Former GCSE student achieved all grades 7-9s. Ask me anything.

Hi! Don’t worry, these grades are not bad. I was working at the same level at the end of Year 10, beginning of Y11, even in maths and science, which I am now studying as my A levels. Don’t worry if your grade is still low, there is time to get good grades if you put your mind to it and target your weaknesses. Please try not to let the anxiety get to you- this may cause burnout and you need to prioritise your mental health. Remember to view every grade increase or percentage increase, no matter how small, as a win.

I will split my response into one reply for Science, Maths and Computer Science, and then another one for English. I will then write another reply with further study advice.

my tips for maths
I went from a grade 5 at the beginning of Year 11 (foundation gcse) to an 8 grade at higher and now I am sitting further maths at A Level. In primary school I wasn’t even good at maths. Anything is possible!

. I strongly recommend the YouTuber The GCSE Maths Tutor. He will help you increase your grade for sure. Try his videos aimed at certain grades, or if you are working at a pass grade and want to try getting into higher grade brackets, try the crossover playlist which should help increase your grade.
. I also recommend Mitchell Dye YouTube. He works with lots of students that struggle with maths and helps them pass/increase their grade. He offers lessons, grade targeted paper walkthroughs, and also a discord platform where you can ask for maths help and submit any questions to him.
. Practice is key. Use Maths Genie and Corbett Maths 5 a day. The Corbett maths 5 a day you can filter by grade difficulty, and these definitely help you improve your maths little by little every day. Use Maths Genie to find maths questions by topic, and Physics Maths Tutor to find past papers.
. Try the workbooks called Target Grade 7 maths.

Science (Bio and Chem)
. I really recommend Cognito as a YouTuber for gcse science (all sciences, combined and triple). Playlists are ordered by the specification.
. Also have a look at Primrose Kitten YouTuber or Free Science Lessons.

. DM me as I have some science resources from GCSE that I can share with you.

. For Bio, definitely make flashcards. Also practice using physics maths tutor for topic based questions. It’s really important you practice so you can learn exam technique as mark schemes are very picky.
. For chem, make flashcards, but only for stuff you really have to remember, such as common ions and chemical tests. For your other revision get plenty of practice. Use the CGP guides and workbooks.

Physics
. I recommend the YouTuber PhysicsOnline.
. Also try the CGP workbooks, revision guides and the Pearson Revise ones.
. Use PhysicsMathsTutor for topic based questions, past papers, notes and more.

Hope this helps!

Hi, I hope you are well. I am really happy to see you are helping year 111 students for GCSE. I m really worried as I haven't started any revision yet and my real GCSE will start in may. I study: Maths - (Edexcel), English (lit, lang) - (AQA), science (bio, chem & physics) - (AQA - combined higher), computer science (edexcel), geography (edexcel A), health and social care - BTEC (edexcel - level 1/2).

In my recent mock for ...... I got.....
MATHS - grade 5 (paper 1,2,3)
SCIENCE (combined foundation) (only paper 1)- grade 5 for bio, grade 3 for chem and grade 4 for physics
GEOGRAPHY - grade 6 for paper 1, grade 5 for paper 2
ENGLISH - grade 4 for language (paper 1), grade 6 for literature (Paper 1)
COMPUTER SC. - grade 3 for paper 1 and grade 4 for paper 2.

My predictions - What I want to achieve in my real GCSEs

Maths - grade 7, maybe 8
science - bio: grade 6, chem: grade 5/6, physic: grade 5/6. MAYBE grade 7
English - lang: grade 5/6, lit: grade 6/7
geography - grade 6/7
computer science - grade 6 (overall)

I have took my time to explain everything to you. so you will be ale to tell be accurately what should I do. You have really explained in detail to other people that might be really helpful to them so I want your help. I am extremely worried.

Hi! Don’t worry, these grades are not bad. I was working at the same level at the end of Year 10, beginning of Y11, even in maths and science, which I am now studying as my A levels. Don’t worry if your grade is still low, there is time to get good grades if you put your mind to it and target your weaknesses. Please try not to let the anxiety get to you- this may cause burnout and you need to prioritise your mental health. Remember to view every grade increase or percentage increase, no matter how small, as a win.

I will split my response into one reply for Science, Maths and Computer Science, and then another one for English. I will then write another reply with further study advice.

my tips for maths
I went from a grade 5 at the beginning of Year 11 (foundation gcse) to an 8 grade at higher and now I am sitting further maths at A Level. In primary school I wasn’t even good at maths. Anything is possible!

. I strongly recommend the YouTuber The GCSE Maths Tutor. He will help you increase your grade for sure. Try his videos aimed at certain grades, or if you are working at a pass grade and want to try getting into higher grade brackets, try the crossover playlist which should help increase your grade.
. I also recommend Mitchell Dye YouTube. He works with lots of students that struggle with maths and helps them pass/increase their grade. He offers lessons, grade targeted paper walkthroughs, and also a discord platform where you can ask for maths help and submit any questions to him.
. Practice is key. Use Maths Genie and Corbett Maths 5 a day. The Corbett maths 5 a day you can filter by grade difficulty, and these definitely help you improve your maths little by little every day. Use Maths Genie to find maths questions by topic, and Physics Maths Tutor to find past papers.
. Try the workbooks called Target Grade 7 maths.

