memorising and learning content in 2 months??? help

Hi! I did my GCSEs in 2021 (so I didn’t actually sit them cause of covid, but still did exams), and I got 7 x 9s (one half of combined science, both englishes, maths, hist. & geo, french and german) and 2 x 8s (one half of combined science & maths) now at uni doing French and history!

From what you’ve said it already sounds like you’ve got a good plan! I started revising around this time so its definitely not too late. I also only did about 4 hours (at the weekend) and 2 hours in the week, but I had a lot of days off as well. Also sounds mean but don’t listen to anyone at school, everyone works differently so don’t feel bad if there's someone revising like 8 hours a day.
I’ll try and put some advice for the subjects I did down below:

- Science: I didn’t make any notes (I got them off the physics and maths tutor website), I’d just practice on seneca, and then when I felt I knew the content, just did loads of past papers. I also watched freesciencelessons on youtube so if you haven’t seen that already I’d definitely recommend it!
- Maths: literally just past papers, then ask a teacher/youtube/textbook if there was something I didn’t understand
- English lang: sounds like you’ve got a good plan already, past papers is really the only way to go – and reading example grade 9s like you said will help you get a feel for what the examiner wants [also for the creative writing bit just use some fancy words and they eat it up]
- English lit: I tried to learn quotes that could apply to lots of different themes, so I didn’t have to learn as many. Also made mindmaps with analysis & quotes for each theme/character.
- History: I revised by using past papers if that makes sense? So I’d pick an essay question (you could even ask a teacher for extra ones/make some up yourself) and I’d do a detailed plan for it – using my textbook & notes for the evidence so I was learning as I went. Also for content used seneca again, and youtube (there’s a really good playlist for cold war which I also used for a level: the channel is called I'm Stuck - GCSE and A-Level Revision). Also this was more at a level, but I would pick a topic and just talk to myself about what I knew, seemed to work lol
- Sorry for business I will not be much help to you there
- For Spanish just do as many past papers as you can, especially from your exam board but also from others if you run out. I did aqa and there was a vocab book – I tried to learn words off that cause they would reuse those words in the exams. Would definitely recommend even if you don’t do aqa

That’s everything, I hope some of this helps and if you have any more questions im happy to help
You sound like you have a great plan, just make sure you stay consistent with revision, even if it’s only 20 minutes a day it will make a big difference
And also think about the massive summer before college (if that’s where you’re going) and that kept me going 😊

omg tysm!! this defo helped and i'm gonna start doing this. and it gives me hope lolll seeing someone else who was in a similar position.

also, for history is it worth learning all of the content/? or like super condensed brief notes. cuz someone told me it's mainly exam structure and then they want a little bit of content but idk if i should do history flashcards. also the essay plan thing is such good advice, i reckon ill do that cuz it's genuinely exam structure that im bad at. ik ppl who went from 5s to 8s in history just by learning structure and little content. but if i like make a detailed essay plan, shold i make it from memory?? or like using my flashcards. and do u think that flashcards at this point is a bit of a waste?

tysm again!!!! goodluck w uni xxx

nooo I don't think it's ever too late for flashcards! i mean in terms of content, i feel like you can never learn every little fact, so as long as you have enough facts for each topic etc. then you should be fine

i'd still focus on learning content but a lot of your marks will come from analysis so make sure you're also practicing that - idk where it is now but i had a list of good analytical phrases (im sure there's some on google) that i remembered for the exams

what I did with my essay plans is I'd make a detailed one using my notes, then I'd come back to it in a later revision session, and try and plan it again without my notes - then I'd compare it with my first plan to see how much I'd forgot

hope this helps

Hi! I did my GCSEs in 2021 (so I didn’t actually sit them cause of covid, but still did exams), and I got 7 x 9s (one half of combined science, both englishes, maths, hist. & geo, french and german) and 2 x 8s (one half of combined science & maths) now at uni doing French and history!
From what you’ve said it already sounds like you’ve got a good plan! I started revising around this time so its definitely not too late. I also only did about 4 hours (at the weekend) and 2 hours in the week, but I had a lot of days off as well. Also sounds mean but don’t listen to anyone at school, everyone works differently so don’t feel bad if there's someone revising like 8 hours a day.
I’ll try and put some advice for the subjects I did down below:
- Science: I didn’t make any notes (I got them off the physics and maths tutor website), I’d just practice on seneca, and then when I felt I knew the content, just did loads of past papers. I also watched freesciencelessons on youtube so if you haven’t seen that already I’d definitely recommend it!
- Maths: literally just past papers, then ask a teacher/youtube/textbook if there was something I didn’t understand
- English lang: sounds like you’ve got a good plan already, past papers is really the only way to go – and reading example grade 9s like you said will help you get a feel for what the examiner wants [also for the creative writing bit just use some fancy words and they eat it up]
- English lit: I tried to learn quotes that could apply to lots of different themes, so I didn’t have to learn as many. Also made mindmaps with analysis & quotes for each theme/character.
- History: I revised by using past papers if that makes sense? So I’d pick an essay question (you could even ask a teacher for extra ones/make some up yourself) and I’d do a detailed plan for it – using my textbook & notes for the evidence so I was learning as I went. Also for content used seneca again, and youtube (there’s a really good playlist for cold war which I also used for a level: the channel is called I'm Stuck - GCSE and A-Level Revision). Also this was more at a level, but I would pick a topic and just talk to myself about what I knew, seemed to work lol
- Sorry for business I will not be much help to you there
- For Spanish just do as many past papers as you can, especially from your exam board but also from others if you run out. I did aqa and there was a vocab book – I tried to learn words off that cause they would reuse those words in the exams. Would definitely recommend even if you don’t do aqa
That’s everything, I hope some of this helps and if you have any more questions im happy to help
You sound like you have a great plan, just make sure you stay consistent with revision, even if it’s only 20 minutes a day it will make a big difference
And also think about the massive summer before college (if that’s where you’re going) and that kept me going 😊