Ask me if you need help for GCSE revision?

Right so I have been talking to lots of y11 so far and they seem to be stressing so I'm gonna post my grades for my GCSE here. Feel free to ask me anything in terms of revision on certain subjects, I had my fair share of struggle and progression:

Maths - 9
English lit - 9
English lan - 9
(English speaking endorsement - Distinction)
Bio - 9
Chem - 9
Physics - 9
German - 8
Geo - 8
Rs - 9
Computing - 9

Funny enough, when the results came, I wasn't bothered cause I think I liked all the studying and work I have done to get there compared to the results :smile:

Reply 1

Teresa09

10

What are ways to motivate if you really struggle to start doing the revision?

Reply 2

thesun123

OP

12

if you are specifically talking about "STARTING" the revision, i would say to remind yourself of "why" you should do it (and lowkey guilt trip yourself by looing at your study timetable and how now is the only time to do it)
I normally listened to music in like maths, which was really hard to start for me, but by listening to music, it made me happier
Also, study with me's on YouTube sometimes help with motivation

I wouldn't always rely on motivation, I would rely on discipline ad habit because that what gets you though it - make it a habit to just start once you hit the timer etc

Reply 3

Liam9123

8

Original post by thesun123

Right so I have been talking to lots of y11 so far and they seem to be stressing so I'm gonna post my grades for my GCSE here. Feel free to ask me anything in terms of revision on certain subjects, I had my fair share of struggle and progression:

Maths - 9
English lit - 9
English lan - 9
(English speaking endorsement - Distinction)
Bio - 9
Chem - 9
Physics - 9
German - 8
Geo - 8
Rs - 9
Computing - 9

Funny enough, when the results came, I wasn't bothered cause I think I liked all the studying and work I have done to get there compared to the results :smile:

Hiii, how did you get a 9 in literature? Could you tell me all resources you used and how you perfected writing essays etc. Also I’m fine with everything in English language except Paper 2 Question 5, any top tips for that too? Thanks

How did you revise?

Original post by thesun123

Right so I have been talking to lots of y11 so far and they seem to be stressing so I'm gonna post my grades for my GCSE here. Feel free to ask me anything in terms of revision on certain subjects, I had my fair share of struggle and progression:

Maths - 9
English lit - 9
English lan - 9
(English speaking endorsement - Distinction)
Bio - 9
Chem - 9
Physics - 9
German - 8
Geo - 8
Rs - 9
Computing - 9

Funny enough, when the results came, I wasn't bothered cause I think I liked all the studying and work I have done to get there compared to the results :smile:

Is 3 months enough to go from 2s and 3s to 5s and 6s ? How should I be revising and what technique is the best

Reply 6

thesun123

OP

12

Original post by Liam9123

Hiii, how did you get a 9 in literature? Could you tell me all resources you used and how you perfected writing essays etc. Also I’m fine with everything in English language except Paper 2 Question 5, any top tips for that too? Thanks

generally for English lit - I have been getting like 5 to 7's until I saw a model essay from a friend who normally gets 9's. I would defo recommend this - you can clearly see the difference.

When answering the question directly, don't just say the easy statement/ what it is literally saying (eg Instead of saying Masculinity is presented in the first scene of R & J through them talking about how strong they are, instead say masculinity is presented as a facade through their empty dismissal of women. or whatever lmao i cant remember what i said). Looking at several version of model essays - you can tell a few things from it, like how the literature they were supposed to assess is seen through their views on the world (lmao so deep but this defo works in poems that you haven't revised - i remember writing about aggressive love to the point you want to squeeze someone till they are no more in one of my poems or this perceived "good" guy in unseen is actually robbing people of their emotions and time rather than material possessions or something I took from my rs gcse was about using god and time and some pretty good rs key terms on omniprescence of love etc - everything you see and hear, thats what makes your views different on lit and since the markscheme for essays dont have specifically laid out points, its good!).

