Many of you will have just sat your GCSE’s, finished year 11 and are now waiting for your results and to enrol in sixth form. You’ve probably heard people talk about the big jump from GCSE to A-Levels, and are wondering how true that is, and how you can cope with it. In this post I’ll talk about my experience from GCSE to A-Level and how I coped with the changes. As a quick bit of background, I sat 29 GCSE exams and gained 12 GCSE’s (11A* and 1A), and moved onto A-Levels in Biology, Chemistry and Maths. I was aiming to do medicine (and am now starting in September!!) so I knew I needed to get a minimum of 3A’s at A-Level, so I knew I was going to have to work hard. I achieved 3A*'s in the end and I definitely think the habits in this post played a big role in that.
I stayed on at my high school’s sixth form, so there wasn’t much of a change regarding the environment, in my opinion it was a lot more relaxed and the teachers gave you much more freedom, but that may vary from sixth form to sixth form. Looking back now, A-Levels were a very big jump from GCSE, but I think the course content eases you in quite nicely (the easiest topics at the start, to gain background knowledge for the more difficult ones), so there wasn’t a specific moment where I completely panicked and thought that A-Levels were going to be impossible. The biggest difference from GCSE to A-Level was the work that you needed to do in your free time. At my sixth form, the teachers didn’t set too much work, but I knew that I needed to be making notes, flashcards, and revising as I went along so I didn’t have a big shock when it came to my AS (year 12) exams, and also my A2 (year 13) exams. Ways to cope with the jump from GCSE to A-Level and good habits to get into: Utilise your free periods At sixth form, it’s very likely you will have a lot of free periods- this is a big difference from high school and feels a little weird at first. Utilising my free periods was the biggest blessing when it came to exam season, because this was when I made all of my revision resources. It’s tempting to want to spend your free periods out in the common room with your friends, but you really should be using them well! Even if you haven’t been set homework or feel like you don’t have any work to do, there’s always work at A-Level! Whether it be writing notes from your previous lesson or your next lesson, condensing notes into flashcards, watching YouTube videos (related to your lessons, of course!) or practising past paper questions, every bit of work will give you that extra boost when it comes to your exams. I used to have 2 free periods on a Friday, and this is when I would spend an hour or so out with my friends, just make sure it doesn’t become too much of a regular thing! Stay at sixth form as much as you can This is related to the previous point, but if you have free periods in the afternoon, meaning you ‘finish’ early, try and get into the habit of staying in sixth form and not leaving to go home, even with the intention of revising at home. I think different sixth forms will have different rules on this, and most sixth forms require you to be present all day anyway, but if you have the option, I would definitely recommend you stay in sixth form as much as you can! Towards the end of year 13, especially in study leave, I did spend a lot of time revising at home, but in year 12 I would stay almost every day until 3 or 4pm. I know that if I went home, I would have wasted time making lunch, checking my phone, watching a bit of TV and cleaning my desk before any revision got done! But in school (especially if the library is quiet!) I would get working a lot quicker and there are far less distractions. However, if you go to a very large sixth form, meaning your library is very noisy- it might not be in your best interest to revise in the library if you are allowed to go home (make sure you check the rules of your sixth form, though). But, if this is the case you should let a member of staff know as it’s not fair if other people are disrupting you consistently! Make notes/resources after every lesson This is so important especially for science subjects. Even if it feels like the topic you have covered isn’t too difficult and you will easily remember it, you probably won’t think the same thing in a week, a month or a year! Whether you make notes from lessons, from your text book or from a mixture of different resources, they will be a great benefit to you when you start properly revising. Around March time before your exams, you will probably be focusing a lot more on past papers, so you won’t want to be wasting time making notes! Towards the end of year 13 I also started to type my notes and my flashcards and found it suited me better than writing – it saved me time and I actually can memorise information better from typed sheets, as long as the font is fairly large (yes... I only discovered this in my last year of school education haha). So definitely give that a try if you feel you could save time, and if handwriting notes doesn’t seem to be helping! Use your specifications I realised that I have mentioned specifications a few times on my blog and my Instagram but not everyone is familiar with them! A specification is essentially a list of everything you need to know for that subject, and it is what the exam boards use to create your exams. You should be able to find what you’re looking for online e.g. type in AQA A-Level Biology Specification and it should come up. Some teachers may give you more information than you need to know – I have particularly found this with very experienced teachers who are passionate about their subject. It’s not a bad thing, it is interesting to learn outside your specification BUT when you are doing A-Levels, you don’t want to be memorising information that won’t come up on your exam paper. By using the specification, you can tick off as you go along, and if you come across something that isn’t listed there, you don’t need to spend time learning it. Same goes for if a teacher isn’t giving you enough detail- if there’s a point on the specification that you aren’t familiar with, use other resources to find it out. This may be online, in a text book or ask a friend. This way you can be sure that you have covered all the content. Be active in lessons If you are particularly shy and didn’t speak up much in lessons in school, try and set yourself the goal to be more active in your lessons at sixth form. By engaging in the lessons (asking AND answering questions), it’ll help you to understand and learn the content better. If you don’t understand anything at all, ask your teacher- it is their job to help you! Even if you seem to be repeatedly asking the same question (I am guilty of this one), don’t worry- if that repeated question comes up on the exam, you will be glad that you did! Join sixth form committee’s This is not directly related to studying, but if you sixth form has any committee’s (e.g. prefects, charity, helping out the lower school), join them! This will give you a boost when coming to writing a personal statement for university, or a CV for an apprenticeship or job application. You don’t want to be staring at a blank page when it comes to writing them, get involved! I’ve had a few questions to ask how many extra-curricular activities I did and how much time I spend doing other things in sixth form- it will vary from person to person how many hours you need to study, but just make sure you are aware of how much work you are getting done. For example, an hour or 2 a week would be manageable, but every evening after school would definitely have impacted my revision. Be aware of your home habits From day 1, try and get into a good school routine at home. Go to bed at a reasonable time and stick to the same time every day (for me, it was about 10:20pm). Have a set time when you stop studying so you have time to relax and unwind before going to sleep. Eat healthily, exercise often, practice mindfulness and talk to family and friends if you are worried about anything! Your home life will impact your studies more than you may think, going to sixth form each morning with a positive attitude and feeling good overall is definitely more likely to help you have a productive day! I hope this helped some of you starting sixth form in September, or any time in the future. If you are starting A-Levels (or any other qualifications) this year, good luck to you!! Make it your best year yet 😊 x
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