Study Notes - Blog Posts

8-12/11/18 - 60-64/100 days of productivity

Hello everyone! Thank you so much for >800 followers! Sorry I haven’t posted recently. I’ve been so busy doing preliminary research for my IRP in German.

My theme is women’s lives in the GDR and there’s so much to say about it! So this morning and last night I was making notes on two of my sources - one of which was a very interesting 2005 paper which put everything into one place for me with lots of interesting stats I can use in my presentation.

Speaking of presentations, I’ve got to stand up in front of the class on Friday and talk about enthalpy, so I’ve just finished my snazzy PowerPoint on that.

Today I’ve also been revising stats and making sure I have actually understood the material.

I’m just waiting on my two new books to use as German sources.

Tonight, I’m going to read Selam Berlin (I put it down and now have got round to picking it back up again!) and do some analysis on Der Vorleser. I aim to complete 5 chapters as they are quite short. I’ll also do any homework I’m set today.

Have a great day!

6-7/11/18 - 58-59 days of productivity

I’m so so happy I’ve finished this topic because a lot of it is just common sense. However, lessons are a laugh, as always :)

Analysing Der Vorleser in German is really amazing and I have my first essay to write on it this week! I really want to smash it out the park.

Maths is going well - I’ve used all this time I have to take it a bit easy these past two days because I felt like I was neglecting French.

Chemistry work is all done! AND I was in bed for 9:45pm, too :)

Plus - there’s supposed to be a biology test next week and I’m going to miss it for a visit day to Birmingham, which might just mess my schedule up but I’m excited for the visit nonetheless.

Have a great rest-of-week guys!

6/11/18 - 57 days of productivity

So my chemistry teacher just gave me a whole chapter of questions to do for Thursday. So my life will just have to wait until the weekend haha 🙃

Anyway, one set is done. I’ve had German with my favourite teachers today and also French with another amazing teacher. I missed biology because it was extended form time for SMSC today, and there was a guest speaker (I actually hid in the toilets for an hour and binged examsolutions maths tutorials because I knew I’d get into trouble). I hate SMSC so much 😑

Overall though, it’s been a good day. Apart from Chemistry, when I felt myself boiling over for no reason whatsoever. But we have this French teacher who’s visiting and she actually thought I was French, which is compliment of the CENTURY!

Happy Tuesday, peeps!

Also, Imagine Dragons’ new song “Bad Liar” is INCREDIBLE and I thoroughly recommend you give it a listen. Best part of today, honestly.

4-5/11/18 - 55-56/100 days of productivity

I love getting the answer right, knowing all my hard work is paying off. Particularly because maths doesn’t come naturally to me and I’m doing it without the help of a teacher.

I’m posting early because I have a long evening ahead and don’t know if I can post later, so I’ve not left for school yet and have just under an hour until I do. I only have two lessons so all should be well.

28/10 - 3/11/18: 47-54/100 days of productivity

Thank you all for your patience and >700 followers! I’ve been taking it easy for the rest of this week and making time for hobbies because I know my reaction to potentially screwing up my Cambridge test was very unhealthy. I am now “over” it in the sense that if I get an interview, that’s great, but if I don’t, then my life’s worth isn’t defined by not getting in. I had a moment, but now I am back to my old self and thinking positively about the future :)

I still have offers from both York and Nottingham, which are both fantastic universities - I have a lot to be grateful for.

Pictured above: moments! I really dislike mechanics, but not as much as I hate stats. Earlier on I was doing some chain, product and quotient rule questions - I can’t believe I am literally 3/4 of the way through pure maths already! I’m well ahead of the main lessons so I can afford to take it easy if I want to, which is nice.

Next steps: research for my German IRP, preparation for a presentation I have to do for Chemistry in a couple of weeks, and some filing 😩

Cambridge NatSci Admissions Test 2018

Oh dear Lord I’ve never felt so inadequate.

