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

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Original post by Kauther99
Previous year 11 students: what do you need to do throughout the year to make sure you get As and A*s?


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Work hardd. Be 'selfish' was what my school told me. Dont let helping your friend get a higher grade hinder you from helping yourself. Revise thoroughly dont just memorise thing's but understand it as well. Ace your coursework as they really have an effect on your final grade (can boost a B to an A if your cw is a A*).
1) How was year 11 for you?

Year 11 was honestly quite stressful for me. During the start off the year I went through a really crap time due to personal reasons, which might have affected my overall grades in the long run - maybe I didn't retain as much information that would have helped me. Then during the second half of the year, personally i felt better but then the work and revision just got more intense and I found it hard to balance out my time equally to all my subjects.

2) How many exams did you sit?

20, not too many I don't think.

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

Learn how to balance your time too all your subjects, and properly start revising as early as you can. I'd say christmas holidays latest if you are looking to get the best results. Also when i say balance your time, don't spend all of it on the subjects you like - I spent most of my time on my options which are the subjects I like the most instead of spending more time on my core subjects which I now wish I had done.

Study carefully kiddos and good luck xx
1) How was year 11 for you?
I actually enjoyed it a lot despite the exams/stress. In the first term we did controlled assessments for the sciences and geography (we did the history one after mocks). And we did the mock language orals too (we did the actual ones in feb/march). Then we did mocks for the rest of the subjects straight after the Christmas holidays. The actual exam period wasn't as stressful as I thought it would be.

2) How many exams did you sit?
Erm 30 something? I did 11 subjects and I got 10A*s and 1 A in the end

3) What advice will you like to give to the upcoming year 11s?
Ok I started making notes at the end of year 10 (and core science notes end of year 9) because I had to for the school end of year exams but they were SO USEFUL. If I hadn't made those notes then I would have been screwed because I really procrastinated over Christmas and especially Easter, when I just couldn't be bothered anymore. Don't do that. Everyone has different ways of revising- for me it was reading the textbook/class notes and making notes because I could remember stuff better when I wrote them down. Make notes (or whatever you do to learn) for the year 10 stuff at the end of year 10, or if you haven't already, at the beginning of year 11, because soon you'll get busy learning all the new stuff and what you learnt in year 10 was really important too.
The holidays are really important. Don't be over ambitious for each day during the holidays, because then you'll just get overwhelmed and scroll through tumblr or watch YouTube for hours (I'm guilty of that) because work is too over whelming. I'd really advise going to a library or somewhere where everyone is working because that will give you motivation to finish what you planned to do (eg make notes for one topic in chemistry and read through 2 chapters in history and the relevant essays you wrote or whatever).

Don't worry if you start running out of time and you haven't finished revising properly (like for mocks when you might not be given much time to revise for them). For the topic you still have to do, go through your file and textbook and photocopy important pages of information and highlight/read through those.

DO PAST PAPERS. Or at least read the answers to longer questions because it's likely that they'll come up again. And don't be afraid to send things to your teacher to mark.

Don't give up! I started to get really bored towards the end and in one week near the end of exam period I marathoned the whole of Game of Thrones (bad idea- do not get involved in a new fandom during exam period). I know it'll get boring towards the end, but stick with doing a manageable amount each day (and make time for a bit of scheduled procrastination but then get back to work)

Oh and sleep. Don't stay up till 2 the day before an exam. Like i did. Good luck! Just keep building up your revision and it won't be that stressful at the end.

Ok one more thing- don't compare how much revision you've done to anyone else. They may have made a textbook-worthy book of revision notes, but it doesn't mean that they necessarily know more than you.