Next time, try write an times essay but spend the first few minutes at the corner of your page planning points - think how would the person who wrote that model essay think about this/ what would they write like?. Oh another thing i did was make my deep detailed AO2 points (I made a simple point, looked at rest of literature, thought about how i could make this more complicated and through through the character emotions and why they would do this. Then i kept asking myself why and why over again and mad up a few of my own philosophical theories (eg upper class detest lower class in Inspector calls - made my own theory about how they don't want to be associated with them at all in case some of their disgusting habits rub on them and their social reputations would go down and i also liked this to family tree heritage and how its golden etc etc but ofc you HAVE to make this match your literature and specific q they gave you).

When you look at a model essay, try to understand their flow of words, everyone has a different style and you can kinda develop it through practise. A great thing to do is gather a few friends (who either do well in English or actually want to do well), and discuss points about what you could write as practise. This not only builds your points to other perspectives but also you have more AO2 now and can actually elaborate and clearly explain your views. Doing a lot of practise makes it easier for you to get these complicated points in a shorter amount of time in the actual exam but also you would realise you have some staple points or themes to use anywhere (eg one of mine was the cycle of breaking through society's typical norms or toxic masculinity etc)

other pointers:
- ask you teacher to write a model essay for you if you need to and you can even ask them to help you annotate a specific word
- do LOTS AND LOTS of essay practise and give it in to mark - i annoyed my english teacher so much but i got a 9 at the end so i guess we were both happy --> go over the feedback and do it again and again until you perfect it. Then when the exam time comes, you have lots of past essays to look back on and use those same wonderful points again
- structure is important - i just used the one my teacher told us to use
- signposting is gold - use it!
- the conclusion and intro ofc need to be about your AO1 but see if you can add that missing special touch - this can be done by reversing words saying it in a passive way - eg therefore through the ... that evolves into ...., we can see [whatever the q asks]).
- just like a strong argument in debate, you have to have a strong AO1 - yes be bold about using the any adjective you want - and make sure to explain (eg use this was a [insert any adj you want like foolish] ...) - it shows you have a strong opinion and are able to explain
- normally what gets me high grades in lit is using an A01 point in para 1 and then completely contradicting it in the second para (eg he was outside society norms and did not need any material possessions / gratefulness for life etc but the second para I say he is a mischevious thief who stole emotions/ time/ certain opinions from others compared to materialistic good etc)
- what i did (might be diff for you) - found some points and complicated and found justification (AO2), took this and shortened it (AO1), easily embedded evidence in lit to just expand on. Using lots of teminology in anaphora, or fricative to support this. Analysing every word is not needed but if you have time, think about why the author choose this specific one and how it contributes to building a well rounded character

lan - for my gcse we all knew it was going to be a letter or smth so i mainly practised that but this again is a lot of discussion - think about outside the box views and how other subjects you do in gcse might help with this. I took geo so it was helpful generally in think about factors like economically, environmentally etc. For format - do lots of past ones and get feedback from your teacher and use models again. Sorry, I can't help with his that much since i got advanced info and just practised that format and then though about diff points from everyday life I could incorporate into.

resources - not much outside my friend's model essays, school pp on structure, school discussion - i think I used pmt a bit and searched up random quotes to memorise for each of my lit books but thats about it. I had a few english lit textbooks like cgp but i never used them?

hope that helps, good luck
(will be replying to everyone else too but I my laptop is so slow :frown:

)

(edited 1 year ago)

Reply 7

thesun123

OP

12

Original post by username6078451

Is 3 months enough to go from 2s and 3s to 5s and 6s ? How should I be revising and what technique is the best

YES

(I had a friend who actually revised properly and was dedicated to bring up her grades and it worked)
good luck!

