Year 13 Student Journal
Tonio's Year 13 Journal
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Am not going to lie to you when I say am dreading my final year of college like it's my last year it seems crazy to me, like was it just me or did 2020 even happen? So honestly this journal is going to be a whole lot of nonsense but I hope somewhere in it you can find comfort in the fact that am losing my mind. what's left of it anyways. |
September 2021
A little bit about myself I take drama, film and sport for my A levels and hopefully if I play my cards right, I will get an AAD. A little side note that D isn't a D its actually meant to be a distinction, one of my A levels is a BTEC I just thought it would look cooler if I had it like that but looking at it now not so much. After college I want to go to drama school or university ( I haven't made a decision yet) which am will be calling uni cause am a rebel and I don't believe in correct grammar, if you ask my film teacher (man like John) he will strongly agree.
Something non-school related I like to controversial so I watch anime and tv shows with 27-year-olds acting as teenagers e.g. Riverdale. As the year goes by you will probably learn more about me and question the reasons to why you're reading just pure waffle. another side note am going to call whatever this madness is that. Anyways good afternoon, good evening and good night because you just finished reading pure waffle.
Something non-school related I like to controversial so I watch anime and tv shows with 27-year-olds acting as teenagers e.g. Riverdale. As the year goes by you will probably learn more about me and question the reasons to why you're reading just pure waffle. another side note am going to call whatever this madness is that. Anyways good afternoon, good evening and good night because you just finished reading pure waffle.
October 2021
Hi its Tonio again and this first term of my last year has not been good. To be blunt with me and you I've been lazy. I've been leaving work last minute barely revising and just have been extremely disorganised.
A little bit of advice I suggest to improve on this is to find something to fight for. And it doesn't have to be something extreme like "the fate of humanity" or to "avenge my family" which if you need to avenge your family are you sure you're not a character from fast and furious cause that's not a normal thing. But then again what is normal?
Anyways getting back to the point having reason to reach a goal or "something to fight for" is what keeps you focused. Every time you start to lose focus or start to become lazy like me having a reason to fight puts you back on track and if your passionate enough you will reach your goal easily. The reason why I've been passive with my goal is because I was not passionate with what I wanted I didn't want to fight for my goal which was proving myself wrong. For a long time especially in secondary all I thought I could do pass anything like a B or an A was impossible, but that was back when I had small goals. Now I want a lot and you can't get that without striving for success and big things. so now am gradually becoming more focused and organised cause I finally realised what am fighting for. So instead of being like me find something to fight for its worth it.
A little bit of advice I suggest to improve on this is to find something to fight for. And it doesn't have to be something extreme like "the fate of humanity" or to "avenge my family" which if you need to avenge your family are you sure you're not a character from fast and furious cause that's not a normal thing. But then again what is normal?
Anyways getting back to the point having reason to reach a goal or "something to fight for" is what keeps you focused. Every time you start to lose focus or start to become lazy like me having a reason to fight puts you back on track and if your passionate enough you will reach your goal easily. The reason why I've been passive with my goal is because I was not passionate with what I wanted I didn't want to fight for my goal which was proving myself wrong. For a long time especially in secondary all I thought I could do pass anything like a B or an A was impossible, but that was back when I had small goals. Now I want a lot and you can't get that without striving for success and big things. so now am gradually becoming more focused and organised cause I finally realised what am fighting for. So instead of being like me find something to fight for its worth it.
DEceber 2021
Hi everyone I want to start this one by saying have a happy new year. I don't know about you but for me this year has definitely had a lots of ups and downs but we did it. Remember all the mistakes you did last year don't have to follow you into next year it's a fresh start. Am not saying juristically change all of your bad habits just improve yourself slowly. It might be working out for just 10 minutes a day or read a page of a book or even being polite. Just make sure next year you go into it wanting to improve not change yourself. have a happy new year everyone we definitely need it in the world we live in.
