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_gcx's GCSE Journey :D

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Original post by _gcx
I can credit that to this thread. Normally, I'd just forget, but this thread is helping me stay organised and on track! My productivity has seen a dramatic increase, and an actual interest in my subjects now that there's no pressure. This work might be considered obsessive, but it's really because I didn't pay attention most of this year, and now I'm making up for it, because I don't have many useful notes for B1/C1/P1, and maybe bits of B2/C2/P2. I was a slacker until I realised how crap I was doing compared to where I aspired to be. Thus, I was only targeted As, the default for my school. The lowest you can be predicted is a B, maybe a C (if you got Es and Us o.o), luckily I didn't fall that much.

The new teachers may not be, necessarily terrible either. You may find some to be better than your old ones. If you feel, however, they are spending too many lessons off task, progressing slowly, or are not teaching you important concepts, I would a) complain to your school and b) start getting ahead yourself! I sometimes find it easier to learn things independently, as there are less distractions, and there is overall less pressure. You can take breaks whenever you want, and it's all nice and calm. :biggrin: Topics that previously made absolutely no sense, now seem so simple in an independant environment.

I shall check out that app, although I'm pretty ok with my organisation at the moment. Might come in handy when I come to serious revision early next year -- even for the final thing I'm planning on starting early.


I was wondering, when will you be making notes and doing past papers over the course of next year?


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Original post by chemistrynerd13
I was wondering, when will you be making notes and doing past papers over the course of next year?


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I will be making notes of the Year 11 work as I do it, I won't make the same mistake as last time, only really compressing my notes a few days before the exam. I realise now, that's an awful thing to do. In terms of [full] past papers, I'll likely wait until my mocks early next year, not sure when atm. It depends how my revision this holiday goes, really. Until then, I'm really doing the odd questions and practice questions, as opposed to full papers.
Original post by _gcx
I will be making notes of the Year 11 work as I do it, I won't make the same mistake as last time, only really compressing my notes a few days before the exam. I realise now, that's an awful thing to do. In terms of [full] past papers, I'll likely wait until my mocks early next year, not sure when atm. It depends how my revision this holiday goes, really. Until then, I'm really doing the odd questions and practice questions, as opposed to full papers.


Okay. I saw a video on Facebook and it gave me an idea:

I'm going to make a booklet, document about how I'm going to revise. Then give info on exam technique and when to revise. I'm going to use the booklet throughout school!☺️. Yeah I love to revise early. Don't you feel so much better. For mocks next year, do you know whether yours are in December or January


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Original post by chemistrynerd13
Okay. I saw a video on Facebook and it gave me an idea:

I'm going to make a booklet, document about how I'm going to revise. Then give info on exam technique and when to revise. I'm going to use the booklet throughout school!☺️. Yeah I love to revise early. Don't you feel so much better. For mocks next year, do you know whether yours are in December or January


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I'm not completely sure. I'm not even sure if the school has actually planned it yet, lol.

And yes, it is best to do the work now, and not later! :smile:
(edited 7 years ago)
Day 9:
Almost forgot to share my progress, or lack thereof, from yesterday. I did a fair bit of Maths practice, including iteration, which is now in the 9-1 syllabus, saw it in the SAM. So that'll be fun! Did some work on sequences from C1, which links in quite heavily with iteration, and it wasn't too bad in terms of difficulty. Most of the time, the sequences seem confusing at first, but soon make a lot of sense. For Chemistry I started notes on ethanol and its production, with somewhat of a focus on the creation of ethanol, involving fermentation. I intend to start some C2 notes, probably starting on the subjects I know the most (probably collision theory atm, and going down from there), soon.
Reply 85
Original post by _gcx
Day 9:
Almost forgot to share my progress, or lack thereof, from yesterday. I did a fair bit of Maths practice, including iteration, which is now in the 9-1 syllabus, saw it in the SAM. So that'll be fun! Did some work on sequences from C1, which links in quite heavily with iteration, and it wasn't too bad in terms of difficulty. Most of the time, the sequences seem confusing at first, but soon make a lot of sense. For Chemistry I started notes on ethanol and its production, with somewhat of a focus on the creation of ethanol, involving fermentation. I intend to start some C2 notes, probably starting on the subjects I know the most (probably collision theory atm, and going down from there), soon.