I didn’t realise the second paper was a calculator paper and was given a really crappy 50p one by school, which slowed me down.

I lost so many marks on being genuinely dumb. I just blanked.

I didn’t get break time today so I was sat on my own in a room (with an invigilator obvs) for two hours hungry, stressed and with a massive headache.

It was so much harder than the practice papers I did.

I’m sorry for the rant - I just need to get my feelings out so I can focus on thinking positively and put it behind me.

Anybody who sat it - good luck to you, fellow soldier. I wish you all the success in the world.

22-27/10/18 - 42-46 days of productivity

Hello all! Just been to Waterstones with my best friend reading, writing German essays and doing some mechanics.

Exciting news this week: I booked flights and a hotel for the 13th-15th January so she and I can stay in Berlin for my 18th birthday on the 14th! I’m so anxious but excited about it :)

I cannot wait to go back to school, but I am very nervous about my Cambridge NatSci pre-interview assessment on Wednesday (as if Halloween wasn’t scary enough without this!).

So this week I’ve been into watching MIT open lectures on YouTube and reading the fabulous book you see pictured: Endless Forms Most Beautiful by Sean B. Carroll. It’s about Evo Devo and I highly recommend this book to everyone remotely interested in the genetics/evolution side of biology.

19-22/10/18 - 38-41 days of productivity

Hi all! Back at it again with the biology notes - this time it’s the adrenal glands ft hand-drawn diagrams. This is actually really interesting stuff and I’m loving A2 biology!

So I’ve written a German essay, answered a bunch of questions based on an article and have also done a bunch of French homework, and it’s only the first official day of half term! I had a pretty restful weekend but I did at least one task just to keep busy.

I think tonight I’ll read Le Père Goriot and then maybe get a couple of pages through Genes. And I’ll go to the shop and get some milk because otherwise I can’t have a cup of tea and I’m desperate for one haha

You are exceptional.

Thank you for existing.

I feel like so many people need to hear this because this message is getting lost in the noise of dismal politics and the aesthetics of everyone else’s lives.

P.S.

You do not need straight A’s to be exceptional.

You do not need to spend 24 hours a day making aesthetic notes to be exceptional.

You do not need to have your shit together all the time to be exceptional.

You do not have to be in an amazing mood 24/7 to be exceptional.

14-18/10/2018 - 33-37 days of productivity

Thank you for 500 followers!

So sorry I have not been active recently - the workload is picking up and so are my stress levels. I’m trying not to overdo it at the minute - for my own sanity.

BUT - exciting news!

I got my first uni offer!

The University of York want me to get AAB in Chemistry, Biology and Maths to go and do an MChem with my fourth year abroad.

So that’s the big news in my life recently - I’m buzzing!

Half term is approaching and I have already done the majority of the homework I’ve been set so I can chill. I am reading chapter 3 of “Genes” and have ordered a copy of “Endless Forms Most Beautiful” by Sean B Carroll because evo devo is fascinating :)

It’s time to restock I think - I’m due to get new whiteboard pens (I go through A LOT of those!) and some Pentel Energel 0.5 pens through because I love them and they ran out since I used them so much :(

Anyway, I’m continuing to love all my lessons and am trying to find time to make progress with Le Père Goriot, but I also have to analyse Der Vorleser and continue with pure maths, stats and mechanics.

I hope you’re having a great week! Mine’s not been amazing so far (I missed the bus yesterday and everything that could go wrong did) but I’m positive it will look up :)

11-14/10/18 - 29-32 days of productivity

Three-in-one

Sorry for not posting in a while - I’ve been inundated with stuff these past few days! These days I’ve been focusing on stats and mechanics, and have covered all of normal distribution, probability, regression and correlation. At the minute, I am finishing off some homework - this is chemistry. We are doing rates of reactions and the Arrhenius equation, so that means LOTS of graphs.

I hate them.