January 2022
The start of my year has been a struggle. Am not sure that I have mentioned this before but one of the things I loved to do is play football however last year in November I got injured playing the sport I love. ironic I know. Because of this it put me a month behind on everything I couldn't work or go to school I pretty much did nothing. So, this last two months I've been doing catch and it is been stress full. Having to do work that is meant to be in from last year and keeping up with the work we have now it's a lot and most of the time I didn't have any motivation. The only thing that got me through those tuff times and my advice if your ever in a situation like this is spend some time where you're doing nothing. Just sit in a silent room and talk to yourself and ask yourself why should you do these things, what is your target/goal, why is it important for you to finish what you started. The more I did this the more times I stayed motivated and I managed to focus on what exactly I wanted to get out of life. And even though am not fully caught up to everyone else am very close and it's because I reminded myself on what am fighting for.
February 2022
I've been hit with fear. I say this as I have just realised how little time i have left. I have mock exams in two weeks and three months later I have my actual exams and then am done. There is not a lot of time left and it is terrified as I don't really know what I am doing after sixth forum. My best advice that I can give to you in the best of my knowledge is that go with what you feel at that moment. Now listen there is no one in this earth that loves planning and thinking about the future as much as me but when the future feels and seems unsure it better to act then not to act at all even if it is what you feel at the moment you don't know what surprises life has for you.
MArch 2022
Aren't mocks exams weird. Like they are as serious as your actually exams but they stress you as much as the real one. I just did my mock exams and it was terrfying. Just being that exam room writing it felt like life was going so slow but fast at the same time. When you start it feels like you have been there for years however you reach the last 30 minutes and you realise that you two more 20-mark questions. Like most people the last I haven't sat a proper since my GCSE mocks. So, I got hit with this massive realisation that am soon going to take my exams that scary. But instead of procrastinating am going to use it to push myself to do better and make sure am prepared for these exams so I won't be as nervous as I was doing my mocks.
APril 2022
Exams start next months and I am terrified. Its funny but you don't realise how close something is till your face to face with it. And that's what I feel right. I don't know about you but I feel like this year has gone quick like am about to sit my exams that are going to determine my future and it's weird. I would honestly love to say am ready for my exams and am not stressed but I am totally freaking out. I know I have revised but its times like these that makes you question did I really do enough could I have done better? could I have focused more in that lesson? Am I truly ready for this? It times like these that makes you really question your choices in life. But regardless of what you have or haven't don't you need to keep you goal in mind and ask yourself what now can I do to get to where I want to be.
MAy 2022
You know what I think is the worse part of the exam is five minutes after you finish it. I mean you should of seen me before the exam I was going crazy. I kept on looking at my notice, pacing up and down and pretty much losing all sanity it was horrible. Before you step into an exam it's always horrible experience but not as bad as after the exam. I say this because you have no control. Before your exam you haven't done anything which means the future isn't set you can change it. However, after the exam you can't do anything all you think about is how I you didn't answer a question wrong, or you forgot to mention this, or how you should spent more time revising and etc. It's horrible to think that you can't change or do anything when you want to take things back and change almost everything. What calms my mind when all my thoughts are like a world wind I just except it. Relax, stop thinking about the past and focus on what's next. I know its horrible to think that you can't do anything but you can't do anything about it. just learn from your mistakes so you don't repeat them so your never feeling like you failed before you even know your results.
Lily's Year 13 Experience
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I study double business and finance. After just completing my first year of sixth form I thought I would tell you about the transition from high school to sixth form as its not always as easy as it sounds. In the first year it can be stressful at the start because you have all this responsibility to get your work and revision done without teachers telling you. My top tip for this would be just to take notes from day one and do to do lists or plan the day out even if it doesn't always go the way you want it to. |
moving from GCSEs to College
In the first year you'll find new friends and lose old ones. You may struggle but there's someone always there to help. I had my first couple months of college online learning I struggled with this bit the people around me supported me through it. In Highschool you can mess about and it and doesn't matter but in college it affects everyone, you don't get detentions or anything like that so your behaviour is your responsibility.
This all might sound so scary but sixth form forms you into the person you will be in the future. You will cry over work but you will also make friends and memories for life. Some of my best memories happened in my first and I wouldn't change it for the world. So this is a realistic view of college without all the glitter and sparkle it's simple as it can be. Stay focused , stay ahead, do your work on time and take time to your self and you will be fine.
