Sixth Form - Blog Posts

Ah yes, the indescribable urge to fall into a coma for the next six months due to the stress of your five A-level subjects and your EPQ. Such a wonderful feeling.

help would be nice :)

does anyone have any tips/tricks/recommendations for cv-writing, job applications and looking for opportunities like internships and summer programs? trying to get admin/managerial and/or film/art related places has been really hard as a student still in first year of sixth form. please interact and let me know as any and all input would be appreciated <3

october onslaught (obstacles and others)

01:01 - Friday 28th October that title does not make sense but i spent a good however many minutes scrolling through synonyms on thesaurus.com to come up with it and i refuse to waste those efforts.

so sixth form turned up a notch in the past month, it's been flashing by really quick, i'm unorganised and flustered by every little thing - not to mention how thrown off i am by not only the sheer amount of work, but how much i have to try and catch up on due to sick days. now that i don't partake in anything other than school (as i've dropped my religious studies), i find myself growing really restless. i'm considering getting a job? but i'd have to make a cv and figure out how to make a bank account and tons of other things before even considering applying. idk i feel kinda dumb for not knowing these things already. it's half term holiday! well, almost the end seeing as i have the weekend and then have to go back to school. i plan on somehow plowing through all of the work i've missed (particularly sociology) and being fully up to speed by friday. wish me luck! i'll probably be doing tons of school posts to motivate me so i'll see you soon. until next time! ~Amimi

september start, struggles and sixth form

the alliteration came so naturally to me i didn't even realise. soooo september has been something. starting sixth form has been striking to say the least. i thought i'd instantly take to my subjects but surprisingly i haven't. they've been engaging and i've definitely enjoyed media the most, i'm so stoked for when we actually get to make our own projects and such later on in the school year. i have somehow already managed to lose my fine art folder but it's just experimental work so it's whatever. why is september like january? speaking of september its officially autumn yayayayayayay. i can't wait to buy some jumpers and such to go with the brown and beige flares i bought!! i'm doing my best to channel my dark academia phase and romanticise school so i'll do better! oh and my math gcse was sent off for a remark - i was only two marks off of a 7 (A) so i'll tell you how that turns out when i hear back! i gtg catch up with sociology work, i'm sorry if this post was a bit bland but there's not a lot to talk about from this month. until next time! ~Amimi posting this a bit late because i forgot to queue this but oh well.

11/4/19

Mindmaps make everything look so much more manageable

Today has been really productive. I went to school for two hours for some biology revision and then went to meet a friend for lunch. It was such a lovely day that I chose to walk the hour back home rather than catch a bus so I could listen to the audiobook version of Nineteen Eighty Four. However, as punishment for being healthy, I now have blisters on the soles of both feet :(

12/3/19

Transition metals are legitimately so interesting! I feel like I’ve got stuff done today.

Happy Tuesday :)

11/3/19

I’m really happy with how today has gone. I’ve had two hours of French and an hour of Biology, and then started these notes in one of my frees

Happy Monday 😊

10/3/19

Gotta love that NMR!

Also can we appreciate those perfect hexagons because it took ages to draw those ahaha

Have a great Sunday!

5/3/19

Photosynthesis is so interesting! I still can’t believe that lowly plants and even cyanobacteria harness the energy of the humble electron to power this stuff. It’s so intricate

Edit: this app is called Notability for anyone wondering!

4/3/19

I hate electrochemistry so much but I’m trying not to make life harder for myself by creating a mental barrier

Walking home from a long day at sixth form

Ft my old primary school :)

I did a lot of reading today and caught up with my old head of year.

The weather is gorgeous but it should NOT be this hot in February :(

Break the problem down

From personal experience, life is hard and stress hits you like a tonne of bricks. Exams are coming, deadlines are forever nearing and you feel like one thing is coming at you after another and you can’t possibly finish all this in time to the best of your ability but omg everyone will be mad or disappointed if you don’t and AHHHHHHHH

Stop that.

When you are overwhelmed by stress and believe you cannot possibly succeed, face that shit objectively. Write your stress source down or talk it out and belittle it as much as you can.