Science (Bio and Chem)
. I really recommend Cognito as a YouTuber for gcse science (all sciences, combined and triple). Playlists are ordered by the specification.
. Also have a look at Primrose Kitten YouTuber or Free Science Lessons.

. DM me as I have some science resources from GCSE that I can share with you.

. For Bio, definitely make flashcards. Also practice using physics maths tutor for topic based questions. It’s really important you practice so you can learn exam technique as mark schemes are very picky.
. For chem, make flashcards, but only for stuff you really have to remember, such as common ions and chemical tests. For your other revision get plenty of practice. Use the CGP guides and workbooks.

Physics
. I recommend the YouTuber PhysicsOnline.
. Also try the CGP workbooks, revision guides and the Pearson Revise ones.
. Use PhysicsMathsTutor for topic based questions, past papers, notes and more.

Hope this helps!

Hi! Don’t worry, these grades are not bad. I was working at the same level at the end of Year 10, beginning of Y11, even in maths and science, which I am now studying as my A levels. Don’t worry if your grade is still low, there is time to get good grades if you put your mind to it and target your weaknesses. Please try not to let the anxiety get to you- this may cause burnout and you need to prioritise your mental health. Remember to view every grade increase or percentage increase, no matter how small, as a win.

I will split my response into one reply for Science, Maths and Computer Science, and then another one for English. I will then write another reply with further study advice.

my tips for maths
I went from a grade 5 at the beginning of Year 11 (foundation gcse) to an 8 grade at higher and now I am sitting further maths at A Level. In primary school I wasn’t even good at maths. Anything is possible!

. I strongly recommend the YouTuber The GCSE Maths Tutor. He will help you increase your grade for sure. Try his videos aimed at certain grades, or if you are working at a pass grade and want to try getting into higher grade brackets, try the crossover playlist which should help increase your grade.
. I also recommend Mitchell Dye YouTube. He works with lots of students that struggle with maths and helps them pass/increase their grade. He offers lessons, grade targeted paper walkthroughs, and also a discord platform where you can ask for maths help and submit any questions to him.
. Practice is key. Use Maths Genie and Corbett Maths 5 a day. The Corbett maths 5 a day you can filter by grade difficulty, and these definitely help you improve your maths little by little every day. Use Maths Genie to find maths questions by topic, and Physics Maths Tutor to find past papers.
. Try the workbooks called Target Grade 7 maths.

Science (Bio and Chem)
. I really recommend Cognito as a YouTuber for gcse science (all sciences, combined and triple). Playlists are ordered by the specification.
. Also have a look at Primrose Kitten YouTuber or Free Science Lessons.

. DM me as I have some science resources from GCSE that I can share with you.

. For Bio, definitely make flashcards. Also practice using physics maths tutor for topic based questions. It’s really important you practice so you can learn exam technique as mark schemes are very picky.
. For chem, make flashcards, but only for stuff you really have to remember, such as common ions and chemical tests. For your other revision get plenty of practice. Use the CGP guides and workbooks.

Physics
. I recommend the YouTuber PhysicsOnline.
. Also try the CGP workbooks, revision guides and the Pearson Revise ones.
. Use PhysicsMathsTutor for topic based questions, past papers, notes and more.

Hope this helps!

Hi everyone,
I did my GCSEs last year, and got all 7-9s in them. Before I wasn’t that perfect, so i totally get it if you are panicking about your GCSEs after receiving mocks results! Don’t worry, I’m here to help. Ask me anything about any of the subjects below, or just general study advice.

I’m currently doing A Levels in Biology, Chemistry, Maths and Further Maths, with plans to do biomedicine/med/biochem.

. Subjects studied at GCSE and grades:
. Edexcel Higher Maths (8)
. AQA English Lit and Language (7 in Lang, 8 in Lit)
. AQA Biology (9)
. AQA Chemistry (9)
. AQA Physics (8)
. Edexcel Spanish (9)
. Edexcel Mandarin (9)
. OCR computer science J277 (7)
. Edexcel History (8)

Hi, Didn't you do further maths for GCSE? I'm not fully understand but my school offers further maths to top 20 -25 students for gcse. I'm addition. I'm not in the top tier but like maths. Should I have it done for pursuing maths for a level?

Hi, no I didn’t take further maths for gcse, it wasn’t offered by my school, same for many other schools. If your school offers further maths and you feel like you can dedicate enough time to studying it as it is a harder gcse, then I recommend it. But make sure you have enough time dedicated to your core subjects.

However it’s not 100% necessary for pursuing the a level, other than the fact it can give a little bit of a head start on some topics (but a level bridging work during the summer can do that too). I know some people (from other schools) who did Additional Maths, which is harder than further maths gcse, and it only gave them an advantage on a few topics in the first term or two of a levels. No one in my class who are doing further maths and maths a level took further maths at gcse level though and they are coping fine.

So I suppose it’s up to you, but make sure that you can dedicate enough time to it if you really do want to take it, but at the end of the day it doesn’t matter if you don’t.

