GCSE Revision & Exam Tips Thread

Post your tips for exam success/how to revise and we can help each other out to get the best grades possibly :smile:

This way as well as supporting each other in the chat thread, we can more easily get study help too.
We get loads of similar threads asking these sorts of questions, hopefully this means it is easier to find advice.

My tips:

Credit goes to Wizard of Oz, Ree-Ree, Xurvi, Rae, LilyAcademia etc - I have moved some of their posts up here to make this thread easier to search through.

English Language & English Literature (AQA)

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Science (AQA)

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French & other Modern Foreign Languages (AQA)

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RE (OCR Philosophy & Ethics)

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History (OCR B – Modern World)

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Useful Websites

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More to come! (Geography/Maths)

(edited 12 years ago)

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Reply 1

Lily Academia

Boo

C'est moi.

Lovely revision tips - how long did you spend writing all of them out though?!

Reply 2

Kalliope

Original post by Lily Academia

Boo

C'est moi.

Lovely revision tips - how long did you spend writing all of them out though?!

Not long - I had pmed the poetry lots before and the others were just expanding on another post I'd made. I'm going to try and write out History/RE later on though.

You & the Maths crowd could always come join the fun *hint hint*

Reply 3

Circadian_Rhythm

When I'm done watching wrestling I'll write some up.. I'm feeling creative today..

Reply 4

Lily Academia

Original post by BookWormShanti

I'll stick with you and be loyal. All English Lit students together!

The Maths crowd :tongue:

That made me giggle - but I'll have you know I'm just as Englishy as I am Mathsy.

Reply 5

Kalliope

Original post by Lily Academia

I'll stick with you and be loyal. All English Lit students together!

The Maths crowd :tongue:

That made me giggle - but I'll have you know I'm just as Englishy as I am Mathsy.

Sure you are! (good choice :yes:

) You weren't swapping jokes about differentiation or whatever earlier at all... and you're not self teaching A level or anything! :rolleyes:

Anyway, this is for chat :smile:

If you can persuade yourself/j alex etc to write up something at some point I'd be grateful :jumphug:

Reply 6

Maths_Lover

Hello

I am currently revising, but I shall post some tips when I finish making some posters :biggrin:

Reply 7

SPMS

I managed to get 9A* and 2A the best advice I can give is simply do past papers.

Reply 8

Lily Academia

Original post by BookWormShanti

Sure you are! (good choice :yes:

) You weren't swapping jokes about differentiation or whatever earlier at all... and you're not self teaching A level or anything! :rolleyes:

Anyway, this is for chat :smile:

If you can persuade yourself/j alex etc to write up something at some point I'd be grateful :jumphug:

I'll do so later. Really ought to do some biology revision myself right now. Can we give revision advice for any subject?

Reply 9

Kalliope

Original post by Lily Academia

I'll do so later. Really ought to do some biology revision myself right now. Can we give revision advice for any subject?

Whatever you find the easiest to give advice on/think you'll be most helpful with.
thanks everyone :smile:

Reply 10

Lily Academia

Original post by Lily Academia

I'll do so later. Really ought to do some biology revision myself right now. Can we give revision advice for any subject?

EDIT:

My joke was on Physics.... wait, no, that doesn't make me sound any better.

And Alex doesn't revise; he is a self proclaimed maths god.

Reply 11

al0

I just don't have the motivation to START revising.. Can anyone give me some pointers on how to get yourself in the mood?

Reply 12

EatRainbows

I lay out all my revision things out in front of me so it keeps staring at me and guilts me into revising. Put some music on, start with the things you enjoy so it gets you into a revising mood and just go from there. I try to make myself turn off the internet when I need to do some intense revising so I don't get distracted. I also like writing a plan of what I need to do so I have something to aim for.

Reply 13

mevidek

thanks for this! YOU'RE GREAT!

