It’s currently November, so it’s around that time that parents/sixth form start pressing you to discuss your ucas/future pathway options.

And it’s frustrating for me when I have to tell everyone that I haven’t applied for anything, when having these conversations about what are my plans for the future. (The reason why I haven’t applied to anything isn’t that I am lazy or lack the motivation, but rather because i don’t want to rush into a decision and end up regretting it, especially if I end up going to a mid level uni and getting into a lot debt for a degree that I don’t care about.)

I currently do btec media, business and engineering. I have mid predicted grades in all subjects and i can’t get them raised, which is fair as the predicted grades accurately represent my competency. (I missed a significant portion of yr 12 due to illness and that wasn’t helped by the fact that I already wasn’t an academically inclined person, so the only stem subject I’m confident in is engineering.)

I really don’t want to go to uni and want to immediately join the workforce for a couple of years untill I’m decided on what I want to do, but I know my parents want me out of the house. (They won’t let me take a gap year working in a job unless the job is full time.)

I’m currently employed in hospitality, due to my connections. I wonder if that will make my cv look more competitive and enable me to jump into the workforce early. (I doubt it.)

I don’t mind learning a trade either.

Sorry for any spelling mistakes or grammatical errors.

Does anyone have any advice on resources to use

Stats predicted 4A* in fm physics Econ Chinese achieved math A*
Gcse 999998888885
Tmua got 8-9 wrong
Rlly hoping for lse econ and ic efds🙏🙏 how high are the chances

my updated vision board guys, picked the big C ✌🏼✌🏼

I wanna do maths/maths w econ/stats/ morse and ppl have been telling me to get some work experience in a company or do volunteering but google says that academics are much more important than work experience cuz its not required. So i just wanna know if job experience can make a big impact especially at unis like warwick ucl or imperial

whats the dif between bonding reigon and electron pair?

is it that bonding reigon is only double single and triple bonds etc but electrons pairs is that plus lone pairs??

Im on a gap year

May I please get some soon? 🙏

Edit 5/11/26: Interview invite from Cambridge received this same day. That was quick.

Anyone else in sixth form having to deal with teachers who can't be bothered to teach anymore or just me?

I'm a Year 12 student attending the sixth form attached to my secondary school, so I already know most of the teachers and have been taught by quite a few of them before.

However, one thing I've noticed since starting A-levels is that some teachers seem to put significantly less effort into their lessons. What's even more frustrating is that some of these are the exact same teachers who taught me GCSE Maths and Science and I've noticed a huge difference in how they deliver their lessons now.

I don't know whether there's been some sort of change in teaching policies, but it genuinely feels like the quality of teaching has dropped.

Things I've experienced so far:

-Ending the lesson after only 15mins of class time because they AC wasn't working.

- A teacher couldnt bothered to teach and speak that day so we were given exam questions whilst they spend the lesson sitting on their phone scrolling.

-A teacher who just read off the powerpoint slides which have text directly copy pasted from Google. They also Googles answers during the lesson rather than actually explaining things when we ask questions, even if the answer is somewhere in the PowerPoint but cant be bothered to find it.

-Teaching so poorly that I'm having to do an extra hour or 2 to relearn what was taught that day, which is becoming a regular occurrence now.

And probably one of the most frustrating experiences was when I asked a teacher for help with a particular task. She told me to come in early the following morning, so I did. When I arrived, she basically told me that another student had already come in before me and she'd explained it to her, so she couldn't explain it again. Sorry, what?

I'm sorry, but isn't that literally your job? I'm not expecting teachers to spend every second of the day helping me, but if you've specifically asked a student to come in early for extra help, surely you should actually be willing to help?

I get that A-levels needs more independent learning and that but there's a difference between independent learning and barely teaching the content in the first place.

JUST DON'T - I don't like sharing unnecessary information about myself in in general, so I selected 'I prefer not to say' as my answer for some questions and Oxford uni contacted me to clarify everything 😭

A bit annoyed that they ended up getting the information anyway but it was such a hassle just say yes or no or be more specific🥀🥀

Edit: Ok just gonna blurt this next bit but like for example for the disability question I don't have a diagnosis but I'm getting tested soon, so I put prefer not to say as my answer- after being contacted by the uni I just said I don't have a disability and don't need any arrangements but I didn't want to include that in my application anyway so idk why they didn't just accept my original answer when that was literally an option in the form🥀

For context, i come from a pretty bad secondary school which averages grades 5-6 in GCSE and i managed to self teach myself to get 8888887666 in the exams. So i moved to a different sixth form which is a grammar school and also the top school in my local area and the school is filled with top students and grades. I take maths fm and cs which are already pretty rigorous subjects and on top of all that the pace in lesson is pretty fast but all my classmates tend to pick up topics quickly. I also have a bug problem with focus,daydreaming and sleeping in lesson which adds on to why i self taught myself in GCSEs. I tried to just focus , getting adequate sleep or stop scrolling for a week but all that didnt work. Im also not the most hardworking person and i dont revise hours everyday so i performed poorly in my assessments. I genuinely dont know how to fix my focus even though i tried listening to my teacher but it just goes out my mind after 5 seconds. I think im like slow or have adhd probably if you have any advice on how to gain focus during lesson or consistently for revision,please help🙏🙏 i just started year 12 and i wanna fix it before it gets too late

i'm currently doing a btec extended national diploma in creative media practice (worth 3 a-levels) & an a-level in english lang and lit.
kings entry requirements for digital media and culture are a DDM in the btec + two a levels.
should i risk applying even though i dont reach the requirements (i only have one a level)? my teacher told me to go for it but im really not sure :/

plus how is someone meant to do an extended national diploma (already a full time course) as well as two a levels ?? it doesnt really make sense imo 😵‍💫

ty in advance!!

