Pages

Thursday 19 May 2016

What's harder, uni or A levels?

Now before I begin, please consider that this is a subjective piece and that I am writing via my own experiences of A Levels and my degree (English and Creative Writing). I appreciate that not everyone will have had the same experiences as me but I do think on the whole this blog has a certain amount of accuracy.

Sixth Form students, I do not envy you.

Whether you're taking AS or A2 exams, I remember those days as fondly as the day I first got stung by a bee.

They were the most nerveracking, atrociously long, and torturous weeks of my life.

You have to revise for 3/4 subjects. You have an exam on average once every 2 days, maybe twice, maybe thrice. You have the pressure of university breathing down your neck.

I promise you, sixth form students, it's not forever, even if it seems like it will be. The last exam will come around eventually and you will, eventually, be able to go home and not have to look at a piece of paper for at least a few weeks, depending on what stage you're at.

You have my full and unrelenting sympathy.

But what next?

If you were like me and hoping to go to university afterwards, you might be thinking, 'will university will be on an entire new level of pain?'

Are A Levels, as teachers love reminding their students, the introduction to university life?

'This sort of independent study is what you have at university'. 'If you turned up a minute late for a class at university you'd not be let in.' 'You think you have a lot of work now? Wait until you go to university, that'll be a shock for you!' - read all of these in the whiny, high-pitched tone of that one teacher who's been at the school since the dawn of time. We all had them at school, that one teacher who was hated by everyone and was everywhere and anywhere as if they were the omniscient fart of the school.

So, is there any truth in their statements?

Comparing them to my university experiences, no.

Yes, there is a lot of independent work to do but no more than A levels. You have a LOT more free time at university, meaning you can take your time to do the work without worrying you're going to get a detention or a black dot next to your name.

No, if you turn up a minute late to a lecture they will not tell you to f-off. Some lecturers might, but the vast majority will just give you a look, perhaps crack a joke, and let you sit down and get your paper out.

The workload comparison from A levels to uni?

Well, there's a lot of work at uni, of course there is. But I have to say, looking back, the workload for A levels was more time-consuming and soul depleting.

At uni you are a) doing a subject you love (or at least should be), and b) only doing ONE subject.

The biggest criticism I have for A levels is that doing more than one subject in that much depth becomes confusing and stressful. You might have to switch from thespian mode to historian mode, English mode to Music mode.

It is as if they expect you to have a switch that can change your mental state from, for example, creative to academic.

University allows you to stay in one continuous mindset.

Yes you will have different modules but they will all be part of the same tree. During A levels you're constantly jumping from forest to forest.

Don't think I'm saying A levels are completely awful. They are the toughest test to show you whether you're ready for uni. If you pass then great! You are ready for the next step in higher education. However, if you fail, this isn't to say you're not fit for university.

All I'd say for you unlucky students in sixth form, take your exams seriously and prioritise them completely. Work hard, revise a lot, and go into the exams with a cool mind; granted this is easier said than done.

Don't worry about university during A levels. It's pointless at that time.

The workload at university is far more controllable than A levels.

A levels feel like you're freefalling without a parachute. University feels your freefalling without a parachute also, you just have a cushion to land on instead of concrete.

Friday 13 May 2016

University; 3 years well spent!

Oh, bugger!

Without any awareness of time ticking away in the background of the student bar, the rugby field or the library, 3 years of brilliant university life has come to an abrupt and shocking end.

I remember being accepted into uni with the teary-eyed parents ringing up all family members, expressing their delight that their eldest had made it into higher education.

I remember on the first day saying hello to some bloke in halls of residence within an hour of moving in, trying to understand his peculiar accent which I soon discovered to be of the Mancunian race.

I remember when I first met a peculiar looking bloke wearing a YOLO t-shirt, thinking he was probably a bit 'off'. Turns out he was a bit odd but he turned out to be one of my best mates later on.

I remember meeting another individual who had an accent closer to Klingon than English. She tried explaining where we were going to venture out to later on that evening but I had to get someone else to translate. It turned out she was from Barnsley, or in her tongue Barrrnslaaaay, and she also turned out to be one of my best mates later on.


And of course there were others too who if I have not mentioned in the post, don't despair, you know who you are! I haven't forgotten about you; The Dickhead of Donny, The Girlfriend Befriender, The Gear but No Idea Pilot, M-Forehead, Irish Matt, Cahomeh, Billy No-Nickname, Chinese Sam, Ronnie, Dickhead of Donny's carer, and Burger N..., actually, we'll leave that one.

But now, I'm sat in a coffee shop in Brighton, a million miles away from my beloved dump of a city, Coventry. The sun's out, I'm drinking perhaps the best latte on the planet, I'm with my mates from back home, but still I feel this knot in my stomach.

It's a reminder that no matter how much I try, those three years will never come back.

It feels like that no matter how hot this summer becomes, no matter how good my yet-to-get job will become, the delight of university will never be there once more.

For any of you wondering what university is or what it can be, take this one sentence summary below as a good guide:

It's where you discover people you'd never usually meet, learn things more than just academic, grow up quicker than any other time in your life, and all while drifting between hangovers, deadlines, and making £20 pay for a week's food and a night out. 

All in all, it's bloody brilliant and I feel as if I'm mourning its passing.

I would do anything to go back to my first night out, jumping up and down at the price of jager bombs; 2 for £5. I would do anything to go back to my first rugby social which, as far as I know, ended up with myself acting like a right tit, trying to impress a load of older rugby lads. I would do anything to go back to meeting my girlfriend in a club on a Saturday night which, if you don't know already, you never do as student. You never socialise with the locals of your student city, they won't like you and you probably won't like them.

To be honest, university is like making an elastic-band ball. It will start off as something exciting and easy to make. Each band will go on as quickly as the seconds go by. But slowly, as second and third year comes around, the ball will get bigger and more difficult to make. Each band will need more stretching and when you're near the end of university and finishing of your dissertation, you feel like your bands will snap. But they won't and you'll finish uni with a ball created by thousands of memories, some smaller than others but all as important as each other.

I guess what I'm saying is that if you're a first year or even a second year, just appreciate every second you have in that environment. Don't regret anything you do and work bloody hard. Appreciate it's not forever and that you won't be living with those group of mates for very long.

Go to university with the highest hopes and you'll leave it knowing those hopes weren't high enough.

And to all the people who I became mates with during university, thank you. It was bloody brilliant!

Posh Boy x