It's good what you're doing. Starting to do A level topics in year 11 always works well.
Original post by B_9710
It's good what you're doing. Starting to do A level topics in year 11 always works well.


Yes :biggrin:, although I feel a brick wall will come eventually, probably in C2. (since it's hard to learn some things without being formally taught them, if you know what I mean) I just feel like I'd be wasting time to not utilise this summer to get some work done, if only little by little. Although, speaking to my friends, I'm probably the only one (from my school at least) doing this! XD
Day 10 (going to abstain from the counter to maintain sanity):

Maths - More C1 practice. Atm, I would guess that I'm at 70-75%. Still haven't got around to S1 yet, but that'll come eventually, probably when I get stuck. Whenever I think I'm nearing the end of C1, I see a topic on one of the past papers that I've completely missed :frown: I've still got to cover graph transformations, aspects of co-ordinate geometry, and roots/discriminants of functions/equations. I'm not even going to mention circle theorems/vectors, guess as to why. (hint: I forgot, again) I've had a look at the 9-1 SAM, and done some questions that I wasn't sure about. I actually underestimated how much had changed from the old Spec A to the 9-1 spec, there's a lot of new topics and more complex questions. Luckily, that means lower grade boundaries, and a realistic boundary for a grade 9, which I am striving for. (a grade 8 wouldn't be the end of the world, I'd still be able to do FM A-Level, I'm pretty sure) Had a glance at sine/cosine rules, and I somewhat understand them, but I haven't tested my knowledge yet. I've learnt 1/2absinC, too, but again I haven't got around to testing myself yet.

Chemistry - Started off my C2 notes, with collision theory, solubility rules, flame tests, and quantitive chemistry. :biggrin:

I probably make it sound like I do more work, than I actually do! XD
(edited 7 years ago)
Day 11:

Maths - Suprisingly, little progress. I have *kind of* got graph transformations, with the exception of narrowing, coefficients of a functions > 1. which I am shortly looking into. I did a few ridiculous calculus questions set by a friend, (well, at least for my level), which I got right after some thought. I'm still oblivious to chain and quotient rules, so it took me a while lol. I have worked on my 9-1 notes with solving quadratics (not yet with factorising, the main emphasis is on solving), and an albeit unclear description of completing the square, which others are free to view [and laugh at, if need be]. Stagnating a bit in terms of C1, although I do want C1 and an applications module done and dusted by September. Even if I forget it and have to relearn it, it'll be easier as I'd have learnt it once! :biggrin: Thinking of learning S1, M1 and D1 look far too damn daunting, M1 seems like Physics! D: I'll also have to do some work on time management during Maths exams, so I can complete these questions within a reasonable time-frame, after I learn them of course.

Chemistry - More C2 work on types of bonding, malleability, and exothermic/endothermic reactions. Did a bit of revision on reactivity, and the reasons behind differences, too.

(edited 7 years ago)
Day 12 & 13.

Forgot to update yesterday, one again.

Physics - Kicked off my P2 revision notes with notes about my favourite topic: radioactivity. It's still a work in progress so I won't link it just yet, but I'll be building it up over the summer. My P1 notes are finished to a satisfactory standard, so I'm half done with Physics!

Maths - Started some C2 work on binomial expansion and binomial coefficients. Wasn't too bad for me, having a calculator makes me a lot more comfortable as I can check calculations and avoid really basic errors, the sort I often make on non-calculator papers. I get discriminants/roots of quadratic equations now (C1), which means I have bits of co-ordinate geometry, and a glance at graph transformations left, which is pretty good for around 2 weeks of work. Back to boring GCSE work, I had a look at the first set of specimen papers (the one that is password locked, can be found with a google search lol), and it shows how much harder the new spec is. From the public material, I hadn't fully realised the jump. I did a few questions, the harder ones towards the end of the paper, and got a decent amount of them right, but for those I didn't I've taken notes of where I went wrong.

How is everyone else getting on with their work/chill/anticipation of results? :P
Reply 90
Original post by _gcx
Day 12 & 13.

Forgot to update yesterday, one again.

Physics - Kicked off my P2 revision notes with notes about my favourite topic: radioactivity. It's still a work in progress so I won't link it just yet, but I'll be building it up over the summer. My P1 notes are finished to a satisfactory standard, so I'm half done with Physics!