'Til next time Lily
This all might sound so scary but sixth form forms you into the person you will be in the future. You will cry over work but you will also make friends and memories for life. Some of my best memories happened in my first and I wouldn't change it for the world. So this is a realistic view of college without all the glitter and sparkle it's simple as it can be. Stay focused , stay ahead, do your work on time and take time to your self and you will be fine.
'Til next time Lily
Saarah's Year 13 Experience
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This journal will be covering many different things across the year such as my worries and hopes of being a year 13 student. I'm going to start off by talking about my studies, two of my subjects are BTEC (Criminology and Applied law) and I study psychology as an A Level, my reasoning being is that I feel I personally perform better on coursework based subjects than exam based ones, so I gave myself a mix in order to cater for this and I feel like it really helped me. |
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starting year 13
As you can see there’s a theme in my studies; they intertwine very well together. I personally would recommend to choose subjects which are similar to each-other or share some of the same content as it will be quite beneficial for you when you are studying. Its fine to choose different subjects from each other but keep this advice in mind it is quite useful!!
Some of my hopes for this academic year are:
As well as things that I would like to do, there are some things that I am worried about such as:
Hopefully across the year these things will become more clear for me. Starting Year 13 was not as scary as I thought it would be, I was in different classes with different teachers from last year but since I'm already aware of where classrooms are and my way around college I think I will be okay. Its just a matter of getting used to my surroundings again after a long summer holiday.
This is the end of my first entry, I'll update this soon!
Some of my hopes for this academic year are:
- Socialising more in class (participating more)
- Improving and polishing my revision methods (so I can perform better on my classwork and exams)
- Making a plan for my future (thinking about what uni’s I want to attend and what courses I would like to study
As well as things that I would like to do, there are some things that I am worried about such as:
- Managing my time with college and my part time job and my social life
- What if I am still unsure about what I want to do at the end of year 13?
- How am I going to cope with all these exams since I didn't even do my GCSES because of covid
Hopefully across the year these things will become more clear for me. Starting Year 13 was not as scary as I thought it would be, I was in different classes with different teachers from last year but since I'm already aware of where classrooms are and my way around college I think I will be okay. Its just a matter of getting used to my surroundings again after a long summer holiday.
This is the end of my first entry, I'll update this soon!
Insights into Criminology and Psycholcogy at year 13
Hello readers, welcome to my second entry of this journal :)
Time really does fly, I still can’t believe that summer has completely left us and it’s the cold season now, nevertheless its exciting to see the year end.
As I mentioned previously, I study Applied Law, Psychology and Criminology so the next few paragraphs are just talking about how im currently feeling and getting on with it!
I will start off with Applied Law, ah what a subject. I feel like no matter what we are studying in law we always do an extensive amount of research tasks just to get us comfortable with researching and writing for the official coursework. As of right now I feel a little bit behind on work if im being honest, I unfortunately had covid at the beginning of the year so year 13 had a bit of a staggering start. I am preparing for my January exam though and steadily I am getting there, it just takes a bit of motivation to get it all done.
Criminology was by far the most interesting one at this moment in time, we are currently preparing for January exams too but the content we are studying is really interesting to me. We did a mock crime scene and roleplayed as Crime Scene Investigators so we had a deeper understanding of what exactly happens at a crime scene but in a fun, rememberable way.
Lastly, I will be talking about Psychology. We are currently studying Schizophrenia and this unit is quite interesting because it debunks a lot of myths about the disorder. Again due to the volume of content and me being sick I did struggle a bit to catch up but I pushed through it and managed to get all my work sorted.
Next time I submit an entry it will be the end of 2021 ;-; I wonder what next year will look like for me education wise and also just life wise in general.
Until next time ^^
Time really does fly, I still can’t believe that summer has completely left us and it’s the cold season now, nevertheless its exciting to see the year end.
As I mentioned previously, I study Applied Law, Psychology and Criminology so the next few paragraphs are just talking about how im currently feeling and getting on with it!
I will start off with Applied Law, ah what a subject. I feel like no matter what we are studying in law we always do an extensive amount of research tasks just to get us comfortable with researching and writing for the official coursework. As of right now I feel a little bit behind on work if im being honest, I unfortunately had covid at the beginning of the year so year 13 had a bit of a staggering start. I am preparing for my January exam though and steadily I am getting there, it just takes a bit of motivation to get it all done.
Criminology was by far the most interesting one at this moment in time, we are currently preparing for January exams too but the content we are studying is really interesting to me. We did a mock crime scene and roleplayed as Crime Scene Investigators so we had a deeper understanding of what exactly happens at a crime scene but in a fun, rememberable way.
Lastly, I will be talking about Psychology. We are currently studying Schizophrenia and this unit is quite interesting because it debunks a lot of myths about the disorder. Again due to the volume of content and me being sick I did struggle a bit to catch up but I pushed through it and managed to get all my work sorted.
Next time I submit an entry it will be the end of 2021 ;-; I wonder what next year will look like for me education wise and also just life wise in general.
Until next time ^^
Jasmine's Year 13 Experience
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Hi I’m Jasmine and I’ll be talking about my honest experience starting sixth form. I was told sixth form would be the best and worst two years of my life and that statement couldn’t have been more true. |
year 12 - 13 transition
So year 12 was a huge change in pace from GCSE because the work was a bit more complicated and the skill sets were very different but, aside from Covid, it was probably the best year of my education because there was a lot more freedom. Now I’m in year 13, again the work is a bit harder and there's a lot more deadlines looming over me but now I know my subjects a lot more and I’m more aware of what I want to get out of my final years of education. So far it’s all going well and I’m enjoying all my subjects
I’ve decided to do an extra year 14 so I can gain some extra qualifications, so my main worries at the moment are figuring out what degrees I would like to do that are relevant to my chosen career path which is art therapy, before I have to sign up to uni at the end of next year.
I hope I can help, thank for reading.
I’ve decided to do an extra year 14 so I can gain some extra qualifications, so my main worries at the moment are figuring out what degrees I would like to do that are relevant to my chosen career path which is art therapy, before I have to sign up to uni at the end of next year.
I hope I can help, thank for reading.
What's diffefrernt - GCSEs to 6th Form
There’s so much more freedom and independence with my studies and I’m figuring out what Im capable of and what I want to do with my life, I’ve also gained huge amounts of confidence and self worth.
But I’m not sugar coating it, it’s very hard work.
Extremely rewarding but hard.
If you’re doing GCSE you’re probably sick of hearing people say how hard A levels are. I remember thinking that because it’s only three subjects that it’ll be easier than the 9 or so subjects you’re currently taking. In a sense this is right, by taking less subjects you get to know more about them. Each subject at A level has a huge amount of content, however the hard part for me at A level was the change in skill set. At GCSE all you had to do was learn the content and write the facts down at an exam, at A level you do this but there is also an emphasis on applying knowledge to new scenarios. The focus is on application rather than regurgitation.
When I first joined year 12 I remember being disheartened when I got my first few exams back because I was getting grade Ds whereas at GCSE I was a grade 9 student. The change in question style means it’s normal to get low grades at first so please don’t be upset if you aren’t doing well at first all you need to do is get used to the new skills needed and to practice.
Despite the big change from year 11 to year 12, it has been the best school years of my life. I won’t pretend there haven’t been any bumps along the way but I’ve made plenty of friends and love all of my subjects which is more than I can say for my time doing GCSEs.
Thanks for reading
But I’m not sugar coating it, it’s very hard work.
Extremely rewarding but hard.
If you’re doing GCSE you’re probably sick of hearing people say how hard A levels are. I remember thinking that because it’s only three subjects that it’ll be easier than the 9 or so subjects you’re currently taking. In a sense this is right, by taking less subjects you get to know more about them. Each subject at A level has a huge amount of content, however the hard part for me at A level was the change in skill set. At GCSE all you had to do was learn the content and write the facts down at an exam, at A level you do this but there is also an emphasis on applying knowledge to new scenarios. The focus is on application rather than regurgitation.
When I first joined year 12 I remember being disheartened when I got my first few exams back because I was getting grade Ds whereas at GCSE I was a grade 9 student. The change in question style means it’s normal to get low grades at first so please don’t be upset if you aren’t doing well at first all you need to do is get used to the new skills needed and to practice.
Despite the big change from year 11 to year 12, it has been the best school years of my life. I won’t pretend there haven’t been any bumps along the way but I’ve made plenty of friends and love all of my subjects which is more than I can say for my time doing GCSEs.
Thanks for reading
