GCSEs- the final step of UK secondary education, a set of exams that are the first steps towards your career. Many young people are under the impression that they are virtually the end of stressful deadlines, exams, and 'unnecessary' subjects. However, those who have surpassed the secondary education stage know better. 

A-levels, although only consisting of 3 subjects, typically consist of far more content and much stricter mark schemes than that of the GCSE curriculum. Many students opt to continue studying subjects they found easier at GCSE level, being of the thought that A-level in the same subject would be as simple. 

Year 12 student Israa of Walthamstow Academy stated that: "The gap between year 11 and year 12 is huge. People talk about how hard A-levels are in general, but noone ever actually prepares you how to tackle this obstacle. It's really hard to balance your work, school and social life. I'd honestly advise the current year 11s to enjoy their free time whilst they can, and to not be too if they don't achieve their desired grades. It's really not the end of the world, but they do actually give a strong foundation for your education."

From this account, we can tell that maintaining a balance between education and social interactions becomes more important as you progress in life, and as the progression between one educational step to another becomes wider. However, don't let this discourage you, most people do find the necessary balance between the two, whilst others perhaps opt to more vocational qualifications such as Applied subjects/ BTECs. 

Conclusively, there seems to be a big jump between Secondary education and Sixth Form, and we ought to educate year 11 students on this in preparation for their Sixth Form Career.