How to Succeed in Secondary School (England)

Know your way around the school. Look at the school map if there is one, or request a member of staff for a copy of one. It is important to know where every classroom is, where the toilets are and where the canteen and playgrounds are. This will be very beneficial, for example when you need to go to the toilet quickly or you are running short of time to get to a classroom. It will save you any trouble.

• Open days before the school year begins can be a very good idea for you to look at the school and know where everything is. Some schools on Google Maps also have an inside look-around.
• If you turn up late for the first lesson, you may be let off, but if this happens consistently, some teachers won't be so lenient.

Get to know a few students. You may like to know a few people from day one to have some conversations with. It is not necessary to have friends on the first day, but just talking to other people will be good for you instead of being alone in a corner.

• If the students seem hostile to you when you meet them, start to walk away. If they are in a group and they all behave in a menacing way, do not talk to them, as you may easily get bullied or even make friends with bullies.
• Present yourself as a kind, friendly person. Otherwise, people may not feel so comfortable approaching you.

Talk to some teachers. Before lessons begin, talk to some teachers about what to do in the first few days. You may not know them, but they are there to help you. Some of them will be your teachers in lessons, so it is good to know them a little first so you feel more at ease with them. In particular, you should feel comfortable with your form tutor, who you will most likely see every morning for registration. They are there for any general questions or concerns.

Explore many different places in the school. Go to the library to find out what books might be in store that looks good to you, or go to the canteen to buy some food and meet up with others there. Or maybe go to some special classrooms like the music and drama studios, or the sports hall. You never know what you might find!

Make a good impression in your lessons in the first few days. Teachers in the first few days look for personalities and potential in their students. Will you thrive in their teaching environment? It would be sensible to arrive on time, come in quietly, listen to them attentively, and do the work so you make a good impression on them.

Look at some extracurricular activities. It isn't necessary to do them in the first week, but looking at them can give you an idea of what you may like to do after school. Many clubs and societies in schools offer athletic, creative, and logical skills to appeal to all types of students.

• Ask your parents if you would like to go to an extracurricular activity for permission.

Know how to present yourself with others. Don't act arrogant, mean, hostile or rude to anyone, especially teachers or older students. Don't forget, you are only in Year 7, and you do not want to receive sanctions on your first few days, as this will give a bad impression to teachers and your parents!

Maintain high standards and grades. It will be very rewarding for you, your teachers, and your parents to keep up your standards, as this shows your multi-tasking, concentration, and knowledge skills.

• Try to be above average in the class. For example, if there are 30 students in your class, try to be in the top 10.

Do your homework on time and to the best of your ability. This shows that you are able to work to deadlines and avoid sanctions. Ensure your homework is at a high standard, so you may even receive rewards for your homework!

• Avoid spending long hours at night doing your homework. This isn't good for your health. Start your homework early, preferably the day it is set, so you have plenty of time to do it. Avoid procrastinating. You also need enough sleep for the next school day.
• Start long projects early. For example, if you have a month to do a 3D model of something, start the first-week planning, the second week assembling and the third week evaluating, improving, and adding extras. You have lots of time left to relax!
• If your homework is on technology, print it as soon as you complete it so you don't have the trouble of saying why you don't have your homework to your teachers because you didn't print it.

Take a study break. It would be a good idea to have a 10-15 minute break for every 45 minutes of work. Make sure you are able to continue back to your work after your break instead of dozing off or extending your break too far.

Work with friends in a study group. It might be easier for you to work with friends so you can help each other and do work more quickly.

• Make sure you have permission and a place to meet up when working with friends.

Don't be afraid to ask for help at any time. Whether it is at school or at home, asking for help when you are unsure can help you. For example, you may not understand what you have to do for homework, so asking your teachers will save you any trouble doing the wrong homework or not doing enough or even too much for homework.

Maintain strong relationships with your friends. Your friends are there to support you through the year, even in the darkest times. Help each other with even the smallest things, or spend time together doing things you all like.

Keep yourself healthy. You need to take care of yourself as well. Having a good breakfast, a good night's sleep, and a determination for the school day will help you in the long run.

Use lessons to your advantage. Learn the syllabus for the lesson beforehand, so you have a good knowledge of understanding when you come in for the lesson. You can then accelerate above everyone else and ask the teacher for some extension work for you to learn even further.

Do some studying every night. Just recapping and looking over some formulae, notes, the lesson, or your schoolwork can be good for you to identify strengths and weaknesses and do some studying to improve yourself.

Make some room for fun. Finish your homework early during the weekend so you have time to play with your friends or do some exercise or just relax. It will be a good incentive after all the work you have done and your parents will be glad to see you doing a balance of both work and fun.

Study a few days or a week before an assessment or test. Make sure you know what content will be tested in the assessments, so you know what to study. Make lots of notes, study tips, and questions for yourself. Doing so every day until the day of the test will make you fully prepared for it.

Use supplemental resources. Use your textbooks and workbooks for the format and questions that will be in the test, or some educational apps and websites for flashcards, mini-tests etc. Some good educational resources are Quizlet, Memrise (languages only), and Anki.

Ask your parents, family members, and friends to test you. It will be good practice for you to review your knowledge. For example, if you have a French-speaking assessment coming up, memorize the questions and your responses and ask them to say the questions to you in a random order. That way, you will be thinking spontaneously, just like in a test.

Use the Internet to help. Some revision websites like Bitesize and S-cool (Years 9-13 only) provide information about all the topics in your course for all subjects, so they will be hugely beneficial.

Cram on the day of the test. This is not ideal, but if you feel like you haven't done enough revision, quickly look at your notes and classwork before the test, for example before school when you come in. However, try to revise as much as possible before the day of the test, so you don't encounter these situations very often.

Decide what you want to do for GCSEs. GCSEs are important for later academic life, such as university and college. You need to choose GCSEs that you are good at, enjoy, and will help you in later life. To help you choose your GCSEs and keep your options open for A-Level as well, here are the categories that each subject can be put in:

• Core subjects: English, Maths, Combined Science (if your school does this), Triple Science, i.e. Biology, Chemistry, Physics (if your school does this). Religious Studies may also be a core subject in your school. Check with your school if this is the case.
• Modern & Ancient Foreign Languages
• Creative subjects: Art & Design, Design & Technology, Computer Science, Drama, Dance*, Food Preparation & Nutrition, Home Economics*, Music, PE. *Starred subjects are old specifications, but your school may still do this.
• Additional subjects: Classics, Geography, History, Business Studies, Economics
• Of course, every school is different when choosing GCSEs, but this is a guideline.
• Don't choose a particular subject just because it is easy, the teacher is kind, or your friends are doing it. Choose one because you enjoy the subject, have a passion for it, and want to pursue a career linked to it.

Start studying from day one of your GCSE preparation. In all of your subjects, studying every day will improve your knowledge and will better prepare you for the final exams. After all, you can only take the GCSE and A-Level exams once!

Achieve at least a Grade 7 in your tests and assessments. Grade 7 is equal to an A in the old specification, and maintaining this high standard will make you excel in your year.

• If you get a bad grade, don't worry! Nobody's perfect, so keep your head up and work on improving yourself.

Decide what you want to do for A-Levels. Once you have finished your GCSEs, A-Levels are the next stage. They will be significantly harder than GCSE, so choose the subjects you are best in and will facilitate you in the future.

• Facilitating subjects include: English Literature, Maths & Further Maths, Sciences, Modern & Ancient Languages, Humanities.
• You can only do 3 A-Levels or 4 A-Levels with Further Maths.
• Check your school about entry requirements to do your subject in A-Level for the minimum grades required.
• Try to avoid subjects that will not be accepted often in your universities and will not help you in the future. General subjects to avoid are: General Studies, Critical Thinking, Media Studies and Dance.

Achieve at least a B in your tests and assessments in your AS year, and at least an A in your tests and assessments in your A2 year (Years 12-13 only). A-Level is significantly harder than GCSEs, so you need to be fully focused. Achieving a B is actually very hard to do in AS, and achieving an A is very hard to do in A2, but doing so shows your academic excellence and dedication to your schoolwork.

Revise as much as you can every day in the few months leading to the final GCSE and A-Level exams. Look at Part 4, Tests & Assessments, to help you with this.

Do lots of past papers for your subjects for your exam boards and specifications. That way, you will know the format of the questions and how to answer them, otherwise, it's no use learning everything without knowing how to use it!

• For GCSE, there may not be any past papers for the new specification, but still use the old specification papers for exam question practice.

Look at the specifications for your GCSEs and A-Levels. Identify your strengths and weaknesses and what you need to work on. Look at the whole course itself and try to figure out which topics are more likely to be in the tests than others. For example, in GCSE Chemistry, more higher-level topics like ionic equations and atom economy will be more likely to come up in the Higher tests than in the Foundation tests.

Receive your results. A-Level results come in the middle of August, and GCSE results come a week later, near the end of August. Whatever the result is, be proud of yourself of the work you have done. Make sure, though, your results are enough to pass the entry requirements to do your A-Levels (Year 11 only) and your universities (Year 13 only).

Do the bridging work if you have any (Year 11 only). Some schools require students to do compulsory bridging work between GCSE results day and the first day of AS year. Make sure you do the bridging work for all of your A-Level subjects, on time to hand in back to school.

Complete your UCAS application. The UCAS (Universities and Colleges Admissions Service) is your university application to apply to a maximum of five universities and colleges. Make everything to the best of your ability, as your UCAS can only be submitted once!

• For most universities, the deadline for UCAS applications is 15 January, but for Oxford and Cambridge, the deadline is 15 October.

Decide what college (if your university has colleges) you want to go in. You can apply for a specific college in your UCAS, but if you are unsure or you do not have any preferences, make an open application.

Go to the Open Days of the universities you are considering going to. They will help you make up your mind and find out what is there. Try to explore as many things as you can during the Open Days.