How to survive Year 11.
So, I've been back at school for two weeks now and I've got to say. I miss summer. (that's coming from a winter lover) I'm not saying that I miss the sweltering heat that you can't escape, but I miss staying up til' "stupid o'clock" and not having to worry about getting up at quarter to seven. Scrambling around, half asleep looking for my school books. I miss those unpredictable days when my family would just go down to the beach on the spur of the moment and stay until the sun sets. Or when my best friend and I would plan picnics that might have not gone so much to plan, they were still enjoyable and I still have great memories of them. But, here I am two weeks into school, and I have to say. I have not seen one student (apart from the over excited new year 7's) that isn't walking around like one of the Zombies in The Walking Dead. So here's a few tips to help you through the last year of secondary school. (man I hope college is easier)
First of all, be prepared. On the first day back my tutor put some phrases up on the board. They were "be prepared, work hard, be nice" and to be honest I took one look at that board and thought. "Yeah telling a class that mildly tolerates each other to be prepared, work hard and be nice is totally going to help us" but being prepared is one of them and, it sure helped me. I love going to stationary shops and buying all the immensely cute yet hardly practical stationary. It's a part of the end of the holidays that sheds some light over the dark cloak that is draped over going back to school. But I was prepared, and naively excited to use all my new stuff when I went back.
Secondly, BRIBES. Last week around three times I bought myself a Yorkie chocolate bar and bribed myself to get all my work done. And It worked. I suggest buying a big bag or a couple of your favourite food, or something small that you really want. Like a make up product or a little nick knack that you've been eyeing up for a while. Set it aside, or if your anything like me get your sibling to keep hold of it until you have completed what you need to get done. And there you go, Bob's your uncle. Or in my case Simon, Tim and Andy are my uncles and my sister hasn't given me my reward yet. Imagine that (insert that unintelligent, mildly offensive and dumb voice everyone knows how to do) "umm, I didn't do my homework sir because my sister wouldn't give me my reward and then I couldn't be bothered to carry on without it." But if your sibling isn't as mischievous as mine, I'm sure you will do A-okay.
And Thirdly, stop comparing yourself to others. Yesterday actually, I got my Maths mock result back, and I'll be pleased to say I passed. Now Maths is not my strong suit and there is certainly other people who did better, but for me a pass is fine I did my best and I passed it. But the boy I sit next to didn't do as well as my small victory. He's actually pretty clever but he just doesn't apply himself. He spends most of the lesson asking to "get ideas off me" as he calls it (code for, can I copy please?) because he was too busy daydreaming and not listening. But after asking me what I got, he looked forlorn because he was comparing himself to me. Now, he may not have tried his best but if you have, and someone did better than you. Making yourself feel bad about how you did by comparing yourself to others isn't going to help. Just think of how you did, what you didn't do well on and try to progress. All you can do is your best.
Another thing to help you get through Year 11, is to stay on top of your homework. I know I must sound like every teacher on the earth plus your parents, but it is true. I've been in Year 11 for two weeks and I'm telling you there is so much work that they just expect you to finish at lightning speed, its important to keep on top of your homework, It's part of my after school routine. I get home, have a snack to cure my 3:00pm hunger pangs (don't lie to me and pretend you don't have a snack when you get home), put on some fluffy pyjama bottoms and scroll through all of my social media feeds. I might have a quick chat with The Bestie over Snapchat about our days as we have no lessons together. Around 4:00pm I start my homework and I do that until 5:00pm that's if a YouTube video or annoying my sister doesn't get in the way. On a good day I will set aside at least one to two hours of homework time, on a bad day when I want bugger all to do with school, half an hour to an hour is sufficient. And if one day, you just cant muster up the strength to get any done. That's okay. Just make sure you don't slip back into bad habits.
And lastly, let off some steam. (As my nan calls it) Do something you love. One of my favourite things to do Is go shopping (I mean who doesn't?). So me and my Best Friend went shopping today and even though I bought a pair of boots, some toothpaste (I know interesting isn't it), and a couple pairs of socks. we still had a great day. We strolled around chatting about mundane things and tottered about weaving in and out of balloon sellers and buskers. We had a Boots Meal deal for lunch. I had a Chicken and Tomato Pasta Salad and The Bestie had her classic Chicken and Mayo sandwich. We both had some Sour Cream Pringles and mix and matched our chocolate bars. And even though we were both extremely sleepy after having tea and watching a film. It still got us doing something different, and it gets you excited to plan other things. It also meant that we both weren't wallowing deep in the pits of our dark rooms scribbling on sheets of homework that were due in on the next weekday. (We left the scribbling for Sunday, wish me luck.)
