[thatgirlbecky]

(Original post by BlueSkyeCloudyDay)
I have 24.

I feel your pain, I'm going to have 21 exams this summer D:

I was planning on starting light revision a few weeks before the Easter holidays, then spend the Easter hols revising quite a bit.. then just carry on through study leave going through my notes, textbooks and revision guides

Does anyone have any specific advice for how to revise? It get awfully tedious just reading through notes etc.. I watched a few videos on YouTube related to the topics I was studying for my mocks which were quite funny and educational, but I don't know how else to make revision more interesting - or is there no way to do that, and we just have to struggle through?

[Leelad]

I'm starting my History revision now. There's just a ridiculous amount to learn.
Spanish is a continual revision process for me because we have controlled assessments all the time.
I've got a shed load of English Literature homework, so I guess that sort of counts as revision? I'll probably read a few of those bloody poems as well
I've finished Maths but have a resit in March so I'll do a little bit for that
I'm starting light RE revision by making YouTunbe revision videos for it
Sciences can **** off

[raff:)]

(Original post by Leelad)
I'm starting my History revision now. There's just a ridiculous amount to learn.
Spanish is a continual revision process for me because we have controlled assessments all the time.
I've got a shed load of English Literature homework, so I guess that sort of counts as revision? I'll probably read a few of this bloody poems as well
I've finished Maths but have a resit in March so I'll do a little bit for that
I'm starting light RE revision by making YouTunbe revision videos for it
Sciences can **** off

I have a Maths resit in March too. I just can't make myself revise for it though

[RyRy.]

(Original post by littleone271)
Why the hell did you do 16 GCSEs??? lol that's insane! Most people I know did 11 (same as me) or less. I thought 9 was about average... I take it you went to either grammar or private? I just went to a comprehensive. It was quite a good one though to be fair... It was catholic so I guess that kinda acted as a chav filter to a certain extent lol

Yeah I did triple science and if I remember correctly there were 4 for each science, the first 2 (half of them) were multiple choice and the last 2 weren't. What year did you do your GCSEs?

Ermmm yeah i just went to a school :P its not private school or anything but it gets 100% A-C with 5 minimum GCSE's. They where more spread out i remember starting them in year 9. And forensic science sounds really interesting i want to do it to a certain extent but the thought of white sterilised labs put me of.

[littleone271]

(Original post by RyRy.)
Ermmm yeah i just went to a school :P its not private school or anything but it gets 100% A-C with 5 minimum GCSE's. They where more spread out i remember starting them in year 9. And forensic science sounds really interesting i want to do it to a certain extent but the thought of white sterilised labs put me of.

100%?? how the hell does it manage that? do you not have chavs where you live? lol..

Yeah it is quite interesting actually.. One of my lecturers used to work for the British Transport Police as a CSI so he's got a lot of experience and we do a lot of mock crime scene investigations where we send each other off to interview loads of people at the college who have obviously been told what to say to us but yeah it's really good.

We do a lot of science as well like I've probably done more titrations than the average A-Level chemistry student for instance but it's not all like that. A lot of the experiments are quite fun like extracting plasticiser from a PVC glove and working out the unknown concentration of a solution using visible spectroscopy (using a colorimeter).

Are you doing A-levels at the moment?

[RyRy.]

(Original post by littleone271)
100%?? how the hell does it manage that? do you not have chavs where you live? lol..

Yeah it is quite interesting actually.. One of my lecturers used to work for the British Transport Police as a CSI so he's got a lot of experience and we do a lot of mock crime scene investigations where we send each other off to interview loads of people at the college who have obviously been told what to say to us but yeah it's really good.

We do a lot of science as well like I've probably done more titrations than the average A-Level chemistry student for instance but it's not all like that. A lot of the experiments are quite fun like extracting plasticiser from a PVC glove and working out the unknown concentration of a solution using visible spectroscopy (using a colorimeter).

Are you doing A-levels at the moment?

How does it manage that....well its 100% with only 5 GCSE's above a C so thats not really hard we have loads of chavs but what the school do it gradually take there options of the under-performers so they only have 5 subjects in total, given 25 lesson slots a week they have a lot of time to work, in addition to the fact that the resits are drilled into them and the school pays for it.

I would like to know more about forensic science to be fair, it sounds quite good.
Im doing my AS's at the moment, Maths, History, Physics, Biology, Economics and EPQ

[Where'sPerry?]

Not a GCSE student any more, just looked at this thread out of curiosity. I begun 3/4 weeks before each exam, you guys are all so organised! Although, I DID do pretty hardcore revision.

Although, my RS revision consisted of a scan through my book on the morning before the exam. XD

[littleone271]

(Original post by RyRy.)
How does it manage that....well its 100% with only 5 GCSE's above a C so thats not really hard we have loads of chavs but what the school do it gradually take there options of the under-performers so they only have 5 subjects in total, given 25 lesson slots a week they have a lot of time to work, in addition to the fact that the resits are drilled into them and the school pays for it.

I would like to know more about forensic science to be fair, it sounds quite good.
Im doing my AS's at the moment, Maths, History, Physics, Biology, Economics and EPQ

Oh yeah I agree that it's definitely not difficult to get 5 C's at GCSE but I've got quite a few friends who got less than that. To be fair I've always thought that GCSEs get easier every year though and now that schools are coming up with crafty ways of giving their students tons of time to do them in I suppose it's inevitable that they'll all do well in their GCSEs. I'm still a bit sceptical of 100% though.. I don't think any school gets 100% because they all have a certain intake of children with learning difficulties and disabilities.

Yeah it's good... A lot of people look down their noses at BTECs and to be fair most of the people on my course are there mainly because they messed up their A-levels but I think there's a lot to be said for the BTEC system. We have to work hard all year no matter how intelligent we are because the course is 100% coursework so it's impossible to doss about and then suddenly do great at the end. We also have to be very independant and it's never a case of "I don't like my lecturer so I won't do her work" because we have tracking sheets and we know we need to fill the gaps to pass the course.

It's not as easy as people say it is either. Our teachers believe in making the assignments more difficult for us so that when we go to university we'll be working at the same level as A-Level chemistry and biology students even though only about a third of our course is pure science. We have 20 units and one of our teachers appears to be trying to cram in an entire biology A2 into one of our units lol

[RyRy.]

(Original post by littleone271)
Oh yeah I agree that it's definitely not difficult to get 5 C's at GCSE but I've got quite a few friends who got less than that. To be fair I've always thought that GCSEs get easier every year though and now that schools are coming up with crafty ways of giving their students tons of time to do them in I suppose it's inevitable that they'll all do well in their GCSEs. I'm still a bit sceptical of 100% though.. I don't think any school gets 100% because they all have a certain intake of children with learning difficulties and disabilities.

Yeah it's good... A lot of people look down their noses at BTECs and to be fair most of the people on my course are there mainly because they messed up their A-levels but I think there's a lot to be said for the BTEC system. We have to work hard all year no matter how intelligent we are because the course is 100% coursework so it's impossible to doss about and then suddenly do great at the end. We also have to be very independant and it's never a case of "I don't like my lecturer so I won't do her work" because we have tracking sheets and we know we need to fill the gaps to pass the course.

It's not as easy as people say it is either. Our teachers believe in making the assignments more difficult for us so that when we go to university we'll be working at the same level as A-Level chemistry and biology students even though only about a third of our course is pure science. We have 20 units and one of our teachers appears to be trying to cram in an entire biology A2 into one of our units lol

I agree, GCSE is just exam technique with a light sprinkling of knowledge, I know lots of people who took home their controlled assessment for geography and came out with 100% along with the science in the news coursework. "Tudor Grange was found to have a 100% A*-C pass rate for a minimum of 5 GCSE's (All pupils left with at least 5 GCSE's)The school was classed as outstanding after a visit from Ofsted in December 2008." That my evidence and:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/shared/bsp/h...l/334_4014.stm

Anyway I presume the reason why people look down at BTECs are becuse they are associated with Sport and Art, especially from my experience, the school offered BTECS of this nature, however I can't judge because I don't know anything about them. But at the end of the day it's whatever floats your boat exam inclinded or coursework right? It's to your benefit if the teachers make it harder, I've been spoon fed for the whole of my education and I lack any drive, I still am at sixth form...

Biology's cool and I find easy, but I woudnt like to have A2 crammed in, what's subjects do you do?

[littleone271]

(Original post by RyRy.)
I agree, GCSE is just exam technique with a light sprinkling of knowledge, I know lots of people who took home their controlled assessment for geography and came out with 100% along with the science in the news coursework. "Tudor Grange was found to have a 100% A*-C pass rate for a minimum of 5 GCSE's (All pupils left with at least 5 GCSE's)The school was classed as outstanding after a visit from Ofsted in December 2008." That my evidence and:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/shared/bsp/h...l/334_4014.stm

Anyway I presume the reason why people look down at BTECs are becuse they are associated with Sport and Art, especially from my experience, the school offered BTECS of this nature, however I can't judge because I don't know anything about them. But at the end of the day it's whatever floats your boat exam inclinded or coursework right? It's to your benefit if the teachers make it harder, I've been spoon fed for the whole of my education and I lack any drive, I still am at sixth form...

Biology's cool and I find easy, but I woudnt like to have A2 crammed in, what's subjects do you do?

It's a shame that you say you lack any drive. I certainly havn't been spoon fed. Quite the opposite in fact at college.

