My GCSE Journey: So it begins

I love your style of post, it's nice and informative. Good luck with the rest of your GCSEs, it seems like you're doing a few weird exam boards?

03/02/16 Week 1, Day 1 08.30 pm
And so it begins: revision! Oh God I hate it, but I suppose it’s a necessary evil. Ah well! Anyway, I’m a year 11 student from Northern Ireland (I think that’s year 10 in England?) and I started my GCSE courses in September last (2015). I’m doing 10 GCSEs (the most my school offers) and they are as follows (with my exam board and teacher-set target grade): I’ll be starting the Further Maths and English language courses next year. I have started revision, particularly in science, but it hasn’t been that fruitful really; so I thought I’d give this a go to see if it would motivate me to revise more effectively!
I would be extremely grateful if any of you wise, omniscient peoples out there would share any useful tips with me and maybe point me in the right direction when I might be going astray.
So here’s to several nights of frustration, exhaustion and overall stress! (I joke– hopefully ) I wish the very best of luck to every other student revising, be it for internal exams, GCSEs, A-levels or even further ahead! Let the revision begin!
P.S. Everyone doing the Maths Challenge tomorrow, good luck!

I'm finished. Finally! Now its just a wait to August to see my grades.
Physics today was all right, a lot of writing but the QWC questions were fantastic! All in all, probably a good paper! I also had another unexpected assessment today: an English discussion. It wasn't towards anything, just a kind of spot test to keep us on our toes. It went smoothly enough. We talked about veagnism and what impact it has on society and our culture. We made one fatal error though: we included a vegan in our group. Not saying anything bad about vegans, she was just very vocal about her views, which in the end probably helped us a bit!
Now that all my modules are over, I'm left to wondering how I did. These are my target grades versus what I think I actually got: (In order of my target and the what I probably got)
Maths T6: A*, A/A*
Maths Overall: A*, A*
English Unit 2: A/A*, B
English Overall: A*, A/B
History: A*, A/A*
Biology: A, A
Chemistry: A*, A/A*
Physics: A, A/A*
So those are what I think I'll end up with. I know that I'll probably repeat English as I was really disappointed with my first module anyway, but hopefully I won't have to repeat any others.
I don't know if this is me done for now, so until next time ... Adieu?!

Woo! Congratulations 🎉🎉🎉
What are you going to do now you're free? And those grades look fantastic - lets just hope that your results sheet says the same

Thanks a mill!
Not to sound too nerdy but now that I'm done, I'm going to read a german novel (yes in german) and practice cello a whole lot for our residential with the Irish Chamber Orchestra!I really am hoping those results dont change much - you never have any real idea how its going toend up thanks to the joys of UMS!
Good luck with your last few exams, I can't believe you have to do 23! (I'm just loving the modular life right now!)

Wow, that's impressive! I don't think I could read a novel in German! Good luck with the cello practice, and have fun on your residential! No you really don't - especially because of differences in grade boundaries and of course the dreaded UMS...however they shouldn't change too much.
Thank you - you remembered I have 23? Wow haha. And yeah you are lucky. So do you have more later on? I'd much rather have them all spread out than all in one go.

The book isnt proving too difficult so far, it just takes me two or three hours to make sure I understand a chapter completely!
I have 8-10 modules next year + coursework + (hopefully very few) repeats. So this year was a bit of a breeze in comparison!

Oh cool - I might have to give it a go at some point then although that does sound like quite a long time! Is it rewarding though when it all finally makes sense?
Oh I see, yeah that's quite a lot then. We did most of our coursework in year 10 but we did a bit this year too. Well even though you probably don't want to think about it just yet - good luck for next year!

Yes if you have a chance definitely read a book in a different language. It's frustrating but at the same rewarding!
I don't even get time to dream of next year, some of our teachers have started us on our next courses already! ! It just makes me want for summer even more! Just one more week!

Wait...you still have to go to school even though you're done??
That's insane, as soon as we finish we don't have to go back until September!
And yeah - I'll definitely give it a go if I can get my hands on one!

The rest of the year groups in senior school don't have to come back, just us! Its because we didn't get study leave this year, years 12-14 (upper sixth) did. There were a lot of complaints about this from the girls in particular so they gave us the day before an exam off. At least next year we'll get study leave ... if we tick all the required boxes!
Apparently "die Verwantlung" (the metamorphosis) is a good book for German learners, with short sentences and all that. I'm reading "Emil und die Detektive" though as I read it in English when I was younger and I thought it would be nice to be able to read it in two languages! Its not overly challenging if you have both the English copy at hand and since I have it on Kindle, I can translate words very easily and make notes on it!

That's so stupid...why just one year group??
Wait, your school goes up to year 14? Things are pretty different over there - you spend 3 years in sixth form?
I'm sure you'll get study leave next year, you're certainly hardworking enough!
Oh cool - I'll try and check them out (somehow ) I don't have a kindle. My sister does though, but I doubt she'll let me borrow it and yeah that sounds like a good idea!

Whilst ours systems different, they're not too different. Our first year of secondary school is Year 8, which we start when we're around 12. We do our GCSEs in years 11 &12 (ages 15 and 16) and then we spend two years in sixth form: 13 &14 (ages 17 and 18). I think that's the near enough the same in England. I know that the South (Rep. of Ireland) has a completely different system that still confuses me!

Oh right, so your years are basically a year older than ours, even though you're the same age?
So our year 7 (11-12) is your year 8? That seems the only thing different. I'm guessing you start school in year 1 then - which makes sense. "Reception" is so pointless.
Haha that must be confusing then

Ours isn't confusing, yours is!
You get used to explaining it though, except we usually don't have to because our friends from the South would have a rough grasp of our system as we do theirs, and I don't think there would be many English people who would willingly move (or visit for that matter) here unless
a) they have family here
b) they are ministers or priests who were assigned churches/chapels here.
Yes, I my outlook on our community is that negative.

Only slightly - it's only reception that messes stuff up!
And yeah I guess you do, true.
Wow you really hate where you live!

No joke - most of my friends who want to do something in life ar like "as soon as im done my a-levels, im leaving this sh*thole for either Belfast, England or America" its not that we hate it, we just can't find a reason to stay!
I'm still part of the #GAWA though of course
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