Hi, I’m Sumaikah and now I am a 2nd year Pharmacy student. Sure enough, Sixth Form has been tough, but the experience has equipped me with some useful knowledge that some of you starting sixth form might find useful.
For reference, I did Biology, Chemistry and English Literature at A level.
Disclaimer: this is general advice and guidelines. You may/ may not have different methods that work for you. In this blog post I reflect on what I, personally felt students should know when starting year 12. If there is something missing, or any comments, please do not hesitate to contact me on medsciphar@gmail.com
1. Choose subjects wisely
Pick subjects that you are good at, also the ones that you enjoy. This is important because you pretty much have to rely on your interest for that subject as motivation to study. Rarely anyone will chase you to do work like in GCSEs.
2. Plan your time
Your plan does not to be an extensive account of your activities each minute but having a rough idea of when to start revision to avoid panic, or which topic to revise each day will save you being clueless closer to exam time. For me, having a daily checklist works perfectly.
3. Get work experience
This is crucial for your personal statement if you are applying to do any healthcare related degree, or law. Take a notebook and pen with you on the days of your work experience to note down points that you can talk about in interviews or your PS.
4. Volunteer
This is a good experience to mention in your personal statement. Start in the beginning of year 12 because in year 13 you will have no time to do anything but study. Try to volunteer somewhere related to your university course of interest.
This is where you can find some: https://do-it.org/
5. Find a mentor
This is helpful for a number of reasons. You’ll get the soft skills required to make many applications to job roles or student organisations. In year 12 I applied for the Social Mobility Foundation and Teach First. They conducted various events such as pre-university crash course, workshops and events to build that leadership and communication that universities are all about. Both assign you to a mentor as well, who can help you with your personal statement.
Sutton trust and K+ by Kings College London are also some others you can apply to.
6. Apply for funds
You may need to buy books, tickets to extra events, spend money on bus/train fares when in Sixth form. Equilateral foundation is a great place to apply for extra money if you are a female high-achieving student from a disadvantaged background, doing STEM subjects.
Enquire if your school provides a bursary for students. If they do, it can also help with expenses.
7. Past papers are the key
I can’t emphasize this point enough. Past papers mean everything at A levels. What I did was to do a paper from a certain year, mark it by myself and memorise the answers. Then I did it again after a month or so and marked it again until my % was higher than 90
8. Get constant feedback
If you have recently done a test in your class and have just received a mark with no corrections or model answers, go to your teacher and ask for them or ask your teacher to work with you on how you can improve the mark.
Then write the corrected answers with a different coloured pen.
9. Know your resources
If you do any science subjects like I did, I have a great website for you. Go to https://www.physicsandmathstutor.com/ and you can do topic-based past exam questions on the topic that you are currently on either. It’s great to test yourself either to consolidate knowledge or to revise for exams.
I also like that the papers are topic-based, so you don’t have to wait for your syllabus to finish to start doing exam papers.
Keep in contact with the students who are in the year above you as they can direct you to the best material related to your subject.
If you do chemistry, you might find the following resources useful:
Explanations: https://www.chemguide.co.uk/
Notes: https://chemrevise.org/
Video tutorials: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCPtWS4fCi25YHw5SPGdPz0g
10. Establish a study method (that works for you)
In year 12, I used to make a lot of flashcards with extensive detailed notes just for memorising information, as per the recommendation of other students. That technique, sadly, just wasted a lot of time because I was just repeating information that I had in my notes, with no real retention of fact.
Later in year 13 for my science subjects I opted for testing myself, again and again. This proved to be a better technique as I was using the mark scheme as a script for answers and for revision more than my textbooks.
Remember: study smart, not hard.
11. Find time to rest and recover
Self-explanatory. I know its hard to avoid burn-out, but getting enough sleep and exercising on weekends will help you retain more information than you might think.
GOOD LUCK :)
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