My first tip is to get into a routine - whether this be getting up at a specific time, going to bed at a specific time or even just the way in which you do your work. It'll make the entire year a lot easier if you start to get into a routine and get organised right from the start.
Another top tip from me is to make sure you are prepared with all the necessary equipment for the school year - get yourself on a back to school shopping trip and buy all the necessities. I would say the most important things are pens, pencils, a ruler, a memory stick, notebooks and paper, folders to store all your notes and potentially a planner if your school doesn't provide one. Trust me, you don't want to turn up on the first day with nothing - it makes you look unorganised, unprepared and you might find that it's a lil embarrassing.
This leads me on to my next tip - if you have a planner, please use it. Planners help you organise your workload into subjects, due dates and level of importance - trust me, it makes life a LOT easier when you're drowning in work. Sticking with this theme, I would also advise you to prioritise your work according to deadlines - do the work with earlier deadlines first, then you won't be panicking when it comes to the night before and you have tonnes of work left to do.
Once again, on the theme of organisation, my number one tip would be to keep everything together and organised clearly. For each of my subjects I had a different folder and for photography I had one memory stick for coursework and another for my exam project - this just helps keep everything together and lessens the chances of work being lost (but please back up electronic work). For sociology, because it's a subject with a massive level of content, I had a folder per unit so, in year 12, I had a folder for Family and a folder for Education. In year 13, I had a folder for theory and methods, a folder for beliefs in society and a folder for crime and deviance. Not only did this make it a lot easier when actually learning the topics, I had less to carry, I could divide my notes into sub-topics and it made it one hundred times easier when it came to revising for individual exams. For English, I had a folder for each teacher so that meant each paper as we had one teacher for paper one content, and another for paper two content - once again making it a lot easier when it came to revising content for exams. I also would really advise that you date your work in case you have a folder disaster and your work gets mixed up, you'll be able to organise it into sub-topics and keep related work together.
Finally, I have a tip for anyone beginning sixth form (whether that be in year 12 or year 13) - please, just try and do your homework during your free periods. Also, particularly in year 13, start revision in September - the content and course load for the majority of subjects is so massive that you need to be revising as soon as you can - it'll make you feel so much more confident and prepared when it comes to mocks and the real exams. I started revising in December for my mocks and then tried to carry on after the Christmas break and I was stressed and remember thinking 'ugh why didn't I start revising things as we were learning them' which is what I did for the crime topic of sociology and I felt one hundred times more confident on that topic than the others.
I hope these tips are helpful in some way shape or form. Though one thing I do think is important, while it may seem a lil bizarre, is to have fun and enjoy the year - you need to have a good balance of fun and work, after all, for some, these are the last years in education. Make the most of it. I can't tell you how many memories I created with my friends over the course of the last couple of years. I complained and slated my sixth form but, at the end of the day, I don't think I'd want it to have been any other way.
This leads me on to my next tip - if you have a planner, please use it. Planners help you organise your workload into subjects, due dates and level of importance - trust me, it makes life a LOT easier when you're drowning in work. Sticking with this theme, I would also advise you to prioritise your work according to deadlines - do the work with earlier deadlines first, then you won't be panicking when it comes to the night before and you have tonnes of work left to do.
Once again, on the theme of organisation, my number one tip would be to keep everything together and organised clearly. For each of my subjects I had a different folder and for photography I had one memory stick for coursework and another for my exam project - this just helps keep everything together and lessens the chances of work being lost (but please back up electronic work). For sociology, because it's a subject with a massive level of content, I had a folder per unit so, in year 12, I had a folder for Family and a folder for Education. In year 13, I had a folder for theory and methods, a folder for beliefs in society and a folder for crime and deviance. Not only did this make it a lot easier when actually learning the topics, I had less to carry, I could divide my notes into sub-topics and it made it one hundred times easier when it came to revising for individual exams. For English, I had a folder for each teacher so that meant each paper as we had one teacher for paper one content, and another for paper two content - once again making it a lot easier when it came to revising content for exams. I also would really advise that you date your work in case you have a folder disaster and your work gets mixed up, you'll be able to organise it into sub-topics and keep related work together.
Finally, I have a tip for anyone beginning sixth form (whether that be in year 12 or year 13) - please, just try and do your homework during your free periods. Also, particularly in year 13, start revision in September - the content and course load for the majority of subjects is so massive that you need to be revising as soon as you can - it'll make you feel so much more confident and prepared when it comes to mocks and the real exams. I started revising in December for my mocks and then tried to carry on after the Christmas break and I was stressed and remember thinking 'ugh why didn't I start revising things as we were learning them' which is what I did for the crime topic of sociology and I felt one hundred times more confident on that topic than the others.
I hope these tips are helpful in some way shape or form. Though one thing I do think is important, while it may seem a lil bizarre, is to have fun and enjoy the year - you need to have a good balance of fun and work, after all, for some, these are the last years in education. Make the most of it. I can't tell you how many memories I created with my friends over the course of the last couple of years. I complained and slated my sixth form but, at the end of the day, I don't think I'd want it to have been any other way.
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