umar39's GCSE Journey

Haha giving me a lot more work to do. :/

I'm sorry! It'd be great to know more GCSE students though wouldn't it?

Lol 172 (excludes myself) to tag for new Y11 thread.

172? o.o At least we'll have some (very) active discussion :P

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

I would also add that for English lit when making notes on each character and theme just include three quotes from the beginning, middle and end of the play or book to show how the it/they have/haven't developed

Weekly Update- (July 28th, 2016)
I have had a pretty busy week so far. I have lost/misplaced most of my school equipment so I had to go on a scavenge to find some pens.

Apart from that, here's how my first week went!

Maths: Nothing at the minute as I don't have my new textbook for next year. I may complete a few past papers from the new specification which can be found under 'Useful Websites and Specifications' in my OP.

Further Maths- Again, nothing.

English- Read through the first act of Macbeth and made some notes on the key character and the developing themes- I found it pretty enjoyable! Biology- Completed my B1 Notes. (You can find the specification in my OP). The notes are rough so I intend to make them neater and more concise near the end of August (before Year 11). I also, as part of my note taking, went through a Unit 1 Past Paper and it was good. Made a silly error where I forgot the name of a plant hormone (it's called an auxin )


Chemistry- Completed my C1 Notes, again in rough. I used a variety of sources including my textbook, GCSE Specification, and exam papers (so I can model my answers according to exam technique to maximise the marks I can achieve).

Physics- This is the hardest Science for me so I'm holding off any work for now as the note taking involves a lot of diagrams which I want to get right!

Business and Economics- Reviewed the first chapter of the Business Textbook- refreshed my knowledge on the six sources of added value!Design and Technology- Ai'nt nobody got time for dat! I have some important coursework to hand in in September so I really need to crack on. I'm quite behind on my coursework and I want an A*. Geography- Nothing as of yet! (Although I have some plans!)

German- the dreaded foreign language! Back away! I haven't done any work at all and this is a bit of a worry! Religious Studies- Nothing as of yet!

Throughout this week, I have been very lazy and did not complete half the work that I wanted to complete. The extra work which includedWill run onto my next week's schedule! (I will post my schedule in a while- sometime today)

What's your opinion of the work I have done so far?
(Personally I feel like I've been quite lazy which is quite frustrating)

Plan for Next Week (July 28th, 2016-August 4th, 2016)
Over the next week I plan the following:If I (miraculously) complete all of these tasks I mayI have a busy week planned (non academically) so I will have to organise my time efficiently to get this work fitted in!

I'm not sure whether this is the case with AQA, but Edexcel has released both their specimen paper and SAM, which you may want to take a peek at if AQA has released theirs, as it will be more relevant to the new specification, as opposed to the old one. But do note that your school may use them for mocks. You may find that the old course was noticeably easier-ish.

(Edit: They have: here)

Don't worry about feeling lazy. Everybody feels that way, as it is the summer, and you're not actually obligated to do any extra work at all, so what you're doing at the moment is great either way.

Past papers is always a good place to start. I find them the most tedious and tiring to do when revising but incredibly helpful- it's good that you're motivated to do them in the first place!

Thanks for the link @_gcx . It will be very useful for my revision for my mocks!
The old course definitely seems to be easier for AQA. My results for that exam will be coming soon. (I'll probably aim for an A/A*- there were two awkward questions that I lost at least 6 marks on!)

Remember: You probably haven't even learnt everything in the paper! You're only in Year 10 so don't expect to know everything that's on Maths past papers. If you see stuff like vectors, functions, and the like, don't worry too much about it! (that goes for any linear subjects) If you want, discount those marks from your final score, if you haven't learnt them yet, just make sure you look at the markscheme to get an idea of how you would do such a question in the future!

Hi _gcx
I did my Maths GCSE this year so I had to learn the whole spec in one year! Probably the most stress I've ever had! I know most of the topics for the new GCSE it's just the horror from Year 10 Maths that eats me alive every time I see a past paper *shudder*.

Oh, I thought you were doing the past paper, lol. Well, good luck anyways!

Small but Mighty!

Realising that I have procrastinated most of this week, I feel the need to get some work done! Here are my aims that should be completed before my first official update for this thread (Thursday June 28th, 2016):This may not seem like a lot but I find it difficult diving head on into lots of work so I will progressively increase the workload.

Note:
For every weekly update I will specify what I have done over the last week and what my aims for the next week will be so I can't procrastinate as easily!!

OMG 'm doing thes ame thing! But instead I am bulking the revision notes per unit, I have ALMOST finished Chemistry AQA and I'm on C2!! It gets really boring though ....

I'm good at maths and I'll help you.

Edit: The AQA English Lang/Lit is worse.

Hi @TheContingency
You've nearly finished Chemistry! Teach me your ways master!
I agree notes do get pretty boring and strenuous after a few hours! I just lose concentration and fall asleep.

Thanks for offering to help me with Maths. Would it be OK to PM you if I ever have a question?