Straight A*s?

Hi, i'm doing my GCSES next year and I was wondering if anyone got all a stars in their gcses. If you did, could you share any revision tips?
Many Thanks

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Reply 1

User1674917

I didn't get a*'s because I was too lazy. Let me tell you this, GCSE's are EASY compared to A-level. Basically follow the syallbus and do practise papers (especially for maths) it helps if you have a supportive english, maths & science teachers lol - if not join the support groups or clubs or whatever to get extra help. my school clearly was too deprived to have that.

Reply 2

Anonyi

My friend Received 100% 12 A*s. He has literally been revising since the beginning of year 10. It was well deserved. I recommend you to stick to the specification given from your exam board and just do exam questions on each topic. Personally I was a fool in year 11 and completely winged the exam. Such a fool.
I recieved 12 A*- D.
Maths-A*
F.Maths-A*
ChemistryA*
BiologyA*
PhysicsA*
HistoryA*
Religious Studies-B
Business Studies-A
German-D (I despised my teacher :biggrin:

)
English Literature-B
English Language-A
Art-C

Reply 3

C.P.

Again, didn't get straight A*s but did get 7 As and 1 A* so hopefully I can help. My advice for revision is to not start too early otherwise you'll be bored of the syllabus by the time revision is really important (between Christmas and Feb half term before exams). In terms of techniques, try to condense notes to five or six bullet points per page (highlighting is useful as a preliminary task before condensing but DO NOT count on it of itself), making cards for match up games is also useful. Try to do as many past papers as possible otherwise when you get into the exam you won't be familiar with the questions. However, to start off with don't expect yourself to know everything and get the exam technique right straight off; go through with mark schemes so that you can get an idea of what the examiner is looking for. If you can get your friends and/or family to ask you quick questions whenever they feel like it so that you get a feel for the areas you need to improve on.
Hope this helps and good luck!

Reply 4

aditya5573

Original post by C.P.

Thank you! You've got brilliant results :smile:

Reply 5

millieprime

got 9 A*s and 2 As (Spanish and computer science)

I just made a mindmap of each topic, you really don't need to do much for GCSE

Reply 6

A$aprocky

Original post by Anonyi

German-D (I despised my teacher :biggrin:

)

Legend

Reply 7

1655957

Do 4 hours a day. When you get good, you can fit an hour and a half paper into an hour, mark it, then work out what you need to work on.
Do this for another subject.
When you have a few topics to work on, spend some time looking over that stuff and repeat the process. Let me know if that doesn't make sense.

I got 7A*, 2A, 1B

Reply 8

brainzistheword

Study Forum Helper, Careers Forum Helper

I'm trying to get all A* and you can follow the journey here: http://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/showthread.php?t=3897511

Like the OP any advice on how to achieve them would be appreciated :smile:

Reply 9

Anonyi

Original post by A$aprocky

Legend

18 out of 25 students in her class failed German. That sloppy bitch got sacked LOL.

Reply 10

Lucario331

Original post by millieprime

got 9 A*s and 2 As (Spanish and computer science)

I just made a mindmap of each topic, you really don't need to do much for GCSE

One mind map for each topic of every GCSE you did?
Did you use an A4 piece of paper or A3?
Also how did you do mind maps for Physics, maths or geography??
Please answer I need help thanks!

Reply 11

1655957

Original post by Lucario331

One mind map for each topic of every GCSE you did?
Did you use an A4 piece of paper or A3?
Also how did you do mind maps for Physics, maths or geography??
Please answer I need help thanks!

Physics at GCSE is perfect for mind maps.
If, like me you do the Cambridge exam board and have to remember every equation (it has served me well at A-Level), separate the page into individual topics and put all necessary notes, equations, theories, diagrams around that branch, if that makes sense!

Geography; do one with the topics and the processes: I hope you can for that out! And then on another sheet do another one that lines up with the first one on the case studies. For instance, if you were to have the left top corner of your first sheet dedicated to flooding, you would have the left top corner of your second page dedicated to the Boscastle floods etc.

Maths, don't do Mind maps, use past papers instead.

Reply 12

B_9710

If you really want all A*, why not start revising for your exams now? - go back over everything you've done so far. Maybe in the summer holiday do a lot of work to get ahead which will leave you loads of time for exam practice and past papers which will help you realise what the exam board want when they ask a specific question.

Reply 13

Calsiwm_Silicad

Original post by aditya5573

Hi, i'm doing my GCSES next year and I was wondering if anyone got all a stars in their gcses. If you did, could you share any revision tips?
Many Thanks

I'm doing my GCSEs this year but already have 2A*s (and hope to get another ten....)

I'd say start revising now. Don't waste the easter holidays away on your PS4 or whatever because you'll really regret it when it gets round to it. what I find the most difficult is actually starting revision so i'd say just make a solid timetable you know you'll stick to , but never force yourself to revise if you know it just won't be productive.

Do bursts, don't go straight for 4 hours on Chemistry or Biology or History because it'll bore you to death and there's a point where information will stop going in! I plan on doing maybe 12 or 13 half an hour bursts each day rather than dragging it out.

Furthermore , subject prioritisation is key. For example , I'm doing triple science and I need 3 Cs in the summer to get 3A*s as a final grade, whereas I need A*s in both of my Geography exams to secure an A* overall . When revising , despite how tempting it is to go for your easiest and most enjoyable subjects, start with the not so strong ones that you really need to work on because although it'll be more effort it'll be worth it in the end (that's what I found with my welsh language GCSE anyway)

Finally , lock your phone away! I'm very prone to procrastination ( for example typing this longass response right now ) If you'r likely to text during revision PUT IT AWAY! For example , I shove mine in my bedroom , shut the door , and then go revise downstairs!

I hope this can be of some help to you

Reply 14

Lucario331

Original post by jakepds

Thank you very much! I will try mind maps for AQA Physics and geography, luckily I don't have to remember the equations!! 😁

Did you do it on A4 paper and lined or plain?

Reply 15

1655957

Original post by Lucario331

Thank you very much! I will try mind maps for AQA Physics and geography, luckily I don't have to remember the equations!! 😁

Did you do it on A4 paper and lined or plain?

To be honest, I've only started it for A Level, and so have been doing it on A4 lined for individual topics (revising as you go is really good.)

Message me if there's anything you don't understand: physics is my favourite subject haha!

Reply 16

I can do this

Hey, I got 11A*s. I agree with what some people are saying, in year 11, don't start revising too early. I started mid November for mocks just after Christmas, and first week of March for GCSEs. Any earlier and YOU WILL GET BURNT OUT. I started at around the average time and still got slightly burnt out. However, I credit my results despite being burnt out to revising well in year 9 and 10 for internal exams. Left me far less work to do. Message if you need anything! I did:
IGCSE maths, English Lang, English lit, physics, chemistry, biology
GCSE French, Latin, geography history.
Good luck :smile:

Reply 17

dragonkeeper999

Personally, I found revision guides to be a life saver, they really condense the information (much better than textbooks/ scribbly class notes), just make sure you get the latest ones specific for your exam board. Read through them all, make quizes, male notes, highlight, etc. I used to do this on the bus each morning and it was a great way of using wasted time. At A level though, revision guides were rubbish btw - but at gcse you have so many subjects you can't learn everything in as much detail as you need at A level, it's all about having a rough overview of the subject which revision guides are great for :smile:

One thing I wished I'd done more at gcse was past papers - do at least a few for each exam, and mark them really critically against the mark scheme. Makes notes of the weird points examiners require you to make or give you easy marks for :smile:

Reply 18

dragonkeeper999

Also, start doing small amounts of easy revision and preparation now - stuff like buying the revision guides, printing off past papers, reading through a couple of pages if a revision guide, making a fun revision quiz, etc. Gives you a bit if a headstart so next terms less stressful :smile:

Reply 19

aditya5573

Original post by I can do this

Hi, just seen this post. First of all congrats on your amazing results! For english were you with CIE? And if so it would be great if you can share some revision tips for English Literature.. Thanks again