I got all 9s at GCSE. Ask me anything

IMPORTANT EDIT: This post is not intended to be boastful in any way. I am just trying to help people get these grades because I think that if you’re reading this you absolutely can. I read a lot of these posts when I was in year 10 and 11 and I found them really helpful and inspiring which was my intention when creating this post.

Hi, I'm currently a year 12 student studying Maths, Further Maths, Physics and CS and I got all 9s at GCSE. The subjects I took this year were:
Further Maths (AQA)
English Lang (Edexcel IGCSE)
English Lit (Edexcel IGCSE)
Bio (Edexcel IGCSE)
Chem (Edexcel IGCSE)
Physics (Edexcel IGCSE)
Geography (Cambridge IGCSE)
DT (AQA)
Economics (Edexcel IGCSE)
CS (AQA)

I also had three more GCSEs from previous years:
Maths (Edexcel IGCSE)
Spanish (Edexcel IGCSE)
French (Edexcel IGCSE)

Disclaimers:
Technically Geography was an A* because I did the old spec which is graded using A*-G. For the languages I will say that I am fluent in both so I think that rlly helped me especially as I did them early. This post is not meant to brag by any means, I'm here to answer all the questions that you have about GCSEs, my study process, etc. and I will say that my grades were the product of years of intense hard work and effort.

If anyone is wondering what my best exam was in terms of percentage, it was Further Maths in which I got 98% and lost 3 marks total. I got the exact same percentage in Maths too so I think that that is my strongest subject.

A subject that I could probably give a lot of advice on is English as it did not come naturally to me and I had to work super hard in order to get the grade that I got. Unfortunately, English Lit in particular wasn't as high as I had hoped but I still managed to scrape a 9.

Please ask me any question you want. It could be related to a certain subject or just general exam advice. I hope I can help!

(edited 7 months ago)

Reply 1

Diameter

4

How do I study and understand biology and also how to write a creative writing in english language

Original post by CatalinaIK

Hi, I'm currently a year 12 student studying Maths, Further Maths, Physics and CS and I got all 9s at GCSE. The subjects I took this year were:
Further Maths (AQA)
English Lang (Edexcel IGCSE)
English Lit (Edexcel IGCSE)
Bio (Edexcel IGCSE)
Chem (Edexcel IGCSE)
Physics (Edexcel IGCSE)
Geography (Cambridge IGCSE)
DT (AQA)
Economics (Edexcel IGCSE)
CS (AQA)

I also had three more GCSEs from previous years:
Maths (Edexcel IGCSE)
Spanish (Edexcel IGCSE)
French (Edexcel IGCSE)

Disclaimers:
Technically Geography was an A* because I did the old spec which is graded using A*-G. For the languages I will say that I am fluent in both so I think that rlly helped me especially as I did them early. This post is not meant to brag by any means, I'm here to answer all the questions that you have about GCSEs, my study process, etc. and I will say that my grades were the product of years of intense hard work and effort.

If anyone is wondering what my best exam was in terms of percentage, it was Further Maths in which I got 98% and lost 3 marks total. I got the exact same percentage in Maths too so I think that that is my strongest subject.

A subject that I could probably give a lot of advice on is English as it did not come naturally to me and I had to work super hard in order to get the grade that I got. Unfortunately, English Lit in particular wasn't as high as I had hoped but I still managed to scrape a 9.

Please ask me any question you want. It could be related to a certain subject or just general exam advice. I hope I can help!

Reply 2

Ryan.Seb

7

Do you have any tips for English Literature and Language.
Like how to structure my essay? I am currently predicted a grade 7 but really want to get a grade 9.
Thank you :smile:

Reply 3

CatalinaIK

OP

12

Original post by Diameter

How do I study and understand biology and also how to write a creative writing in english language

For Biology I used the flashcards on Physics and Maths tutor as active recall but I also made notes following the specification. When I had unit tests I would do the topic questions on Physics & Maths tutor and for mocks I just did a bunch of past papers. In my opinion, Biology is the easiest Science to get better at as it relies mostly on memorisation and understanding exam questions. By doing lots of past papers, you familiarise yourself with the mark scheme so that you can basically "see" the mark scheme when you're doing your actual GCSE

