The Student Room Group

Advice from previous Year 11's to upcoming Year 11's

Thought I would make an 'advice' thread where Current Year 10s can ask questions about Year 11 and get any advice from me or other year 11s. To get things started:

If you are in year 10 going into year 11:
1) What GCSE's are you taking?

2) What are your expectations of year 11?

3)Are you looking forward to year 11?

And if you have just left year 11:

1) How was year 11 for you?

2) How many exams did you sit?

3) What advice will you like to give to the upcoming year 11s?

I have left year 11 so I will answer these questions aha..

1) How was year 11 for you?
Year 11 for me was rather calm for the first few months up to about November. It was mainly trying to finish off coursework. From January onwards it was the piles and piles of stress. But tbh I believe it would have been less stressful if my school did not put so much pressure on us.

2) How many exams did you sit?

22 :eek:

3)What advice will you like to give to the upcoming year 11s?
Listen to everything in class, it's most likely to come up in the exam. & You don't necessarily have to start revising from the get go. You will most likely forget everything by time May comes.. I would say revise from January if you feel you will remember. If not start in the Easter Holidays (March/April), if you feel you do better revising closer to the time. I started in February.. had a long break (well not really due to my school :angry:) and restarted in April.

Any other questions? Leave them below, and I or any other person will answer it :tongue:
(edited 9 years ago)

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1) How was year 11 for you?
To be honest, it was less stressful over all than I thought it was going to be - apart from my business studies coursework which was absolute hell. Other than that it went well. The summer was the busiest in my opinion.

2) How many exams did you sit?
I sat 2 in January (English Language and Physics) and 14 in May and June so 16 in total this year.

3) What advice will you like to give to the upcoming year 11s?
Listen in class, revise earlier on than I did (around January), do your coursework because it helps a lot with your grades and also don't overwork yourself because it can do a lot more harm than good if you work yourself too much.
Reply 2
Original post by AmyGeorge98
1) How was year 11 for you?
To be honest, it was less stressful over all than I thought it was going to be - apart from my business studies coursework which was absolute hell. Other than that it went well. The summer was the busiest in my opinion.

2) How many exams did you sit?
I sat 2 in January (English Language and Physics) and 14 in May and June so 16 in total this year.

3) What advice will you like to give to the upcoming year 11s?
Listen in class, revise earlier on than I did (around January), do your coursework because it helps a lot with your grades and also don't overwork yourself because it can do a lot more harm than good if you work yourself too much.

Sounds like you didn't have a bad time :smile: All the best with you results, I hope you get what you want :biggrin: I had the same problem but with Health & Social Care Coursework. The deadlines were ridiculous!
Original post by funkydee19
Sounds like you didn't have a bad time :smile: All the best with you results, I hope you get what you want :biggrin: I had the same problem but with Health & Social Care Coursework. The deadlines were ridiculous!


Thanks, and all the same back:smile:
My teacher kept changing the dates when our coursework had to be handed in which was annoying:mad: but I worked hard and I hope to get an A in it:tongue:
1) How was year 11 for you?
In all honesty Year 11 wasn't much different to Year 10. It was quite relaxed at the start, and most of it is just spent going over the same content you did in Year 10 but to a more refined standard (e.g. that was the case for English and Maths). The only difference was coursework and revision - and the fact that although you think you have time there isn't much of it to complete your coursework. This isn't really much of a problem for subjects like Science which were just the 1 or 2 after school catch up sessions, but it was hell for subjects like Art and Graphic Products (D&T) which I both did. I had to stay until 6:30pm everyday for a week for my Graphics CW because I was that behind.

Still got A* for the CW so although the after school coursework sessions are lengthily and tiring, they're most indefinitely worth it if you want those A* CW grades. Art is probably worse and required more time, but I hated Art and refused to do any after school work which is why I got a C for my Art CW and exam. So goes to show, the more work you put in the higher your grade will be.

As for exams, I didn't revise for mocks and for the real exams I just revised like a day or two before most of them. For Science I tried revising a week before them but I kept forgetting things, a day or two before actually works better. At least at GCSE level it does.

2) How many exams did you sit?
I think it was around 18-20 don't know the exact number! :tongue:

3) What advice will you like to give to the upcoming year 11s?
Work hard on your coursework, it'll help with your final grade. Also, make sure you find a revision style that works for you way before exam season - because unlike me I did no revision until the real exams and then I realised revision is useless for me if I revise a week before for each exam, but works great the day before the exam. I don't recommend this, I'm just saying that worked for me so figure out what works for you.

Also revise for mocks but only a little and don't worry about super revision - leave that until the real exams. Honestly even if you do crap in your mocks, your school will probably still give a decent grade. For example I seriously couldn't be bothered to revise for Science so ended up getting D's and E's in my Science mocks, still got predicted a B though since my teacher knows I just couldn't be bothered to revise.
Original post by funkydee19
Thought I would make an 'advice' thread where Current Year 10s can ask questions about Year 11 and get any advice from me or other year 11s. To get things started:

If you are in year 10 going into year 11:
1) What GCSE's are you taking?

