. Drama is a nice mix of practical and written which is good compared to my other written heavy subjects.

History

History is definitely the most content-heavy subject. There is a lot to cover and already there’s so much that I need to learn but I’m really enjoying learning the topics. I prefer the social history to the political side so I’m excited to get to those sections especially.

Opportunities

At my Sixth Form, there’s been a lot of opportunities that I could take which was not available last year. I was able to help out with an interview day for the year above and I even got to take part in a fake interview. My anxiety really played up, especially in the interview but I got through it. It means that when I have to do it next year I’ll definitely be more confident. I’ve also joined an Enterprise club where I’m starting up a business with my friends. I actually have a survey for market research which I’d really appreciate if you could fill it out by clicking here. I’ve also signed up to be a well-being mentor for the younger years which should be good. The things I’ve done are only a fraction of what opportunities have been available which is so amazing.

What’s next?

Well on Halloween I’m going on a Drama trip to see the performance I’ll be writing about in my exam which should be good. I also have exams coming up in the first week of December so that will take up a lot of my time. I’m also hopefully going to a University Open Day in November which I’m so excited about.

• Related posts:
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So overall I’m really enjoying Sixth Form so well. I hope you enjoyed this post.

Bethany x

An Update

Hey everyone!

So I kind of disappeared from here. I knew that Sixth Form would be a lot of work but I didn’t know it would be this much work. There’s not really been the time to blog but I’m writing this while Great British Bake Off is on the telly so yay!

Sixth Form is going well, I want to write another post after I’ve finished this term with a more in-depth talk about it. I’ve actually adjusted to life in Sixth Form really well which is obviously a lot. Doing four A-Levels is a lot of work but I’m coping well, at the moment anyway.

My mental health, on the other hand, has not been great. I’m constantly trying to work stuff out in my head about myself which is obviously frustrating at times. My social anxiety is REALLY bad at the moment. I had a week of feeling like I was in a constant panic attack and I’ve just been so anxious around people. It’s not been fun at all. It’s made me drop out of the school musical which I wanted to do but I just can’t. I knew it would be tough due to things in my past but I feel so much better after dropping out.

Another thing which is happening in my life is university. I’ve always felt that university is something I’m going to do and as the idea of being a teacher is still something I’m considering, I need to get a degree. I always had in my head that I’d do a Creative Writing course but after thinking over stuff I’ve actually realised that my passion is in History. It’s definitely my favourite subject at the moment and the thought of never studying History again is not right for me. I found a university nearby to me which runs a History course which sounds absolutely amazing and I’m going to an open day next month for it. Would you be interested in me talking about university and everything attached to it?

You know, I probably did have time to blog but I just haven’t. I’ve had ideas but the thought of writing them just wasn’t appealing. I just went off blogging. I tried creating another blog to see if that would help but I’m not sure if I’m ready to say goodbye to this one yet. We’ll have to see.

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Anyway, I hope you found this interesting. I’m going to try and blog more but I can’t guarantee when that will be. I’m active on all my social media, all @bethanyandbooks so be sure to follow me on there 💛

Bethany x

How I’m finding Sixth Form So Far

 

Hey everyone!

So I’ve been going to Sixth Form for nearly three school weeks and so I thought it would be fun to share my thoughts on how I’m finding Sixth Form so far, including my views on my subjects and just the general life of Sixth Form or at the one I’m at anyway.

Uniform

At my Sixth Form we don’t have a uniform you have to wear so you get to wear your own clothes but it has to look smart. I’m really liking wearing my own clothes, it’s so freeing and I just love it. I love the fact that I can actually dress well for the seasons which is amazing. I can be warm in the winter!

Free Periods

This is what I’ve been missing from my life. As you only do three or in my case four subjects in A-Level, there’s a lot of time when you’re not in lessons. I technically have eight free periods but four of them are “study periods” where I have to go to a special room to work. Free periods are great though, especially mine which is all at the end of the day which means I can leave early!!

English Literature

Doing English Literature at A-Level is very different from GCSE but I kind of like it better. There’s only nine of us in the class so that’s better. The texts we’re doing are so much better too like A Streetcar Named Desire which I absolutely love. I’m really enjoying it so far but I know it’s going to result in a lot of work like all my other subjects.