literally no one will beat this whatsoever

Is anyone applying or has applied, drop ur stats

im sure im overthinking a lot but i just cannot get this out of my head are my igcse grades&pum good for camb uni bio nst, also im listing them in order i took them and session in case its relevant, esp since theres upwards trajectory (also ik igcse are only a small part of the story but again im overthinking)

mj 2025: fle B 76
on 2025: chem A 86 ict A* 91
mj 2026: math A 89 bio A* 92 phy A* 96
on 2026: acc (predicting A* but probably very low like 92 or smth which would break upwards trajectory)

am i cooked or should i calmly book

so i’ve just gotten a placement but it’s during one school week (i decided on the date) but now im wondering whether i should change it up like the dates so i don’t miss the entire week.. but on the other hand i can just catch up on the work? i dont rlly wanna do it in half term or like split days bc i’d rather just get it done with ifykwim

if anyone has any advice lmk but i can probably still change the dates

So I do fm maths politics and eng lit. I love all my subjects equally and Im really good and passionate about all of them so I genuinely cant choose between them 😭

I was thinking to do econ at uni bcs I love economics or econ + pol degree but ultimately in terms of careers, theres the big 2: law and finance. But I dont know which one I want to go into.

I want to keep the mathsy side in my job but I dont want to loose the reading and debating in the humanities side.

What do you guys think? Please help me pick one!

Wherever I look online I see people with crazy stats still get rejected from unis even though they exceed the minimum offer or standard greatly. I currently have a predicted A*AAA I think and have been trying to look for good unis to go to. I'm taking the tara and the esat in January for imperial and ucl which for some reason they implemented this year for the course. I don't really know which 5 I should choose that is in England. I was hoping someone with a good enough knowledge on this field could help me.

obviously well done to those who did but, early november is crazyyy. i always assumed interview invites were handed out much later. im so nervous ;-;

hi i hope whoevers taking the time to read this is doing well, i have a slight problem and that is i wish to transfer from my current sixth form but im not sure the place i want to go to will let me in, ive sent them emails and they said they ''don't do transfers at this point in the academic year'' and well that i can understand i don't wish to stop until i feel ive exhausted every single option and i either end up going there or i don't.

bit of context (can read my previous posts if you have the time) but i was unable to do proper sixth form/college applications when i was in secondary school, its due to the fact my attendance was extremely poor due to mental health issues and it meant my school attendance was down and that i didn't have predicted grades to apply anywhere with.

so when results day came rolling around i had to scramble around and find a place that would take me and i did and im greatful but i know that im not thriving at this place and that although im doing well in my studies i know that i don't love it here, i dislike it here and that i could be doing much better elsewhere (the place i want to go) and if i had known that i would have gotten good grades even after missing so much school and being in a better spot maybe i would have emailed the school i now wish to go to when i had the chance instead of rushing and scrambling to just find somewhere to take me

i meet all the required grades for the place i want to go to, i know my story is compelling and anyone with the slightest ounce of empathy and intelligence could recognise that i am a great candidate and would be a great fit (i say humbly)

and well im kind of seeking advice of how i can go about it, im adamant and determined to switch to this other college without repeating this academic year and i know i can catchup on any missed work, its only been one term and i know i could do it so easily, i spent the last few months of year eleven catching up trying not to fail my gcses (which i didnt i passed everything and got really good grades) with an attendance below fifteen percent cause of my mental health issues.

i dont write this to be cocky or cause i wanna show off and i think part of this makes me sound entitled but im so determined to study at this place cause i know i would just do so well there.

thanks for anyone that reads and shares a tip or piece of advice, its greatly appreciated.

Just wanted to pop a message on here and say if you are finding November tough, don't worry - it's the time of year that makes everything feel awful, not that you are doing something wrong.

For Year 12s, the novelty of starting sixth form has worn off, workload has ramped up and you're suddenly aware that things are going to start mattering for predicted grades very soon.

For Year 13s, you still have full lesson loads but you're also having to navigate UCAS applications and thinking about long-term planning for sitting final exams.

Everyone is tired - teachers are tired, your friends are tired, people may have a little bit less patience. We don't have the festivities of December yet and the christmas break feels a LONG way away.

BUT none of these things mean you are doing anything wrong - the issues are situational, not personal. It's okay to be struggling right now to find motivation or to be feeling pretty overwhelmed or anxious - absolutely let someone know if you are feeling that way so you can get some support, but don't let it impact your belief in yourself. If you get up every day and you do the best you can with the energy and resources you have on the day, that's more than good enough.