Personal Reflections
Navigating sixth form — without a script
Sixth form can feel like a performance where every move is graded. Here’s what I wish someone told me about ambition, procrastination, and turning eagerness into execution.
I do not believe we are fully prepared for the jump from GCSEs to A-levels — I mean we are constantly reminded that content is like a tall building with endless floors; to think that every action will be measured and quantified with letters representing your future. Every mock exam, every work experience completed, every bit of volunteering, all coming together to shape your career.
I'm 17 years old and it took me a while to develop confidence in myself whilst at the same time battling the challenges of sixth form life. I think that there are two categories of students in sixth form: students who are ambitious and others who are relaxed.
I do believe that I am "filled from the crown to the toe top full” of ambition. Personally, I think that there are two parts to ambition: eagerness and execution. Many will say to you that they have big ideas and aspirations to do big projects, but there are very few that execute those ideas and put them into action.
For a while I would say that I fell into the category of eagerness lacking in that execution which set me back a lot, but once I identified my weakness I started to think more on that element of execution. In this blog I aim to turn my readers' eagerness into their execution.
Before sixth form I thought that I would enter a world of organisation: aesthetic notes with lilac binders and constant support from my teachers. The truth is there are 800 students in my school and around 100 teachers and the most common response you will hear is “email me” just to not receive a response; notes are rarely ever neat with constant writing of essays, 20 mark questions which must include graphical references, and binders that have slowly lost their colour.
Some days are very productive. I complete biology practice papers, mark an essay on minority influences for psychology, or tackle a juicy 20 marker on globalisation for economics. However other days I question everything: where to start, where to end, have I done enough, has it been effective; and if not how can I refine it.
Procrastination is a killer which leeches on ambition, dwindling down eagerness and turning it into something negative. In this blog I hope to show readers how to manage the unhealthy lifestyle of procrastination and turn it into execution.
Thanks for engaging in my post — signing off now, S.C.