Heading to college series- What would I change if I could go back?

Hey guys so I have decided to do a GCSE results/ college series were I show you all my experiences from starting at my GCSE results to all the way to college. I hope you enjoy.

Are you happy with your result?

I am one hundred percent happy with my results. I was very surprised to find out I got a C in my English literature as I thought I had down really bad but obviously I didn't do as bad as I thought. I will leave a link to my GCSE results post which will give you more of my thoughts about my results.

GCSE results experience post

What went well?

For me what went well was the extra lessons and exam sessions that my school held during study leave and just before we left. This is because it really helped me realise and focus on the thinks I needed to work on. It gave me extra time to talk to my teachers and get a little extra help and understanding.

What would I change?

If I could go back and redo all my final exams I would definitely listen more to the advice that teachers give. I found it so annoying when they would go on about what you should and shouldn't do when doing your exam. Because I didn't listen it cost me a lot in my exams, especially English language. I know teachers can be annoying when they go on BUT I recommend deeply that you listen carefully to every piece of advice they give because it will really benefit you and help with your exams. Also I would have changed how I had done my coursework. When we had coursework I always left it till the last minute to get it done and that is the worst thing you could possibly do. If I could change my results and what I did I would of made sure every coursework was started and finished as soon as possible which then ensures me that I have finished it but also if I had any spare time I could of added more which would of meant more marks. Thirdly If I could change and redo my exams I would of made sure I listened and did what I was told and not what my friends where told. I got told a lot of things by different teachers about what was what during the weeks leading up to exams and my friends would get told different things because they were in different classes, this made everything confusing for me and it may have affected my exams slightly as I didn't know what to expect. My advice would be to listen to what you have been told by teachers and so on  and not what your friends have been told. Yes I know you love your best friends but sometimes if you want to make sure you succeed then listen to an experienced adult who knows what they are talking about and not your friends. Finally If i could redo my exams I would have made sure my exam revision material was a lot more neater but also I would have made sure I started my really early, preferably at the start of year eleven, this means I could have revised all my topics easily without rushing it. It sounds stupid to start that early but you will be thankful when it gets to study leave as it means you can be assured that you have gone over everything and you can just look back and focus on problem areas closer to exams. 

My Top Ten tricks and Tips for getting through year eleven final exams

1. Get a folder and some dividers, making sure you have enough for every subject you study and keeps sheet and materials that you get in class as these will be useful for revising. You can also store all your own revision notes in there.

2. Create a revision timetables, one for after school hours and one for during the holidays, this will give you a clear routine of revision and allow you to space out far amounts of time to revise each subject you do. Don't forget to add break times in and times were you will be unavailable to revise as free time is as important as revision time. Too much revision time will make you bored and unmotivated which in turn might make you not revise properly.

3. If you have any after school clubs that are being offered by your school definitely head over and make use of the time you will be getting with your teacher as you may be able to get some vital exam info that may not be given out during a lesson. If your school doesn't have any after school sessions or there isn't one for your subject you can always ask your teacher and I am sure they will arrange one.

4. To make revising fun and more relaxing you could organise a day were you and your friends can hang out together and revise together this can allow you to relax ad have someone to talk to who is the same experience as you if you get stuck and it allows to make up fun revision games an quizzes to practise on each other.

5. Make sure you have a healthy diet, exercise regularly and get at least 8 hours of sleep every night. This will enable you to have lots of energy to revise which will stop you from being unmotivated and bored and will help your mind keep on track with everything it needs to remember.

6. DON'T FORGET TO HAVE FUN. So many people in my year and past students that I noticed focused on revision and that's it. They would do hours and hours and hours a day of revision and make time for nothing else. You don't need to do this. Doing what you want and having time to do hobbies or even just relax and do nothing is just as important. YOU MUST KEEP SOME TIME TO RELAX.By overloading with revision you will become stressed and that will cause you forget things and not think straight when it comes to doing your exams.

7. REVISE, REVISE AND REVISE

8. Use textbooks to help build your knowledge and go over problem areas.

9. To keep you motivated, create a plan were if you finish an hours worth of revision you get to eat a chocolate or a sweet or keep posters with quotes to keep you motivated and remind you of your goals and what you want to achieve.

10. Keep everything neat and organised. This way revising isn't confusing and you can find anything you need easily without a fuss and you know where everything is placed. I recommend investing in a set of mini draws or a letter organiser so you can store sheets and books neatly on a desk or a set of draws.


Thank you for reading and I hope you enjoyed.
I will be creating a tab at the top of my blog, next to the contact me button were you can easily access all the episodes to the Heading to college series.
If there is any posts that you would like me to for the series please let me know in the comments below.

Next week the third episode will be up and it will be about my enrolment day experience at collage.

As always don't forget to leave comments and let me know what your experiences have been like with year eleven and GCSE's.

Thank you