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Really confused..

Heya,
I have my mock GCSEs in 3 weeks and have not revised at all! I try but I just dont know how to revise, it sounds dumb but I just dont know how. Im predicted 11a's and 1a* but in all the past papers iv been doing im getting like c's and d's.
I reallly wanna go to this good school in my area, but they need our mock results which addds to my pressure. Iv only got 3 weeks and need to revise all my subjects which are like 2 languages,2 humanities, 2 technologies and maths english science and im finding it so hard.
I dont know where to start! the computer distracts me SO much and im just really worried. im year 11 by the way. i need your help please im just so confused!
:frown:

Reply 1

nepali_babu

the best thing is to learn exam techniques and try to like remember the answers and they WAY that they want the answers. certainly for the sciences anyway. i mean in Bio and Chem a-level (somewhat relavant) you just need to mention key points and not waffle. not too sure about essay based stuff. i woldnt worry about your mocks that much. i mean i got E and F in english and dont know what happened in the real GCSE. i think it was a miracle lol well best of luck. one mistake i did was that i never did past papers becasue i didnt know how to make use of my resources. but i think the key to success is past papers and remember to download the Markscheme to see where you went wrong. i know that essay based subjects dont have MS like the sciences so i cant really advise on those ones

Reply 2

becky.fm

18

Dr Shrestha

the best thing is to learn exam techniques and try to like remember the answers and they WAY that they want the answers. certainly for the sciences anyway. i mean in Bio and Chem a-level (somewhat relavant) you just need to mention key points and not waffle. not too sure about essay based stuff. i woldnt worry about your mocks that much. i mean i got E and F in english and dont know what happened in the real GCSE. i think it was a miracle lol well best of luck. one mistake i did was that i never did past papers becasue i didnt know how to make use of my resources. but i think the key to success is past papers and remember to download the Markscheme to see where you went wrong. i know that essay based subjects dont have MS like the sciences so i cant really advise on those ones

Sorry to ask, but what did you eventually get in English? :smile:

Reply 3

free_the_mind

1

Hey firstly i'm going to start of by saying try not to worry. That way you'll be wasting more time thinking about not having done enough etc. What you can do now is make the most of the time you have left. For maths, science etc do past questions and read over your notes. Similarly for english try doing some essay questions and if you can get your teacher to look at it . As for the distarctions....put some time aside for the PC as a reward when you're done doing a certain no of hours of work. :biggrin:

Best of luck for your mocks

Reply 4

nepali_babu

Hey Becky, um i got A in english launguage and A in English Launguage. it should be ok. i cant remember how i practiced. but i do remember writing till ym hands were aching and remember to use a lot of adjectives when describing stuff. i remember a question was to describe your holiday and describe the room you are sitting in. and remember to back up all you say in the ones where you are given text!!!! good luck lemme know hwo it goes

Reply 5

becky.fm

18

Dr Shrestha

Hey Becky, um i got A in english launguage and A in English Launguage. it should be ok. i cant remember how i practiced. but i do remember writing till ym hands were aching and remember to use a lot of adjectives when describing stuff. i remember a question was to describe your holiday and describe the room you are sitting in. and remember to back up all you say in the ones where you are given text!!!! good luck lemme know hwo it goes

Oh right, that's great :biggrin:

That advice will be helpful for me as well, thanks :p:

Reply 6

carefree_sloth

I'm just wondering how past papers can help improve your eventual exam performances. No offense to anyone, but I sometimes feel doing them is sort of a waste of time :frown:

.

Reply 7

nepali_babu

well fo rmaths and science it certainly is not a waste of time. i depended almost entirely on then prior to the exam. they give you ideas about what the examiner wants. i mean you can talk say good exchange surface in bio for like a page but if you dont mention things like short distance ofr diffusion, large surface area etc you will not get the mark and remember it wont be science teachers marking your stuff it could be ahistory teacher marking it, just following a markscheme and they only look for the key points!!! so just something to consider.
in a nutshell: past papers are not a waste of time

Reply 8

NickiM

14

Yes, I find past papers and markschemes so useful. I know it wasn't for GCSE, but for AS Music, in the written exam I saw the markschemes, and saw what they were looking for - ie. you get an extra mark if you backed up your point with an exam, and how in the comparison question it had to be equally about both otherwise you could lose marks.

Specifications are also really useful too :smile:

Reply 9

Anonymous1783

If i was you i would choose certain subjects to revise, such as maths, science and a language. Just concerntrate on those especially maths and do past papers if you can get hold of them, dont get too stressed mocks are not too important and i think colleges/sixth forms look more at predicted grades than mocks (because mocks vary in every school and are not a fair assesment). Forget about subjects like english for the moment because you can bluff your way through that. Also i found the teachers at my school marked the papers harshly so people got bad grades and encouraged them to work. Like my geography teacher moved all the boundaries up by 10% lol it kind of worked though. Good luck and dont stress

Reply 10

carefree_sloth

But can't you just learn from your textbooks and notes, and then later apply them in your exams by doing what the questions expect you to do (except for Maths)?

Reply 11

nepali_babu

wt if yoy dont learn how to apply it to your exams besides if u dnt want our advice we r not forcing you just suggested to OP

Reply 12

carefree_sloth

I'm not saying that I don't want, it's just that it's a question I have been asking myself for a really long time. I myself don't really fancy sitting down and do past year questions, rather I would glance through them to see the format and note what sort of questions they ask, and then read up my notes and textbooks instead.

I find your advice helpful :smile:

, really. It's just that I haven't really got to trying them on my own accord (teachers do force me to do them - it doesn't help much though). Maybe I should try that in my next exams.

Reply 13

kellywood_5

17

Try not to stress too much. Obviously you should try and do as well as you can, but mocks don't mean much in the grand scheme of things and it's perfectly possible to improve before the real exams. I bet the school you're hoping to go to look at other things like predicted grades, maybe a reference from a current teacher and maybe an interview and/or admissions test as well, so not doing as well as you're hoping to in your mocks might not necessarily mean you won't get a place. As free_the_mind said, worrying will just distract you from revising. If your PC is a huge distraction (it is for me too!) work somewhere away from it where you can't be tempted. Draw up a timetable where you spend perhaps 1-2 hours a night revising. Depending on whether you have a long or short attention span, you could do that all in one go or split it into 30 minute blocks with 5 minutes in between for you to get a drink, a snack or whatever. Do 2 subjects a night to make it more varied. Prioritise your subjects so you spend the most time on your weaker ones, but don't completely neglect your stronger ones. Depending on how you learn best, you could try bullet points, spider diagrams/mind maps, flashcards or recording your notes and playing them back. Specifications, examiners' reports and mark schemes are very useful as well.

Really confused..

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