How To Survive Sixth Form

The start of September saw millions of teenagers join sixth form/college for the first time (this is the year your turn 17 in if you are unsure as to what these terms mean). Now this is a huge jump in our education lives, one that not many schools prepare you for (I did a post on these differences here). I started in September and I wanted some advice as to what to do to make sure that I made a good start so below are 5 tips that really worked for me. 

1. Make a good first impression. Now this may seem obvious but if your teachers find you helpful, pleasant to teach and you stick to the rules, they are much more likely to want to help you when you need it and make your lives at school a lot easier. A teacher's job is to help you achieve good grades, so if you show them that you want these grades too, they will ensure that they do everything they can to help you. Nobody is going to want to help somebody who shows up late, disrespects them and doesn't show an interest in wanting to learn. To some of you, this may sound completely nerdy and as if I'm trying to be a teacher's pet, but the teachers I have are genuinely nice people and I would just treat them as I would treat anyone else.

2. Keep up to date with the work. During my last year at school I would usually leave the work until a day or 2 before it was due but this meant that if I had a lot due in on the same day, I would be totally stressed out trying to do it all in one go. Since I have started sixth form, I have tried to get all of my work done the day it is set to minimise the stress that I have to cope with. Last year also saw a huge surge in my anxiety because of the workload that I had to do in a short space of time. However, that has now dropped massively and I am relaxed and do not have to worry about cramming in work hours before it is meant to be collected in. As I do my homework early too, I have a lot more time to spend with my family and friends or doing things I love so I think I have finally found how to balance my work properly.

3. Get help if you need it. Last year was also a bad year for me getting help. If I ever didn't get anything I would never ask for help because I would think that I would irritate the teachers and that they had better things to do. Turns out they get paid to help people (shocker) so I have realised that they would prefer it if I told them when I didn't get anything as then they would make sure that I did and it makes everything a lot easier when you have to revise it later on in the year. Revising is just meant to be going over what you already know, not trying to get your head around something you still don't understand after a year of trying. Teachers can explain things a lot better than textbooks so if you ever don't understand something, just go and see them because that couple of minutes could save you days of trying in the summer.

4. Have an open mind. Luckily I didn't change schools when I started sixth form so I already had my group of friends but some people do change to somewhere where they do not know anyone. If you turn up to school then with an open mind and a certain level of confidence, you will find it easy to make new friends. Even if you do have a group of friends when you start, if you have an open mind you can make more friends and find yourself talking to people you didn't necessarily talk to last year. That's what I did and I've now made more friends in my classes by us sharing a common interest and talk to more people at break and lunch. Of course I still talk to my old friends just as much as I used to, it's just nice to talk to people who you didn't know before and life is a lot easier when you have more people that you can talk to then you don't.

5. Stay positive. This last point is by far the most important. When you start sixth form, your brain is full of negative thoughts like "you're never going to get the grades you need" or "everyone is going to think that you are weird". This is completely normal, but what isn't normal is if these thoughts stop you from doing the things you want to do. When I first started, the jump was so large that I was convinced that I was going to fail everything I had set my heart on and that I would never be able to follow my dreams. I soon discovered that this was ridiculous as I had only just started out and that of course I wasn't going to be brilliant straight away, that's why school give you a year to learn everything before the exams. Training yourself to think positively and saying "I can do this" when you are feeling like you are rubbish at everything does really work. It won't work instantly but over a period of time, you will start to believe what you are saying and the good grades will start to follow. Once you believe that you can do certain things, you will strive until you achieve the things you set out to achieve. As you don't feel as upset you start enjoying life more as well and since you only get one life, why waste it by worrying about everything all of the time?

So those are the 5 tips that have worked for me since I have started school again. These can work in any year at school or even work life too so it isn't just restricted to teenagers. I am not saying that these will definitely work for you, but why not give them a try? They are not going to do any harm to you. I really hope you find these useful and that your life is a lot more stress free after reading them. Until next time, goodbye everyone!

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