Maths - Started some C2 work on binomial expansion and binomial coefficients. Wasn't too bad for me, having a calculator makes me a lot more comfortable as I can check calculations and avoid really basic errors, the sort I often make on non-calculator papers. I get discriminants/roots of quadratic equations now (C1), which means I have bits of co-ordinate geometry, and a glance at graph transformations left, which is pretty good for around 2 weeks of work. Back to boring GCSE work, I had a look at the first set of specimen papers (the one that is password locked, can be found with a google search lol), and it shows how much harder the new spec is. From the public material, I hadn't fully realised the jump. I did a few questions, the harder ones towards the end of the paper, and got a decent amount of them right, but for those I didn't I've taken notes of where I went wrong.

How is everyone else getting on with their work/chill/anticipation of results? :P


Hi _gcx
It's been to long! How are you?
My Journey is going well at the moment. I've completed all my Unit 1 notes for all Sciences and I've completed some notes on Macbeth, Lord of the Flies and some poems. I have 1 month of holidays left to go so I still have a lot of work that I need to do.
I have my maths GCSE grade coming in September so I'm quite nervous for that. I under performed on 2 questions (worth 5 and 6 marks! :redface:) from Unit 3 because of time so I'm worried about my results. At least you seem to be having lots of success with your maths work! I will need to work extra hard this academic year if I want to do well in my Math exams.

It's great seeing you work on A-Level maths, it will surely put you in good stead for your A-Level years! :smile:
Original post by umar39
Hi _gcx
It's been to long! How are you?
My Journey is going well at the moment. I've completed all my Unit 1 notes for all Sciences and I've completed some notes on Macbeth, Lord of the Flies and some poems. I have 1 month of holidays left to go so I still have a lot of work that I need to do.
I have my maths GCSE grade coming in September so I'm quite nervous for that. I under performed on 2 questions (worth 5 and 6 marks! :redface:) from Unit 3 because of time so I'm worried about my results. At least you seem to be having lots of success with your maths work! I will need to work extra hard this academic year if I want to do well in my Math exams.

It's great seeing you work on A-Level maths, it will surely put you in good stead for your A-Level years! :smile:


I'm doing, good, thanks, Umar! :biggrin:

Glad to hear you've made some progress in the sciences, you've probably done more on them than I have :P

Don't worry about your Maths GCSE, I'm sure you've done fine! Try not to think about it. If you're doing it again in Year 11, then I don't see any problem!

Well, yeah, that is part of the intention. The other part is that I just love Maths and I find it extremely interesting, provided its not mundane and tedious like GCSE work XD As I said before, I just decided to make use of this time efficiently. They're changing the spec to linear next year, and we're guinea pigs for it, again :biggrin: :biggrin:, so not all that I'll be learning will be relevant, but I'm hoping a decent amount of it is! Some topics, like surds, iteration formulae and graph transformations/unctions have, crept into the 9-1 specifications [surds was on the older spec, but wasn't as common], so my C1 work will come in handy in that regard. :smile:
Day 14:

A bit of a nothing day today, but I have a roadmap for the next while:

Maths - Per before (circle theorems and vectors, again), but I'll also try more C2 work, finish off the topics that I'm not fully confident with in C1, and start S1 a bit. D1 is pretty much out of the question, at the moment It primarily consists of discrete mathematics and algorithms. I tried looking into Dijkstra's algorithm, but it didn't get it whatsoever. M1 is even worse, too bad it's now compulsory (or more mechanics as a whole), in the linear spec. It's hard, to say the least.

Biology - B1 and B2 notes, although I'm pretty confident with Biology, to maintain that confidence I feel that I should make notes on the topics I'm les comfortable with.

Chemistry - Start making C1 notes. Pretty much per the above.

Physics - Continue P2 notes, although with a lower priority than the above. I have a pretty good memory of P2, to me it's the most straightforward science module, with the exception of B1, so there's no real urgency for that.

English - Remember to read the bloody question in tests! (caused me to drop from a potential A in language to a B, got a 0 in one large essay (16/24)) question. The grade annoys me since my work previously had been mostly A/A* standard :frown: It annoys me infinitely.

French - I have been advised to just chill in regards to French, but I will have a look at some vocabulary, to ensure that I don't slip too far behin in my French knowledge.