Reply 14

Lily Academia

Since I just spent AGES doing this for my AS - here's a tonne of idioms for French students to slip into their work:

Faire les gros titres to hit the headlines
Exercer une influence sur to have an influence on
Tirer le signal d’alarme to sound the alarm
Nul ne sait encore si.. no-one yet knows whether..
Il en va de même pour.. the same goes for..
A en croire les sondages if we are to believe the polls
On constate avec inquiétude que.. it’s a worrying fact that..
On pourrait en dire autant pour.. you could say the same for..
Les spécialistes s’accordent à dire que.. experts agree that..
Quoi qu’il en soit whatever the case may be
Il est évident que.. it’s obvious that..
Notons au passage que.. one should note in passing that..
Il s’ensuit que.. the result is that..
Je ne suis pas le seul à prétendre.. I’m not alone in claiming..
Il faut également souligner que.. I should also be stressed that..
On a tendance à croire que.. we tend to believe that..
Reste à savoir si.. it remains to be seen whether..
Imaginez un peu Just think
Cela peut paraître idiot, mais.. it may seem silly, but..
Il va sans dire que.. it goes without saying that..
Rien d’étonnant que.. (+ subj) it’s not surprising that..
Il ne faut pas s’étonner que.. it’s not surprising that
Cela en dit long sur.. it says a lot about..
Plus question non plus de.. there’s no question either of…
J’en ai assez d’entendre.. I’m fed up with hearing about..
Pour couronner le tout to cap everything
Il nous faut démontrer que.. we have to prove that..
En ces temps de.. in these times of..
Il faut examiner le revers de la médaille you have to look at the other side of the argument
N’oublions pas non plus.. let’s not forget either..
Faut-il en conclure que.. should we conclude from this that..
L’ennui, c’est que.. the annoying thing is that..
Il est important de constater que.. it is important to note that..
Loin de là! Far from it!
Il est à noter que.. it should be noted that..
Il vaut mieux.. (+ inf) it is better to..
Ayant pesé le pour et le contre having weighed up the pros and cons
Cela va de pair avec.. this goes together with..
Il est indéniable que.. It is undeniable that..
Quoi que l’on en pense whatever you may think of the matter
Tout le monde s’accorde à dire que.. everyone agrees that..
Si j’ose le dire if I may venture to suggest
En guise de conclusion in conclusion

Apologies for its layout - it looked much nicer on Word :frown:

(edited 13 years ago)

Reply 15

WizardOfOz#1

HISTORY:
Given you're doing OCR History B (Modern World)

I understand that depending on the schools chosen syllabus, candidates may study different aspects of modern world history...

My school looks at the British depth study (Britain in 1906-1918, the source based paper) alongside the aspects of international relations and the chosen depth study which is Germany.

The source based paper merely test your ability to interpret sources as the name would suggest. You have to know your facts and statistics to achieve the higher grades however, a conceptualised response to the source is often the difference between an A and an A*. You have to acknowledge that all sources 'to an extent' are biased, and depending on whether its a news paper article, a private letter or a diary extract it may have a certain amount of credibility. Knowing what the source depicts and how reliable it is given you support it with statistical evidence, and answering according to the mark allocation- you'll be fine.

Do however, look at numerous sources prior to your exam. Some pictures used by the exam board could easily be misinterpreted so if you know a majority of the sources, you won't fall into that trap.

Anyway- that's the boring paper.
Moving swiftly onto my pride and joy, international relations and Germany.
:biggrin:

This tests your ability to regurgitate information. Honestly... You can be given a nice 8 mark question on the failure of the league within the Manchurian crisis... So just learn your stuff!

Some people find this element of history tedious .. However, there is a way around it. If you struggle to revise history... Just try and understand what you're being asked to learn. If you're studying the treaty of Versaille and its terms...i.e you know the typical Arms regulations Germany were given, put yourself in the shoes of the German people. Imagine that you have gone from living in a prosperous, military nation to being told that the army must contain no more than 100,000 men, 6 battleships, no conscription etcetcetc. Imagine being told that your country has to pay £6600 million worth of reparations due to article 231 which states that the war was ignited through 'Germanys aggressive behaviour.' Whilst you're a mere citizen who was against the war yourself and now you have been slumped into poverty due to this 'diktat'.

Mnemonics also help a lot! Like if you're learning what Hitler believed... Remember LAFSAG:
Lebensraum- (living space)
A strong Germany- he needed to a abolish the TOV
Führer - one leader, he believed that answering to more than one person, leaving room for debate would see the spiral of the German government into political turmoil
Social Darwinism- Hitler thought little of the 'subhuman' communists, eastern europeans, jews the German word for it is 'Untermenschen' the Aryan race was superior to all other races. In fact Hitler believed that violence should be rightly used to catalyse the rise of this race and so on...
Autarky- economic self sufficiency
Germany- was under attack from the communists etcetcetc

Honestly- just get into it and know your stuff... I crammed for two hours before my mock and dropped one mark! So it can be done! - I strongly advise you don't do that for your actual exam though lol... And check out John D Clare, he has some incredible resources on his site...