Just ask if you want me to give any advice on revising for individual subjects or how to go about the actual exams or whatever. Sorry for the essay.
1) How was year 11 for you?
Not bad. Chilled mostly, mocks were good and only matter if you're going to another sixth form (I wasn't). GCSEs were mixed. But overall a fun year



2) How many exams did you sit?
21 in total- 10 GCSEs. Bio, chem, phys, maths, eng lit and lang, business studies, RS, history and German


3) What advice will you like to give to the upcoming year 11s?
Make sure your controlled assessments are good. CGP books are good. Just do past papers


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Quick tip. IT IS NEVER TOO EARLY TO REVISE! I cannot stress this enough. I had a teacher that told everybody in January that it was too early and to relax about it. From the looks of the majority of my peers results he was very wrong.
Oh and another piece of advice about controlled assessments. Before you go in each day, plan what you're going to write and write up a draft of the points you're going to make and learn it (if you're not allowed to bring a plan in). Maybe learn important things like what you're going to write in the hypothesis. So much easier than going in and writing disorganised nonsense on the paper.
Reply 166
If you are in year 10 going into year 11:

1. What GCSE's are you taking?
I am taking Maths, English (Double), Science (Double), RE, Spanish. Those are the core subjects.
My three chosen ones: History, Sociology, and Media Studies.

2. What are your expectations of year 11?

If I'm honest I'm expecting it to be like Year 10. However, extremely more stressful than Year 10 in the summer.
In Year 10, the only stress we had was the real Core Science GCSE's, and Mock Week, but that wasn't too big of a deal, as they were only mocks. The fact we have 10+ real exams within a time period of three weeks. :eek:

3. Are you looking forward to year 11?

Mixed.
I'm looking forwards to finishing the disaster that is Secondary School :biggrin:, and I can't wait for that awesome feeling when you have last your exam, and then realize you've finished your GCSE's, and have a 3 month long summer holiday, without looking at another textbook for the rest of your life. Oh Wait A-Levels. :tongue:

However, I'm not looking forwards to the last few months as we have a ton of work, and the pressure is going to be very tough.
Although for some subjects, we've done half the work in Year 10 (Science, Media and Spanish). I'm hoping to pass the November Math's GCSE, so then I don't have to worry about it in June, and I can focus on other subjects.
(edited 9 years ago)
Original post by Grade
If you are in year 10 going into year 11:

1. What GCSE's are you taking?
I am taking Maths, English (Double), Science (Double), RE, Spanish. Those are the core subjects.
My three chosen ones: History, Sociology, and Media Studies.

2. What are your expectations of year 11?

If I'm honest I'm expecting it to be like Year 10. However, extremely more stressful than Year 10 in the summer.
In Year 10, the only stress we had was the real Core Science GCSE's, and Mock Week, but that wasn't too big of a deal, as they were only mocks. The fact we have 10+ real exams within a time period of three weeks. :eek:

3. Are you looking forward to year 11?

Mixed.
I'm looking forwards to finishing the disaster that is Secondary School :biggrin:, and I can't wait for that awesome feeling when you have last your exam, and then realize you've finished your GCSE's, and have a 3 month long summer holiday, without looking at another textbook for the rest of your life. Oh Wait A-Levels. :tongue:

However, I'm not looking forwards to the last few months as we have a ton of work, and the pressure is going to be very tough.
Although for some subjects, we've done half the work in Year 10 (Science, Media and Spanish). I'm hoping to pass the November Math's GCSE, so then I don't have to worry about it in June, and I can focus on other subjects.


Yasss work very hard in year 11 because when you do the feeling after your last exam is just amazing. And then you won't spend the lovely 3 months you get off feeling guilty for not revising.
When is the best time to start revising for exams in may/june?


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Make sure you have enough redbull to cram the night before exam
Original post by Kauther99
When is the best time to start revising for exams in may/june?


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It depends. I started in February, realised it was too early and restarted in the Easter holiday.
Year 10 going into Year 11::s-smilie:

What GCSE's are you taking?

Maths, additional maths, english (double), science (triple), french, music, latin, greek, history and i took religious studies already

What are your expectations of year 11?

A lot of work, my school doesnt hold back on the homework :mad:

Are you looking forward to year 11?

surprisingly yes, i cant wait to get it over and done with and have 3 months of summer to look forward to :smile: i dont really mind having a lot of work because i like to be busy, as long as it isnt essays :angry:
1) How was year 11 for you?

I'm not going to lie: it was disgustingly stressful. Our school forced us into early-entry maths and English language in November, meaning that we had to cram in 2 years' worth of English coursework and exam preparation into about 6 weeks; this was a few weeks before our mocks as well, which we didn't get much time to revise for. By the end of the summer exam season, we were so exhausted that we were all snapping at each other constantly, so it wasn't that great. The leavers' events are quite nice though, and we've become closer as a year group and with the teachers as a whole.

2) How many exams did you sit?

2 in June 2013, 3 in November 2013, about 13 for the December mock exams, and then for this summer... *counts* Wait... 21 written exams, plus a 10 hour art exam.

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

- Start revision early, and organise yourself from the very beginning. I bought a blank notebook (in retrospect, a diary would have saved me SO much time) and wrote the w/c in the corner of every double page. First, start with entering the dates of all your exams on the appropriate double-page spread; you'll be able to find these dates very early on, long before the official timetables are given to you. Then, on a separate piece of paper, write down each subject as a header, and then the modules that you have for each one. With this, you can work out how many weeks you have until each exam, and then divide the content up into chunks, giving yourself a 'to-do' list on each double-page spread. I personally didn't want a revision timetable as such because that would stress me out too much, but it saved so much time in the actual revision period to just look at the current week and see something like, "w/c April 4th - RE:Crime; Geography:Coasts; Biology:B1, unit 4" (for example). That way, I would know that I would only have to do that much work, I wouldn't burn out by doing too much early on, but that I would definitely get everything done. I started all this in about February with a few hours per day (mostly at the weekends at this point because I still had homework and coursework to get done), and then by study leave/holidays I was doing 6/7 per day.

- Do something to take your mind off revision! I do a lot of sport, and whilst my friends stopped training for the 2 months or so before and during exams, I carried on exactly the same as before, doing about 8 hours a week. It helped to stay in my usual pattern of doing things; the exercise helped me sleep; and it was nice to do something that was completely different to doing work!

- Don't talk to anyone directly before or after an exam. Just don't. For my first geography exam, my friends decided to cram the whole syllabus in the lunch break before, but they got so worked up walking to the hall that they couldn't remember what a volcano was. -.-

- Stick your revision notes on the wall: my whole wall was covered in posters and stuff, and it forced me to concentrate.

- Buy a treat for yourself after the end of exam season, and for after results day. The day of my last exam, I went out and bought Ed Sheeran's new album which came out that day, and then last week, once I got and was happy with my results, I bought an embarrassing amount of make-up and clothes. I NEED IT FOR SIXTH FORM, OKAY. :wink:

- Exam season won't last forever, and if you give up your social life for a little bit, everything will seem so much better when you go out afterwards, knowing you've earned it. :smile:

Wooo, long post. :biggrin:
Reply 173
Original post by funkydee19
It depends. I started in February, realised it was too early and restarted in the Easter holiday.


I'm going to start in February (Half Term). However, I'm going to start doing about half an hour revision every other day on my weakest subjects, and increase revision time as the weeks go by. Then by April (Easter Half Term) I will start doing about roughly 1-2 hours a day. Then by Study Leave and May Half Term, I will start doing roughly about 3-4 hours per day and roughly about 6 hours on half term days.

I'm really going to stick to Revision in Year 11.
Ever since I worked my ass off for that Maths Mock, and came out with an A (the highest in the class). I'm now more confident when it comes to revision.
1) How was year 11 for you? Crap

2) How many exams did you sit? 26 -_-

3) What advice will you like to give to the upcoming year 11s? Get that coursework one ASAP. You dont want it dragging over, use different methods to revise and start revising at March.

EDIT: +2 more exams for my early maths entry
(edited 9 years ago)
Reply 175
Original post by Lainathiel
1) How was year 11 for you?

I'm not going to lie: it was disgustingly stressful. Our school forced us into early-entry maths and English language in November, meaning that we had to cram in 2 years' worth of English coursework and exam preparation into about 6 weeks; this was a few weeks before our mocks as well, which we didn't get much time to revise for. By the end of the summer exam season, we were so exhausted that we were all snapping at each other constantly, so it wasn't that great. The leavers' events are quite nice though, and we've become closer as a year group and with the teachers as a whole.

2) How many exams did you sit?

2 in June 2013, 3 in November 2013, about 13 for the December mock exams, and then for this summer... *counts* Wait... 21 written exams, plus a 10 hour art exam.

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

- Start revision early, and organise yourself from the very beginning. I bought a blank notebook (in retrospect, a diary would have saved me SO much time) and wrote the w/c in the corner of every double page. First, start with entering the dates of all your exams on the appropriate double-page spread; you'll be able to find these dates very early on, long before the official timetables are given to you. Then, on a separate piece of paper, write down each subject as a header, and then the modules that you have for each one. With this, you can work out how many weeks you have until each exam, and then divide the content up into chunks, giving yourself a 'to-do' list on each double-page spread. I personally didn't want a revision timetable as such because that would stress me out too much, but it saved so much time in the actual revision period to just look at the current week and see something like, "w/c April 4th - RE:Crime; Geography:Coasts; Biology:B1, unit 4" (for example). That way, I would know that I would only have to do that much work, I wouldn't burn out by doing too much early on, but that I would definitely get everything done. I started all this in about February with a few hours per day (mostly at the weekends at this point because I still had homework and coursework to get done), and then by study leave/holidays I was doing 6/7 per day.

- Do something to take your mind off revision! I do a lot of sport, and whilst my friends stopped training for the 2 months or so before and during exams, I carried on exactly the same as before, doing about 8 hours a week. It helped to stay in my usual pattern of doing things; the exercise helped me sleep; and it was nice to do something that was completely different to doing work!

- Don't talk to anyone directly before or after an exam. Just don't. For my first geography exam, my friends decided to cram the whole syllabus in the lunch break before, but they got so worked up walking to the hall that they couldn't remember what a volcano was. -.-

- Stick your revision notes on the wall: my whole wall was covered in posters and stuff, and it forced me to concentrate.

- Buy a treat for yourself after the end of exam season, and for after results day. The day of my last exam, I went out and bought Ed Sheeran's new album which came out that day, and then last week, once I got and was happy with my results, I bought an embarrassing amount of make-up and clothes. I NEED IT FOR SIXTH FORM, OKAY. :wink:

- Exam season won't last forever, and if you give up your social life for a little bit, everything will seem so much better when you go out afterwards, knowing you've earned it. :smile:

Wooo, long post. :biggrin:



Well Said.
Great Inspiration.

My sister took Art GCSE, and said that ten hour long exam was a pain in the back side.
Apparently it's spread over two sessions, in which you do each in five hours. :eek:

Your friends not knowing what a volcano is during the exam. Haha :laugh::laugh::laugh:

Thanks for the heads up.
Hope you received the results you wanted, and well done. :smile:
Reply 176
Original post by madisonyoung
Year 10 going into Year 11::s-smilie:

What GCSE's are you taking?

Maths, additional maths, english (double), science (triple), french, music, latin, greek, history and i took religious studies already

What are your expectations of year 11?

A lot of work, my school doesnt hold back on the homework
:mad:

Are you looking forward to year 11?

surprisingly yes, i cant wait to get it over and done with and have 3 months of summer to look forward to :smile: i dont really mind having a lot of work because i like to be busy, as long as it isnt essays :angry:



BIB -
My school is the same.
I hate it when I get about three pieces of homework a night, sometimes even five. :angry:
Even worse when it's languages homework, as I suck at it.

It actually does waste revision time. Especially if your like me and takes you ages to finish one piece homework.

But, I'm actually going to start doing homework on the days I receive them rather than leaving them till Sunday evening.
It spares the time, so when I do have mocks, I will have gotten the homework out of the way.
Original post by Grade
BIB -
My school is the same.
I hate it when I get about three pieces of homework a night, sometimes even five. :angry:
Even worse when it's languages homework, as I suck at it.

It actually does waste revision time. Especially if your like me and takes you ages to finish one piece homework.

But, I'm actually going to start doing homework on the days I receive them rather than leaving them till Sunday evening.
It spares the time, so when I do have mocks, I will have gotten the homework out of the way.


i usually get 5 one night and 1 the next, it varies completely and so i have no idea if ill be very busy or not at all, i would much rather be revising i totally agree!! and me too, i leave it until the night before its due:eek:
Original post by Lainathiel
1) How was year 11 for you?

I'm not going to lie: it was disgustingly stressful. Our school forced us into early-entry maths and English language in November, meaning that we had to cram in 2 years' worth of English coursework and exam preparation into about 6 weeks; this was a few weeks before our mocks as well, which we didn't get much time to revise for. By the end of the summer exam season, we were so exhausted that we were all snapping at each other constantly, so it wasn't that great. The leavers' events are quite nice though, and we've become closer as a year group and with the teachers as a whole.

2) How many exams did you sit?

2 in June 2013, 3 in November 2013, about 13 for the December mock exams, and then for this summer... *counts* Wait... 21 written exams, plus a 10 hour art exam.

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

- Start revision early, and organise yourself from the very beginning. I bought a blank notebook (in retrospect, a diary would have saved me SO much time) and wrote the w/c in the corner of every double page. First, start with entering the dates of all your exams on the appropriate double-page spread; you'll be able to find these dates very early on, long before the official timetables are given to you. Then, on a separate piece of paper, write down each subject as a header, and then the modules that you have for each one. With this, you can work out how many weeks you have until each exam, and then divide the content up into chunks, giving yourself a 'to-do' list on each double-page spread. I personally didn't want a revision timetable as such because that would stress me out too much, but it saved so much time in the actual revision period to just look at the current week and see something like, "w/c April 4th - RE:Crime; Geography:Coasts; Biology:B1, unit 4" (for example). That way, I would know that I would only have to do that much work, I wouldn't burn out by doing too much early on, but that I would definitely get everything done. I started all this in about February with a few hours per day (mostly at the weekends at this point because I still had homework and coursework to get done), and then by study leave/holidays I was doing 6/7 per day.

- Do something to take your mind off revision! I do a lot of sport, and whilst my friends stopped training for the 2 months or so before and during exams, I carried on exactly the same as before, doing about 8 hours a week. It helped to stay in my usual pattern of doing things; the exercise helped me sleep; and it was nice to do something that was completely different to doing work!

- Don't talk to anyone directly before or after an exam. Just don't. For my first geography exam, my friends decided to cram the whole syllabus in the lunch break before, but they got so worked up walking to the hall that they couldn't remember what a volcano was. -.-

- Stick your revision notes on the wall: my whole wall was covered in posters and stuff, and it forced me to concentrate.

- Buy a treat for yourself after the end of exam season, and for after results day. The day of my last exam, I went out and bought Ed Sheeran's new album which came out that day, and then last week, once I got and was happy with my results, I bought an embarrassing amount of make-up and clothes. I NEED IT FOR SIXTH FORM, OKAY. :wink:

- Exam season won't last forever, and if you give up your social life for a little bit, everything will seem so much better when you go out afterwards, knowing you've earned it. :smile:

Wooo, long post. :biggrin:


this is amazing advice, especially with the planner, im starting year 11 next week so im going to go and buy a planner this week and get all my exam dates filled in ready for the start of the year :rolleyes:

im glad you were happy with your results and good luck for sixth form :tongue:
Original post by aliciaa1997
Oh and another piece of advice about controlled assessments. Before you go in each day, plan what you're going to write and write up a draft of the points you're going to make and learn it (if you're not allowed to bring a plan in). Maybe learn important things like what you're going to write in the hypothesis. So much easier than going in and writing disorganised nonsense on the paper.


I realised this after I did my first English controlled assessment and I can't agree more; I realised basically writing the whole thing out at home and planning it completely made such a difference to my grades :smile:


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