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Should I Stay On At My 6th Form Or Go Elsewhere?

Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
edited March 27 in Work & Study
I asked for the prospectus of the sixth form that is said to be the best in my borough. When I recieved the prospectus they also sent a list of the 6th forms / colleges in my borough in order of best to worst according to A-Level results. I was surprised to see my schools 6th form at around 10th place out of the 20 colleges / 6th forms as I thought that it would be much higher. I also applied to the 6th form that was placed 2nd however this 6th form is quite far from where i live. Now I am not sure whether i should just stay at my schools 6th form or go elsewhere?

How much of your final A-Level grades depend on yourself meaning your effort, hard work, etc and how much do they depend on other factors such as your teachers? Should I just stay at my 6th form?
Post edited by JustV on

Comments

  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    How much of your final A-Level grades depend on yourself meaning your effort, hard work, etc
    Your grade will ONLY depend on yourself.

    teaching at a level is NOT the same as at school... you need to be doing a lot more of your own learning rather than relying on your teachers/lecturers... otherwise your grades at the end of it will be pretty dreadful... however good your lecturers are.

    your learning needs to be independant. - that means YOU are responsible for what you are learning... based on the guidelines given by your lecturers.

    the idea is you use your teachers/lecturers at a level (and above), only really if you are stuck on something... or whatever... it's far from the same sort of teaching as you get at high school where you are told specifics of everything.

    as for what you should do, it's 100% your decision. nobody here can tell you what you "should" be doing. :)
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    otter wrote:
    Your grade will ONLY depend on yourself.

    teaching at a level is NOT the same as at school... you need to be doing a lot more of your own learning rather than relying on your teachers/lecturers... otherwise your grades at the end of it will be pretty dreadful... however good your lecturers are.


    sorry but in my experience that's not necessarily true, i went to a very good school, made very little extra effort in my a levels and still got 3 As. i would say this is mirrored by most of my friends.

    mate if i were you i would swap to the best sixth form you can, there are reasons why they achieve better than others, particularly learning atmosphere and teaching quality :)
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    If I were you I would go to a different place for your 6th form. It's a useful integration into a wider world, because your view could have become a tunneled from staying in the same school. It's nice to get a different perspective.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    I would definitely recommend going to a different college. It's so nice to meet new people, and experience new things, plus, sixth form colleges generally have a wider range of courses. Don't worry about the distance, it shouldn't matter if you truly enjoy your studies, which is the most important thing.

    I couldn't wait to leave secondary school, it was all too familiar and over the five years I was there I became increasingly tired of the people there. Infact the people who went to the school sixth form don't appear to have moved on, they are all just the same as they were before, the quiet ones are still quiet, the horrible ones are still horrible etc.

    A change of scenery could make all the difference to you.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Teaching standards are far less important at A- Level and its much more down to how much work you do. I left the second best 6th form in the borough to go to a poorley rated community college and ended up with better grades than most of the people from my secondry school. I'd say the order of importance in getting A levels is a) Good revision b) Putting effort into coursework c)good attendence d) Good teachers.

    Sixth form also means you have to spend far more time on the college premesis and crap like registers, rules etc.

    A lot of it depends on you though, if you have close friends who are staying on, you enjoy extra curricular activities and the teachers think highly of you then sixth form will suit you well. If you prefer to be independent then you'll be better off at college
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Mist wrote:
    If I were you I would go to a different place for your 6th form. It's a useful integration into a wider world, because your view could have become a tunneled from staying in the same school. It's nice to get a different perspective.
    :yes: Totally agree.

    I moved for my A2s, and I'm so glad I did.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    well i didnt have thee choice i had to go elsewhere for a levels, what i done was arrange visits and/or prospectuses and i saw what teh average grade intake was for gcse and what the average a level results were so i could see if id fit in ability wise

    worked and i went to a nice 6 form college, okay was full of essex people but made good friends and enjoyed my subjects, chemistry physics and maths
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    for me going to college was the worst thing in my life! i went o orpington college, it was a nightmare, the teaching lasted up to 5pm and on some days i had gaps of 5 hours!!! people say that college prepares you for uni but i think in a way it does but its better to not have to go through it yet if you get what i mean, i went to the best 6th form in my borough and its much better. i went otcollege for 3 days and left. also in a college there is more people and i go tthe feeling that they didnt care about me as much as i was just 1 person outta 2 thousand
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