Advice for people like me going into year 11 this september?

Haroony

anything i should or should not do when working towards the gcse exams?

Reply 1

RDKGames

Study Forum Helper

Not do: Revise
Do: Party every night

... or is it the other way around...? Meh.

Reply 2

TeenRose29

Don't give up! Because it will all be worth it in the end! ☺️

Reply 3

trabajadora

Original post by Haroony

anything i should or should not do when working towards the gcse exams?

Revise for the mocks, it will reduce the workload for when you have to revise for the proper exams.

Don't leave your coursework to the last minute.

Don't start revising too early or you'll just burn out.

Keep your notes and resources organised.

Try and get all your notes done by January (or whenever you finish your courses), you don't want to still be writing notes in April.

If you're doing a language use http://www.memrise.com/home/ (it's an actual lifesaver)

Don't forget to do a lot of past papers for revision.

Don't be afraid to ask one of your teachers to mark some extra work you've done - they probably won't mind.

Enjoy the last year of school :smile:

(edited 7 years ago)

Reply 4

virtualnaz

Tbh just work hard and start your revision early

Reply 5

T0ucan

Hi, I'm getting my GCSE results on Thursday! One super important thing I would say is get full marks on all your coursework if you can! It takes a lot of work but it's completely worth it. I have already passed 5 subjects through just getting full marks on my coursework. If your exam flops you might still end up with a great grade if you have a high coursework mark. Get your teachers to constantly correct your work, and if they say they're not allowed to, go to other teachers from the same department. Year 11 is awesome and make sure you enjoy it, a lot of people in my year lost their minds over GCSEs (getting up at 5am to study the entire year and silly things like that!) but I stayed both relaxed and focused and have hopefully done well. Good luck and enjoy it!

Reply 6

Pinkberry_y

Work little and often throughout the year

Reply 7

floralandfading

Don't start too early as you'll have lost all motivation and be extremely fed up of revision by the time it really matters. If you really want to start early, just go over topics/subjects that you're not as confident with, or stuff you feel you are particularly behind on. Honestly, depending on who you are, you could start anywhere between 2 months or 2 weeks before the first exam and still do great! Makesure you take your mocks and other exams seriously as they'll give you accurate predictions on where you're working at, which you can use to find where you can improve and what you need extra time on. Don't be afraid to ask your teacher for help after class if you find a topic which your struggling with. (Imagine how annoying it would be if that topic came up a lot on your exam but you didn't bother to ask!) Also, with mock exams and other tests you do in class, experiment with different revision techniques to see which ones work best for you. For some people, cramming can be extremely effective, whereas for others it is useless. Try and have an idea of how much time you'll have to spend on each subject to get the grade you're aiming for - so when you're revising for mock exams, do you take simply a day of revision for the exam or more like a week? Both is completely fine, it just depends on who you are. You'll probably be advised to make a revision timetable, but I personally found this ineffective and extremely hard to stick to. As said before, focus on your coursework! Don't act like it doesn't matter and you can just do well in the exam, because you never know what will happen. Getting the highest mark possible in your coursework will not only help towards your grade, but will also make you more motivated as you will feel like you can get the grade you're aiming for. Try not to stress out during the exam season as it will only make matters worst. If you're feeling particularly stressed, try and take a break to do something you enjoy. Take short 5 minute breaks during revision also as this will prevent you from getting too bored and overworked. Also, talking to your friends about their revision and how they're doing will be a great help!

Oh one last thing, turn off your phone during revision. It is only a distraction and will make it even more difficult to concentrate.

Reply 8

CatherineJones23

Original post by Haroony

anything i should or should not do when working towards the gcse exams?

definitely revise for the mock exams as if you are revising for the real exams in May/June.
use a variety of revision materials from the beginning of year 11 - use mindmaps, summary sheets, flashcards (try the website memrise) to build up revision materials and find your best method of memorisation
revise little and often throughout the year to slowly build up long term knowledge (10 mins reviewing notes etc each night)
learn the trends in past papers (don't neglect the specimen paper either)
SLEEP

Reply 9

iris_17

Don't waste time on making all your revision notes pretty and perfect. Colours have been proven to hep stimulate memory recall in our brains so, by all means, use colour but don't go over the top - use three or four different colours at most. I would have benefited greatly from making a small revision card at the end of every lesson with questions on the other side. If you look at these every now and then, you'll be so much better off than cramming for all those exams in May/June!
Find out if your school offers revision/drop-in sessions as these can be very beneficial if you are struggling with a certain area. Be prepared to lose break times and stay behind after school but be realistic - you need to relax and keep your mental health in check as well as getting good grades.
If you're doing a subject with coursework involved, stay on top of it as much as possible but keep your priorities in check. Art for example has a habit of taking over your life and taking away time from other more important subjects like Maths and English. It's all about balance and compromise.
Just keep healthy, well rested and calm. Don't take mocks for advantage - use them to make mistakes (find out the revision techniques that don't work and the ones that do) and discover your weaknesses so you can correct them. It seems a long way away but Year 11 goes by SO. QUICKLY. Just enjoy your last year in High School.