For example: “holy shit I have to sit an A Level in Maths and I’ve been learning the content for less than a year all on my own. I don’t have many practice materials and that shit looks hard. I will run out of time because I also have 4 other A Levels to sit and I will fail.” (Me irl bc I’m crazy)

Becomes: “It’s a few questions on a sheet of paper. All you have to do is work on your weaknesses. You should make a timetable to prove to yourself you have time. It’s not A* or bust - do your best.”

Because that’s all it is. Take the emotions away from the problem. Temporarily take everything that’s riding on that one thing away and strip it right back to what it’s really about. Make yourself believe that it is not above you. Once you convince yourself you can do it, actually doing it becomes a hell of a lot easier.

*I’m not saying those things are not important or not a big deal. I’m saying for the sake of your sanity, make it manageable.*

Good morning, sunshine!

My eyes snapped open at 7:30am so I figured I’d have a wash, stretch out my aching muscles and do some maths. After this I’ll go and grab some breakfast :)

It’s finally half term so the pressure is momentarily off and I can catch up on all my outstanding tasks.

I feel like I’ve achieved a lot in the past couple of hours I’ve been up!

Have an amazing day!

10-12/1/19 - 4-6/100 days of productivity

Omg I am so bad at posting but I promise I have been productive! I’ve done all my homework and read ahead in advance because I am missing Monday and Tuesday’s lessons as I am flying to Berlin tomorrow and spending my 18th birthday there!

Have an amazing week 💕

9/1/18 - 3/100 days of productivity

Today has been awesome. I had chemistry first thing, and then double German (my favourite class!), then I had some Galette des Rois in French and ended the day with Biology. No frees today but a really positive time all round :)

I’m sat doing homework now and I’ve promised myself I can watch a new TV programme that’s on later if I get it done haha

8/1/18 - 2/100 days of productivity

Sorry this is late - I had no WiFi yesterday at all! However, in my only free I made these notes on the brain :)

I hope you’re having a great week!

07/01/19 - 1/100 days of productivity

Thank you for 2000 followers! I love you all!

First day back at sixth form and first day of a new productivity challenge! I will honestly try to suck less at posting every day this time hehe

Because I have 4 free hours on a Monday before my first out of two lessons at 2pm, I got a lot done. I started out with some maths, but then my computer logged me off my digital books and it wouldn’t load again, so I ended up writing up some biology notes and then doing some chemistry - that’s what you can see here :)

Although I am full of cold, it has been a good day all round! I found out I got an A* in my bio mock when I thought I actually flunked that test so hard.

Happy New Year!

Hi guys! I’m so happy I’m bringing you all along into 2019 with me!

This post is mainly to sum up what I feel I have achieved in 2018, because I think it’s so important to take a minute and appreciate how far you’ve come towards meeting your goals. I’m also going to chat about 2019, just because. But before I do, I want to wish you all the best for this year. Work hard but look after yourself - you owe it to yourself to be healthy :)

So this time last year I was officially diagnosed with depression and generalised anxiety disorder. I did not leave the house at weekends or in the holidays. I avoided all contact with people. I was miserable and apathetic 24/7 and I just wanted to sleep or cry. I was too anxious to even go into a shop alone, let alone even think about applying to universities or plan trips abroad without an older member of the family. In fact, had I not been terrified of leaving the house alone, I would not be here to see 2019.

However, a very very good teacher of mine was my shoulder to cry on, and she encouraged me to finally get a GP’s help after years of struggling alone in denial. 2018 was my year of recovery.

I still have depressive episodes. I am still anxious. But on the whole, I am human again and I am okay. Fragile still, but able to see the good in situations and not panic when I can’t. The chains that restrained my ankles are free, so I can put my best foot forward at long last.

As part of my recovery, I put myself out there. I visited universities from Birmingham to London, and I stayed with a host family for a week in Nantes. I was fortunate enough to be given a place on the Sutton Trust Summer School at Cambridge, where I met so many amazing people. I got closer to people I’ve known for years, too, because I know the time I have to see them every day is limited and fast running out. Although difficult at first because I do not respond well to change and time pressure, I know that this is the life I want.

This year is going to be my most tumultuous and scary yet. In 2 weeks, I fly to Berlin with my best friend, just me and her for my birthday. I am responsible for the budget (oh Lord) and looking after us. On said birthday, I will find out whether Cambridge accepted or rejected me. In the summer, I will sit my A Levels and find out if I achieved my goal - and I will leave the school I love so dearly forever. In the autumn, I will be settling into a new city as a bright-eyed, bushy-tailed fresher at whichever uni I choose, ready to embark on my chemistry degree. And I will have to leave behind so many people, which kills me inside.

