Choosing the right path for the Sixth Form

In our latest blog, Head of Sixth Form, James Ralphs gives us his top tips for identifying which academic route is right for you...

The Sixth Form is a wonderful part of school life. It is a chance to widen your horizons from both an academic and co-curricular perspective. Even before you step through the threshold of the lower sixth, you are asked to select what you are going to study.

So, where do you start?

A levels, IBDP or IBCP?

At Bryanston we offer three different academic routes for the Sixth Form: A level, the International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme (IBDP) and the International Baccalaureate Career-related Programme (IBCP).

	A level	IBDP	IBCP
No. of subjects	Minimum of 3	6 (3 at higher level and 3 at standard level)	Cambridge Technical and 2 Diploma subjects

For some pupils, the idea of being able to study a broad range of subjects through the IB is an exciting one. For others, having to learn English, Maths and a language, even at standard level, is a non-starter and therefore A levels would be the appropriate path to take. Although there is overlap between the subjects offered at IB and A level, the course content can vary considerably. Therefore, a careful consideration of each subject and programme is essential. Talk to your current teachers and make the most of the information available to you. Bryanston pupils attend a Sixth Form choices fair in the spring term of Year 11 as well as having access to the Sixth Form choices guide, which gives a detailed breakdown of each subject.

What are your strengths?

Although not a perfect science, performance at GCSE does have a correlation with progress made in the Sixth Form. Choosing subjects in which you have a particular strength would be wise. At Bryanston, all heads of department will be looking for a 6 or higher at GCSE in order to access the A level or IB higher level subject content. The step up in workload, per subject, is considerable from GCSE to Sixth Form. Having a particular interest in your choices will make the work outside the classroom a lot easier. It is important that you have a desire for deeper learning, and a willingness to read around each of your chosen subjects in order to give yourself the best opportunity to succeed. Are you somebody who would benefit from less weighting on exams? Choosing a subject or programme with coursework would spread deadlines throughout the year.

What is your next step?

What you choose can have an impact on your options after school. One of the ultimate goals for studying in the Sixth Form is to qualify for entry into whichever route you would like to go down next. If this is university, then you will want to choose subjects which give you the best opportunity of achieving top grades. Some degrees will have specific pre-requisite subjects. For example, studying Medicine usually requires both Chemistry and Biology (at higher level for IB) and the majority of the top Economics degrees require Mathematics. If you don’t have a particular degree or career in mind, pick subjects which complement each other and play to your academic strengths.

The decision of what to study in the Sixth Form shouldn’t be taken lightly. Discuss the advice above with your tutor throughout the rest of the autumn and spring terms. Speak to older pupils about their courses but ultimately ensure that the choices you make are right for you.

Top tips for revision

With exams not far around the corner, James Ralphs, Head of Sixth Form, has provided some top tips to help guide you and your child through their revision. However, it is important to encourage their independence, so please remember that, while you naturally want your child to succeed, they are the one doing the revision, not you!

Plan ahead

By now your child should know the exact date for each of their summer exams. Referring to the subject syllabus, they may wish to start by identifying all of the different topics that they need to know. Before each exam, they will need to have written their own revision notes, learned them and tested themselves using questions from past exam papers. Each stage will take longer than they might think, so it’s vital that they plan ahead to leave themselves enough time for all stages.  

Be concise, not expansive

When revising it can be tempting for your child to just copy out the class notes they have in their folders. Pupils do this as it requires less effort and concentration. While there are merits in repetition (as shown by Atkinson and Shiffrin’s Multi Store Model of Memory), learning a large amount of information is very difficult. Therefore, to ensure your child can anchor the content in their long-term memory, they need to condense their notes into manageable chunks. These chunks should also contain trigger words that will help them remember the whole topic area. 

Flash cards or mind maps?

There are many different ways for your child to condense their classroom notes. It is important that they find the method that suits them best. Flash cards can be useful for listing trigger words or phrases that link to an overarching topic. Triggers can be equations or other key terms too, any of which can be very useful as a quickfire way of testing their memory. Mind maps allow your child to draw links between concepts and examples that create visual ways for remembering essay plans.

Tutorials would be the perfect opportunity for your child to discuss methods of revision with their tutor and decide upon the one that works best for them.

Have a regular routine

When freed from the daily routine of school life it can be difficult for your child to be strict and get down to revision – especially during the Easter holidays. Building on the ‘Plan aheadI’ section, suggest, when you are consulted, that they make a revision timetable that clearly identifies which topics and subjects they are going to be revising – and when. Ensure that they think about scheduling in regular breaks throughout the day and mix up the subjects that they are covering, so that they don’t get bored.

Find a productive working environment

It can be tempting to revise with friends, but we all know this will eventually lead to distraction. Your role is to encourage your child to find a place where they will be able to work uninterrupted for the period of time that aligns with their revision timetable.

When revising at school, you might like to advise them to mix up where they work and put themselves in a location, such as a subject room, where they can get help from their teachers.

Make time for testing

This doesn’t have to mean writing out an essay or completing a whole past paper. It can take the form of verbally recalling a set of flash cards that they have just learned or writing out a detailed plan for an essay. As the start date for their exams gets nearer, it is important that they practise completing past papers in exam conditions too. They should practise writing their answers to a constricted timeframe or without their notes, then go through them with a mark scheme and revisit any revision notes that they were unable to recall. Exemplar past papers can be found on each exam board’s website.

And finally ... PUT THE PHONE AWAY!

Sharing another Snapchat or checking whether friends have updated their Instagram story can be a tempting way to procrastinate. Suggest that they turn off the Wifi on their laptop and put their phone on the other side of the room – in flight mode. This will help them to work distraction-free. There is a lot of work to be done, and this simple action will allow your child to concentrate undisturbed – and help them to be more successful in their exams. Plus it may have benefits for the rest of the family too!