For English I was lucky enough that my exam board did coursework and one of them was creative writing. I also wrote it in year 9 but from what I can remember I would say:
- Start off with the big picture, for example by describing the weather. This helps set the atmosphere
- Then do zoom paragraphs where you zoom in on a particular object. Describe it in a lot of detail
- Read a bunch of examples and you'll start to get the hang of it

If you want I can send you my coursework piece. I got 28/30

Reply 4

CatalinaIK

OP

12

Original post by Ryan.Seb

Do you have any tips for English Literature and Language.
Like how to structure my essay? I am currently predicted a grade 7 but really want to get a grade 9.
Thank you :smile:

Yes, of course! The structure of your essay is HIGHLY dependent on the exam board.
My tips:
- Start all your paragraphs with a point
- Talk about alternative interpretations
- Explain the effect on the reader and be specific. Don't say this engages the reader. Say this makes the reader feel... or this makes the reader understand...
- The key is practice. Practise writing one essay a week (at least) and stick to it. Get your teacher to mark it and make corrections. Trust me, this will improve your writing soooo much

What in particular do you struggle with? Both language and lit? What questions? I can send you some essays I wrote and what I got for them as well. Tell me if you want them

Reply 5

Ryan.Seb

7

Original post by CatalinaIK

Yes, of course! The structure of your essay is HIGHLY dependent on the exam board.
My tips:
- Start all your paragraphs with a point
- Talk about alternative interpretations
- Explain the effect on the reader and be specific. Don't say this engages the reader. Say this makes the reader feel... or this makes the reader understand...
- The key is practice. Practise writing one essay a week (at least) and stick to it. Get your teacher to mark it and make corrections. Trust me, this will improve your writing soooo much

What in particular do you struggle with? Both language and lit? What questions? I can send you some essays I wrote and what I got for them as well. Tell me if you want the

I struggle mostly in Literature. Remembering the quotes is a pain. How many quotes do i need to get a minimum of grade 8. And yes please can you send me your essays. Thank you so muchh

Reply 6

Diameter

4

Thank you. Pls send the coursework

Original post by CatalinaIK

For Biology I used the flashcards on Physics and Maths tutor as active recall but I also made notes following the specification. When I had unit tests I would do the topic questions on Physics & Maths tutor and for mocks I just did a bunch of past papers. In my opinion, Biology is the easiest Science to get better at as it relies mostly on memorisation and understanding exam questions. By doing lots of past papers, you familiarise yourself with the mark scheme so that you can basically "see" the mark scheme when you're doing your actual GCSE

For English I was lucky enough that my exam board did coursework and one of them was creative writing. I also wrote it in year 9 but from what I can remember I would say:
- Start off with the big picture, for example by describing the weather. This helps set the atmosphere
- Then do zoom paragraphs where you zoom in on a particular object. Describe it in a lot of detail
- Read a bunch of examples and you'll start to get the hang of it

If you want I can send you my coursework piece. I got 28/30

Reply 7

CatalinaIK

OP

12

Original post by Ryan.Seb

I struggle mostly in Literature. Remembering the quotes is a pain. How many quotes do i need to get a minimum of grade 8. And yes please can you send me your essays. Thank you so muchh

I only had one book since we did the other two for coursework so I was able to memorise more quotes. I memorised 2 per point in my essay and I had 5 points per character so I think I had about 10 quotes per character. There were 8 characters which added up to about 80 including a few repeated quotes which related to multiple characters. But I would say that that is excessive and you probably need about 5 per character.

I'll send you a few essays later when I have time to find them

Reply 8

Diameter

4

Ok thanks

Original post by CatalinaIK

It's a bit cringy but it did the job. Also please do not plagiarise it because you will get disqualified

Reply 9

vex420

1

Original post by CatalinaIK

Hi, I'm currently a year 12 student studying Maths, Further Maths, Physics and CS and I got all 9s at GCSE. The subjects I took this year were:
Further Maths (AQA)
English Lang (Edexcel IGCSE)
English Lit (Edexcel IGCSE)
Bio (Edexcel IGCSE)
Chem (Edexcel IGCSE)
Physics (Edexcel IGCSE)
Geography (Cambridge IGCSE)
DT (AQA)
Economics (Edexcel IGCSE)
CS (AQA)

I also had three more GCSEs from previous years:
Maths (Edexcel IGCSE)
Spanish (Edexcel IGCSE)
French (Edexcel IGCSE)

Disclaimers:
Technically Geography was an A* because I did the old spec which is graded using A*-G. For the languages I will say that I am fluent in both so I think that rlly helped me especially as I did them early. This post is not meant to brag by any means, I'm here to answer all the questions that you have about GCSEs, my study process, etc. and I will say that my grades were the product of years of intense hard work and effort.

If anyone is wondering what my best exam was in terms of percentage, it was Further Maths in which I got 98% and lost 3 marks total. I got the exact same percentage in Maths too so I think that that is my strongest subject.

A subject that I could probably give a lot of advice on is English as it did not come naturally to me and I had to work super hard in order to get the grade that I got. Unfortunately, English Lit in particular wasn't as high as I had hoped but I still managed to scrape a 9.

Please ask me any question you want. It could be related to a certain subject or just general exam advice. I hope I can help!

Hi there, I'm in year 11 currently.
I'm just wondering if I should start revising everyday now as my mocks are in January, and I'm getting a lot of pressure from my parents and I just want to get ahead of everyone else in my class.
I'm also wondering how I should revise chemistry as well, how did you do it?

Reply 10

CatalinaIK

OP

12

Original post by vex420

Hi there, I'm in year 11 currently.
I'm just wondering if I should start revising everyday now as my mocks are in January, and I'm getting a lot of pressure from my parents and I just want to get ahead of everyone else in my class.
I'm also wondering how I should revise chemistry as well, how did you do it?

Yes, I really think you should start revising now. It’s never too early and if you start now I can guarantee that you’ll be less stressed during mocks and exam period. You won’t have to revise as much during that time either meaning you won’t need to stay up revising at night and you’ll be able to go out more.

For Chemistry I did pretty much the same things as Biology: I read my CGP textbook and made sure I understood everything; I then looked for flashcards on PMT for active recall; towards the end most of my revision time was spent doing past papers

Reply 11

bblondon

8

Original post by CatalinaIK

Hi, I'm currently a year 12 student studying Maths, Further Maths, Physics and CS and I got all 9s at GCSE. The subjects I took this year were:
Further Maths (AQA)
English Lang (Edexcel IGCSE)
English Lit (Edexcel IGCSE)
Bio (Edexcel IGCSE)
Chem (Edexcel IGCSE)
Physics (Edexcel IGCSE)
Geography (Cambridge IGCSE)
DT (AQA)
Economics (Edexcel IGCSE)
CS (AQA)

I also had three more GCSEs from previous years:
Maths (Edexcel IGCSE)
Spanish (Edexcel IGCSE)
French (Edexcel IGCSE)

Disclaimers:
Technically Geography was an A* because I did the old spec which is graded using A*-G. For the languages I will say that I am fluent in both so I think that rlly helped me especially as I did them early. This post is not meant to brag by any means, I'm here to answer all the questions that you have about GCSEs, my study process, etc. and I will say that my grades were the product of years of intense hard work and effort.

If anyone is wondering what my best exam was in terms of percentage, it was Further Maths in which I got 98% and lost 3 marks total. I got the exact same percentage in Maths too so I think that that is my strongest subject.

A subject that I could probably give a lot of advice on is English as it did not come naturally to me and I had to work super hard in order to get the grade that I got. Unfortunately, English Lit in particular wasn't as high as I had hoped but I still managed to scrape a 9.

Please ask me any question you want. It could be related to a certain subject or just general exam advice. I hope I can help!

Do you have any resources for revision for Further maths please?

Reply 12

guletto123

1

When did you begin revising for your mocks, and how many hours/day or weekend would you do?

Reply 13

CatalinaIK

OP

12

Original post by bblondon

Do you have any resources for revision for Further maths please?