But I know that the people who are supposed to stay in my life absolutely will. And alongside all the nerves and the sadness, I am optimistic that I will meet so many amazing humans at uni and beyond. I have been waiting for the chance to spread my wings and become a strong, independent woman for myself, and this year is when I’ll get to do it.

There is only one thing I do know for certain: my life at the end of this year will look incredibly different to how it is now.

Bring it on!

9-12/12/18 - 90-93/100 days of productivity

It is Wednesday, my dudes!

I am right in the middle of mocks right now and I have biology and chemistry tomorrow. I am revising the heart because I’ve not done it in a while! (I also quite enjoy drawing it - can you tell?)

How has your week been so far?

3-8/12/18 - 84-89/100 days of productivity

Omg life is so hectic right now - sorry for no posts for ages! So I have had my Cambridge interviews (I think they went... ok?) and am now revising for mocks beginning on Monday morning with German!

I’m at my friend’s house doing some Quizlets of new vocab :)

2/12/18 - 83/100 days of productivity

Whiteboard time! I’m just preparing for my Cambridge interview by reviewing a mechanism I namedropped in my personal statement in the first pic, and then later on I was bored so I decided to see how long it would take me to learn and remember the Krebs Cycle. (Not as long as it looks like it should take!)

I totally should be revising things I need to regurgitate for mocks next week, but that’s boring. You know what’s not boring? Learning how a process that’s fundamental to life works!

21-24/11/2018 - 73-76 days of productivity

Hi guys! So today I was at the library all morning having a biology brain dump/crisis because we have literally just been told we have mocks in a couple of weeks. My Cambridge interview is the week before.

So yeah, I’m a little stressed right now. Which is why I am writing a formal petition to put the mocks back - none of our teachers knew about them and we are all basically screwed. I’m going to see how many signatures I can get and do this democratically.

However, I do have an incentive to work hard:

I have an unconditional offer from my favourite uni (behind Cambridge)!

If I don’t get into Cambridge, I’ll definitely be accepting the offer from the University of Birmingham to read Chemistry with German. Of course, if it becomes my insurance choice, it will become conditional - but it’s okay, because the only way it’ll be second best is to Cambridge.

My acceptance letter came with a handwritten note from the admissions tutor congratulating me on my knowledge of everything that came up at interview, which instantly made me smile.

So I’m stressed, but I got this!

20/11/18 - 72 days of productivity

I got an interview from Cambridge!

Oh my goodness I’m so excited that I get a second chance to show them I’m up for this. I was whinging this morning that I just wanted to find out and then opened my inbox to find the email I’ve been waiting for :)

So what you see above is the product of a newfound energy and zest for life. I’m writing up some biology notes in advance and also got to play with some logarithmic graph paper (OMG that stuff is so cool!) and did some (heavily tippexed) maths. They were just the examples haha I suck at copying things down

Happy Tuesday folks, I hope today has treated you as well as it has treated me!

17/11/18 - 69 days of productivity

Thank you for >1000 followers! Ahhhh!

Hi all! So middle insomnia kicked in again and I woke up very promptly at 4am and couldn’t get back to sleep :(

As such it was very difficult to concentrate BUT my newest book (Frauen in der DDR - Anna Kaminsky) is very interesting and I’ve arranged to visit the library with @natrevisin next Saturday to crack on with my IRP.

I introduced a friend to Duolingo and she was so happy she could start learning German again! My XP then went from 5000 to 13,220, so that should tell you what I’ve been up to all day haha

Anyway, pictured above are my chemistry notes for the topic we have got round to studying. I actually made these months ago, but they are relevant right now.

Happy weekend!

15-16/11/18 - 67-68/100 days of productivity

What a week! I’m exhausted!

I’ve been mainly reading today, because I wanted to be productive but didn’t really have all that much to do - for once! I am going to have a day of maths on Sunday to make up for missing my mentoring session this week, but I’m still going to take it easy.

But right now I’m researching for my IRP in German, ft. the new book I ordered which got delivered today. So far, so very interesting! I can’t wait to reach a conclusion :)

Happy Friday, guys!

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.