Time management is another issue- do not waffle. If you see 6marks, get your 6points in or 3 points and explain them... Past papers can only help you master that technique!

GEOGRAPHY:

Case studies! Just learn them, its a bore- but it will get you full marks. Like if you're asked "What are the effects of internal migration? (6marks)"

Like we looked at China and how the government had created SEZs (special economic zones) which had more funding like the rest of the nation. As migrants move from the rural to urban regions- they make up x% of the working population thus increasing the countries GDP by y%
. Migrants are then able to send money home to fund their childrens education etcetcetc...

The fact that you've brought in some statistics will deffo give you some extra marks. Also if you do AQA, the questions don't always specify that using a case study would be beneficial to you so just throw them in anyway :wink:

... It works wonders

TRIPLE SCIENCE:

Biology.

Out of the three sciences, biology is the one which mostly tests your ability to recall information. I'd suggest that you learn it NOW in advance, then do past papers... By doing that you're forcing your brain to remember the various information that you'll need for may!

Chemistry.

The best science in the world :smile:

, by far the easiest too!
There's a difference between 'learning' and 'understanding' the exam doesn't test how much you've learnt- its tests your understanding. I personally believe that you understand more when you're able to explain why certain things happen to someone else or better yet... Just do past papers!

You can pick up a lot of easy marks when working out the calculations. So just be vigilant and make sure you're doing them properly.

By the time you've done your core and additional science certain elements of chemistry will have repeated themselves hence the examiners will expect you to know them and know them well. So if you've forgotten- flick through your past books revision guides as they set the foundations of your chemistry.

Again- past papers :smile:

Physics.

Its actually the easiest science to excel in because so many people fail that the boundaries tend to be ridiculously low.

LOGICAL REASONING!
Everything that you'll be asked will be based on what you can find in your text books. So if you're given a question which puzzles you, just think on your feet. Actually, I thought I'd failed my additional physics and I came out with full marks and that paper was something else lol... The questions were so bizarre, I did it in noveber 2010, and I can still remember the first question... :/ yeah anyway... It is doable.

Of course again the key to an A* is past papers :smile:

.....
Yeah I kinda ran out of steam after I did history (I'm typing this from my phone) lol... I can't stress the importance of past papers enough. As well as know yourself- different people work better in contrasting situations... Under pressure I tend to do my best whilst another candidate may prefer loads of time so yeah figure out what works for you then just give it a go :smile:

Goodluck with your exams, hope I helped someone :biggrin:

Reply 16

Implo

Original post by al0

I just don't have the motivation to START revising.. Can anyone give me some pointers on how to get yourself in the mood?

Just think about things like getting a great grade, or how well you'll do if you don't start, I have the same problem, try starting on a subject that's quite fun to revise, I do that, once you start its quite easy to then carry on.

Reply 17

Rachel08

Hey I'm doing A levels now but I thought I'd share a few useful websites with you.

BBC bitesize got me through my science GCSEs well. My chemistry and physics teachers were useless so I had to teach myself the syllabus from both the revision guide and this-great for helping to understand confusing chemistry

www.examsolutions.co.uk is great for maths. I only started using it last year for my AS levels but it has some great GCSE stuff on it. It has video tutorials on most topics. Has past papers but they are usually edexcel.
Key to maths is past papers- it gets you used to the style of questions, cos questions are usually the same style year on year. So you can go 'oh, i did one like that the other day'

Hope these are useful-I will be directing my little brother to these (he's in yr 10) when he actually gets round to some proper revision :biggrin:

Reply 18

rae_

Maths:
http://www.youtube.com/user/maths247
http://www.examsolutions.co.uk/GCSE-maths-tutorials/index.php
http://www.khanacademy.org/

English:
http://www.teachit.co.uk/armoore/default.htm
http://www.youtube.com/user/WCSEnglish#p/u/2/VJWdoluPpGY
http://www.youtube.com/user/helpmemrdavies

History:
http://web.mac.com/gileshill/history_at_hand/GCSE_History.html
http://www.johndclare.net/

Languages:
http://www.wordreference.com/

Revision tips:
http://beanbaglearning.com/resources/159-exam-technique

Here is a great site overall: www.getrevising.com

Good luck :biggrin:

(edited 13 years ago)

Reply 19

ssss

GCSE podcasts are your friends! whenever I felt like procrastinating I'd take a walk and listen to them - they are brilliant! bitesize and the free ones on itunes - there are some brilliant history ones floating about online too :biggrin: