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GCSEs. Hard?

Hello all,
As you're all aware GCSEs are looming and exam stress is (supposed to be) kicking in.
Well, i'm not in the least bit worried about them and i know i should be, i'm not really worried that i'm not worried but i know i should be!
Well i've been doing a standard 5 hours revision for the last few weeks i guess give or take a few hours and making notes. But i hear people at my school working from dawn till dusk on their revision and breaking down and all. THIS CANT BE HEALTHY. But i wonder if maybe i should be doing more work. I've done more or less bugger all for the last 5 years of school and can count on my fingers the number of tests or essays i've put effort into. I'm predicted A's and A*s apart from sciences which i'm Bs (what can you expect i might aswell have not been in those lessons). Just realised how long this paragraph is getting... Well back to the question, every tells me i'm "bright" with "potential" and so far i've taken this to mean "great, i dont have to work" but i'm thinking should i be doing more work and just how hard are these exams!?!
Any help much appreciated.
Thanks

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They're not hard if you just go over everything. Really don't need to let it take over your whole day though. It definitely didn't for me and I still did pretty well.
(edited 9 years ago)
Reply 2
Original post by ryan9900
they're not hard if you just go over everything. Definitely don't need to let it take over your whole day though. It definitely didn't for me and i still did pretty well.


good to hear!
I personally don't think they are that hard overall but there are certain parts which you need to understand in order to write about it although most of the GCSE syllabus is spoonfed-in my experience. If you listened in lessons then revision should not take up too much time; where I didn't listen, I am having to go over all of it
(edited 9 years ago)
The only thing which I'm finding slightly hard is the amount of content you have to learn, but most of the content itself is easy.

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I'm pretty much in the same position as you, predicted all A*s minus one and I can't help thinking I should be panicking much more...
In total I've probably done about 12 hours revision but I think I just know everything pretty well, and what's the point cramming and then confusing myself?
As other posters have said, you're better off doing a couple of hours really effective revision every day (I find past-papers are brilliant) than spending all day every day cramming.

I might regret this come august, but I'm pretty confident.
Reply 6
Yh you should be fine i know people who revised the day before or barely revised and got all As and A*s. The main thing I think is to really read the question carefully and you should be fine
Original post by Henry97
Hello all,
As you're all aware GCSEs are looming and exam stress is (supposed to be) kicking in.
Well, i'm not in the least bit worried about them and i know i should be, i'm not really worried that i'm not worried but i know i should be!
Well i've been doing a standard 5 hours revision for the last few weeks i guess give or take a few hours and making notes. But i hear people at my school working from dawn till dusk on their revision and breaking down and all. THIS CANT BE HEALTHY. But i wonder if maybe i should be doing more work. I've done more or less bugger all for the last 5 years of school and can count on my fingers the number of tests or essays i've put effort into. I'm predicted A's and A*s apart from sciences which i'm Bs (what can you expect i might aswell have not been in those lessons). Just realised how long this paragraph is getting... Well back to the question, every tells me i'm "bright" with "potential" and so far i've taken this to mean "great, i dont have to work" but i'm thinking should i be doing more work and just how hard are these exams!?!
Any help much appreciated.
Thanks


You do as much work as you need to do. Everyone is different, so the time people need to revise will also be different. Some people have to put in hours and hours each day, others can get by with next to no work.
Original post by blackdiamond97
The only thing which I'm finding slightly hard is the amount of content you have to learn, but most of the content itself is easy.

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Same here

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If you've been doing 5 hours of good revision for the last few weeks then personally I think that's enough. Unless you want a clean sweep of A*s then working all day isn't necessary at GCSE.
Reply 10
Some people take in information faster than others. If you're someone like me who has to repeat it several times before the information finally sink into my head, then obviously revision is going to be longer.
Don't worry if others are working non-stop, do what you think is best for you and learn what you must (Not what you already know).
I know I've been making notes for science these last two weeks but I made sure I understand it, if someone was to give me a question I wouldn't be able to answer, however give me 20 mins to read over them I'd be ready for the exam,
My advice is make notes for subjects you DON'T understand because there are new concepts to learn and then read over them everyday till the exam for half an hour or so,
Also if you can avoid making notes then do so, I'm just going to read my religious studies revision guide before bed until my exam and all the past papers as its easy :smile:

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Original post by Manexopi
Yh you should be fine i know people who revised the day before or barely revised and got all As and A*s. The main thing I think is to really read the question carefully and you should be fine


That's all very well if those people can do that but you shouldn't rely on pulling it off yourself. Surely, the more work you do the better the grades - definitely worked that way for my classmates and me!
Reply 13
Original post by oxfordgirl20
That's all very well if those people can do that but you shouldn't rely on pulling it off yourself. Surely, the more work you do the better the grades - definitely worked that way for my classmates and me!

Yh I myself am not doing it so if I get crap grades at least I know I did what I could. But some ppl work well under pressure or some ppl feel it's too late to revise when it never is And working loads isn't always the answer it's more how productive it is if you read your notes for hours but didn't learn anything then it isn't going to help you (:
Reply 14
Im in a similar boat, but im doing only 2hours a day :eeek:
I dont find the dawn to dusk works for me, I just read over the syllabus and find i already know nearly all of it, simply revision is making sure you know everything for the exam, if you do that, the exam should be easy. I find most subjects to not be too challenging anyway, careless errors are always the issue
Reply 15
i still havent started revising and never paid attention in lessons.....:ninja: 3 weeks left...
Reply 16
I'm in year 9 and i revise four hours daily, as I have started to prepare for my gcse's early
Reply 17
Original post by BULL14
I'm in year 9 and i revise four hours daily, as I have started to prepare for my gcse's early

Really? When did you pick your subjects? That's a lot of stress for someone that young. But whatever works best for you, it's fine with me. :smile: As long as you don't go to extremes as early. :smile:
I'm just doing 3 hours a day and focusing more on the subjects that I find the most difficult and then doing the some revision towards the subjects that I know I'll pass
I'm finding revision really tough, i've been revising 24 hours a day, for 5 weeks, i have had no sleep, i've literally lived of caffeine, i'm an american and just moved over to the UK i have got **** coming out of my bottom about these exams, i mean WHAT HAPPENS IF I DON'T PASS, will my life end!?!?!?! will the Devil eat me!? i might go to hell if i don't pass all my exams SOMEONE HELP ME!

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