College: An Update
It has been quite a while since I properly talked about my college experience in a blog post, and to be honest, it has been quite a while (by my standards) since I got out my camera and took some photos.
Life is extremely busy right now.
To put you back in the picture once again, I am taking three A-levels. Those being: Biology, Chemistry and English Literature, and I am studying at a college as a pose to a Sixth Form, a choice I made when making my final decision of where to study.
My ultimate goal is to get into Medical School, and my application needs to be in by October 15th 2018. Scary... I know!!
Currently, I am in my second term at college, which has seen my work load and self-pressure increase.
I feel as though at the minute I have got more work than ever before, but I am quite enjoying my time at college on the whole, as long as I ensure that my work is kept on top of.
When I let things get out of hand is when my pressure and stress levels increase, which proves to be counter-productive.
English Literature:
It is safe to say that dropping Psychology and picking English Literature was one of the best decisions that I have ever made. Every lesson - still - I am excited to go to English, and do something completely different to what I do for most of my time: which is Science.
Having something other than Biology and Chemistry, and something that is more creative to occupy my mind is invaluable, and I find myself slipping into enjoying writing essays, and completing homework tasks.
As a class we concluded work on 'A Thousand Splendid Suns' and 'The Importance of Being Earnest' which were our first two texts. With the completion of two major texts meant the delivery of new essay assignments; one on marriage, and the other on food. Both of which I completed.
So far, through some hard work and dedication to improve (as the leap from GCSE English to A-level is extremely challenging) I have slowly seen how my marks are increasing.
My biggest assistance in achieving in this subject has proved to be the extra time and work that I am putting in outside of the general homework tasks I am set. The two key aids I have used for this is attending workshops (extra group sessions with other English staff) and reading articles and analysing them surrounding my texts. This has ultimately led to me developing a greater understanding of what I am studying.
Biology
I went into A-levels believing that Biology would be my favourite - and best - subject, yet that hasn't entirely been the case.
No warning could have prepared me for the jump that is GCSE to A-level science. Despite everyone telling me how difficult it would be, I naively thought that it was just something that people say, and that it wouldn't be so bad.
I was wrong.
The volume of work from Biology is immense, and it has proven a challenge to keep on top of. My grades fluctuate from A's to C's, and it is a battle to keep up high grades.
At the minute I am doing as much extra work as I can and attending Biology workshops, and slowly, but surely, my understnading of the content is improving.
Chemistry
Just before the Christmas holidays I became really worried and panicked about Chemistry.
I was getting C's, D's and E's which is totally alien to me, as I am used to straight A's, and I was really letting it bog me down. Because I wasn't a massive fan of Chemistry, I focused most of my time into Biology and pushed my Chemistry work to the side, and just did nothing extra.
I knew that had to change, because it was just making things worse, so I made a change over the Christmas holidays.
I found some great resources that I printed off from https://chemrevise.org​ and annotated. My overall understanding started to improve, and I wasn't feeling so intimidated anymore.
The next step was to complete past paper questions, and to learn from my mistakes, which I did.
Last week I completed my Module 2 mock exam, and I am just waiting to find out the results. Hopefully, all of the work I put in made a difference, and I am able to achieve at least a C in this mock exam.
As well as individual subject development, I feel as though I have developed a lot as a person over my first term at college.
I have been put in a position where I am travelling alone each day on buses for around 2 hours 30 minutes total. I am managing my own money and time. I am given a lot more independant study time, and thereofore a lot more freedom. And, I have had to find myself as a person.
It is my belief that we never stop growing and developing, so at the age of 16, I certainly do not know who I am completely, but by starting college I believe my journey towards self-discovery has truly begun, and I am optimistic about the future.
Thank you for reading, and good luck with your studies...