Advice I would give to my 16-year-old self…
As the previous calendar year comes to an end, and a new one begins, I also come closer to getting a year older and starting another chapter of my life. This time of year brings a time of reflection, and I especially like reflecting on my academic journey throughout the years: how far I’ve come, what I should have done better, and what I could have worried about less. So I’ve collated a list of 4 pieces of advice I wish I could have given my 16-year-old self, who would have been at the beginning of her sixth-form journey, working hard to put her future in place.
Use your free periods
Now this is a big one. At the beginning sixth form/college can be extremely fresh and new, you don’t have uniform to wear, you only have three or four subjects to study, and you have a lot more free time in the form of free periods. I must admit I was excited at the prospect of at least an hour of free time to spend with my friends, just talking, being in the common room, playing card games and enjoying being a relatively carefree student with what felt like endless time to do any work that I may have had. However, I was mistaken. Free periods are some of the greatest resources that sixth-form students can use, if you plan your time properly, they can really open up your time and it allows you to dedicate more time after school to super curriculars which are extremely important for students who are applying for Oxbridge and other top Russell Group universities. So whilst the odd free period here and there spent chatting and laughing with friends is not necessarily harmful and can produce some great memories, using the majority of your free periods to do some homework or extra studying is always a good idea and your future self will be grateful.
Always ask questions
This one may seem obvious, but you would be surprised by the conscious effort that you may need to put into doing this. If I’m being honest, I used to be sometimes embarrassed to ask questions as I (wrongly) thought that it meant you didn’t understand, or I would hold the class up or many other excuses similar to this. During GCSEs, this wasn’t too much of a problem as you could mostly teach yourself the content during the revision period and end up with a solid grade without an immense amount of effort. However, during A-levels, this absolutely isn’t possible. Not asking questions when you don’t understand at A-level can be detrimental as often concepts can build upon each other and when your foundation isn’t solid, everything can very easily collapse. If you don’t understand the topic, you’re doing make sure you ask the teacher for more help, or to go over that topic again outside of lesson time. I would even recommend asking a friend who understands to explain it to you, which not only helps you but also helps them consolidate the topic. Asking a friend of mine about Economics in year 12 led to them teaching me that in supply and demand diagrams “supply is to the sky and demand is to the dirt”. The phrase is simple, but it was extremely useful; I still remember it years later.
Always research the university course you want to do
For those of you who are planning to go to university, researching the course you want to do and the way that it is taught at the different universities that you are thinking about applying to, is extremely important. During year 12, I know that there were many different subjects I wanted to study at university, one subject that was consistently the top of my list were Economics. I had loved economics at A-Level, and I definitely thought I could take this love and progress to a university level. I was wrong. After researching Economics at different universities across the country, I found that most courses had a massive mathematical element, and I was notoriously not very good at maths and had planned to drop the subject as soon as possible. It was then I realised that A-Level subjects and university courses are not the same and often do not contain the same elements, with some university courses focusing heavily on an aspect that was extremely small part of the A-Level course. Reading over paper guides and module breakdowns and going to practice lectures can be really helpful for giving you a sense of the overall course.
Don’t be disheartened if your grades aren’t immediately high. It’s a learning curve
During GCSEs you may have been the student who barely ever had to study and would consistently get high marks, you may have found the content easy and never really that intellectually taxing. However, in A-levels you’ve found that things are different. You’re spending more time studying, trying to wrap your head around the concepts, doing practice questions and your marks still aren’t as high as they were initially at GCSE, especially after your first sixth form exams, where your scores may not be as high as you hoped. Don’t worry, it’s okay. A-Levels are meant to be a learning curve, it sounds cliché, but these courses aren’t sprints, they are marathons. They require a consistent amount of hard work and focus over a longer period of time; and over time, if you continue to put the work in, you will see the results and your scores will gradually increase. It can be a hard thing to grapple with but just keep persevering, your hard work will pay off.
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Written by K. Amoo-Peters