I’m making progress with that textbook of genes (which is even heavier than it looks, btw) and have been predicted 5 A*s on my UCAS application, which has now been submitted. I can’t wait!

07/10/18 - 25/100 days of productivity

Whiteboards are my favourite way of revising. To add a dimension of challenge and novelty, I often incorporate French and German into science revision. That way if I watch a video to revise, I know I won’t switch off and automatically assume that I know it all just because it’s familiar. I actually have to listen and do something with the language to make sure I understand, because the content is being shown to me in a different way. It also kills two birds with one stone!

Plus I completely forgot how to translate Entgiftungsfunktion into English (despite the fact that I am English 😂) and figured that the German encapsulated it quite nicely. I just go with what’s tidiest hehe

06/10/18 - 24/100 days of productivity

So today was dedicated to maths - I did an end of topic test and I’m fairly confident with how it turned out. I also took time to chill out though - I had a lie in, watched a film earlier and am chilling out by finishing L’invitée. I am literally 71.9% done!

I’ve been exhausted this week and I don’t want to burn out, so today is my day to take the foot off the accelerator and coast.

Tomorrow I plan to write up some more biology notes, finish some chemistry and run some German quizlets. I also have a Fluter magazine to read through to aid my research for the IRP, which I’m looking forward to reading. I’ll then make some progress with maths in the evening and on Monday.

Happy weekend!

05/10/18 - 23 days of productivity

Hi all! Today has been a busy one - I only had one free period today and I was blessed with Doppeldeutsch :D

Chemistry involved revising the very start of AS, which was boring since it encases the very basics that have been drilled into you and used so much since the start of GCSEs that you will never ever forget them. Ever. However, I did get to work with people I don’t normally work with, which was fun.

Biology came second, where we started the topic of neuronal communication (I made the notes last month hehe).

Then I had 2 hours of German, where we did some reading, listening and talked about our individual research projects. I’ve decided on women in the GDR vs the BRD.

And then I got to practise a Cambridge admissions test for the maths practice.

When I got home, I made three quizlet sets ready for next week, finished my German and French homework and then did an end of topic test in maths for proof (which you see pictured).

I’m going to curl up with a book now, and yet another cup of tea!

How have you spent your Friday?

04/10/18 - 22/100 days of productivity

I quite like the combination of typing and then hand decoration. We are studying Das Leben Der Anderen in German and I’m making character notes. I’m going to move onto maths soon though.

I’m not having a great day, because my bus didn’t turn up and so I was late to school and very stressed this morning - I plan my day to the minute to stave off my anxiety and if it doesn’t go exactly to plan I can’t help getting upset. However, I have taken steps to calm down and I am being quite productive!

03/10/18 - 21/100 days of productivity

Ok, I’m knackered now. I love chemistry but graphs are so awful to draw by hand because it’s so easy to mess up 😂

That curve of best fit though (looks a bit funny at this angle but it’s a perfect curve irl)👌🏻

02/10/18 - 20 days of productivity

Pictured above are my biology class notes and then my written up, neat version I refer to when I revise. I like writing them up - it’s therapeutic and helps me remember them. However, I typed these up in my only free period only for my memory stick to decide to corrupt itself beyond repair for no reason at the end of the lesson, so I lost everything. I’m currently crying about that - even though I have hard copies of all my other notes, which is good. I didn’t lose too much!

Today I had a fairly alright day - but I completely forgot to do my French homework and cried a bit because that’s so unlike me. I had an excellent German lesson though, and I’m Chemistry I got to do separate things to everyone else because my teacher dreads me getting bored haha

27/09/18 - 16/100 days of productivity

Well, today was... interesting. I got to school at 8am, went to form, had a cup of tea and did a maths challenge in said form... and spilt my water all over my bag. My important stuff was fine, but my phone and everything up front got soaked. Oops!

