Upcoming 2016 GCSE's

Maths, Further Maths, Economics + Physics wbu?

If I got 32/40 (80% - Low A(=) in my coursework for AQA English Lit, what mark out of 162 do I need to get an A* overall?

I'm not sure for definite, but I'd imagine it being over around 145

Damn why so high, that means I need to get 153 in my case and thats just 9 marks I need to lose in 2 exams. Fml, Thank you though.

Damn why so high, that means I need to get 153 in my case and thats just 9 marks I need to lose in 2 exams. Fml, Thank you though.

Nope.

If you got 58/68 in unit 1(it's out of 68 not 60 because of spag)
And 38/54 in unit 2 then you'd have an A* overall according to 2015 grade boundaries.
Obviously there's some leeway here as you might do better in one paper then another.
It's pointless trying to calculate how many marks you need as the grades are based on ums not marks , and each mark equates to a different UMS each year.

Oh thanks. In my mocks I got 60/68 and 50/54 which equates to an A*, but apparently my teacher said my CW was a B which would drag my grade down to a B.

That would be A* overall so don't worry
Even if you get a C you could still get A* overall

Funny how I just finished my revision in English Lit aswell! :P Thank you for the re-assurance. How is revising going for you? Good luck for June

It's going alright but I think I'm managing my time badly and I think I'm focusing too much on sciences and maths. Any tips for Englush Literature btw? I'm dreading that exam the most! Can never get past band 4 or 5 and we didn't even do a mock lol.

Good luck to you too my first exam is May the third

Damn your first exam is that early?
Mines on the 16th XD
Tbh I would mostly try to remember key quotes and their meanings behind them especially the sonnets (idk they just seem to be ones you can write a lot about)
If you can't be bothered to remember all the poems, try to remember what it is basically about so in the exam it is easy to pick stuff out and link it with other poems.

Cheers! This helped a lot. Although they basically start after Easter because I have orals in the first two weeks afterwards. Then exams are a week after that, so not fun :3.

Good luck in your exams what do you have on the 16th? I have 24 exams :/

So like many of us here at TSR, my exams are coming up very soon (time feels as if it is flyinggg), my first exam is on the 23rd may and my final exam is on the 22nd June. I have 16 exams in total, which consist of the usual maths and English, as well as Triple science, Computer Science, History and German.

I'm expected an A in everything and an A* in computer science (very passionate about technology). In my mocks I did get an A in everything, and an A* for biology chemistry and physics. However, I feel as if I fluked these completely and I'm worried I won't get results like these in my main gcses in the Summer.

I've been revising, but the problem is I don't actually know how to revise. I pretty much just read through past papers and note down topics that come up frequently as well as topics I don't understand. So what I'm asking is, how do you guys revise? And how often and at what time of the day. I'm trying to start FULL revision as soon as possible, I don't want to make the mistake of leaving it too late (except I don't know when 'too late' exactly is).

Another thing is my A-Level options. I'm pretty ambitious when it comes to my future; I always see jobs I'm interested in such as accountancy, banking etc. Because of my 'can't make up my mind what I wanna do when I'm older' problem, I'm trying to keep my options as wide as possible. Do you guys think Maths, Physics and Computer science are three good options to pick for my A levels? I'm passionate about these subjects and do tend to enjoy lessons in them. I can also pick a 4th option, but I think that might be too much effort.

Any help / tips would be greatly appreciated! Thank you!

I sat my GCSE's last year and had 22 exams! I managed to get 7 A*s 2As 1B (one textiles coursework was bought down ) and an A in a FMSQ in Additional Mathematics
Typically I would do about 2-3 hours work after school, and then at the weekend I would do around 6 hours in total until it got to about 2 months before the exam. I would plan which subjects I was going to focus on each day and make checklists of the topics I had covered. I've made summaries of how I revised for certain subjects below:

Mathematics-A*
I actually sat this a year early, but I still used these techniques for my FMSQ
1. Created a 'Maths bible" in which I went through each topic, put a few notes down on each method from a revision guide and my book from school and then put a few examples down ranging from C-A* level
2. I actually bought the workbook that came alongside my revision guide and I highlighted areas that I found difficult/harder to remember the method, and answered all the questions on that topic in the workbook and then marked it, questions in which I got wrong/couldn't answer I took to my maths teacher to go through with
3. LOTS and LOTS of past papers-I would typically start doing these from around a month to the exam, in which I would treat each one like a real paper then mark it like I was an examiner, through this noting the questions I got wrong and adding it to the 'Maths bible' to look at closer to the exam
4. Made a poster with all the formulae on, and methods which I found hard/rules to remember that I would concentrate on right before the exam

English Language-A
1. Obviously quite a lot of English is coursework, but for the exam I would go through the types of questions that they could ask you, for example talking about the effect of the image on the reader ect. and made notes on key words to use and things to talk about-almost like a foolproof structure to apply to each question
2. For the questions which you have to write your own argument/article/story ect I would list all the different purposes they can give to you and make a checklist of language devises you should use for the purpose, e.g. For an argument you should use rhetorical devises eat.
3. Read a wide-range of books and newspapers-I know it's hard to fit this in to revision ect. but try to do this as a 'wind-down' 15 minutes before bed
4. Ask if your teacher can give you some past-papers to do and do one question at a time in timed conditions and see if they can mark it for you

English Literature-A*
This is quite a lot of coursework as well and I'm not sure if your sitting this but I'll give what I did as well aha
1. Make sure you read all the poems/short stories that they could ask you and annotate these with linguistic devises and metaphors ect. There is quite a lot online about this for example on BBC bitesize, and our teacher gave us a booklet of the poems which had some key points to remember
2. Make sure you look for key themes through out each of the poems/short stories and list them as you could be asked to compare and contrast them
3. For the poems I wrote an A4 about each one, talking about context, the author, language devises, emotions in the reader eat.
4. Again ask your teacher for past papers and ask her to mark them for you, it's also helpful to look at mark schemes to see what the examiners are looking for

Triple science-Biology (A), Chemistry (A*), Physics (A*)
1. For science I found it best to go through each topic in a revision guide and create que-cards to summarise each section, for example I would make one que-card for meiosis and another for mitosis.
2. I also had a flashcard app which I put key terms on and the definitions
2. Once I had done all the que-cards, around a month towards each exam I would do past-papers, looking at them before and then doing the paper in exam conditions and marking it myself. I would then make notes of the questions I got wrong and made a note to focus on that certain topic, or go in and ask my teacher for help
4. Obviously there is a lot of content and exams for triple science so I would also suggest looking at the specification which you can find on your exam boards website just to make sure you've covered everything

History-A*
For History we did the road to war and China
1. I made timeline of key events which I would need to remember the dates for in each topic,with small summaries of the events so I wouldn't forget which ones were what
2. Then I made posters about these events with all the details on, for example the Long March in China
3. I then made que-cards with questions on such as "Name all the reasons why Hitler invaded..."
4. As for exam practice, I practised essays which I got my teacher to mark and I also looked at past-papers and made essay plans using the points that the examiners wanted to see
5. I also made like essay structures for questions that we may have been asked for example, we had one on looking at a cartoon which I used CCCJ for (Context, Content, Comment, Judgement)

French-A* (similar to German I guess?)
Again quite a large percentage is coursework, but the exam could make or break a grade.
1. I had a topics list for example, town, vegetables, colours ect. in which I would research key words in that area and listed these, and then made-flash-cards of them which I went through regularly
2. LOTS of past papers, whether listening or reading, and once you had done all the ones available from your exam board, go on to other exam board, as you would be more exposed to a wider variety of language
3. Once I had done these past papers and marked them, I would make additional lists of words I did't know and added these to my flashcards

I also did exams in R.E. and Textiles, but I hope this has helped!!
Good luck for your exams

Maths, Further Maths, Economics + Physics wbu?

Maths,biology,chemistry and economics
what is economics like?

It's going alright but I think I'm managing my time badly and I think I'm focusing too much on sciences and maths. Any tips for Englush Literature btw? I'm dreading that exam the most! Can never get past band 4 or 5 and we didn't even do a mock lol.

Good luck to you too my first exam is May the third

I sat my GCSE's last year and had 22 exams! I managed to get 7 A*s 2As 1B (one textiles coursework was bought down ) and an A in a FMSQ in Additional Mathematics
Typically I would do about 2-3 hours work after school, and then at the weekend I would do around 6 hours in total until it got to about 2 months before the exam. I would plan which subjects I was going to focus on each day and make checklists of the topics I had covered. I've made summaries of how I revised for certain subjects below:

Mathematics-A*
I actually sat this a year early, but I still used these techniques for my FMSQ
1. Created a 'Maths bible" in which I went through each topic, put a few notes down on each method from a revision guide and my book from school and then put a few examples down ranging from C-A* level
2. I actually bought the workbook that came alongside my revision guide and I highlighted areas that I found difficult/harder to remember the method, and answered all the questions on that topic in the workbook and then marked it, questions in which I got wrong/couldn't answer I took to my maths teacher to go through with
3. LOTS and LOTS of past papers-I would typically start doing these from around a month to the exam, in which I would treat each one like a real paper then mark it like I was an examiner, through this noting the questions I got wrong and adding it to the 'Maths bible' to look at closer to the exam
4. Made a poster with all the formulae on, and methods which I found hard/rules to remember that I would concentrate on right before the exam

English Language-A
1. Obviously quite a lot of English is coursework, but for the exam I would go through the types of questions that they could ask you, for example talking about the effect of the image on the reader ect. and made notes on key words to use and things to talk about-almost like a foolproof structure to apply to each question
2. For the questions which you have to write your own argument/article/story ect I would list all the different purposes they can give to you and make a checklist of language devises you should use for the purpose, e.g. For an argument you should use rhetorical devises eat.
3. Read a wide-range of books and newspapers-I know it's hard to fit this in to revision ect. but try to do this as a 'wind-down' 15 minutes before bed
4. Ask if your teacher can give you some past-papers to do and do one question at a time in timed conditions and see if they can mark it for you

English Literature-A*
This is quite a lot of coursework as well and I'm not sure if your sitting this but I'll give what I did as well aha
1. Make sure you read all the poems/short stories that they could ask you and annotate these with linguistic devises and metaphors ect. There is quite a lot online about this for example on BBC bitesize, and our teacher gave us a booklet of the poems which had some key points to remember
2. Make sure you look for key themes through out each of the poems/short stories and list them as you could be asked to compare and contrast them
3. For the poems I wrote an A4 about each one, talking about context, the author, language devises, emotions in the reader eat.
4. Again ask your teacher for past papers and ask her to mark them for you, it's also helpful to look at mark schemes to see what the examiners are looking for

Triple science-Biology (A), Chemistry (A*), Physics (A*)
1. For science I found it best to go through each topic in a revision guide and create que-cards to summarise each section, for example I would make one que-card for meiosis and another for mitosis.
2. I also had a flashcard app which I put key terms on and the definitions
2. Once I had done all the que-cards, around a month towards each exam I would do past-papers, looking at them before and then doing the paper in exam conditions and marking it myself. I would then make notes of the questions I got wrong and made a note to focus on that certain topic, or go in and ask my teacher for help
4. Obviously there is a lot of content and exams for triple science so I would also suggest looking at the specification which you can find on your exam boards website just to make sure you've covered everything

History-A*
For History we did the road to war and China
1. I made timeline of key events which I would need to remember the dates for in each topic,with small summaries of the events so I wouldn't forget which ones were what
2. Then I made posters about these events with all the details on, for example the Long March in China
3. I then made que-cards with questions on such as "Name all the reasons why Hitler invaded..."
4. As for exam practice, I practised essays which I got my teacher to mark and I also looked at past-papers and made essay plans using the points that the examiners wanted to see
5. I also made like essay structures for questions that we may have been asked for example, we had one on looking at a cartoon which I used CCCJ for (Context, Content, Comment, Judgement)

French-A* (similar to German I guess?)
Again quite a large percentage is coursework, but the exam could make or break a grade.
1. I had a topics list for example, town, vegetables, colours ect. in which I would research key words in that area and listed these, and then made-flash-cards of them which I went through regularly
2. LOTS of past papers, whether listening or reading, and once you had done all the ones available from your exam board, go on to other exam board, as you would be more exposed to a wider variety of language
3. Once I had done these past papers and marked them, I would make additional lists of words I did't know and added these to my flashcards

I also did exams in R.E. and Textiles, but I hope this has helped!!
Good luck for your exams