Last year our main teacher apparently had no qualifications (found that out the other day) and we've had to be responsible for all our coursework because we don't trust the teachers to keep it safe for us. At the moment we're also having to do work from last year at home with no support, for whole units that we were never taught properly (or at all in some cases). It's not an ideal situation and it's entirely the fault of the college for failing to provide proper teachers and for employing an idiot to be our course leader who brought along her mate to teach us for most of the course. The only proper teachers we did have were either temporary and stayed a couple of weeks, they left after a month or so or were sacked. None of them actually came in regularly and taught us properly. We had whole weeks go by where we'd go in every day and be sent home because nobody had turned up to teach us.

It's incredibly unfortunate and unfair and has been a real ordeal but I think the people still left on the course (there were about 40 and now there are 12) have really learnt valuable lessons from it. It's made me really value my education and be more motivated, pro-active and responsible.

Well I have 20 units. They are:

1.Fundamentals of science, 2.Science in the Industry, 3.Scientific Investigation, 4.Scientific Practical Techniques, 5.Perceptions of Science, 6.Maths, 8.Statistics, 11.Physiology of Human Body Systems, 12.Physiology of Human Regulation and Reproduction, 13.Investigating a Crime Scene, 18.Genetics and Genetic Engineering, 19.Practical Chemical Analysis, 22.Chemical Laboratory Techniques, 31.Criminology, 32.Forensic Evidence Collection and Analysis, 33.Forensic Photography, 36.Forensic Fire Investigation, 38.Traffic Accident Investigation, 39.Criminal Investigation Procedures, 40.Criminal Investigation in Practice.

All of these are quite in depth despite 2 of them being level 2 units (6 and 13) and 8 being considered a half unit. The number of assignments for each unit varies from 3 to 5 or 6. Some assignments will be 2 or 3 pages long, others will be 10+. For unit 12 we have 5 assignments and for the 2 that I've done so far I've done at least 10 pages and had to use A2 books.

The average assignment for Chemical Laboratory Techniques for instance will consist of a couple of lab reports, formulae explaining the reactions, diagrams or photos of you doing it to show how you did it, a conclusion, explaining the scientific principles behind the procedures and why something such as purity/atom economy/yield is important and how it is controlled in the industry etc. That assignment made up a 3rd of the unit and took a few days to complete. Another one we did for that unit involved using infrared spectroscopy and LOADS of chemical tests to help us identify unknown substances.

Right I've just realised how long this post is lol hope it's answered your question!

[Lorem Ipsum]

For most of them the day beforehand, although maths I spent a week doing past papers. Yeah. Actual revision.

[littleone271]

(Original post by raff:))
I have a Maths resit in March too. I just can't make myself revise for it though

Are you doing foundation tier or higher tier? It's much easier to get a C at higher.

[Tambourini]

I started my revision 2 or 3 weeks before, however I think the key to good revision is not the time-scale, but how you actually revise.

I think reading books, or notes about the subjects you're about to be examined in is possibly the worst way, as for nothing ever sinked in. So I decided to make crappy slideshows with the fundamentals I needed to know, and it seemed to work a lot better as it was a bit more than ink on a piece of paper.

Good luck with the revision.

[raff:)]

(Original post by littleone271)
Are you doing foundation tier or higher tier? It's much easier to get a C at higher.

I'm doing higher tier, I got an A overall for the whole GCSE - about 10 UMS off an A* so yeah

[littleone271]

(Original post by raff:))
I'm doing higher tier, I got an A overall for the whole GCSE - about 10 UMS off an A* so yeah

You're resitting to get an A* rather than an A? That is a bit pointless tbh because GCSEs really don't mean very much assuming you're going to do A-levels or something?

[raff:)]

(Original post by littleone271)
You're resitting to get an A* rather than an A? That is a bit pointless tbh because GCSEs really don't mean very much assuming you're going to do A-levels or something?

Yep. I didn't revise for the exam and got an A, so hopefully if I revise really hard this time I'll get an A* and I'm going to do Maths at A Level. I don't think it's pointless at all because the course I want to apply for at University is extremely competitive and that particular university takes into consideration how many A/A*s you got at GCSE.

[LaBelleEtLeBete]

I didn't revise at all for my GCSEs and still got good grades. It's all about confidence.

[RajPopat94]

Seriously hate it when you get AS/A Level students commenting on how easy GCSE's were. Guarantee they didn't think that when they did them. I personally started around Easter, but I've found through A Levels that if you keep up with it from the beginning of when you learn it, it makes life so much easier. Organisation can get you so far in life

[bhogs001]

(Original post by LaBelleEtLeBete)
I didn't revise at all for my GCSEs and still got good grades. It's all about confidence.

Oh nice one! What did you get?

[LaBelleEtLeBete]

(Original post by bhogs001)
Oh nice one! What did you get?

Oooh, it was a while ago so I'll have to think.
A*AAABBBBC and then two Us (they were coursework based ICT and Enterprise which I couldn't be bothered to focus on/ do any work for).
To be fair, though, I have a very good memory for things I've read and I know how to BS examiners.