My Road to 7+ A* Grades!

Hello everyone!

As GCSEs are swiftly approaching, I think that it's important to be well organised and well prepared. I think it's imperative to revise and do as much work as possible so I can increase my chances of getting the most A*s as possible. I'm looking to achieve 7, although preferably, 8 A* at GCSE.

I've always been someone who works hard. However, I learnt the hard way that too much work is better than no work at all. In the Christmas holidays I was doing 6 and 7 hours per day (I'd also previously been revising before that) and I'd had no break for quite a while. I thought I'd be well prepared. Turns out, it wasn't a good idea: I had to come out of about 5 or 6 exams due to stress and I wasn't even able to function properly - my brain was like mush!

However, coming off from the mocks, I want to bounce back. I need to do enough work so that I can attain my grades but not too much that I have an experience like last time. I think that, if I write it down, I'll be more inclined to do the work. Also, I think it'll be interesting to look back in a few years time and have a record of the work I completed for my GCSEs.

The subjects that I'm doing are:
Maths: A* is what I need here as I'm wanting to do Further Maths at A Level
English Language: Hoping for an A* but I think I'd be happy with an A
English Literature: A*
Physics: Hoping for an A* here too as I'm wanting to do Physics A Level
Chemistry: Same as Physics
Biology: A*
Geography: A*
Spanish: Hoping for an A* but I think I'd be happy with an A
Computing: A*

The subjects I've already completed are:
RE: Final grade A* (dropped one mark!)

Every day I'm going to try and update the blog so I can keep a record of my revision. I have high expectations of myself so hopefully, on results day, I'll be happy!

Sorry for the extra long thread

Snap! I want to do physics and chemistry and I am predicted very similar to you! Good luck and I'll keep checking for your updates

Good Luck

Snap! I want to do physics and chemistry and I am predicted very similar to you! Good luck and I'll keep checking for your updates

Good luck to the both of you! I'm year 12 and my advise would be to start revision early (about Easter) and build up. Make a schedule and stick to it. Don't be too optimistic and make sure you stop! Always have regular breaks and listen to your body. If you're tired make sure you leave the room and come back when you're feeling better.
Getting top grades doesn't mean you have to put too much pressure on yourself. I got 11A* and an A and my aim was only ever to try my best and know that I've worked hard.
Good luck!! I know you can do it!

Good luck! The stress thing reminds me of myself, remember to take it easy from time to time

Good luck to the both of you! I'm year 12 and my advise would be to start revision early (about Easter) and build up. Make a schedule and stick to it. Don't be too optimistic and make sure you stop! Always have regular breaks and listen to your body. If you're tired make sure you leave the room and come back when you're feeling better.
Getting top grades doesn't mean you have to put too much pressure on yourself. I got 11A* and an A and my aim was only ever to try my best and know that I've worked hard.
Good luck!! I know you can do it!

Great! How are you finding them? Easy? Hard? Which is your favourite?

They are very stressful to be honest and I have severe eczema which is never going to forgive me but I enjoy the challenge. I really like Chemistry, Physics and Geography. How about you?

I'm finding them stressful too I really like my sciences and maths. Although I do prefer Physics and Maths over, say, Biology. I enjoy learning about them and like learning outside of the specification too

On other notes, this is what I've done today:

1. I've finished annotating At the Border, 1979. That brings me up to 4 poems finished and annotated in total: The Right Word, The Falling Leaves, At the Border, 1979 and Futility.
2. I did a maths paper. Although I don't think it helped me - I was testing whether I should just constantly do past papers but I think I'll continue to watch m4ths.com videos.
3. I've just done some art, although it's not as much as I wanted. I'm trying to figure out a way of being able to stick newspaper and do watercolour on a page without it warping horrendously. Still no luck.

I'm now going to try and either do some more art, annotate another poem, do some geography or possibly some chemistry. I can't decide!

Wow you've done a lot and I too enjoy reading around the specification for the sciences - and I also enjoy chemistry and physics over biology (how strange)! For maths I think I'm going to just do past papers so I can see areas of weakness.

Out of curiosity, I have mocks again in 2 weeks (we've already had one set in December). Do you have these too, or is it something just our school are doing. We have 10 exams over the 5 days and they are only testing us on maths, English and the sciences.

I had mocks in December and more in 2 weeks too! Its so annoying but good preparation I guess

Hi everyone! Sorry for my lack of replies. I've been busy these past few days and haven't got much done

I've still only annotated 4 poems. Hopefully I'll get some more done tomorrow. I was wanting to get all 15 done these holidays but it doesn't look like I will.

I've been trying to get up to date with my art work. To get it near to the quality I want I have to spend ages on it, and I feel like I should be prioritising my other subjects rather than art. But, at the same time, I need to ensure I can secure an A* in art. So it's a bit of a slog but hopefully I will get it done.

I'm going to write up a plan now for my revision. I'm considering posting it here, and then I'll feel more obliged to stick to it.

Just as a question, for anyone that's aiming for similar grades, how many hours are you planning of revision? On both weekdays (school) and weekends? I'm not sure what isn't enough and what is too much.

Thanks!

I'm aiming for A* across all subjects and I probably plan to spend about 4 or 5 hours a day during these holidays. On a school day I will do about 2-3 and maybe 6 at a weekend.

Update
Yesterday, I did 3 hours of revision. I did one hour of English Literature (only annotating a poem), an hour of Geography (human: tourism) and, finally, an hour of Art (although art isn't really revision, it was just work on my final exam preperation).

I think I'm settled on 3 hours a night - it gives me flexibility if I have homework, although I may increase it depending on where I am in a few weeks time.

Tonight, I've done my Duolingo (daily Spanish revision) and now I'm about to do: English Literature (another poem annotation), an hour of Chemistry (C1) and also an hour of maths (just a paper to finish).

I also have homework, grrr. So far though, it's going ok. I've also got a C1 exam tomorrow which hopefully I can do well in though. I only need 80 UMS to get an A* overall though, which isn't bad at all.

Good luck in your C1 test and it looks like you're doing very well in your revision. Do you find that keeping this thread helps you actually get something done? I was thinking of setting a GYG blog up but I'm not sure if it will be of any benefit.

Keep going with your revision - you're doing great

Thanks! It went alright - not confident I will have got an A* though considering the boundary is 50 marks.

In response to your question, I don't find that it helps too much. I just like to record what I do each day on here. However, I have systems in place which helps me get things done. If you want any more info, mail me

Right now I'm going to do some Art, then some Chemistry and finally some Geography.