Hi everyone,
I did my GCSEs last year, and got all 7-9s in them. Before I wasn’t that perfect, so i totally get it if you are panicking about your GCSEs after receiving mocks results! Don’t worry, I’m here to help. Ask me anything about any of the subjects below, or just general study advice.

I’m currently doing A Levels in Biology, Chemistry, Maths and Further Maths, with plans to do biomedicine/med/biochem.

. Subjects studied at GCSE and grades:
. Edexcel Higher Maths (8)
. AQA English Lit and Language (7 in Lang, 8 in Lit)
. AQA Biology (9)
. AQA Chemistry (9)
. AQA Physics (8)
. Edexcel Spanish (9)
. Edexcel Mandarin (9)
. OCR computer science J277 (7)
. Edexcel History (8)

Hi,

Pls can u give me some tips for science? the only thing is, flashcards don't work for me. i tend to make condensed notes, blurt/read aloud and then do application. but idk if i have enough time now to do this method bc i need to learn most of paper 1 again (i've already done resourvces for 80% of paper 2)

Hi, no worries. Flashcards do not work for everyone. In fact, with gcse science, you shouldn’t need to make flashcards for everything.

If you prefer other memory techniques such as blurting, that’s great. In my opinion blurting is 10x more useful than flashcards, because with flashcards that you write yourself, you may just be recalling the answer from memory without really taking time to think.

Maybe watch a video on your topic or read your textbook. Then 10 min later close the book and write down everything you remember on a piece of paper: blurting doesn’t have to be neat and stylish. Aim to do it all in 10-30min depending on how big the topic is. Simple bullet points or quick mindmaps will do. If you realise you have forgotten anything once you re-read the topic change colour pen and add in the details you forgets

You mentioned that you read out loud, however this is a very passive technique as you aren’t testing your recall of the information. To make this more active recall, try using Fenymann’s technique. After you have learnt a topic, explain it briefly to your family members, friends, etc. Teach it in a fun way! This way, if you are able to explain a concept to a 5 year old and they can at least understand a little, then you are able to understand it well.

I would recommend apps like Gimzo Ai. It’s kind of like flashcards but has fill in the gaps and multiple choice, so it really helps with the picky mark schemes and active recall. It’s really fun and colourful and I prefer it a lot more than traditional active recall/flashcards apps like Quizlet or Anki.

You need to be practicing application by trying a lot of exam questions. Use physics maths tutor or cognito to find questions by topic.

Hope this helps, and good luck with your exams!

okay thank u so much!! is there also like a set-date i should aim to be doing past papers for bc rn after i blurt i do topic questions on the particular topic

Hi everyone,
I did my GCSEs last year, and got all 7-9s in them. Before I wasn’t that perfect, so i totally get it if you are panicking about your GCSEs after receiving mocks results! Don’t worry, I’m here to help. Ask me anything about any of the subjects below, or just general study advice.

I’m currently doing A Levels in Biology, Chemistry, Maths and Further Maths, with plans to do biomedicine/med/biochem.

. Subjects studied at GCSE and grades:
. Edexcel Higher Maths (8)
. AQA English Lit and Language (7 in Lang, 8 in Lit)
. AQA Biology (9)
. AQA Chemistry (9)
. AQA Physics (8)
. Edexcel Spanish (9)
. Edexcel Mandarin (9)
. OCR computer science J277 (7)
. Edexcel History (8)

hey. do you know any websites where i can find all gcse ocr info for computer science cause i dont know anything and my teacher doesnt know how to teach us so we basically have to self-teach ourselves. thankss

Hi everyone,
I did my GCSEs last year, and got all 7-9s in them. Before I wasn’t that perfect, so i totally get it if you are panicking about your GCSEs after receiving mocks results! Don’t worry, I’m here to help. Ask me anything about any of the subjects below, or just general study advice.
I’m currently doing A Levels in Biology, Chemistry, Maths and Further Maths, with plans to do biomedicine/med/biochem.
. Subjects studied at GCSE and grades:
. Edexcel Higher Maths (8)
. AQA English Lit and Language (7 in Lang, 8 in Lit)
. AQA Biology (9)
. AQA Chemistry (9)
. AQA Physics (8)
. Edexcel Spanish (9)
. Edexcel Mandarin (9)
. OCR computer science J277 (7)
. Edexcel History (8)

Hi there as you took both history and cs which did you find easier like out of the 2 for revising and doing better in exams etc and recommend and which not???

Hi, I didn’t find either of the two harder than the other. I feel like history there is more content, but the topics can be very interesting. Computer science the exam boards and content can be difficult, but all in all it is interesting. Both had different revision techniques, and I’d say both were equally difficult to revise for.
So I guess it’s up to you which one you want to do. I don’t really give recommendations about which subject to do as I want you to feel like you are free to choose what you want! Maybe look at some textbooks for the subjects to get an idea of what the subject is like!

Which do you personally find easier and why I’ve heard cs the content can learn easily in 2 days compare to history but what is exam and questions like??

Which do you personally find easier and why I’ve heard cs the content can learn easily in 2 days compare to history but what is exam and questions like??