Day 15:

No progress due to a headache that prevented me from actually concentrating: horrible :frown:

Day 16:

Maths - Further refined my C1 knowledge - I've got more or less everything down, and I'll try to do some full past papers, timed, maybe under full exam conditions, I'm not too sure yet. I have most topics down, including distinct roots, graph transformations, and line lengths. I have started a bit of work on C2, starting with the equations of circles, more binomial expansion, and S1, on standard deviation, coding, skews and outliers. I've actually got to looking at circle theorems and such, wasn't as hard as I thought, to be honest! Next will be vectors, and I can expect to struggle with that. Although I get the basic principles, it's the application that I sometimes struggle with. Or, rather, I haven't really looked into the application of vectors in an exam-style question, more practice questions from my revision guide. I would start D1/M1, but I'd be unsure where I should start. Any ideas?

Reply 94
Original post by _gcx
Day 15:

No progress due to a headache that prevented me from actually concentrating: horrible :frown:

Day 16:

Maths - Further refined my C1 knowledge - I've got more or less everything down, and I'll try to do some full past papers, timed, maybe under full exam conditions, I'm not too sure yet. I have most topics down, including distinct roots, graph transformations, and line lengths. I have started a bit of work on C2, starting with the equations of circles, more binomial expansion, and S1, on standard deviation, coding, skews and outliers. I've actually got to looking at circle theorems and such, wasn't as hard as I thought, to be honest! Next will be vectors, and I can expect to struggle with that. Although I get the basic principles, it's the application that I sometimes struggle with. Or, rather, I haven't really looked into the application of vectors in an exam-style question, more practice questions from my revision guide. I would start D1/M1, but I'd be unsure where I should start. Any ideas?



Why are you doing vectors if you're only doing AS at the moment?
Original post by B_9710
Why are you doing vectors if you're only doing AS at the moment?


Vectors are in GCSE. :smile: (in the context of triangles, mostly)
Reply 96
Original post by _gcx
Vectors are in GCSE. :smile: (in the context of triangles, mostly)


Oh, I see, I thought you meant for A level.
Day 17 & 18:

For now, until I start serious revision, I am going to update this thread every two days. I feel that updating every day is quite boring, and gives little to talk about from day to day.

Here's a summary of my progress within the last few days:

Maths - Physics and Maths Tutor has been down for a few days now. Or, more specifically, the resources on there. Unfortunately, that restricts some of my A-Level practice, since I typically use their tiered papers and SolomonPress's papers to practice. Thus, I haven't been able to test myself on C1 yet, I was going to use one of their bronze papers. I haven't made any progress in regards to S1, I find it quite boring tbf, far less interesting than C1 or C2. I have instead decided to start D1, which I have now discovered is infinitely worse. I have started on a few algorithms, namely sorting algorithms, binary searching, and binning, which have been pretty easy so far, but they are often pretty tedious. I'm also unsure if the examiner would recognise my method, either, as I sometimes forget to properly indicate pivots.

Physics - I have resumed taking notes on P2, and I have started with the uses of radioactivity, the dangers of radon, and nuclear fusion/fission. I find P2 to be one of the easiest science modules. It almost makes up for P1 being the most boring module! :P Almost. Luckily, not a lot of P1 concepts appear in A-Level, which I have decided I may be doing up until AS. It's mostly mathematical, as opposed to GCSE, so it's far more appealing to me.

Day 19 & Day 20:

Maths - Helped @*Alisha* with a few C-B grade topics (inequalities, surface area, simulataneous equations, etc.)! (so that qualifies as some revision) In terms of D1, I started looking at Dijkstra's algorithm, Prim's algorithm and Kruskal's algorithm, and did a practice question each. The one thing I'd be worried about for D1 would be running out of time. Some of the algorithms are pretty time consuming, particularly bubble sorts, which can take quite a few passes. S1 looks quite boring to me, so aside from linear interpolation, standard deviation, and quartiles, I haven't really done much. In terms of C1 I looked at the application of pythagoras' theorem in the context of line lengths, expressed normally as surds/radicals.

Physics - Did a bit of work on P2, in terms of nuclear power. P2 seems to be quite a small module, but I will scan through the specification to see what I've missed at the end.

Day 21 & Day 22:

Pretty much just chilling over the past few days, little work done. I looked at definite integrals for C2, and did a few practice questions. I also continued my P2 notes, and that's about it! Not very eventful! XD

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