best technique - active recall methods like blurting (on paper, get some subtopics within the topic you want to revise, add them to the paper and brainstorm around everything you can remember - add in red what you can't and memorise/understand those), flashcards - if you made them along the year otherwise use online ones like pmt. practise q like study mind, pmt, maths revise etc
spaced repetition - esp with your worst tpic, go over it every 2 weeks or so and make sure its your best topic
youtube helped a lot for everything!
ofc ask your teachers lots of questions if you dont understand anything?
the best technique is always understanding the topic (not necessarily memorising) and application (practise questions)

i recommend predicted papers for gcse cause they helped a lot
(i remember for my maths paper 3, i had another exam that day but didn't end up revising for maths except that predicted paper the day before, and i did well :smile:

)

Reply 8

danana_

9

Original post by thesun123

Right so I have been talking to lots of y11 so far and they seem to be stressing so I'm gonna post my grades for my GCSE here. Feel free to ask me anything in terms of revision on certain subjects, I had my fair share of struggle and progression:

Maths - 9
English lit - 9
English lan - 9
(English speaking endorsement - Distinction)
Bio - 9
Chem - 9
Physics - 9
German - 8
Geo - 8
Rs - 9
Computing - 9

Funny enough, when the results came, I wasn't bothered cause I think I liked all the studying and work I have done to get there compared to the results :smile:

Hi!
What exam board did you do for computing, I do AQA and I really struggled I barely scraped a 7 in my November mocks and I really struggle especially with paper 1 the most. Do you have any advise on how you revised programming in python exam questions. Thanks so much and well done for your amazing results.

Reply 9

thesun123

OP

12

Thank you!
I did Aqa as well
I mainly used smart revise - it was a subscription my school brought and it has automated flashcards (Anki style), practise questions in exam format and fun quiz format. If you can get a hold of this, it might be useful :smile:

Otherwise, I used textbooks like cgp but also PG online helped a lot because they had amazing diagram with key worded content and lots of really really good questions at the end of the chapter
before my mocks/exam, i went over my past topic tests and then did past papers online
esp for paper 1 - make sure you understand each concept and how to use (this is where i really recommend PG online)
My teacher also had these starters that made you do paper 1 stuff every lesson - see if you can find with your teacher/online or ask you teacher for ANY resources

there is apparently an AQA summary revision sheet that she made us use which was really helpful
youtube walkthroughs might helped but i mainly used the teachers or my parents to help me

Almost forgot - Craig and Dave on youtube or their website were a HUGE help - they also explain paper 1 concept really well

I got 6 in my y10 mocks but y11 and gcse i got 9 because i did lots of revision over and over again on the topic i found the hardest. Its spaced repetition and active recall
in the summer between, my teacher added me and other to this chat where she sent us computing work over the summer because we were struggling - im not sure where they were from, it doesn't say
good luck!

Reply 10

rysua

13

You're grades are amazing!!

For German how did you get an 8, and do you think it's possible for someone who got a 7 in mocks to get an 8 in like 2 months? How did you revise? :smile:

(edited 1 year ago)

Reply 11

yesss1

10

Original post by thesun123

Right so I have been talking to lots of y11 so far and they seem to be stressing so I'm gonna post my grades for my GCSE here. Feel free to ask me anything in terms of revision on certain subjects, I had my fair share of struggle and progression:

Maths - 9
English lit - 9
English lan - 9
(English speaking endorsement - Distinction)
Bio - 9
Chem - 9
Physics - 9
German - 8
Geo - 8
Rs - 9
Computing - 9

Funny enough, when the results came, I wasn't bothered cause I think I liked all the studying and work I have done to get there compared to the results :smile:

Hii,

Firstly well done on your grades they're amazing!!
I would like to know when you properly started revision and what your feb/march mock grades were? I'm currently stuck on grades 6-8s and hoping to revise properly from march 1st

Tysm in advance :wink:

Reply 12

marsaria

6

WOW your grades are beautifullllll
Well donee!
I really struggle in chemistry, maths and geography sighh. Chemistry and Math are so important for me because I want to go to Medical school.
I get 7s in English + distinction for speaking but I'd really like that to be an 8 or a 9.
Did you have a study plan or any techniques that you thought helped you?

Reply 13

username6089379

8

Hey, I am taking German IGCSE Pearson Edexcel and I have my German speaking exam coming up soon, did you do yours too? If so, there is a section where we need to have our own picture and talk about it, and I do not know what picture to choose, did you use a picture too or do you have any resources to get some good high quality pictures?

Reply 14

rysua

13

Original post by Albyr7

Hey, I am taking German IGCSE Pearson Edexcel and I have my German speaking exam coming up soon, did you do yours too? If so, there is a section where we need to have our own picture and talk about it, and I do not know what picture to choose, did you use a picture too or do you have any resources to get some good high quality pictures?

you get to choose a picture for the photocard task? I do edexcel german and I thought you just get given an image to talk about.

Reply 15

KWad

10

Original post by thesun123

generally for English lit - I have been getting like 5 to 7's until I saw a model essay from a friend who normally gets 9's. I would defo recommend this - you can clearly see the difference.

When answering the question directly, don't just say the easy statement/ what it is literally saying (eg Instead of saying Masculinity is presented in the first scene of R & J through them talking about how strong they are, instead say masculinity is presented as a facade through their empty dismissal of women. or whatever lmao i cant remember what i said). Looking at several version of model essays - you can tell a few things from it, like how the literature they were supposed to assess is seen through their views on the world (lmao so deep but this defo works in poems that you haven't revised - i remember writing about aggressive love to the point you want to squeeze someone till they are no more in one of my poems or this perceived "good" guy in unseen is actually robbing people of their emotions and time rather than material possessions or something I took from my rs gcse was about using god and time and some pretty good rs key terms on omniprescence of love etc - everything you see and hear, thats what makes your views different on lit and since the markscheme for essays dont have specifically laid out points, its good!).

Next time, try write an times essay but spend the first few minutes at the corner of your page planning points - think how would the person who wrote that model essay think about this/ what would they write like?. Oh another thing i did was make my deep detailed AO2 points (I made a simple point, looked at rest of literature, thought about how i could make this more complicated and through through the character emotions and why they would do this. Then i kept asking myself why and why over again and mad up a few of my own philosophical theories (eg upper class detest lower class in Inspector calls - made my own theory about how they don't want to be associated with them at all in case some of their disgusting habits rub on them and their social reputations would go down and i also liked this to family tree heritage and how its golden etc etc but ofc you HAVE to make this match your literature and specific q they gave you).

When you look at a model essay, try to understand their flow of words, everyone has a different style and you can kinda develop it through practise. A great thing to do is gather a few friends (who either do well in English or actually want to do well), and discuss points about what you could write as practise. This not only builds your points to other perspectives but also you have more AO2 now and can actually elaborate and clearly explain your views. Doing a lot of practise makes it easier for you to get these complicated points in a shorter amount of time in the actual exam but also you would realise you have some staple points or themes to use anywhere (eg one of mine was the cycle of breaking through society's typical norms or toxic masculinity etc)

other pointers:
- ask you teacher to write a model essay for you if you need to and you can even ask them to help you annotate a specific word
- do LOTS AND LOTS of essay practise and give it in to mark - i annoyed my english teacher so much but i got a 9 at the end so i guess we were both happy --> go over the feedback and do it again and again until you perfect it. Then when the exam time comes, you have lots of past essays to look back on and use those same wonderful points again
- structure is important - i just used the one my teacher told us to use
- signposting is gold - use it!
- the conclusion and intro ofc need to be about your AO1 but see if you can add that missing special touch - this can be done by reversing words saying it in a passive way - eg therefore through the ... that evolves into ...., we can see [whatever the q asks]).
- just like a strong argument in debate, you have to have a strong AO1 - yes be bold about using the any adjective you want - and make sure to explain (eg use this was a [insert any adj you want like foolish] ...) - it shows you have a strong opinion and are able to explain
- normally what gets me high grades in lit is using an A01 point in para 1 and then completely contradicting it in the second para (eg he was outside society norms and did not need any material possessions / gratefulness for life etc but the second para I say he is a mischevious thief who stole emotions/ time/ certain opinions from others compared to materialistic good etc)
- what i did (might be diff for you) - found some points and complicated and found justification (AO2), took this and shortened it (AO1), easily embedded evidence in lit to just expand on. Using lots of teminology in anaphora, or fricative to support this. Analysing every word is not needed but if you have time, think about why the author choose this specific one and how it contributes to building a well rounded character

lan - for my gcse we all knew it was going to be a letter or smth so i mainly practised that but this again is a lot of discussion - think about outside the box views and how other subjects you do in gcse might help with this. I took geo so it was helpful generally in think about factors like economically, environmentally etc. For format - do lots of past ones and get feedback from your teacher and use models again. Sorry, I can't help with his that much since i got advanced info and just practised that format and then though about diff points from everyday life I could incorporate into.

resources - not much outside my friend's model essays, school pp on structure, school discussion - i think I used pmt a bit and searched up random quotes to memorise for each of my lit books but thats about it. I had a few english lit textbooks like cgp but i never used them?

hope that helps, good luck
(will be replying to everyone else too but I my laptop is so slow :frown:

)

"structure is important - i just used the one my teacher told us to use"

What was this structure?
And also did you use a specific question order approach in English Lang & Lit or did you just do questions sequentially from start to finish?

Reply 16

propergoodman

16

Original post by thesun123

Right so I have been talking to lots of y11 so far and they seem to be stressing so I'm gonna post my grades for my GCSE here. Feel free to ask me anything in terms of revision on certain subjects, I had my fair share of struggle and progression:

Maths - 9
English lit - 9
English lan - 9
(English speaking endorsement - Distinction)
Bio - 9
Chem - 9
Physics - 9
German - 8
Geo - 8
Rs - 9
Computing - 9

Funny enough, when the results came, I wasn't bothered cause I think I liked all the studying and work I have done to get there compared to the results :smile:

9 for computer science?! How?! I'm working at a 6/7, can you give me some tips?

Reply 17

propergoodman

16

Original post by thesun123

Right so I have been talking to lots of y11 so far and they seem to be stressing so I'm gonna post my grades for my GCSE here. Feel free to ask me anything in terms of revision on certain subjects, I had my fair share of struggle and progression:

Maths - 9
English lit - 9
English lan - 9
(English speaking endorsement - Distinction)
Bio - 9
Chem - 9
Physics - 9
German - 8
Geo - 8
Rs - 9
Computing - 9

Funny enough, when the results came, I wasn't bothered cause I think I liked all the studying and work I have done to get there compared to the results :smile:

Also, how do you cope with exam stress?

Reply 18

OllyWilson

9

Original post by thesun123

Right so I have been talking to lots of y11 so far and they seem to be stressing so I'm gonna post my grades for my GCSE here. Feel free to ask me anything in terms of revision on certain subjects, I had my fair share of struggle and progression:

Maths - 9
English lit - 9
English lan - 9
(English speaking endorsement - Distinction)
Bio - 9
Chem - 9
Physics - 9
German - 8
Geo - 8
Rs - 9
Computing - 9

Funny enough, when the results came, I wasn't bothered cause I think I liked all the studying and work I have done to get there compared to the results :smile:

Hi, year 10 here. Me and my friends started attending this online mock and it really helps us. One of my friends has ADHD and struggles to start their revision too, but he told me that writing mock (even if it's online) with other people helped him a lot!! I can link you the registration form if you are interested

Reply 19

propergoodman

16

Original post by OllyWilson

Hi, year 10 here. Me and my friends started attending this online mock and it really helps us. One of my friends has ADHD and struggles to start their revision too, but he told me that writing mock (even if it's online) with other people helped him a lot!! I can link you the registration form if you are interested

Yes please!

Ask me if you need help for GCSE revision?

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