GCSE

Just finished Year 11, went to a school with a 50% pass rate so didn't do as well as I'd hoped but I didn't do thaaat badly- all A*s and As
My advice would be, yes start revision as soon as you get back but something I can't stress enough is
retake as many courseworks as you can! I'm not even kidding, if you are able to then seriously do all- even if you got like 2 off of full marks in one see if you can get those two extra marks because on results day it might be that which takes you to the next grade

For instance with me, in French I was 3 off an A* so they sent my listening paper for a remark- it only gained one mark (-.-) But then there was no point in sending off my reading exam for a remark because I only dropped one mark- so there was no possibility of an A* for me in French.
In my CW's I got an A* and an A, now if I'd retaken that A in speaking it would have easily been an A*
Also with Science- like 5 off and they sent it for a remark, got 4 marks from remarking all three papers so needed one more mark
I got like one or two off of full marks in my CW and if I'd gotten those marks it would have been an A* too.

Good luck!

Update: They requested a Science exam script- then an appeal and it went up to an A*! So I got an A* in the Science after all :colondollar:

(edited 8 years ago)

Reply 22

I finished my GCSEs last year, and my best advice will be to only do notes if they help! Do notes on topics you're weak on, or have temporarily mind blanked on, don't do them for everything, and don't copy textbooks word-for-word, because that won't help, actively try and think whether you need to write something down, if the writing style is confusing for you, alter it so it is more simple.

Also, make sure to do past papers. Don't start them until Christmas, because that should be when you ramp up your revision slightly, so it is more serious. With the past papers, don't wait until you've fully covered a subject, do them so you know what to cover. Once you have done 3/4 of the past papers, analyse the questions, where you continue to go wrong and what commonly comes up, and how to answer them.

For essay subjects, learn the technique, e.g. for my R.E (Edexcel Unit 3 and Unit 10) I was taught basically how to easily get full marks on each question, since my teacher was a head marker or something (not certain of the actual title), so I knew to paragraph my points, have two sentences, etc. Other than that, I just needed to learn the key words and some general points, and I managed to get an A* (a low one, but have you seen the grade boundaries?).

Also, when it comes to the essay subjects, do practice papers, and get your teachers to mark them, they will love that you're taking some initiative, and they will help you so much, and will generally be nicer to you in lessons. By doing this, I managed to move my average grade up from a low-ish B in English Literature, to get an A overall in the actual exam, with an A* on one of the papers.

TLDR; Do past papers, ask your teachers questions, and don't do unnecessary notes.

Reply 23

richpanda

16

Original post by Ishan_2000

I'm also going into y11 in September.
I'm planning to do light revision from September (around 5 days a week, one hour a day) in only the subjects I want to target, which are Religion and Philosophy, geography and the three sciences. Also, some vocab for Spanish and Chinese. This is very chilled out though.
I am doing 11 subjects, 14 GCSEs, but only feel the need to target these with more revision.

Nearer the time, around Feb half term, I will begin the 'proper' revision every day in most subjects.
Like maths and english, I usually don't revise too much, except 3 weeks before the exams.

Hope I helped :smile:

Although 1 hour a day sounds light, it will take its toll on your motivation.

Unless you have mocks before Christmas, don't even think about revision until New Year's Day. After waking up at 10am, I had brunch, went for a quick walk with family, then started to draw up a revision 'plan'. Not a plan as in a timetable, but how much/seriously I would be doing revision leading up to Exams. Until Easter, all I really did was go over the early science modules and revise for mocks.

Reply 24

Original post by FatimaHere

Just finished Year 11, went to a school with a 50% pass rate so didn't do as well as I'd hoped but I didn't do thaaat badly- all A*s and As
My advice would be, yes start revision as soon as you get back but something I can't stress enough is
retake as many courseworks as you can! I'm not even kidding, if you are able to then seriously do all- even if you got like 2 off of full marks in one see if you can get those two extra marks because on results day it might be that which takes you to the next grade

For instance with me, in French I was 3 off an A* so they sent my listening paper for a remark- it only gained one mark (-.-) But then there was no point in sending off my reading exam for a remark because I only dropped one mark- so there was no possibility of an A* for me in French.
In my CW's I got an A* and an A, now if I'd retaken that A in speaking it would have easily been an A*
Also with Science- like 5 off and they sent it for a remark, got 4 marks from remarking all three papers so needed one more mark
I got like one or two off of full marks in my CW and if I'd gotten those marks it would have been an A* too.

Good luck!

This is such good advise, and I would totally agree with it. If it wasn't for me re-taking my Biology ISA, I wouldn't have gotten an A*. My original ISA was 46 marks, an A*, but not 100 UMS, I retook it and got 49 marks, and recieved 100 UMS for it. I got 360 UMS overall in my Biology (AQA), so that was the difference between an A and an A*, even though people were saying I was being fickle in re-doing it, because I was re-doing it with people who got B's. If people say that you are being fickle, etc, ignore them, because it can make such a difference!