I had to lay all my stuff out on the desk and wait for my mother to bring a spare backpack. Of course, stupid me forgot to take my key out that bag so I was locked out for an hour when I got home :(

Other than that, I had 4 free periods and 1 lesson today. I made biology notes on gene regulation and the lac operon from 08:55 to 10:55 and did a mixed exercise on geometric sequences from 11:20 until 12:20.

Then came Chemistry, where we did worksheets on orders of reaction because my teacher had a massive migraine.

Lesson 5 was my designated time to see my tutor, who is a retired maths teacher and is helping me along. We spent 45 minutes talking about the binomial expansion and then radians, which was great fun. That was such a nice way to end the day.

When I got home (which was almost an hour later than usual since I was locked out!) I kind of flopped on my bed and completely forgot that I had to do homework due in tomorrow.

So at 17:00, I sprang into life again and finished German (pictured) and then Chemistry. That took until 21:00, when I forced myself to stop.

Girl’s gotta look after herself, you know?

26/09/18 - 15/100 days of productivity - studying with a full-on cold :(

Happy Wednesday guys! I had a full day of lessons today. The routine is pretty much the same as Tuesday (and, as you’ll find out, Thursdays and Fridays too). Anyway, this is what my Wednesday looked like :)

06:45-07:20 Up, washed, dressed and out the house

07:35-08:00 Commute to school

08:00 German quizlets in the sixth form work room

08:30-08:50 Form time with my lovely bio teacher! Fun times

08:50-09:50 Chemistry ft a fun rant from my teacher (not really it scared me even though it wasn’t aimed at me!) about how we are all deluded if we think we are going to succeed by putting such little effort into things

09:55-12:25 Double German! (With a half an hour break in between, don’t panic). Half was spent studying Der Vorleser, the other half on grammar

12:30-13:30 French with my favourite teacher. I did a listening assessment and... not much else to be fair 😂

13:30-14:00 Lunch/ form competitions. I represented my form in skittle sorting with one hand. I won my heat but came in third overall so far. The rest of the forms play tomorrow. We are out of the running for the form prize but I did get the bag of skittles haha

14:00-15:00 Biology - the topic was regulating gene expression on the transcriptional level and I LOVED IT. What an amazing way to end the day!

15:40 Arrived home to chill out. Honestly I feel awful so I decided to take a break.

17:00 Tea time :)

17:30-20:00 Maths revision before I move on to A2 stats (ew)

20:00-21:00 A cup of tea for me... plus some Vick’s Vapour rub and paracetamol haha

Night all! I might do another of these when I’m not ill so you can really see my life - this is nothing compared to how I normally work. Yes it’s a lot but I have to plough through.

25/09/18 - 14/100 days of productivity

Hi all! My Tuesday has been fun, although sneezing constantly isn’t. Here’s what today looked like:

06:45 Get up and in the bath

07:00 Get dressed, pack my bag and take my medication (always disgusting because it’s a liquid but you know. Gets the worst out of the way)

07:25 Out the house, waiting for the 07:35 bus.

08:00 I arrived at school and did some German quizlets!

08:30 Form time - I normally read but I left my books by accident.

08:50 Lesson 1 - Biology. We learned about SCNT, embryo twinning and the ethical argument about cloning.

09:55 Lesson 2 - French. We debated whether it was right to allow transgender biologically-male people to join girl guides.

10:55-11:25 Break; I found my chem teacher to discuss my personal statement

11:25 Lesson 3 - free. I did a maths paper

12:30 Lesson 4 - German. We talked about the EU, doing topic work from our text book

13:30 Lunch

14:00-15:00 Lesson 5 - Chemistry. We had to make presentations about orders of reaction and the rate constant.

15:40 I arrived home and took myself to bed because I feel like having a day off today.

17:00 Tea time - I love me some tomato soup when I’m ill haha

17:20 Cup of tea, documentaries and chill. I’d normally stick my headphones in but my ear aches so I’d better not :(

24/09/18 - 13 days of productivity // Day 1 of 7 in my life

Despite the raging cold, this is what my Monday looked like!

07:10 Wake up!

07:15 Brain training using Peak while having a bath

08:20 Finally got out the bath... don’t judge it was cold outside haha

08:30 Dressed and ready to knuckle down. I had taken my meds and made a cup of tea.

08:30-09:00 Chemistry homework!

09:00-09:30 German quizlets

09:30-11:20 Maths

11:20-11:45 Lunch!

11:45-12:30 More Maths

12:30-13:00 Break with my mum

13:05 Bus to school

13:30 Arrival at school - their lunchtime

14:00-15:00 Biology lesson

15:00-16:00 French lesson

16:16-16:30 Bus home

16:30-17:30 Chill (Skyped friends today)

17:30-18:10 More maths! Arithmetic progressions and all that jazz

18:10-18:30 Tea time! (Or dinner, depending on where you’re from)

18:30-19:10 French homework

19:10 Pack my bag for tomorrow, relax in my room with a cup of tea and Le Père Goriot

21:00 My bedtime - non-negotiable haha

22/09/18 - 11/100 days of productivity

I’m in the library today, currently doing maths. I’ve already gone through 4 sets of quizlets for German and next up once I finish this will be to finish my chemistry homework.

My friends are going to turn up at some point, too. I’m going to help one of them with a personal statement and then I’m going to read Le Père Goriot

Juggling 5 A Levels: a week in my life

Hello all! I’ve been getting a lot of questions based on how I balance school and home life, so I’ve decided I’m going to break down my days, hour by hour, over the course of the week beginning Monday 24th September 2018.

I’m mainly doing this because I love finding out how people use their days - and because I would personally benefit from really analysing how I use my own. Is this something you’d like to see?

21/09/18 - 10/100 days of productivity

10% of the way there, folks! I’ve done some chemistry revision today, learnt 4 sets of 30 German flash cards before having double German and doing loads of grammar drills. I had 2 cups of tea while my lovely bio teacher was talking about osmoregulation and then in my free at the end of the day I made some maths notes while sneaking pizza into the work room.

I hope you’ve all had great days :)

20/09/18 - 9/100 days of productivity

I had one lesson today - chemistry! We did a really simple practical for our official records which I am about to write up. I also got my maths mock back - 82/100, which is an A! I’m so happy!

Nothing can bring me down today and I’m feeling so productive. I’ve just done my German homework (as you can see, it’s about the EU 😭) and I have also done a load of Quizlet practice and admin for German.

I’ve also started reading Le Père Goriot by Honoré de Balzac, which my lovely French teacher brought back from her parents’ home in France for me to read!

Next up: filing away and revising French notes so I can be prepared for a mock speaking on Monday :)

19/09/18 Maths notes!

19/09/18 - 8/100 days of productivity

I had an awesome day today! I have a new chemistry teacher and she’s really lovely, and straight after her lesson I had German, where we studied Der Vorleser. I had a free period lesson 3, so I edited my personal statement for the 500000000th time, and then in French I wrote an essay under timed conditions about L’étranger. And then lesson 5 was the genetics topic in Biology - I freaking LOVE genetics!

Right now I’m going over a load of flash cards for German on Quizlet and then I’m going to write up some biology notes and I might finish off some more German homework if I have time. If not, I have 4 frees tomorrow so I can do it then :)

I hope you’ve all had awesome days 😊

17/09/18 I have to write a surprise essay on Wednesday so I’m revising quotes for themes in L’étranger

🎵Clair de lune - Debussy🎵

17/09/18 - 6/100 days of productivity

Good morning all! I’ve just arrived at sixth form and I’m making chemistry notes and clearing up any homework I have left until my first lesson starts at 2pm (I have 4 free periods).

13/09/18 - 2/100 days of productivity

I make all my notes in advance of lessons (these chemistry notes are weeks if not months in advance) so lessons are revision sessions and I can just get on with practice questions. I can add to them in lessons if needs be :)