Take our quiz to find out what your revision personality is! >>

How do I revise for these four resits?

How do I revise these four subjects?

I’m 18, and I’ve failed every GCSE exam apart from English language. Next June i’ll be able to resit my maths, geography, RE and biology GCSEs after paying £150 each for them at a private exam centre. But How do I go about revising for them? I can’t hire tutors for all four since they’re too expensive for me so I only have the internet and I feel…lost? I don’t. know where to start for any of the 4 GCSEs in regards to revision. I need those four GCSEs on top of my English language to get into an apprenticeship so it’s crucial for me! Please help!

Reply 1

DataVenia

Volunteer Team, Clearing and Applications Advisor

Original post by TalosOutlaw

How did you revise the first time you took them? Do not not have notes, worksheets, etc. which you can refer to? Also, tutors wouldn't be the answer anyway. Tutors teach. You're asking, "How do I go about revising for them?" That suggests that you've been taught the material, and need to create flash cards, mind maps, summarise your notes, do blurting etc. to help memorise what you've learned. Or do you need to actually learn the subjects from scratch?

Reply 2

infamous.nugget

Original post by TalosOutlaw

How do I revise these four subjects?
I’m 18, and I’ve failed every GCSE exam apart from English language. Next June i’ll be able to resit my maths, geography, RE and biology GCSEs after paying £150 each for them at a private exam centre. But How do I go about revising for them? I can’t hire tutors for all four since they’re too expensive for me so I only have the internet and I feel…lost? I don’t. know where to start for any of the 4 GCSEs in regards to revision. I need those four GCSEs on top of my English language to get into an apprenticeship so it’s crucial for me! Please help!

heyy!
i'm in year 10 so idk how useful this advice will be to you :s-smilie:

biology - I find that compared to the other sciences, biology is very content heavy, and usually the mark scheme requires you to give very specific/detailed answers. So maybe, you could start by learning the key concepts/main points, by maybe making notes, watching freesciencelessons videos etc. Then, you could do some practice on seneca/cognito to see if you understand the main points, and to identify any gaps, which you can go back to and revise. I know that the first thing some people do is make flashcards, but I usually like to save making these until after I've actually understood the topic bc there's no point making flashcards and testing yourself on content you don't fully know. The last thing I usually do is exam question, bc as I said earlier most of the marks are awarded by mentioning specific things that are on the mark scheme.
useful resources: physicsandmathstutor website, mmerevise website (you can get worksheets of specific parts of a topic you don't particularly understand), seneca/cognito as mentioned

maths - I think the best way to do maths is just to do past paper questions over and over again under timed conditions, and if there's a specific topic/question you don't know or want to know the method for, you could always watch a runthrough of a past paper on yt.
useful resources: corbettmaths website, mathsgenie website, or just anywhere you can get past questions

geography - I'd say geography is also particularly content heavy, and there tends to be specific detail/information required in questions, so maybe maybe you could make summarised notes by watching yt videos, reading a textbook, online resource etc. You could also draw diagrams with key words/pictures to help you remember them better. And I find that making flashcards on things like key processes, statistics, fieldwork etc can be useful (but it's up to you what you want to make flashcards on). Oh another way i forgot to mention, is also making mind maps or using revision mats. You could also do specific exam questions under times conditions eg, the 8/9 markers.
revision resources: (again) mmerevise website, bbc bitesize website, physicsandmathstutor, yt vids on key processes

re - I can't really say much for re, as i'm not the best at it. But i would definitely recommend watching revision vids and using bbc bitesize to make sure you understand everything first, then you could make notes on it. You can also make flashcards to remember quotes and stuff. And similarly to geography, you could do mind maps/brain dumps, (just writing out everything you know, then look at the specification, and anything you've missed, you can do some extra work on.
revision resources: bbc bitesize, seneca, any yt vids

just some general advice: i recommend having the specification at hand whilst your revising, so you can see what you actually need to learn and to make sure your not learning anything more than you need to. Also make sure you do exam questions, as questions are often re-used, and just make sure you use a range of revision techniques to see which works best for you!

again, idk how useful this advice is to you, but i hope it helps, even if its just slightly!! :smile:

Reply 3

TalosOutlaw

Original post by DataVenia

I tried to do past papers but that was about it….also yes, i’ll need to learn a large chunk of these subjects since it’s been two years since I’ve done any of them.