I didn't retake some of my CWs, and I do regret it. If I got my French speaking up to a high A*, I would've gotten an A* overall, and if I did better/retook some of my English CW, I could have possibly gotten an A* in both of them.

Original post by Imperion

There you go :biggrin:

Thanks so nice of you :biggrin:

Reply 26

WannabeDoctor98

11

Original post by Imperion

What if you don't have a social life? :colone:

Then use this year to get one 😂 having a social life is just as important as any time of academic achievement/work.

Posted from TSR Mobile

Reply 27

emileijane

8

Original post by Ishan_2000

I'm also going into y11 in September.
I'm planning to do light revision from September (around 5 days a week, one hour a day) in only the subjects I want to target, which are Religion and Philosophy, geography and the three sciences. Also, some vocab for Spanish and Chinese. This is very chilled out though.
I am doing 11 subjects, 14 GCSEs, but only feel the need to target these with more revision.

Nearer the time, around Feb half term, I will begin the 'proper' revision every day in most subjects.
Like maths and english, I usually don't revise too much, except 3 weeks before the exams.

Hope I helped :smile:

Posted from TSR Mobile

If you ever need help in religion and philosophy, I can help, I'm currently getting A*s :smile:

Reply 28

Imperion

17

Original post by Starlight15

Thanks so nice of you :biggrin:

You're welcome! Have you read the latest FT chapter??

Original post by WannabeDoctor98

Then use this year to get one 😂 having a social life is just as important as any time of academic achievement/work.

Posted from TSR Mobile

I'm going into Y12 in a couple of days :laugh:

Having a social life (ouch, this is gonna hurt >_<! ...) is the least of my worries.

Original post by Imperion

You're welcome! Have you read the latest FT chapter??

Yes I did! I'll PM you in a minute

Reply 30

aamirac

20

Start revising during the January/February time for June exams. Just work consistently throughout the year as you might find that you would still be learning content even if the exams are a few weeks away.

Good Luck for YR11!

X

Reply 31

Original post by Gogregg

This is such good advise, and I would totally agree with it. If it wasn't for me re-taking my Biology ISA, I wouldn't have gotten an A*. My original ISA was 46 marks, an A*, but not 100 UMS, I retook it and got 49 marks, and recieved 100 UMS for it. I got 360 UMS overall in my Biology (AQA), so that was the difference between an A and an A*, even though people were saying I was being fickle in re-doing it, because I was re-doing it with people who got B's. If people say that you are being fickle, etc, ignore them, because it can make such a difference!

I didn't retake some of my CWs, and I do regret it. If I got my French speaking up to a high A*, I would've gotten an A* overall, and if I did better/retook some of my English CW, I could have possibly gotten an A* in both of them.

Aw thanks

Nice to hear you got that A*!
Ahh ://
What are you taking for AS? :tongue:

Reply 32

Original post by FatimaHere

Aw thanks

Nice to hear you got that A*!
Ahh ://
What are you taking for AS? :tongue:

Maths, Further Maths, Biology, Chemistry and Physics. I'm hoping to go into medicine.

What about you?

Reply 33

Original post by Gogregg

Maths, Further Maths, Biology, Chemistry and Physics. I'm hoping to go into medicine.

What about you?

Oooo I'm doing the same but without FM! And same again, Medicine would be a dream come true!

Reply 34

Original post by FatimaHere

Oooo I'm doing the same but without FM! And same again, Medicine would be a dream come true!

Honestly, I'm not sure if I'm actually going to be able to do any FM! I think my school does Maths in 1 year then FM the next if you choose it, and I was always planning on dropping it :colondollar:

I hope we can both make it into medicine!

Reply 35

TheYearNiner

21

Original post by Gogregg

Honestly, I'm not sure if I'm actually going to be able to do any FM! I think my school does Maths in 1 year then FM the next if you choose it, and I was always planning on dropping it :colondollar:

I hope we can both make it into medicine!

I know you dont care but I will start revision first day back

Reply 36

Original post by Gogregg

Honestly, I'm not sure if I'm actually going to be able to do any FM! I think my school does Maths in 1 year then FM the next if you choose it, and I was always planning on dropping it :colondollar:

I hope we can both make it into medicine!

Aha, sneaky choices much :colondollar:

Yeah!!! Ahhh I want to sooo badly, I can't put into words how much being a doctor would mean to me!!! :h:

Reply 37

Loopy91

16

Original post by greycheck

and I chose Simple A levels
Mathematics
ICT
Business studies
I want to get into Finance or computer science.

I've heard business and ICT overlap way too much for universities/employers' liking, so I would swap one of those subjects for something else.
Maybe Economics to replace Business, or Computer Science to replace ICT. - Computing is far more relevant to 2015 than ICT, the latter is very 2000's so it's a tad outdated, so for this reason I highly recommend it's ICT you replace.
In fact I would recommend swapping both those subjects to the ones I recommended since they are more respected subjects but still similar.

Reply 38