umar39's GCSE Journey

Hello, I'm Umar and come September I will be in Year 11 which means GCSE exams! This thread will be a motivator for me and for you so that we can achieve the best GCSE grades we are capable of.
For GCSE I am taking these subjects I will be sitting my mock examinations during the autumn term so I will definitely post my results here.

Here are my goals for GCSE
I really want to take the STEM subjects forward onto A-Level and I believe that achieving great GCSE grades will put me in good stead for my dreams!


Hopefully I will keep this blog/thread updated at least once a week (once every two weeks if I'm really busy). I really hope that this blog motivates us all to achieve and meet our goals academically.

Hi, have you seen the new spec and papers on English Wjec eduqas? What are your thoughts? English language looks pretty good and hoping for an A*(8) but English literature looks terrible from my opinion I currently
got level 2 in new grading system . How are you revising for English literature?

Small Update (July 22nd 2016)
It's the summer holidays now! Wooohhooo!! Can't believe the year has gone so fast! Only a few more months until our actual GCSE sittings!
At the end of the academic year we sit our End of Year Exams. Here are my results:

Sammee
I'm gonna be in yr 11 in Sept too

Wow u got really good in ur exams!!

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I'm quite nervous for Year 11 as I have a lot of the specification to complete for each examination!

Thank you very much! I make sure that I keep on top of classwork/homework/revision so that I do not feel the stress of rushing to make notes! (I really can't stand messy notes!). This allows me time to work towards my grades!

Yes, I have seen the knew specification and to be honest the English Literature section looks a lot harder than I initially thought it would be. The focus here on closed-book rather than open-book will just add to the difficulty in my opinion .

In terms of revising for english literature you could:
read the prose/texts/poems that you have learnt over Year 10 and make notes on all characters/themes as well as the key events (maybe on those nifty little revision cards you can buy at stationary stores)

try a few self-made or online practice questions (for example, compare the theme of love/affection in Cozy Apologia and Valentine). Once you have completed your timed session either you can self mark (using the AO specification) or ask your teacher to mark it for you. (This is an effective but long way to improve your writing capabilities)

Learn the context (particularly for poems). The focus on context is huge (about 30% from what I can remember) so it is vital that you take time to contextualize key events in the poem to some social/environmental/political/historical event occurring at the time and how this would affect the language/structure/key themes for the poem.

When you are writing analytical/comparative paragraphs you need to follow a structure to aid with coherency and ease for yourself as well as for the examiner. (Your teacher should have gone through a good method). I use a method known as PEE WET RATS for my paragraphs (funny i know!)Apart from all of this you just have to understand that English takes much longer hours to prepare for than any other subject and this should not faze you. If you want the 8 or 9's I would suggest some light revision over the Summer. (maybe just reading through the texts once or twice/attempting some questions)

Good luck with achieving great grades

Hello Umar!

Those look like really good grades! As @JTran38 has said, please feel free to join our Year 10 thread (soon to be Year 11!) and we will give you a warm welcome to the club!

This is my second year doing GYG, I did it last year for Year 9 and I will be doing it this year for Year 11! Everyone is really excited and scared at the same time but that's a good thing since we can share our feelings, and just experience it together. Click here for my GYG thread for 2015-2016. There's a link in there linking you back to my 2014-2015 one, which is just as interesting as 2015-2016

My aim is to attend a RG University (In particular Imperial/Kings/Warwick)!

Looking at your predicted grades that sounds very doable! What would you take at uni?

Hi _gcx, I'm not very sure at the moment so I will, hopefully, take several work experience placements for civil engineering, dentistry, GP clinic. (I would take a work experience placement anywhere that is STEM related!!)

Hi @MrMackyTv!
Thanks for the kind words! I've seen your threads pop up many a time on the trending section so I am very aware of your excellent threads! It's great meeting and talking to all the New GCSE peeps as we step into the unknown! As long as we work hard we will gain the grades we deserve! Looking at your GYG thread I must admit that you are very dedicated to being the best candidate you can. I wish you all the luck for your GCSEs!!

I'm working hard behind the scenes to make a long list of people @MrMackyTv, @Lemur14 and myself should tag, I hope to get that done asap.

Hi @JTran38


Check out the Icebreaker thread, I'm sure you will find many 'Going into Year 11' students.

http://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/showthread.php?t=3069373&page=17&p=66575012#post66575012