For Further Maths I used Mr Barton Maths, CGP and past papers of course.

I think that people spend too much time looking for resources when what they should be doing is studying with what they already have. I definitely did this

Reply 14

HK78

9

im in year11 and my first mocks are this november. i want to revise daily with science (im doing triple) and maths my priorities and english as well. how many hours a day do i revise and how do i revise, no one really ever told me what to do. im willing to put the work in but just have no idea what to do. im doing well so far and got 9s in my y10 mocks and am aiming for 9s across the board.

Original post by CatalinaIK

Hi, I'm currently a year 12 student studying Maths, Further Maths, Physics and CS and I got all 9s at GCSE. The subjects I took this year were:
Further Maths (AQA)
English Lang (Edexcel IGCSE)
English Lit (Edexcel IGCSE)
Bio (Edexcel IGCSE)
Chem (Edexcel IGCSE)
Physics (Edexcel IGCSE)
Geography (Cambridge IGCSE)
DT (AQA)
Economics (Edexcel IGCSE)
CS (AQA)

I also had three more GCSEs from previous years:
Maths (Edexcel IGCSE)
Spanish (Edexcel IGCSE)
French (Edexcel IGCSE)

Disclaimers:
Technically Geography was an A* because I did the old spec which is graded using A*-G. For the languages I will say that I am fluent in both so I think that rlly helped me especially as I did them early. This post is not meant to brag by any means, I'm here to answer all the questions that you have about GCSEs, my study process, etc. and I will say that my grades were the product of years of intense hard work and effort.

If anyone is wondering what my best exam was in terms of percentage, it was Further Maths in which I got 98% and lost 3 marks total. I got the exact same percentage in Maths too so I think that that is my strongest subject.

A subject that I could probably give a lot of advice on is English as it did not come naturally to me and I had to work super hard in order to get the grade that I got. Unfortunately, English Lit in particular wasn't as high as I had hoped but I still managed to scrape a 9.

Please ask me any question you want. It could be related to a certain subject or just general exam advice. I hope I can help!

Reply 15

CatalinaIK

OP

12

Original post by guletto123

When did you begin revising for your mocks, and how many hours/day or weekend would you do?

I had two sets of mocks: in November and in March. I pretty much started studying intensely from September and I kept going until June. I think I did take like a month off in December but after that I continued to study quite a lot. I understand that this is not for everyone and I’m not saying that you have to do this by any means as I was very burnt out during GCSEs but it worked for me.

However, I do think you should start now but it doesn’t have to be as high intensity as I did.

If you want a rough idea of how much time I put in. I didn’t do anything in December but apart from that my lower intensity months were September, January and February. I did roughly 2 hours on school days and 6 hours (per day) on weekends. My highest intensity months were October, November, March, April, May and June where I did 3 hours on school days and 8 hours on weekends (including study leave). I had a couple of days that even stretched to 9 hours but I would not recommend it.

Reply 16

anonymous1425

5

hi
how did you revise for DT? and how did you find the coursework as well? i am finding the initial bits of research quite time consuming but looking forward to making a working prototype
also, any tips on creative writing in english language?
thank you :smile:

Reply 17

Muttley79

20

Original post by CatalinaIK

For Biology I used the flashcards on Physics and Maths tutor as active recall but I also made notes following the specification. When I had unit tests I would do the topic questions on Physics & Maths tutor and for mocks I just did a bunch of past papers. In my opinion, Biology is the easiest Science to get better at as it relies mostly on memorisation and understanding exam questions. By doing lots of past papers, you familiarise yourself with the mark scheme so that you can basically "see" the mark scheme when you're doing your actual GCSE

For English I was lucky enough that my exam board did coursework and one of them was creative writing. I also wrote it in year 9 but from what I can remember I would say:
- Start off with the big picture, for example by describing the weather. This helps set the atmosphere
- Then do zoom paragraphs where you zoom in on a particular object. Describe it in a lot of detail
- Read a bunch of examples and you'll start to get the hang of it

If you want I can send you my coursework piece. I got 28/30