2) What are your expectations of year 11?

3)Are you looking forward to year 11?

p


1) I'm doing maths, further maths, triple science, english language, English literature, rs, Spanish, german, geography, art and music.
2) I'm expecting it to be pretty stressful tbh as I know I'm going to have over 30 exams! I'm going to have to start revising so early..
3) I actually am a bit, weirdly enough :wink: I just hope all the work pays off and I get good results at the end of it!





Posted from TSR Mobile
Get revising or die trying. Jooookkkeee :biggrin: you can get away with last min revision - BUT DO NOT RESORT TO THAT. You want to be revising thoroughly. Make sure you know everything the day it has been taught, you can't go wrong - you will get those A/A*s
Reply 7
Original post by yellowcopter
1) How was year 11 for you?
In all honesty Year 11 wasn't much different to Year 10. It was quite relaxed at the start, and most of it is just spent going over the same content you did in Year 10 but to a more refined standard (e.g. that was the case for English and Maths). The only difference was coursework and revision - and the fact that although you think you have time there isn't much of it to complete your coursework. This isn't really much of a problem for subjects like Science which were just the 1 or 2 after school catch up sessions, but it was hell for subjects like Art and Graphic Products (D&T) which I both did. I had to stay until 6:30pm everyday for a week for my Graphics CW because I was that behind.

Still got A* for the CW so although the after school coursework sessions are lengthily and tiring, they're most indefinitely worth it if you want those A* CW grades. Art is probably worse and required more time, but I hated Art and refused to do any after school work which is why I got a C for my Art CW and exam. So goes to show, the more work you put in the higher your grade will be.

As for exams, I didn't revise for mocks and for the real exams I just revised like a day or two before most of them. For Science I tried revising a week before them but I kept forgetting things, a day or two before actually works better. At least at GCSE level it does.

2) How many exams did you sit?
I think it was around 18-20 don't know the exact number! :tongue:

3) What advice will you like to give to the upcoming year 11s?
Work hard on your coursework, it'll help with your final grade. Also, make sure you find a revision style that works for you way before exam season - because unlike me I did no revision until the real exams and then I realised revision is useless for me if I revise a week before for each exam, but works great the day before the exam. I don't recommend this, I'm just saying that worked for me so figure out what works for you.

Also revise for mocks but only a little and don't worry about super revision - leave that until the real exams. Honestly even if you do crap in your mocks, your school will probably still give a decent grade. For example I seriously couldn't be bothered to revise for Science so ended up getting D's and E's in my Science mocks, still got predicted a B though since my teacher knows I just couldn't be bothered to revise.

I hope you get the results that you want. I will deffo agree with your advice on mocks. Some people stressed so much over mocks and they ended up being too stressed out for the real thing.
Reply 8
Original post by tryrevise
1) I'm doing maths, further maths, triple science, english language, English literature, rs, Spanish, german, geography, art and music.
2) I'm expecting it to be pretty stressful tbh as I know I'm going to have over 30 exams! I'm going to have to start revising so early..
3) I actually am a bit, weirdly enough :wink: I just hope all the work pays off and I get good results at the end of it!




Posted from TSR Mobile

Sounds like an interesting mix of subjects, how are you finding them so far?
30???!! Wow, that is quite something, I've never heard of someone to have so many before, but then again it seems like you are doing quite a few subjects. Tbh you may find (not saying this will happen, or to put you off), that you will want to drop a whole load of subjects closer to the time of exams. A lot of people in my school dropped triple science and only did core and additional (I was one of them, but I re-entered myself as I thought it was worth the try, and triple ended up being the easiest of exams out of all the sciences!). I wouldn't recommend revising too early, as you may forget a lot of things once the exam comes. But don't cram either.
Oh the work will deffo pay off 100%. I remember I didn't go out with friends from after February till my last exam, and I felt so happy that I had done that because there were a few at my school who didn't revise, and didn't make the effort (some didn't even turn up to their exams:confused:), and I was just wondering about their futures and how much they are going to regret it. But try to work as hard as possible (whilst not killing yourself with too much), as you will get an extra long summer which will be well deserved! I wish you all the best in year 11 :biggrin:
1) How was year 11 for you?

- Very pleasant. The workload increased, but not dramatically, and kids started to be more mature. I have to say, the year went by extremely quickly!

2) How many exams did you sit?

- 14.

3) What advice will you like to give to the upcoming year 11s?

- Study hard, but enjoy yourself. Try not to stress too much; it's useful up to a point, but it's not good for you after that!
Original post by funkydee19
Sounds like an interesting mix of subjects, how are you finding them so far?
30???!! Wow, that is quite something, I've never heard of someone to have so many before, but then again it seems like you are doing quite a few subjects. Tbh you may find (not saying this will happen, or to put you off), that you will want to drop a whole load of subjects closer to the time of exams. A lot of people in my school dropped triple science and only did core and additional (I was one of them, but I re-entered myself as I thought it was worth the try, and triple ended up being the easiest of exams out of all the sciences!). I wouldn't recommend revising too early, as you may forget a lot of things once the exam comes. But don't cram either.
Oh the work will deffo pay off 100%. I remember I didn't go out with friends from after February till my last exam, and I felt so happy that I had done that because there were a few at my school who didn't revise, and didn't make the effort (some didn't even turn up to their exams:confused:), and I was just wondering about their futures and how much they are going to regret it. But try to work as hard as possible (whilst not killing yourself with too much), as you will get an extra long summer which will be well deserved! I wish you all the best in year 11 :biggrin:


Thank you, that's all great advice! It's alright actually, I don't find them too bad but I am kind of hoping to be let off having to do further maths, they wanted to enter everyone in top set maths but I don't really want to do that one, I'll still have 12 GCSEs without it :smile:


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Reply 11
Original post by funkydee19

1) How was year 11 for you?

2) How many exams did you sit?

3) What advice will you like to give to the upcoming year 11s?



1. Meh it was OK apart from business studies.

2. 20 ish

3. Ignore everyone else's advice about revision, some people need to revise loads but others don't. Do as much revision that you feel like you need - if you're like me I never bothered with revision.


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Original post by StrangeBanana
1) How was year 11 for you?

- Very pleasant. The workload increased, but not dramatically, and kids started to be more mature. I have to say, the year went by extremely quickly!

2) How many exams did you sit?

- 14.

3) What advice will you like to give to the upcoming year 11s?

- Study hard, but enjoy yourself. Try not to stress too much; it's useful up to a point, but it's not good for you after that!

Same in my school, a whole lot of people who didn't even care about school started caring and paying attention in class. Everyone matured, it was great haha
Original post by funkydee19
I hope you get the results that you want. I will deffo agree with your advice on mocks. Some people stressed so much over mocks and they ended up being too stressed out for the real thing.


Thanks, if you're in Year 11 good luck too. :biggrin:

Yeah so many people revised so hard for their mock exams, for example one girl in my Science class revised and got B on all her exams so got a predicted grade of B - same as me who did no revision and failed hard on all the mocks but still got predicted B. GCSE Predicted grades are literally just a case of if you work hard in lesson and you're on the good page of the teacher then you'll be predicted a good grade. The mock exam barely took any account for some people. Also got a C in my Art mock and was still predicted B. Heck I even got a B in my Maths mock and was predicted A. :tongue:
Original post by tryrevise
Thank you, that's all great advice! It's alright actually, I don't find them too bad but I am kind of hoping to be let off having to do further maths, they wanted to enter everyone in top set maths but I don't really want to do that one, I'll still have 12 GCSEs without it :smile:


Posted from TSR Mobile

You're welcome. Try the futher maths and see how it goes, if you feel it's too much then try to get out of it. But there is no harm in having an extra GCSE :P remember that most colleges/sixth forms require 5/6 A*-C (depending on where you want to go), but try to aim for B's and above for the subjects you feel like you will be carrying on in sixth form (most of them will ask for a B in your chosen subject if you study it). & 12 is a good amount.
Original post by Andy98
1. Meh it was OK apart from business studies.

2. 20 ish

3. Ignore everyone else's advice about revision, some people need to revise loads but others don't. Do as much revision that you feel like you need - if you're like me I never bothered with revision.


Posted from TSR Mobile

Was Buisness a BTEC?
Original post by yellowcopter
Thanks, if you're in Year 11 good luck too. :biggrin:

Yeah so many people revised so hard for their mock exams, for example one girl in my Science class revised and got B on all her exams so got a predicted grade of B - same as me who did no revision and failed hard on all the mocks but still got predicted B. GCSE Predicted grades are literally just a case of if you work hard in lesson and you're on the good page of the teacher then you'll be predicted a good grade. The mock exam barely took any account for some people. Also got a C in my Art mock and was still predicted B. Heck I even got a B in my Maths mock and was predicted A. :tongue:

Thank you :biggrin: Just hoping haha :smile:
That's very true. Everyone was stressing over predicted grades as well, but honestly there is no need to, it's what you get in the end that matters
Original post by funkydee19
Thank you :biggrin: Just hoping haha :smile:
That's very true. Everyone was stressing over predicted grades as well, but honestly there is no need to, it's what you get in the end that matters


Yep, so long as you get enough to get into the sixth forms you want to go to then that's all you need. :smile:
And if you have just left year 11:

1) How was year 11 for you?

Pretty chilled, got on with my work and it was all okay.

2) How many exams did you sit?

14 (15 including art)

3) What advice will you like to give to the upcoming year 11s?

Don't panic and be a complete stress head. If you're calm from the beginning then you can do your work with a clear mind so you have a good understanding when it comes to revision.

Past papers are your best friend.

Ask for help if you need it and take any extra help sessions.

Work out your perfect method of revision very early on - it avoids faffing about in May.

Don't be consumed by the pressure and just have fun!
my advice for yr 11 is too just plan out exams, revise and just calm down. its all over soon :smile:

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