Reply 4

TalosOutlaw

Original post by infamous.nugget

heyy!
i'm in year 10 so idk how useful this advice will be to you :s-smilie:

biology - I find that compared to the other sciences, biology is very content heavy, and usually the mark scheme requires you to give very specific/detailed answers. So maybe, you could start by learning the key concepts/main points, by maybe making notes, watching freesciencelessons videos etc. Then, you could do some practice on seneca/cognito to see if you understand the main points, and to identify any gaps, which you can go back to and revise. I know that the first thing some people do is make flashcards, but I usually like to save making these until after I've actually understood the topic bc there's no point making flashcards and testing yourself on content you don't fully know. The last thing I usually do is exam question, bc as I said earlier most of the marks are awarded by mentioning specific things that are on the mark scheme.
useful resources: physicsandmathstutor website, mmerevise website (you can get worksheets of specific parts of a topic you don't particularly understand), seneca/cognito as mentioned
maths - I think the best way to do maths is just to do past paper questions over and over again under timed conditions, and if there's a specific topic/question you don't know or want to know the method for, you could always watch a runthrough of a past paper on yt.
useful resources: corbettmaths website, mathsgenie website, or just anywhere you can get past questions
geography - I'd say geography is also particularly content heavy, and there tends to be specific detail/information required in questions, so maybe maybe you could make summarised notes by watching yt videos, reading a textbook, online resource etc. You could also draw diagrams with key words/pictures to help you remember them better. And I find that making flashcards on things like key processes, statistics, fieldwork etc can be useful (but it's up to you what you want to make flashcards on). Oh another way i forgot to mention, is also making mind maps or using revision mats. You could also do specific exam questions under times conditions eg, the 8/9 markers.
revision resources: (again) mmerevise website, bbc bitesize website, physicsandmathstutor, yt vids on key processes
re - I can't really say much for re, as i'm not the best at it. But i would definitely recommend watching revision vids and using bbc bitesize to make sure you understand everything first, then you could make notes on it. You can also make flashcards to remember quotes and stuff. And similarly to geography, you could do mind maps/brain dumps, (just writing out everything you know, then look at the specification, and anything you've missed, you can do some extra work on.
revision resources: bbc bitesize, seneca, any yt vids
just some general advice: i recommend having the specification at hand whilst your revising, so you can see what you actually need to learn and to make sure your not learning anything more than you need to. Also make sure you do exam questions, as questions are often re-used, and just make sure you use a range of revision techniques to see which works best for you!
again, idk how useful this advice is to you, but i hope it helps, even if its just slightly!! :smile:

thanks for the advice. where do i find the specification?

Reply 5

DataVenia

Volunteer Team, Clearing and Applications Advisor

Original post by TalosOutlaw

thanks for the advice. where do i find the specification?

On the web site for the relevant exam board.

Reply 6

dr.amna.

Original post by TalosOutlaw

thanks for the advice. where do i find the specification?

I am an oxford graduate and I do give private lessons for these subjects. If the understanding is clear, its easier to learn

Reply 7

user1234512345

Original post by TalosOutlaw

How do I revise these four subjects?
I’m 18, and I’ve failed every GCSE exam apart from English language. Next June i’ll be able to resit my maths, geography, RE and biology GCSEs after paying £150 each for them at a private exam centre. But How do I go about revising for them? I can’t hire tutors for all four since they’re too expensive for me so I only have the internet and I feel…lost? I don’t. know where to start for any of the 4 GCSEs in regards to revision. I need those four GCSEs on top of my English language to get into an apprenticeship so it’s crucial for me! Please help!

I have some tips requirement for Bio and geo. the method i swear by that got me a grade 9 in bio and physics and one mark off a nine in chem was i would buy the REVISION guide version of the KERBOODLE textbook not the waffley cgp book. i would go through the book from the start and i'd have a pile of scrap paper with me. basically what i would do is id make the most concise notes i possible could but including all the key info on each page, i'd do it very scruffily because i wouldn't use these notes to revise from again, it's mainly the actual writing process that benefits you. the aim was to get an entire topic on one page, ignore the lines on lined paper trust me it works so much better when you pay less focus on the neatness of it and more on fitting it all on the page. i would do like the whole of B1 on one page but its okay if it went onto another its no biggie. for gcse my revision was 85% understanding the content and rewriting notes or model answers in bullet points. it honestly depends on the person about how many practice qs you do, for most people it is very important to do loads but for me after i used this method i barely did any, i would skim through a few past papers in 1 hr the day before the exam roughly. obviously don't do this if it genuinely doesn't work for you because every person has a different revision language but definitely do try it - a girl who i mentor at school in geography did this method and went from a grade 3/4 to a grade 7/8 in like 2 months. hope this helps :smile: