Study Buddies?

How do you find Wjec English literature?Have you seen the new spec and what are your thoughts?For me,probably the worst subject in GCSE.

To be honest, I think I'm doing fine. For my year 10 mock I got a grade 5 which is fine by me because I don't want to take it for A levels but memorising quotes from 18 poems is so frustrating and I really didn't pay attention when studying Jane Eyre.
What grade are you for English Language? Are you going into year 11?

Yep going into year 11.Currently working on level 7 in English Lang,but I am hoping for an 8.English lit is horrible.Lol I have to read three-four times the unseen poem to atleast get a basic idea what's it about.I'm never taking English lit to A levels.Struggling to get a level 5 in GCSE therefore, it may not be the best choice.

Just wondering but how com you doing foundation for maths? Also what grades are you currently getting the individual sciences?

Comment below on what subject you want to study with me
English - WJEC
Maths - Edexcel Foundation
Biology - OCR Gateway Higher
Chemistry - OCR Gateway Higher
Physics - OCR Gateway Higher
RE - Edexcel Higher
Geography - AQA B Higher
Urdu - Edexcel

Although I'm doing Higher Maths, I would be happy to help you with any topics that you're unsure about! (I have different exam boards for all the other subjects lol)

Ok, did you do year 10 mocks? How did you find the higher paper?

Yes I did! I found it quite good, we did the specimen paper. I'd say I did pretty well on the two calculator papers, but I wasn't paying enough attention on the non-calculator and I made quite a few silly mistakes. Overall, I got an A*, and my school called that a 9, although I'm sceptical as to the boundaries they used, as we don't really know what mark will equate to what. I have improved quite a bit since then, I did it like 3 months ago, and I now make far less mistakes. A lot of people found it really hard though, and got Cs and Ds (no Es, thankfully) I'm planning on taking Maths to A-Level, so getting an 8 or a 9 is quite important to me.

In comparison to the previous spec: a fair bit harder, but I prefer the new spec because it narrows the huge jump between GCSE and A-Level. However, to someone who dislikes Maths and/or finds it difficult, it must be hell A lot of topics have came down from Higher to Foundation, and a few from C1 (first module A-Level) to Higher.

Comment below on what subject you want to study with me
English - WJEC
Maths - Edexcel Foundation
Biology - OCR Gateway Higher
Chemistry - OCR Gateway Higher
Physics - OCR Gateway Higher
RE - Edexcel Higher
Geography - AQA B Higher
Urdu - Edexcel

I done only 2 papers. One calculator amd one non-calculator. But for the real exams we will have 3 sadly. I done well on paper 1 and I got a higher mark on that one compared to the others. But I messed up on the paper 2, which let me down. The questions were mostly problem solving ones which I'm so bad at it. Overall I got a D.Most people who done higher got D's and C's too. Any tips on how I should revise for maths and how long I should spend on each topic?

Foundation seems to be loads of little questions, as opposed to higher, where many of them require a fair bit of working. But do know that a D isn't bad, and it shows definite potential, and a fair grasp for most [foundation] concepts. The first few questions from Higher pop up as the last few on foundation, so that might be where you lost marks. The most sensible place to start would be going through the papers that you have done, and going through as many questions as you can, recognising where you went wrong, and potentially noting as such, to prevent such an occurance again. If it was due to gaps in the method, or lack of practice, I'd recommend doing practice questions. Maths is a bit tricky in terms of revision, since it's not really a matter of just reading, then doing a bit of testing, it's a matter of learning a method and practicing the hell out of it, until you fully understand it and stop getting the questions wrong. How long is down to how much you currently understand, and how much you feel you need to allocate to get a topic completely covered.

Back onto the topic of problem solving questions, is it due to difficulties in conducting multiple-stage methods that might not be clearly set out, or is it actually thinking what method you should use? Both are understandable problems, that I had for a while with Maths. I started this year on a C, because I struggled with the way questions were asked. Now that I've had a load of practice, I now properly understand what questions are asking for. Most of the problems I have now are due to me overlooking the question, or simply screwing up on something simple. My pet peeve is forgetting to take note of signs, I have to review my calculations, and I ocassionally dismiss signs (-/+) accidentally. Checking your calculations is always a must, thus, especially in calculator exams. As such, don't chance using any sort of mental method in calculator exams, if you feel as if you would struggle. Even if you feel confident, I wouldn't advise it.

Do you have any textbooks? (ie. Edexcel's workbook) You can use those for practice questions, although some, like mine, may not be that useful for actually learning. In regards to actually learning, you should look at the specification, and maybe mentally affirm whether you know a concept or not. If you don't, use sites like Bitesize to further understand the concepts. Once you've learnt a topic and are ready to practice it, practice materials can be found fairly easily. I tend to use OnMaths, which has several topic busters and mock papers that are extremely useful for practicing. The owner even has a few videos on his YouTube channel, walking through a few questions, so you might find that useful too.

But, overall, start by identifying what you struggle at, whether it be using complex functions of a calculator or doing mental arithmetic, then go from there!

Thank you for the tips and advise. I struggled with most of the questions in paper 2 because almost all of the questions were really wordy and required us to really think. I managed to get above a half. I got 55/100 but that was not enough for a C. The grade boundaries were quite high but during the summer holidays I have done a lot of practise and yes I do have a textbook given by the school but I started tuition for maths and have received homework sheets on a range of topics which I am still trying to complete. I have also looked at OnMaths and it looks very helpful.I don't really use bitesize for maths instead I watch videos from MathsWatch. The speaker explains every topic very clearly. Also, congratulations from moving from a C to an A*. You must have put in a lot of hard work into your maths I recommend you Mathswatch but if you cannot afford it or your school doesn't provide it. Maths genie is really good. Its packed with a range of questions for different topics taken from past papers and also offers good revision videos. Thank you for your help

Yeah, in the old spec it was around 70ish% for a C (Foundation), and significantly less in higher (30ish%). But, as you said it's out of 100, that means they're using the wrong paper, the old spec, the new spec is out of 80. Here are the sample assessments for the new spec: 1, 2, SAM. All three will be more similar to what you'll be doing in May and June next year, as they're with the new spec.

Otherwise, is there anything [wording-wise] in particularly that you struggle with? (ie. decimal places, significant figures, etc.) I know that the wording has indeed got harder, with some of the wording, likely confusing some. Once you've got used to how questions are asked, you should be absolutely fine.

I feel a lack of concentration and dedication (and a lack of practice) was my problem initially, but you sound really committed to do well in Maths!

I have Edexcel's revision guide, the foundation version of which you can find here. It's endorse by the exam board and is very helpful, and explains the topics really well, and has a fair amount of practice questions too!

Yeah, in the old spec it was around 70ish% for a C (Foundation), and significantly less in higher (30ish%). But, as you said it's out of 100, that means they're using the wrong paper, the old spec, the new spec is out of 80. Here are the sample assessments for the new spec: 1, 2, SAM. All three will be more similar to what you'll be doing in May and June next year, as they're with the new spec.

Otherwise, is there anything [wording-wise] in particularly that you struggle with? (ie. decimal places, significant figures, etc.) I know that the wording has indeed got harder, with some of the wording, likely confusing some. Once you've got used to how questions are asked, you should be absolutely fine.

I feel a lack of concentration and dedication (and a lack of practice) was my problem initially, but you sound really committed to do well in Maths!

I have Edexcel's revision guide, the foundation version of which you can find here. It's endorse by the exam board and is very helpful, and explains the topics really well, and has a fair amount of practice questions too!

Edexcel gave my school a paper mixed with many different questions from old past papers. They were mainly from The Edexcel B exam board. I'm doing Edexcel A. I found some questions that were on my exam. I can send some to you if you want.

Q) Gary’s motorbike uses petrol. Gary needs to mix oil with the petrol. He mixes oil and petrol in the ratio 1 : 14 by volume. Gary is going to ride his motorbike 3000 miles. Each 20 miles he rides uses 1litre of the oil and petrol mixture. A 500 ml bottle of oil costs £3.99 Work out the total cost of the bottles of oil Gary needs to buy. (1litre = 1000 ml) You must show all your working

Q) Jodie has 40 eggs.
She wants to put all the eggs into boxes. She can put 6 eggs into each box. Find the smallest number of boxes Jodie needs. You must show your working.

I don't know how I got the second question wrong

Anyways how are you doing in English? This year we only did work on English Literature and for my mock I got a grade 5 which I was disappointed with because I know I can do better because I usually get grade 7's in the end of unit exams. But I'm not surprised because of the lack of time management I had, I couldn't even revise Jane Eyre or the poems. I really dislike the fact that we have to memorise quotes for poems.