A Levels

Hello! This is a bit of a different post today, and I realise that it isn't the typical makeup post. But as it is approaching results day and many people are starting back to school I thought this may help a few of you.

A little background before I start, I have just finished my seventh year at school, completing GCSEs and A Levels. I studied Psychology, Sociology, ICT and Welsh at AS Level and decided to drop Welsh at the end of my first year.

Choosing A Levels
Now I had an idea of what I wanted to do before I started A Levels, I knew I wanted to go into the medical field of some sort and I looked into A Level requirements before choosing them. If you know 1000% what you want to do in the future, then I highly suggest finding out what you need. I knew I need a sociology and psychology a level so that's where that decision came from. I took French and Welsh at GCSE and knew I wanted to carry on with either one at A Level, as I enjoyed it. This is incredibly important when choosing also, you need to enjoy them. If you don't, you wont want to study for them. I got a higher GCSE grade in Welsh so I chose Welsh. Which later I regretted as the course was extremely challenging for me and I didn't enjoy it in the slightest. ICT was down to enjoyment and the fact a lot of jobs nowadays are based around technology, so I thought that would come in handy. You can choose 3-5 a levels, although I know the majority choose 4, like myself. If you chose 4, then you choose to drop a subject at the end of the year. This is because A2 (The second year) is harder than the first and it's a lot more work. If you chose 5, you can drop 2. You don't have to drop a subject, my two friends decided to keep going with four. But another friend chose five subjects, and dropped two.

Start as You Mean to Go On.
I CAN NOT PREACH THIS ENOUGH. Seriously, the jump from GCSE to A Levels is immense and I don't think anyone can really prepare you for it. In my school, you get a lot more freedom and I suppose that's when I started lacking the studying aspect. If you are starting A Levels in September, start organised and you're set for the rest of the year!

Balance
Another key aspect of A Levels is to balance your time wisely. I know when it comes to exam period everyone goes to freak out mode and revises crazily and doesn't want to go out or any of that sort. I would say start revising early, and keep it balanced. Do it a little a day and build it up as you get closer to exam periods. My friend was the worst at this, she started early like I said previously, but didn't give herself breaks. She would go to bed at 1am and wake up at 6am, and that time in between was spent revising. I kid you not. Please don't do this, I had gotten her to get more sleep and to take breaks but please realise your health is way more important than grades.

Results Day
Okay, so like I said the jump from GCSE to A Levels is immense. You need to realise that on the first results day, you may get the results you were not looking for. This is what happened to all of my year on the first results day, everyone was shocked as to how we could've all done shockingly bad. But that also gave us the realisation to know what we needed to do and the next results day was a lot more positive. My results day is actually in 10 days and right now I'm panicking. But there's nothing I can do and what'll be will be.

Please remember that A Levels do not define you. There are other options if you don't do as well as you pleased and there is support around you.

I hope this helped a few of you and don't you worry I have a lot more makeup posts up and coming. Let me know if you want more lifestyle posts!

-K x