That's all for my tips on how to survive the last year of Secondary school, in fact. No it isn't. The last tip I have is to have fun. The year will go so quickly you don't want to start college and think of how horrible your last year of school was. You'll want to thing of how great it was, however hard the work was. Hope these tips helped you, however experienced or inexperienced you want to see my two weeks of year 11.
If you have any questions or even some things I may have missed, (most likely quite a lot as I haven't fully experienced a whole year of being a Year 11) feel free to message me.
-Lottie
First of all, be prepared. On the first day back my tutor put some phrases up on the board. They were "be prepared, work hard, be nice" and to be honest I took one look at that board and thought. "Yeah telling a class that mildly tolerates each other to be prepared, work hard and be nice is totally going to help us" but being prepared is one of them and, it sure helped me. I love going to stationary shops and buying all the immensely cute yet hardly practical stationary. It's a part of the end of the holidays that sheds some light over the dark cloak that is draped over going back to school. But I was prepared, and naively excited to use all my new stuff when I went back.
Secondly, BRIBES. Last week around three times I bought myself a Yorkie chocolate bar and bribed myself to get all my work done. And It worked. I suggest buying a big bag or a couple of your favourite food, or something small that you really want. Like a make up product or a little nick knack that you've been eyeing up for a while. Set it aside, or if your anything like me get your sibling to keep hold of it until you have completed what you need to get done. And there you go, Bob's your uncle. Or in my case Simon, Tim and Andy are my uncles and my sister hasn't given me my reward yet. Imagine that (insert that unintelligent, mildly offensive and dumb voice everyone knows how to do) "umm, I didn't do my homework sir because my sister wouldn't give me my reward and then I couldn't be bothered to carry on without it." But if your sibling isn't as mischievous as mine, I'm sure you will do A-okay.
And Thirdly, stop comparing yourself to others. Yesterday actually, I got my Maths mock result back, and I'll be pleased to say I passed. Now Maths is not my strong suit and there is certainly other people who did better, but for me a pass is fine I did my best and I passed it. But the boy I sit next to didn't do as well as my small victory. He's actually pretty clever but he just doesn't apply himself. He spends most of the lesson asking to "get ideas off me" as he calls it (code for, can I copy please?) because he was too busy daydreaming and not listening. But after asking me what I got, he looked forlorn because he was comparing himself to me. Now, he may not have tried his best but if you have, and someone did better than you. Making yourself feel bad about how you did by comparing yourself to others isn't going to help. Just think of how you did, what you didn't do well on and try to progress. All you can do is your best.
Another thing to help you get through Year 11, is to stay on top of your homework. I know I must sound like every teacher on the earth plus your parents, but it is true. I've been in Year 11 for two weeks and I'm telling you there is so much work that they just expect you to finish at lightning speed, its important to keep on top of your homework, It's part of my after school routine. I get home, have a snack to cure my 3:00pm hunger pangs (don't lie to me and pretend you don't have a snack when you get home), put on some fluffy pyjama bottoms and scroll through all of my social media feeds. I might have a quick chat with The Bestie over Snapchat about our days as we have no lessons together. Around 4:00pm I start my homework and I do that until 5:00pm that's if a YouTube video or annoying my sister doesn't get in the way. On a good day I will set aside at least one to two hours of homework time, on a bad day when I want bugger all to do with school, half an hour to an hour is sufficient. And if one day, you just cant muster up the strength to get any done. That's okay. Just make sure you don't slip back into bad habits.
And lastly, let off some steam. (As my nan calls it) Do something you love. One of my favourite things to do Is go shopping (I mean who doesn't?). So me and my Best Friend went shopping today and even though I bought a pair of boots, some toothpaste (I know interesting isn't it), and a couple pairs of socks. we still had a great day. We strolled around chatting about mundane things and tottered about weaving in and out of balloon sellers and buskers. We had a Boots Meal deal for lunch. I had a Chicken and Tomato Pasta Salad and The Bestie had her classic Chicken and Mayo sandwich. We both had some Sour Cream Pringles and mix and matched our chocolate bars. And even though we were both extremely sleepy after having tea and watching a film. It still got us doing something different, and it gets you excited to plan other things. It also meant that we both weren't wallowing deep in the pits of our dark rooms scribbling on sheets of homework that were due in on the next weekday. (We left the scribbling for Sunday, wish me luck.)
That's all for my tips on how to survive the last year of Secondary school, in fact. No it isn't. The last tip I have is to have fun. The year will go so quickly you don't want to start college and think of how horrible your last year of school was. You'll want to thing of how great it was, however hard the work was. Hope these tips helped you, however experienced or inexperienced you want to see my two weeks of year 11.
If you have any questions or even some things I may have missed, (most likely quite a lot as I haven't fully experienced a whole year of being a Year 11) feel free to message me.
-Lottie
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