GCSE's to A-Levels: The Jump

Oh. My. Goodness. It's been too long.

HI GUYS

So about a month ago I started sixth form (which, if you don't live in the UK is the part of school you're in when you're 16-18) and I thought I was into it enough to be able to do a blog post about it for those of you in this position or coming up to it.

Just to say, this post isn't personal to the specific sixth form I'm at, just my experience of the jump from GCSE's to A-Levels. 

I made the decision to stay at school sixth form, mainly because I'd already moved 2 years before and, if I'm honest, didn't really want to move again. Plus, most of my friends were staying and it just seemed like the best decision for me to stay. It definitely was. All the teachers know me, the subjects are familiar and staying has made that transitional phase that little bit easier.

For those who want to know, I am studying English Literature, Religious Studies, French and History. I am definitely a humanities girl; I was never really into maths or science and I am so so so glad I have left those subjects behind for good. 

Right. Let's talk about the jump. I was expecting it to be about a 4/10 on the difficulty scale. The fact that I would be surrounded by the familiarity of my school definitely made me feel like it was going to be a whole lot easier. However, the jump was still enormous. In my first week of school I was under an insane amount of homework, assignments and research tasks and I was just overwhelmed. 

The main difference for me was definitely the realisation that I can no longer pretend. I can't pretend to pay attention, do the work at home or revise. If you slack, it is going to catch up with you, and that's definitely not a position you want to be in. It's mainly because you have chosen to do those subjects, they are supposed to be the 4 subjects you love the most and are the best at and, potentially, want to do for the rest of your life. You're EXPECTED to keep on top of things and not let the amount of work catch up with you. It was very surreal, and it still is. I never thought it would be such a difference. However, I definitely think that staying at my school made a huge difference.  

I am the world's worst procrastinator and my worst habit by far is convincing myself is that I don't need to do something straight away. I hate it about myself but I personally think it's all down to organisation. I've started this thing where every Sunday evening I go through my diary and all the homework I haven't done for that week yet and plan it all in.

If you're in sixth form or college, you probably have free periods.

USE THEM.

They're the best way to make sure you stay on top of your work and make sure you can still relax at the weekend.

I'm sorry this was such an 'all over the place' post but I really needed to write a blogpost.. I will probably make a video about this giving more advice and expanding a bit.

If you have any requests, questions or whatever please comment down below, I would appreciate it! 

xxxx

Where to start..

Hello there everyone!

It's been a while, so I thought I might just give you guys a bit of an update, but just a warning: this is going to be a bit of a 'word vomit' post - who knows what might come out?!

First of all, my YouTube channel is coming along really nicely! Thank you so much for your support and lovely comments - it means the world. There is definitely a new video coming as soon as I get home and it involves a very special guest so keep your eyes peeled for that!

Next up, my summer holidays have been going amazingly well. At first, all the free time took a bit of getting used to and I just wanted to go back to school, but honestly, I needed the space. The last months before my summer began (every since February really) were so tough and I went through a lot and I was really drained. Some people may have dealt really well with exams and stress and you're so so lucky but I was definitely not one of you. I'm glad it's over and that I've had the summer to recharge my batteries and do things that I enjoy. *If you want to see how my list is coming along, click here!*

Finally, the thing that was always looming in the back of mind as I swam in the sea, sunbathed and saw friends and family...Results day. It came and it went and I'm so relieved. I might update this and say what I got someday but for now I just want you guys to know that I am over the moon with my results and I couldn't be happier to see that my hard work and anxiety was worth it. A lot of you must have gotten results too and I really hope you can say the same. 

My anxiety was something that I really had to come to face this summer. *If you want to see the blog post I wrote about my anxiety and panic attacks while I was revising for exams you can click here.* I kept having panic attacks while I was going through exams but when I finished school I thought they would stop. They didn't. I was so surprised and shocked because I thought they were triggered by stress but I now know that's probably not the case and I'm slightly apprehensive of how it's going to affect my next two years in education. I don't want to go into too much detail right now but if you want me to do a whole blog post about it, or even a video, you can leave a comment and I'll definitely do that. 

So all in all, these last few months have been pretty insane but I've grown so much and really come to terms with everything about myself: good and bad.
To finish, here are some photos of my summer - I hope you had a good one and I wish you all the best in the next year!

xxxx

What am I thinking?!

Okay, so in my last post I mentioned that one of the things I would really love to do this summer is to start an active YouTube channel, and guess what? I now actually have.

I filmed and edited my first proper video yesterday and if I'm honest, I'm petrified. This could go so horribly wrong in so many ways, but I feel like this would be a great thing for me to do. I just hope that I won't give up too easily, and that I get an okay response :) 

Thanks so much for all of you guys for being there, for reading and commenting, I appreciate it so so much! 

So here it is....another thing I can cross off my list!

xxxx