Congrats in getting into your number one university pick!! And you did really amazing in your exams! I don't understand any system outside of the Netherlands but the way you showed it helped me understand it a bit better. It's not a video I would normally watch but I just wanted to say congrats on getting those results and getting into your number one university. Now it's your time to celebrate and relax! -Lucy
Congratulations on your grades, and for getting into your dream university! I did my IB exams this May, passed and I was accepted into Oulu University (it's in Finland) to study physics. I didn't get the grades I wished to get, but I'm still very happy that I can continue my studies in the field I'm interested in. I must mention that I received a grade B for my English B Extended Essay, which was a total shock for me. My teacher gave me a C for the essay and considering my poor skills in literature analysis in any language, receiving a B was a pleasant surprise.
Congratulations on your suuuuper amazing results and getting into uni! A few years ago I went on an internship in Belfast and a girl over there explained me everything about the UK education system, and I'm still so blown away by the huge differences between the UK and the Dutch systems. Anyhow, well done! Uni will be great, even if you're feeling like it's big and scary. If I can get through my first year, so can you ;)
My language classes at college only had a few people in them! It's kinda sad really that people don't want to study languages as much! Congrats on your A-Level results! :) I hope you enjoy university! :)
Alex Sharrock Language classes never seem very popular - my French class had 4 people in (one person stopped turning up) and then my Spanish class had 2. My sixth form decided to stop running A Level languages after my year because of it, which is a shame :( (but a good job I was born when I was or else I might not have gone down the languages route!) Thank you :D
***** I'm going to be the only person studying German at AS/A2 Level this year :( Congratulations on your amazing results, and for getting into Durham!
Congratulations on your results you did brilliant! I got my gcse results this year which i was very happy about and i am starting my AS levels next year which i have now found out that all the courses have changed to the extent where most the courses have no coursework at all! I was shocked to hear about this and this makes me a bit afraid since i am doing the new geography course and like you said it's a much easier stress free way to gain marks for your subjects, i wish i was a 2 years older so i could have done my courses with coursework :(
+Dighug Thank you and good luck with your AS Levels :) Don't worry about the changes, even if it seems a bit daunting - I think it'll be the same with everyone taking the subject, so the grade boundaries will still balance out and you won't be disadvantaged because of your age. That's why they have UMS marks :)
Congratulations! I'm so happy for you! I got an A* in my English Literature too in AQA and the same as you I didn't have a clue how that happened haha! I remember loving the course so much and I'm glad you enjoyed it, the coursework was so fun to do, it was just memorising all of those quotations for the exam. Anyway, I hope you enjoy university. I am going into my second year now and I'm telling you to make the most out of every single second! Best of luck :)
Rachel Louise Atkin Thank you! English Literature is always confusing when it's marked - I worked really hard but I put in a lot of effort last year too and came out with a B at AS. So to get significantly higher in the resit and then overall, ultimately getting an A*, was a huge shock! I'm really happy with the result :D
Massive congratulations! Durham is such a beautiful city. I just got my AS results. Somehow managed 5As- now to keep it up for A2! Hope you have a great time at Uni.
simslovabethie Thank you! Those results are amazing, you should definitely apply to some of the top universities if you're thinking of heading down that route! I got into Durham even though I got AABB at AS (and even had an interview from Oxford, although I was rejected afterwards). Your grades are better than what I had so you'll definitely succeed :D
Congratulations!!! I'm very happy for you! You're a great student and will go far at all that you attempt. Must take a look at Durham and learn more about it. My hope is that you will keep all of your subscribers apprised of your life at Durham.
Well done Jack! I'm about to start my 2nd year of uni i go to Sunderland uni and I live in sunderland - Durham is beautiful and the area in general is wonderful.
Very true and if you ever need anything you know now you have a friend quite nearby - never hesitate ask - I know it can be daunting moving to a new place but I know you'll love it up here!
Great results :-) I don't do A levels since I don't live in the UK but in Germany and the school system is really different here. I am taking my final exams in 2016 and I am scared! I am kinda jealous that you can only study three subjects :-)
Assuming you did AQA for English Lit, its SOOO unpredictable the AS exam is just awful. The grade boundaries are really low but the examiners are so harsh. I got a B at AS this year but im SO happy with that because I hated English so bad! Good job on your results, they are great!
Tilly Jayjay I did AQA and it's a really strange exam! I'm not surprised it puts a lot of people off studying English in the future - as you say, the examiners are usually really harsh so even if you work hard, you might not always be rewarded :( Thank you!
+ReadingWithJack In regards to English, im glad the exam style has changed for the upcoming year because as you say it really does put people off English Lit. I mean it really would have been my favorite subject content wise but you do have to jump through impossible hoops for the exam. In my class really intelligent people, and I mean top A grade students who intended to study English Lit at uni got D's and E's which is unfair especially as you're competing with students from other schools with different less harsher exam boards.
Congratulations on such great results!! :) I'm in the same year as you so got my results this summer too and was over the moon - I got A*A*A! I was ecstatic about getting an A* in English lit as it isn't my first language!! :) I'm currently on my gap year but have got an unconditional for English at Durham starting in 2016! :) might see you around - which college are you at? I'll be at Trevelyan xx
Felicitaciones!! Te deseo la mejor de las suertes! I love when english speakers decide to study languages, because as most people decide to study english as a second language, they dont think it is necessary to learn another language! I was wondering,what does an A on an A-level exam means? I mean, is it your Spanish considered advanced now? Because I am studying english, and I am preparing to sit for the CAE (Certificate of Advanced English), a Cambridge exam for not native speakers. My question is, do you happen to know if the A-level is the equivalent test for Spanish? I mean, an A on your test and an A on the CAE represent the same level of "knowledge" i guess? Anyway, congratulations on your results and enjoy this new experience
carlota Thank you :D I don't know exactly, but I read somewhere that it was equivalent to a B1/B2 with the more commonly used levels. I don't know if the person saying that was correct or not, but I can basically hold a conversation and talk about different issues surrounding the world that aren't necessarily just everyday stuff (this year we did things about environmental issues like global warming and energy usage, and world threats like terrorism). It's hard to pin point an exact level :)
+leah38521 Thank you :D I'll hopefully make a video at some point, it might take a while to plan out and film, but if it will help people it'll be worth it!
Simran Kaur I was considering doing videos about each of my A Level subjects so I can give specific advice based on the content of each course. I don't know when they'll be up but keep your eyes open :)
+PvM Nireland The system requires students to get 90% in the second year exams (FN3 and FN4) - I got 176/200 and would have needed 180/200, so I was very close. If only it was 90% across all the exams! Then I would have had an A*
Hi, Jack. My name is Lawrence, and I enjoy watching your videos. If you don't mind, I would like to ask you a question about language learning. I have recently started AS Level German, and although I absolutely love it as a subject, I am struggling with figuring out a learning technique that will help me improve and be able to speak and write really well. We have covered two topics so far, however, if you asked me to speak about the topic I probably wouldn't get very far. I have a textbook which has all the content in there, but I am not entirely sure how to get the detail into my mind. So, I want to ask you as a language student, how did you go about studying for your a level languages to get such impressive grades? I have seen your video "How to learn a language", however, I feel that advice for studying a language at a level and how you worked for them could be extremely helpful. I'm sorry that it is such a big question, but I am very keen to get my language skills up, and would be very happy to leave school with an A grade. Thank you very much. :)
Did you have a specific process for memorising the quotes? I'm doing the same A2 course starting in September and I'm really nervous! Congratulations on your amazing results, you totally deserve them!!
Anna Louise What I did was started learning them as soon as we started studying the texts - for example we'd only studied two chapters of Wuthering Heights in our first lesson of that book, but I immediately wrote down important quotes that I might want to refer back to. Over time if you end up writing quotations down for each chapter/scene etc. you'll end up with a lot, but when you have everything you could possibly need, it's easier to cut them down. I kept writing them out again and again, and my teachers made grids for us (with quotes for each character, theme etc) and often tested us. I found that really useful so I'd covered everything. Also, as you write practice essays, you'll realise that you use certain quotes in basically every essay, so those are the ones you really need to know (and writing them in essays is a great way to remember them). As a last minute thing a few weeks before the exam, I made a poster for each text with all the quotes I wanted to know for definite, and stuck them on my wall. After looking at it for ages it wasn't too hard to remember them. Quotation learning is daunting at first but if you start early, it's nothing to worry about! Thank you :D
Hi, Jack! I'm spanish and I'd like read some english literature for continue to enjoy english beyond RU-vid, class and friends. Can you recommend me a page to buy some books? What titles recommend me to start reading? Thanks for read me.
can someone tell me how he got over 90% in french but didn't get an A*? that seems unfair, anyway great video and well done on getting into an amazing uni
Whilst I got over 90% in the A-Level overall, to get an A* you have to get 90% in the second year (in this case it was FN3 and FN4, and for those added together I got 176/200, I would have needed 180 to get an A*, so I was very close and only needed 4 extra marks to get there). It seems like a strange system to me too, and I think they should consider results over the two years since that demonstrates consistency, but I guess that's just how it is... Thank you for watching anyway! :)
sorry for commenting on such an old video, my dream university is also Durham but I didn't do as well as I could have in my GCSE'S I got 2 A* 2 A's 4 B's and 4 C's, I want to study English at durham and I got an A* in language and an A in literature do you know how far durham look into GCSE results? I'm worried my C's will bring down my chances.
Don't worry! Honestly, I think they're good results and I would definitely apply. I don't know how much they look at GCSEs, but I'm pretty sure they focus a lot more on AS Results, A2 predicted grades and your personal statement. English at Durham is very competitive but remember you have 5 choices on UCAS and if you really want to go there, you should apply.
Leanne Cara My main tip (particularly at A-Level) would be to get all of your grammar sorted as soon as possible. So things like tenses, moods, adjective agreements, etc.; those are the basis for everything. And keep noting down new vocabulary as you come across it; I always find keeping a separate notebook for each language is a good way to keep track of that - and then keep reviewing the new vocab as often as possible. Also for speaking try to space your practice sessions apart (where possible) - I find that if I speak Spanish and immediately move onto French, my mind hasn't had enough time to readjust and my French pronunciation is terrible (because Spanish is so different in terms of the sound). But as long as you take breaks, it's not too bad! I'm thinking of doing a video at some point giving tips and tricks for language learning - I don't know when it'll be up but definitely look out for it if you want more advice :)
thank you so much for all of this advice, I'll definitely put it to good use although I'm only at GCSE level, I'm considering doing them both for a level so I'll definitely look forward to seeing your video! Thank you again for the advice and also congratulations on your amazing results!
FrankinsteinsWeiner With native speakers taking the exams that's true - there are many other tests that are more recognised in Europe, and they prove you can speak to a higher standard too. But if a native speaker wants to study at a UK university, some universities will still accept their A grades as part of the requirement, which is kind of unfair if non-natives are working crazily hard to get the same grades that the natives don't really work for :S
