How I've found Year 12 [I'm back!]

bonjour,

sorry for the lack of posts - year 12 really took over my life, I forgot about this blog and I ended up starting a studygram! 

today's post is going to be my experience of year 12; (if you've come from the gram then you'll have seen this already but I didn't want to miss a post out).

I ended up taking maths, criminology and photography for my 3 a-levels with absolutely no idea what I want to do after year 13, oops.

Obviously year 12 isn't fully over yet and I haven't had a normal year 12 so I can't comment on the whole academic year and being in sixth form the whole year, work experience etc because of covid but this is my experience with year 12 and my subjects! [I also haven't start the UCAS process or anything like that yet but when I do there will be another post for just that!]

Little disclaimer - 
- I stayed at my schools sixth form and the subjects I do are maths, criminology and photography. 
- all of my close friends moved to different colleges so I was basically left alone with a few mutual friends and people who I was friends with but didn't really talk to
- I have to stay in school from 8:30 til 3/4 dependant on if I have a sixth period. 
- I have a lot of free periods, and 30 lessons per a fortnight (10 of each subject)

the jump between gcse and a level:
okay so generally I found the jump from gcse to a level a bit stressful and I guess big but I don't really have anything to compare this to so I can't really describe it? like you have more time but less subjects and more content. For me I think the jump was more so in trying to gain a good routine and learn the new content and pretending like you have your life together while trying to not get too stressed. 
It does get better though it depends on how you adapt to change to how quickly it takes you adjust to it.
personally it took me until christmas because I'm naturally an overthinker and an overworker so it took me that long to get my confidence from the end of gcses back, to get into a routine of lessons, knowing the people in my classes and then making notes in my frees. I think this took me so long purely because my anxiety levels spiked because I didn't have any friends in some of my frees so it took me a long time to feel comfortable working alone. But this really does depend on the person you are like I said before. 

Maths:
for maths I found the content to basically be a natural progression from gcse in pure because the first 7 chapters are literally higher end gcse content which is easy to grasp 
statistics isn't too bad to get to understand and for me mechanics is the hardest to grasp but that could be because I don't like physics.
I have 3 teachers and my timetabled lessons for maths aren't that evenly spread out this year so I found myself cramming content in within a few days then forgetting it over the week or weekend but that is purely my situation.
The graphical calculators are EXPENSIVE but it is worth waiting until you find out if your sixthform or college can get a deal to make then cheaper. I made the mistake of buying the £60 calculator from rymans with student discount before they announced a deal however the one I bought works just fine, it takes a bit of adjustment! My maths teacher reccomends having 2 calculators, both the graphical and scientific.
It is possible to do with a grade 7 at gcse, I just had to put a lot of effort in at the beginning as I didn't do the bridging work. 
I would recommend it as an option and although it causes me a lot of stress it is my favourite a level, I think!

Criminology:
- Although not technically an alevel its worth the same ucas points as one and is done over 2 years with the option to drop it after 1.
The way it is split between exam and controlled assessment for the way if assessing each unit is good - the controlled assessments are open book so it's easier. 
It's mainly textbook memorisation and applying that to situations given in the assessments - it's relatively straightforward, especially if you watch a lot of true crime + have an interest in that kinda thing.
I found the controlled assessment quite easy although the way my sixth from carried it out was stressful and confusing but hopefully this won't happen next year (we are the first year to do this course) I do enjoy this subject and would reccomend if you wanna persure a law or policing career!

Photography:
- Again this is just a continuation from gcse but with an essay as well and a focus more on the way photographs are taken and more research. 
I've found it just as stressful as GCSE, but thats just the way the software wants to be and the fact I am not a creative thinker!
It's definitely been the easiest out of all a levels, despite it being quite stresful - or at least until lockdown but that will be in a different post!
I would reccomend it but I wouldn't recommend if your using it as an option filler as it does still require work and effort especially with taking photographs out of school time.
The units are different to gcse as well and you have more room to be creative and find your own style and choose an overarching theme. 

if you have anymore questions leave them below! I'll answer as many as I can, hopefully this helps in someway?! 

Jess x