Advice For Upcoming Year 12 Students
The jump from GCSE to A-Level can be quite intense, and while you might be told this information as a little warning, it isn't always enough. For me, I found that certain terms of my AS year were tougher than others, but I made it through. I wanted to share my advice to any Y11 student who is going into A-Level studies.
Be Organised
This advice might seem so obvious, but it does need to be burned into your brain before it really sinks in, I found. Organisation is key to keeping on top of deadlines and having all of your work in order so you can reference to it easily for any exams or coursework you have. Staying organised has helped me to be as far as a week in advance for deadlines.
Ways I have found useful for staying organised are:
- To Do lists - I always find it not only useful to have a list each day, but satisfying when you can look at a completed list and feel like you have accomplished a lot.
- A timetable for homework - One of my English Literature teachers made a timetable for us to fill in each day, planning when we were going to do a piece of homework. I use mine often as I find it helps encourage me to do work each day.
- Trello - Trello is an app where you can create boards with different lists to help with organisation. I have a board for each subject and my Head of Events role, and within each board I have three lists: To Do, Doing, and Done. Having everything I need to do available in the palm of my hand is useful, and the best part is that Trello is FREE on both the Google Play Store and Apple Store.
Ask For Help
If you feel like you're sinking under work, or not getting enough support in lessons, ask your teachers for help. After being off ill for a few days, I found it hard to catch back up to the work I missed and still had to do. Speaking to my teachers helped them understand my situation and supported me by helping me get back on my feet with my work load. Also, if you don't understand the work you're doing in the lesson, ask for help. It's better to ask a simple question and feel you understand your work more, than worry in silence and don't fully know what you're doing.
Use Your Free Lessons Productively
This advice is something that is vital. Your free lessons are there to be used. Of course, you don't have to use every free lesson solely on work, because socialising is important, but working out a good balance is key. I personally like to split my frees 2/3 doing work, then 1/3 split between socialising and reading a book. This balance works well for me and helps me meet deadlines without stressing too much at home about doing work, meaning I can do work at home then relax and get a decent amount of sleep.
Start Revision Preparation Early
Revision is important for exams, so preparing your revision early is only going to benefit you. I started this time last year preparing my English Literature revision, and I have started it now this year as well. Even if you aren't going over your notes to detail every day, just adding to it from what you remember helps you revise as you are recalling what your have learned to add to a revision pack. I find adding everything to a separate A5 notebook which I can write everything up in neat. This just helps me keep organised and have all my knowledge in one place.
