My A-level results

I found out my A-level results almost three weeks ago, and they were:

Biology: A

Psychology: B

German: B

Chemistry: A*

I was satisfied with the Biology and German results; I got a B in BIO4, so an A* was out of reach, and although I got an A in the German paper, my speaking was slightly weaker this year, so I'm still pleased with the result.

At first I was disappointed about the B in Psychology, but in hindsight I think there was a trade-off between Psychology and Chemistry, and ultimately, rather than revising to an A standard for both subjects, Psychology lost out while Chemistry gained. Before the start of the exam period I was hoping for an A* in Chemistry, but the horror of the F334 exam really dented my confidence, so this achievement was a brilliant surprise.

Thankfully, my UCAS Track status had been updated by the time I logged on at 8:03 am, so I knew that I'd been accepted by the University of Bristol before I found out my results. This was an immense weight off my mind, and now that I will definitely be studying pharmacology, it makes sense for this blog to undergo the same transformation, from bio-chem-psych-deutsch-student to something like pharmacology-student!

Psychology Unit 3 Online Conference

After school today I watched Cara Flanagan and Mike Cardwell's unit 3 revision conference, and picked up many useful revision and exam technique tips. The seminar was split into three half-hour sections: AO1, AO2, and putting them both together. A key point from the AO1 presentation was that less is more; it's important to explain what you know in detail, so it's better to give fewer points, but say more about them. This information should also be structured and organised into four paragraphs of roughly 50 words in length.

The AO2 content should be a maximum of eight 50-word points, no more than two of which should be IDA.  Supporting studies suggest that the original study has good ecological validity an is externally reliable. This in turn suggests that the original research or theory is credible and valuable. Naturally, non-supporting research suggests the opposite. Moreover, a gender or culture differences point can become IDA if the link back states that the theory or explanation may not be universal and so is culture- or gender-biased.

In terms of writing a full answer, it is noteworthy that one theory or explanation can yield two thirds of the marks if the question specifically asks for two. This further stresses the "less is more" point, and Cara advised learning one theory in detail, and another in enough detail to write a third of an answer, to prepare for the possibility of a question like this coming up.

Biology gifs

Action potential

Sliding filament theory 1

Sliding filament theory 2

Organic toolkit reactions' conditions game

Click here for larger version
http://www.classtools.net/widgets/dustbin_7/Acjeu.htm

Deutsche Enthüllungsbericht

Im Moment versuche ich, meinen Enthüllungsbericht vorzubereiten. Ich hoffe, dass dies mir hilft!

2014 exam dates

June 2014

3rd pm - PSYA3 Aggression, Relationships and Sleep

9th am - GN4 Listening, Reading and Writing

9th pm - F334 Chemistry of Materials

11th am- PSYA4 Schizophrenia, Addiction, Research Methods

13th pm - BIOL4 Populations and Environment

17th pm - F335 Chemistry by Design 

20th am - BIOL5 Control in Cells and Organisms

German lesson notes 06/01/14

In the first lesson back we practised translation skills.

verletzt wurden - was injured
getragen is the past participle of tragen
der Rassismus - racism
tausende von Deutschen - thousands of Germans
der Angriff - attack
in dem/in der - in which
mit den Worten... darauf
tolerant is a cognate
Angst haben
aus anderen Ländern - from other countries
hierherkommen - to come here

One of my main issues is choice of prepositions, which I could improve by researching each preposition individually to collate their precise uses.

Wider Reading: Bangen um Michael Schumacher

Vokabel:
der Zustand - state/condition
die Verletzung - injury
voraussagen - to predict/prognosticate
sich ereignen - to take place/occur
der Felsen - rock
das Hirn/ Gehirn - brain
geschehen - to happen
der Hubschrauber - helicopter
künstlich - artificial
sicherstellen - to assure
der Sauerstoff - oxygen
erfolgreich - successful
sich verbreiten - to spread (things)

Summary:
This article is about the skiing accident suffered by Michael Schumacher in France. No other skiers were involved and Schumacher fell and hit his head on a rock. Despite wearing a helmet, he sustained a serious brain injury and was taken to hospital by helicopter. After an emergency operation, he was put into an induced coma, and doctors can only say for certain that his brain is receiving enough oxygen. The final paragraph summarises Schumacher's achievements: he is the most successful F1 driver, having been the world champion seven times, and has millions of fans who have been posting "get well soon" wishes on his website.

Frohes Neues Jahr!

I haven't made any proper resolutions this year, but if I had resolved to use this blog more, this would be a good start! I've created a study planner on Get Revising and during this session I'm going to read at least one German article from sowieso.de. Guten Rutsch ins neue Jahr!