The Student Room Group

HELP ME GET ORGANISED; Year 11 is killing me !

Hey,

I'm in year 11, last year of GCSE and I'm finding hard organising my time I do a lot of volunteering and I need to manage all my GCSE subjects. How do I revise effectively without having to sit for hours writing notes surly there is a more effective way I'm so sick and tired of writing all these notes and NOTHING goes in my head I think I've tried every way of revising known to man maybe it's the stress I don't know ? It's just so annoying every revision time table I make just fails help please.
Reply 1
Record yourself reading things out (I know you might hate the sound of your voice) and listen as much as possible! Even at night(:
Make revision flashcards (I have a programme that makes it easier to make them too :biggrin:) and print them out. It's only a little writing, and then after that, you're sorted :smile:
Original post by @chante_Jos
Hey,

I'm in year 11, last year of GCSE and I'm finding hard organising my time I do a lot of volunteering and I need to manage all my GCSE subjects. How do I revise effectively without having to sit for hours writing notes surly there is a more effective way I'm so sick and tired of writing all these notes and NOTHING goes in my head I think I've tried every way of revising known to man maybe it's the stress I don't know ? It's just so annoying every revision time table I make just fails help please.


Trust me. A-Levels is MUCH WORSE. And I ain't exactly one for revising great either. However:

Spend a morning or day on this. Just relax and try to think clearly.

Start by making a small table. What you have for school, how much time you have for tea, what time you spend volunteering and whatever else you do.

Thing about the volunteering. Perhaps cut down on it just whilst you are doing you GCSEs.. its not like you won't have a whole summer to do more!

Use mind-maps of your notes. It may sound boring, but as you are doing them it helps you revise!! Alternatively, see if you can find any other ones online. Some websites already have revision things to help you.


If you want any more suggestions, just ask (:
Reply 4
GCSE is manageable....A-Levels will screw you over...A-levels will be literally 24/7 revising or you will fail..
Original post by snooper
GCSE is manageable....A-Levels will screw you over...A-levels will be literally 24/7 revising or you will fail..


this. Better to be like that at GCSE rather than at A-level
Reply 6
Original post by @chante_Jos
Hey,

I'm in year 11, last year of GCSE and I'm finding hard organising my time I do a lot of volunteering and I need to manage all my GCSE subjects. How do I revise effectively without having to sit for hours writing notes surly there is a more effective way I'm so sick and tired of writing all these notes and NOTHING goes in my head I think I've tried every way of revising known to man maybe it's the stress I don't know ? It's just so annoying every revision time table I make just fails help please.


If you have a page of notes, and the stuff is all under different heading you could revise like this:
- Cover up the notes and see if you remember all the headings
- See if you remember the main points
- See if you remember everything

To help you remember - read through the page, cover it up and after 2 minutes write down everything you remember. Check what you missed. Repeat this until you can do the whole page. Do this again after an hour to see if you still remember. And then the next day.

By this point - make flashcards with just the heading and then write down everything you remember.
Reply 7
Original post by snooper
GCSE is manageable....A-Levels will screw you over...A-levels will be literally 24/7 revising or you will fail..


I do five a levels and I don't find the work load to be that much more than GCSE.

You're over exaggerating massively.
Reply 8
Make a storyboard or comic to remember things. Notes are just boring, so jazz it up with pictures. It really helped with my A level stats exam.
How long do you have till your exams?
Heres how I do it (or rather, how I've done it this year for IB);
-Write out all your subjects, and prioritise what needs revising first - you can leave some till later (depending on gap between your exams)
-Break down each of your subjects - dont try and revise it all at once! for example, sciences will be broken down into topics, do a topic at a time, focus on the one you know you have trouble with.
-note wise, there are lots of things; get revision books (such as the science ones, or enlgish ones), make flash cards (by hand, or using software), make voice recordings (was great for languages I found!) GCSE websites - eg bitesize. funs games, and learning!
most importantly - PAST PAPERS! boring, but very vital! they'll show you what you do and dont know, and get you use to the lay out and time management :smile:
good luck :smile:
Reply 10
Original post by @chante_Jos
Hey,

I'm in year 11, last year of GCSE and I'm finding hard organising my time I do a lot of volunteering and I need to manage all my GCSE subjects. How do I revise effectively without having to sit for hours writing notes surly there is a more effective way I'm so sick and tired of writing all these notes and NOTHING goes in my head I think I've tried every way of revising known to man maybe it's the stress I don't know ? It's just so annoying every revision time table I make just fails help please.


If you are struggling at GCSE you will not cope at A level. I know that's not what you want to hear but it is very true. But you are not doomed!

READ. Even if you feel like it's not going in, some of it will. On the bus, train, car - you must travel to get to your volunteering work - take books and notes and everything you can and do it on the way there.

Deactivate your Facebook, Twitter, TSR blah blah blah.

Cut down maybe one or two hours of volunteering? It's for two months max and you can do as much as you want in the summer!

DO NOT GIVE UP. You can do this! Good luck x
Reply 11
Original post by icnthelpit
How long do you have till your exams?
Heres how I do it (or rather, how I've done it this year for IB);
-Write out all your subjects, and prioritise what needs revising first - you can leave some till later (depending on gap between your exams)
-Break down each of your subjects - dont try and revise it all at once! for example, sciences will be broken down into topics, do a topic at a time, focus on the one you know you have trouble with.
-note wise, there are lots of things; get revision books (such as the science ones, or enlgish ones), make flash cards (by hand, or using software), make voice recordings (was great for languages I found!) GCSE websites - eg bitesize. funs games, and learning!
most importantly - PAST PAPERS! boring, but very vital! they'll show you what you do and dont know, and get you use to the lay out and time management :smile:
good luck :smile:


Thanks soo much, I'm doing IB next year and I'm also nervous I'm worried about how I'm going to find on TSR there is so much controversy surrounding IB that I'm even more worried. I'm defo' doing it so how do you manage to survive with IB ?
Reply 12
Original post by ellen_l
Record yourself reading things out (I know you might hate the sound of your voice) and listen as much as possible! Even at night(:


Yeah, I do that a lot for french and now I've finished all my cw thank god
Reply 13
Original post by goodmorningworld
Make revision flashcards (I have a programme that makes it easier to make them too :biggrin:) and print them out. It's only a little writing, and then after that, you're sorted :smile:


Revision flash cards for every subject ?
Reply 14
Original post by tsveta
If you are struggling at GCSE you will not cope at A level. I know that's not what you want to hear but it is very true. But you are not doomed!

READ. Even if you feel like it's not going in, some of it will. On the bus, train, car - you must travel to get to your volunteering work - take books and notes and everything you can and do it on the way there.

Deactivate your Facebook, Twitter, TSR blah blah blah.

Cut down maybe one or two hours of volunteering? It's for two months max and you can do as much as you want in the summer!

DO NOT GIVE UP. You can do this! Good luck x


Thats worrying considering I'm doing IB -_- but I understand what your saying.

Okay I've stopped a lot of my volunteering the majority of my exams are this month anyway.

Thanks :biggrin: I WILL NEVER GIVE UP !!
Reply 15
Original post by icnthelpit
How long do you have till your exams?
Heres how I do it (or rather, how I've done it this year for IB);
-Write out all your subjects, and prioritise what needs revising first - you can leave some till later (depending on gap between your exams)
-Break down each of your subjects - dont try and revise it all at once! for example, sciences will be broken down into topics, do a topic at a time, focus on the one you know you have trouble with.
-note wise, there are lots of things; get revision books (such as the science ones, or enlgish ones), make flash cards (by hand, or using software), make voice recordings (was great for languages I found!) GCSE websites - eg bitesize. funs games, and learning!
most importantly - PAST PAPERS! boring, but very vital! they'll show you what you do and dont know, and get you use to the lay out and time management :smile:
good luck :smile:


They're all this month !

Thanks for the suggestions :biggrin:
Reply 16
Original post by snooper
GCSE is manageable....A-Levels will screw you over...A-levels will be literally 24/7 revising or you will fail..


Urm thanks lol :biggrin:
Original post by @chante_Jos
Revision flash cardsy subject ?


No :smile:
They're useful for History, Geography, Media, Science,Business etc- subjects where you need to know a lot of facts before you can form the opinions.
The key to IB is organisation and time management :smile: get CAS done in first year (easily done, especially with your volunteering) and do all Internal assessments, homework in generall, the day its set. I started revising for my exam 3 months ago :L

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