• Question: what did you do at school?

    Asked by anon-286225 on 5 Mar 2021.
    • Photo: Harry Piper

      Harry Piper answered on 5 Mar 2021:

      At school I was considered a massive nerd (I still am but that is besides the point!). I studied the core subjects (English, maths, biology, chemistry, physics – is that all of them, I’m not sure anymore…). When I chose my GCSE options I took history, geography, religious studies, French, German, and I also took an extra GCSE in Japanese! When it came to A-levels I took biology, religious studies, geography, and maths – I failed maths at AS level and dropped it. My life was pretty much consumed by schoolwork and now I wish I had had a bit more of a life and enjoyed my hobbies more and taken breaks – it would have been better in the long run!

    • Photo: Dennis Relojo-Howell

      Dennis Relojo-Howell answered on 5 Mar 2021: last edited 5 Mar 2021 2:25 pm

      I went to a school in the Philippines. So my experience might be a tad different than yours. I had to study English, Filipino, History, Physics, Chemistry, etc. plus military training (which I hate to this day!). I was an average student with lots of interests beyond school.

    • Photo: anon

      anon answered on 5 Mar 2021:

      I really rebelled at school actually in academic ways. I really hated lessons and just didn’t engage. I did really well, I just hated it and didn’t like how regimented the lessons were.
      Then I did A-levels! Firstly I was able to study when I want on my own time (free periods for example). But secondly, and most importantly I found psychology and knew (cheesy I know!) from that point that actually academia was for me and I wanted to learn everything and anything about the subject. It really was love at first sight!
      So my concluding remark would be – even if you feel you don’t fit into school subjects, or even school as a whole, there are things out there for you that you may have never studied nor even know exist!

    • Photo: Alex Baxendale

      Alex Baxendale answered on 5 Mar 2021:

      In highschool I did the usual math, English literature, Chemistry, Physics, Biology, etc. and for my GCSEs I chose Geography, Drama, Catering (cooking), and Religious Studies.
      When I went to college I did Sociology, Psychology, Philosophy, and Religious Studies. I was a pretty standard student, I got a B in most things, and didn’t really do much else – fortunately it was good enough to get me in to University anyway, where I did Psychology!

    • Photo: Ellen Smith

      Ellen Smith answered on 5 Mar 2021:

      For GCSEs I did English, Maths, Triple Science, ICT, History, Food tech and Graphic products. I tried to pick options that I knew I’d enjoy even though my school wanted me to take more academic options like a language (they said it would get me into a good uni). I worked as a waitress from when I was 14 and worked far too many hours, so didn’t really do much revision! I did well, but I could have done a lot better I’m sure.
      Then for A Levels, I chose Psychology, ICT, History and Maths (but I ended up hating A level maths, failed it and dropped it after a year!). Again my school encouraged me to take English and Sciences as I’d done well at GCSE, but I stuck with what I was most interested in and enjoyed the most. I also worked too many hours at my job during my AS levels, but learnt my lesson when I didn’t do as well as I wanted and really studied hard in my Year 13 to make up for it!

    • Photo: Lisa Orchard

      Lisa Orchard answered on 8 Mar 2021:

      For my GCSEs I did Double Science, Maths, English (language and literature), Graphic Design, Expressive arts (music and drama), French, IT. I also did Latin as an extra one, but didn’t do too well in that! I loved all the practical ones – especially graphic design. I love starting a new project and thinking of ideas!

    • Photo: Christina Brown

      Christina Brown answered on 8 Mar 2021:

      I didn’t do biology until my final year at school – yet I’m a biologist through and through now. Psychology wasn’t an available subject in school but I did do Higher Psychology while I worked full time after school, which helped when I did both biology and psychology at university. However, I know many psychologists/neuroscientists that didn’t do either subjects in school and only became interested in it in university – and it never hindered them in graduating in their field.

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