Aaaannnddd I'mmm baccckkk!!!!

Hello all!

A hearty New year to you all!
I realise I'm a little behind the times with this post, mainly because I spent my Christmas holidays revising for mock exams, the first of which I had at 9am on the first day back - how cruel is that?!

How I looked

How I felt

Anyway, I had my final mock yesterday and I thought it was a breeze, although that probably means I completely fluffed up!
So I thought I'd try and squeeze a post in between my psychology homework and my biology homework.
On the subject of school, I'm really enjoying my lessons this year, much more so than in year 12 at AS, I'm finding biology much easier, although I'm glad we finally finished Unit 4 last week - no more photosynthesis! I'm telling you, I've studied photosynthesis every year since year 4 - I'm extremely bored of it! Anyway, Unit 5 of AQA Biology is really cool - there's DNA technology and genes and the nervous system, and all the cool human stuff, much better than plants IMO!

As for psychology, there were four options for OCR, of which two must be studied: Forensic, Health, Education, Sport.
My school does Forensic (as we offer law at GCSE) and Sport (because we're a sports and technology thingy - apparently). Personally I'd prefer education over Sport, but we don't start that section until next week so I'm not going to make my mind up yet! The other unit comprises of approaches and perspectives and evaluation, but we also have a section in the exam where we have to plan our own practical study based on the criteria we're given - I really enjoy this bit, hence why I liked yesterday's exam!

And finally, OCR B History (I dropped geography - I don't like the human side and that was all A2 consisted of). This year we study British imperialism with one teacher, 3 lessons a week, and have a controlled assessment in May (a really nice exam as long as you are properly prepared!) and with the other teacher we are doing coursework 1 lesson a week - "personal study" on the significance of a topic of our own choosing. I was originally going to do Pioneering Palaeontologists, but my research told me that would be extremely difficult in the time-frame, so I chose something I am even more passionate about - Scouts. My question is: "How significant was the birth of Scouting?" I've completed my first full-draft and am now changing bits as necessary, although I am over the 3000 word limit so I need to do some cutting down. There are 6 other students in my class and their topics are: The Aztecs, Leni Riefenstahl, The French Renaissance, Something to do with Poland, and Karl Marx.

I am also doing an EPQ (Extended project qualification) for AQA, as you will know if you have read my blog before. I was originally going to do it on settlement structures and build models, but I was advised against this and have instead decided to ask "Have human needs changed, and how has this affected our lifestyle?"
I'm actually quite enjoying this, but I am panicking about getting it completed to an A grade standard, I know that I'm well ahead of my classmates as we have just been told to begin writing and to have 3000 words by the 29th January - I'm curently on 2,700 while most haven't yet begun, however, I have a tendency to write what's in my head and am then unable to work out what order I should place it in. I follow the principle of "Don't get it right, get it writ", however, I often lose motivation to then get it "right" after its been "writ". I am getting better though and I'm going to spend Saturday on my EPQ and Sunday on the bits of homework that I should be doing as I write this post.

I think that'll do for school, I spend enough time with school work as it is, without writing about it endlessly!
I'll tell you what I'm looking forward to in 2014, perhaps that will help motivate me to finish this homework...

1. Turning 18 and going to the Warner Bros studio tour with my best friend - I will buy EVERYTHING!
2.Getting my EPQ done and dusted by March 26th - more free time!
3.Having my History coursework done by Easter - more revision time!
4.Having my history exam done by the second week of May - Only two subjects left!
6. Super long summer holiday!
5. Spending a long weekend with my oldest friend camping while everyone else is at prom - my logic was this - £35 for one night I won't enjoy with a bunch of people I don't like and also have to get a dress Vs £19 for 3 days with my oldest friend doing something we both love, camping by a beautiful lake before I leave for Uni......It was a pretty easy decision really. This is also instead of spending a fortune going to Marbella or somewhere with my friends who will spend the whole week in the hotel pool. I like adventure.

6.Results day - This may seem weird because it could make or break my future, but my thinking is, my fate is decided on the day of my last exam, that means I can't change my results and the atmosphere on results day is pretty electric!
7. Moving to Uni - hopefully! I'm really looking forward to packing, is that weird?

I finally watched Toy story this Christmas and it made me want to take all my toys with me to Uni! Of course, anyone that has ever seen my room will understand that that will be impossible, so I don't doubt there will be many moments like this:

I told you earlier I spent the whole of the holidays revising - that wasn't strictly true - for the days before Christmas, up until Christmas eve, I was doing homework and sorting out my stuff in the attic - having a proper clear out, I'm not yet finished though so I'm continuing with that on Sunday if I get all my work done.
I also tried my hand at some new Jewellery, and I'm really happy with how it all turned out!
I'm so proud of the snowman earrings, but they took aaaages to make, I had to have a massage after each completion because I was in agony!

Aren't these snowman earrings adorable! I made a pair for myself to wear on Xmas day! £4 a pair 

My new rubber band bracelets - £3 for top two, £2 for third one, £1 for bottom.

£1 each

How did I forget this - who saw the new series of Sherlock?! I loved it! The second episode had me in stitches, and the final one was brilliant! I do think Benedict Cumberbatch is excellent in the role, and the way he can pretend to show emotion and then immediately be nonchalant is brilliant! I'm halfway through reading Arthur Conan Doyle's Hound of The Baskervilles and I'm really enjoying it! I even managed to quote it in my History mock (something about free trade), which was pretty cool.

Anyhoo, I think that's a pretty good round-up of everything since my last post, and I should probably get on with this biology homework - I seem to have "inherited" procrastination from my Dad. See what I did there? eh?!

Alons-Y!

2 down, 6 to go.

Well, today officially marked the start of the exam period for me, I arrived at school, as usual, at 8am, I then spent an hour drifting between last-minute revision and ultimate panic.

9am - TO THE SPORTS HALL, SEAT T11. (I thought the italics might make it seem more dramatic...no? Oh well.)

This was for my history exam on Race and American society 1865-1970s, I was well prepared for this exam(a little too prepared, it would seem), I had fairly good knowledge of the entire period and was fairly confident. 

On reading the interpretation, my initial thought was "well, that's a bit odd compared to all the past papers, oh well, I can still use the sources in the same way."

Oh boy was I wrong, barely ANY of the sources supported the interpretation and it was so difficult to find similarities between them as they varied so greatly and contradicted each other.

Despite this, I think I've done ok.

I then spent 10:30-11:20 trying to de-stress in preparation for my geography exam at 1, it wasn't very effective.

At 11:20 I went to my geography lesson (only 3 of us actually turned up!) and we went over some last minute facts and figures (but did any of them prove to be of any use in the exam..what do you think?..) before explaining to our teacher that we all have have a revision website: www.examtime.com following us on Twitter because we're such geography nerds. 

After this, we went to the sixth form block just to relax and try not to think about what was quickly approaching  and had a banana :P 

By the time we left at 12:50, I was feeling strangely calm, all the way until lining up outside. This didn't last.

This is was me about a minute before going in:

And this was my face afterwards:

I'll elaborate: there was little range in the topics that came up and it was very difficult to actually include any case studies in my answers, I managed to somehow though, it's difficult to explain but it was just...odd.

Come out of the hall at 2:30...straight to my history lesson for the Elizabeth Topic, we did a bit of revision on parliament and factions and my teacher gave us all a toffee crisp as a reward for the history exam this morning.

After this, it was FINALLY hometime, or so I thought...

I wasn't looking forward to waiting outside at the bus stop for 20 minutes in the rain but I knew i'd be home soon, little did I know that the bus had actually broken down and we'd have to wait over an hour for a replacement coach to pick us up.

Finally arrived home just after 5 and had dinner before doing some light biology revision and writing this post.

So exams are officially underway now and I just need to keep focussed for a few more weeks...and then another year...

I'd better go now and get on with some more geography or biology revision for round two.

Then I'm going to settle down in front of the TV (probably fall asleep in front of it - I'm knackered) and have the giant cookie my Dad bought me as a treat (he's seen how much revision I've done recently and felt I needed a pick-me-up)

GOOD LUCK TO EVERYONE ELSE WITH EXAMS! :D

History - Tudor Finale Timeline

History – Tudor Finale

SIMPLE TIMELINE

1558 – Elizabeth ascends throne

1561 – Mary flees to England

1570 – Francis Drake sets sale to west Indies

1585-1604 – England & Spain at war

1587 - Mary, Queen of Scots executed on 8^th Feb

1588 – Philip II sent armarda to England but was defeated

DETAILED TIMELINE

1558 – Elizabeth ascends throne.

1559 – ACT OF UNIFORMITY

The Book of Common Prayer becomes the only form of legal worship. This was a revision of Edward VI’s prayer book.

Must attend church or face fines.

ACT OF SUPREMACY

Elizabeth to be accepted as Supreme head of the Church.

1560 – Treaty of Edinburgh signed between England and France.

English army entered Scotland to aid Scottish rebellion in forcing out pro-regency French garrison at Leith. After death of Mary of Guise, English and French agreed a treaty under which the Leith garrison was withdrawn.  Mary Stuart refused to ratify the treaty.

1561 – Mary Stuart returns to Scotland.

After living in France since the age of 5, Mary returned to the now Protestant Scotland after the death of her Husband, Francis.

1565 – Mary Stuart marries Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley.