Media Studies

Media Studies is my biggest class with 14 people in it and so far it’s okay. The thing is we’re literally doing everything we did at GCSE so for me it’s a little boring. I absolutely love both of my teachers though. They’re both very enthusiastic about the subject and are really fun.

History

Haha. People have no clue why I’ve chosen to study History at A-Level but I really enjoy it. There are only five people in my class so it’s allowing me to actually share answers (I know right!) and the topics I’m doing are amazing. I’m doing the political part of it at the moment which I’m not the biggest fan of but I get to learn about people’s rights and the prohibition which are two areas I love. This could honestly be my favourite subject at the moment.

Drama

Drama was the A-Level I wasn’t sure whether to take or not but I’m glad I did. I’m not the most confident person in the world but I can see that I’m definitely learning to loosen up. There’s a lot more written work than in GCSE which I prefer but I’m really getting along with the eight other people in my class which is really great.

Homework

At the moment I haven’t been overwhelmed with homework but I know it’s going to get more and more. I also have some exams before Christmas so I’ve been starting to make some flashcards for History to revise from. As long as I’m organised, there shouldn’t be a problem.

• Related posts:
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  • Taking My Gap Year A Year Early

I hope you liked this little post and it provided you with a little insight into my life in Sixth Form.

Bethany x

My Sixth Form Induction Day

Hey everyone!!

So, yesterday I had my induction day at the Sixth Form I’m attending in September. It’s at the same secondary school that I was at for five years so at least I know my way around. I thought it would be fun to write about my day yesterday due to it being my first taste of Sixth Form.

Period 1 – The Introduction/Assembly

The day started off with a little introduction to the Sixth Form. We had to come to school dressed to fit the dress code but there were quite a few people who ignored it. It was very weird seeing people in these smart outfits, especially the boys.

The introduction didn’t include much new information, to be honest. The basis of it was: go to school, if you’re not doing that well, you might get kicked out. At the end of the introduction, we had a timetable with where we were going throughout the day. Basically, we would have a “lesson” in each of our subjects to see if we still wanted to do it and to give us some work to do over the summer.

Period 2 – Free

My first session, if you like, was actually a free. I suppose if you had one at a later stage during the day, you could do any work that you’d been set. We were told to go to the library for a talk and it was honestly quite pointless. It was literally saying you know where everything is and you can come up here for silent working during frees. After this, my best friend (who also didn’t have a lesson at that time) and I went outside and sat on our bench and had a good chat.

Period 3 – Media Studies

This was the lesson which had the most amount of people in and some people didn’t even show up. My best friend is in this class with me which is very exciting. We basically had a mini-lesson on denoting and connoting which is literally our GCSE course. There was a new person who is obviously moving to the school who was in our class. With my top-notch quality detective skills, I managed to find out his name which is good as I’m sometimes dreadful at names.

Anyway, we got set some homework to do over the summer which is just analysing a perfume advert so that’ll be good.

Period 4 – Drama

I’m really looking forward to doing Drama this coming year. It’s a shame that I’ll only be having the teacher I had last year for only two lessons a week but that can’t be helped. My class is completely new except for one person which I’m really thankful for. I also have a new boy in that class so that’ll be fun to get all confident with new people again. Yay *rolls eyes*

I have a lot to get for Drama this coming year and I need to do some research around some practitioners. I love though how my teacher said to leave it until the end of the holiday in case we don’t get onto the course. At least he’s honest.

Period 5- English Literature

I have zero friends in this class. There are only six of us in the class including myself and I was surprised to see some of the people taking it. I suppose it’s a chance to become friends with some new people or I can do my original plan which is to sit in the corner by myself. English Literature is a subject I really love so I’m definitely going to do it, even if I’m a loner for two years.

Period 6 – History

There were three people in my History class. THREE!! I’m in this class with one of my closest friends so that was good. I was even confident enough to answer some of the questions. I actually spoke out loud in a lesson – what?! I know there’s going to be another boy in my History (the boy I have a crush on still, I think) and this new girl.

I have quite a big chunk of work to do over the summer for it but I don’t mind. I started doing a little last night but  I tell you, the method my teacher wants us to make notes with is very confusing.

• Related posts:
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  • Year 12
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So, that’s my Induction Day at Sixth Form. I think there are about five or six people that I know of who are new to the school which I think is very exciting. My Year 11 Sign off and Prom were on the Friday of this week and you can find a blog post all about that here.

Bethany x