1) DO be yourself: Be exactly who you are and say thing that you actually believe. If you don't agree with something, voice your own opinion. There is nothing worse than loosing who you really are for something that you want to be because in the end it is you who is going to be miserable and you who won't be expressing you shine to others; this means that everyone looses out.
2) DON'T follow the crow. You are unique and you were put in the situation you are now for a reason. You might not think it but other people need your energy, enthusiasm and your own personality in order to boost them up and for them to also make new friends (that they will be able to count on both in the classroom and in your leisure time).
3)DO be independent. If you need to bust out some work during lunch, break or in your free periods don't be afraid to leave your friends for the library. This is great because it makes you independent and helps you focus on your work so that you can complete more work faster. Also, you will enjoy being around your friends more because you value the time you spend with them given that you don't spend ALL your time alone because then you wont be able to build on realtionships.
4) DO stick with people instead of jumping around. For the first couple of weeks look around for people and keep out a sneaky ear on gossip. Who are your current potential friends? Who do you want to become friends with? What type of people do you like being around? What type of social life do you want? These are all important questions when trying to join a friendship group who may have already known each other for 5 years.
5) DON'T worry about being left out of friendship groups. They may have been friends for a long time and of course you are going to feel a little out of place - its natural. Just remember to always involve yourself in conversations and input value into a group of friends. This way they can begin to learn about you faster and know that you are a growing friend in the long run.
6) DON'T continuously make small talk. Hi, how are you? How was you weekend? How many siblings do you have? Yes, this is a starting point to having valuable conversations but sometimes people don't really care. You should instead try and open up conversations beginning with stories (say about you terrible weekend) and let this energy be something that they can bounce off from. If you ask a simple yes/no question the likely hood of you getting a dull answer back is much greater.
7) DO make friends with people from your classes. Think about girls/boys in your class that you would like to be friends with and chat after class when walking back to the common room. This way you can sit with them at break or lunch and make friends with his/her friends. There you go, a little more people beginning to know who your are.
8) DO review all you work, all the time. Revising everything at one go isn't going to be efficient. Instead try and go over topics as you go along so at the end of the day you know more and can focus on practice papers and weaknesses you may have.
9) DO practice your time management skills. Do you have anything after school? Then you may need to finish your work in you free. Do you have long commutes to school everyday? Then try and go over your notes/finish your homework on the bus journey to you can do other things later on.
10) DON'T stress. Yes, easy to say but when it comes to it and need to keep you head ON. As in if you having difficulty with something and have been trying for ages, leave it and ask someone who knows such as a teacher. That's what they are there for, simply to remove mental 'blocks'. Try not to think to much about everything because really things may change and unexpected things might happen so instead be PRESENT (not in your head) and concentrate on your work from the beginning because its tough so your best of starting right now.
Breath, relax, keep calm and work hard. Remember A levels are NOT like GCSEs. People say it all the time but you don't really realise the extent of their comment until you ACTUALLY start doing the course...trust me on that one!
I hope you all the best of luck with starting new schools and A Levels. If you have any questions about anything regarding school I am more than happy to answer you questions/ write a post on it. Seriously, I have made so many mistakes that I have learnt from over the first term of school in September about friendship groups, being a newbie and stress that I am an expert in the field (almost anyways, because everyone always makes new mistakes). So, DONT be afraid to ask away!
Priyanka xx