Mary Stuart marries her cousin, Lord Darnley.

1566 – Mary’s Secretary is murdered.

David Rizzio murdered by a gang of nobleman.

1567 – Mary’s husband, Lord Darnley is killed.

The house in which Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley was destroyed by an explosion.

-Mary marries the Earl of Bothwell, implicating herself in Darnley’s murder.

-Mary abdicates in favour of her son, James and imprisoned in Loch Leven castle.

1568 – Mary escapes Loch Leven and raises army.

Army defeated at battle of Langside.

-Mary arrives in England, wanting protection against Scottish rebels.

-Mary imprisoned by Elizabeth.

1569 – Northern Earls Rebellion.

Rebellion of Northern Earls Catholics, led by Thomas Percy, Earl of Northumberland, and Charles Neville, Earl of Westmoreland. Objective was to place Mary on English throne. Plot uncovered, Westmoreland fled and Northumberland executed.

- Rebellion breaks out in Munster when James Fitzmaurice Fitzgerald proposes asking Spanish for support against England.

1570 – Papal Bull declares Elizabeth as a heretic.

Pope Pius V signed the Bull Regnas in Excelsis, which excommunicated Elizabeth and declared her subjects owed her no allegiance.

However, the Bull was not widely publicised, so few people took notice.

1571 – Ridolfi Plot.

Led by Roberto Ridolfi with aim of assassinating Elizabeth to be replaced with Mary.

-3 acts provide that:

*It’s a treasonable offence to declare Elizabeth is not Queen

*It is treasonable to introduce or publish any Papal Bulls.

*All who have fled abroad must return within 12 months or forfeit their property.

1572 – St Bartholomew’s day Massacre.

Massacre of French Huguenots.

Believed to have been instigated by Catherine De Medici.

1574 – Seminary priests begin to arrive in England.

Trained at the college of Douai, Flanders, (founded in 1568 by William Allen) young men were taught it was their duty to return to England for salvation of souls and to seek martyrdom if necessary, to re-establish Catholicism. 438 returned to England, 98 put to death. Christopher Haigh argued that their arrival in Dover and concentration in South-East made their mission difficult. (Close to Elizabeth.)

1579 – Henry Francis, Duke of Alençon (Anjou from 1754), proposes marriage to Elizabeth.

Seemed promising as Elizabeth seemed to really like him, and he appeared to love her. However, widespread opposition lead to 8 years of deliberating on Elizabeth’s part, and she eventually rejected the proposal in 1584. He died later that year.

1580 – Jesuit priests begin to arrive in England.

Founded in 1534, they were a Catholic missionary order with the aim of destroying Protestantism. They carried out rigorous spiritual exercises designed to train and discipline the mind, they took an oath of allegiance to the pope.

1581 – Parliament passes to Acts against Catholics.

Recusancy fines increased to £20, and higher fines for hearing or saying mass.

Attempting to convert people to Catholicism is a treasonable offence.

1583 – Throckmorton Plot.

Led by Francis Throckmorton.

Attempt to murder Elizabeth to be replaced by Mary, Queen of Scots.

1584 – William, Prince of Orange assassinated by Catholic extremist.

Elizabeth rejects marriage to Henry Francis, Duke of Anjou.

1585 – Treaty of Nonsuch sparks conflict with Spain.

The treaty of assistance to United Provinces (Netherlands) was signed at Palace of Nonsuch in Surrey. It provided military aid to the relief of Antwerp which was besieged by Spanish forces.

Antwerp fell on 17^th August.

Treaty perceived as act of war by Phillip II and eventually lead to sending the Armada to invade England.

Parliament passes an Act against Seminary and Jesuit priests.

Any Priest ordained by Pope’s authority is guilty of treason once setting foot in England. All priests ordered to leave on pain of death. Anyone helping a Priest also liable to be put to death.

1586 – Babington Plot.

Led by Anthony Babington.

Aim to assassinate Elizabeth to be replaced by Mary, Queen of Scots.

-Phillip II begins planning invasion of England.

1587 – Mary Stuart executed.

Babington plot eventually led to execution.

Elizabeth signed death warrant on condition that it was only to be used in instance of Mary making another threat agains Elizabeth. Councillors ignored this and executed her anyway.

1588 – English disperse Armada at battle of Gravelines.

Phillip II sent Armada to invade England. Bad weather meant they were thrown off course, North to Scotland and then Around Ireland, Many ships were wrecked and many men landed at Ireland.

1602 – Royal proclamation orders all Jesuits to leave.

Other Priests given 12 months, but promised favouarable treatment if they submit to authorities – 13 do so.

1603 – Elizabeth I died.

Replaced by James VI of Scotland (Mary’s son) who became James I of England.