My Road to A* everywhere

How many hours did you do per day and how many past papers per subject more or less like there are 5 years worth for my subjects which is like 20 papers per subject which seems excessive so not sure whether to try super hard to do all of them or focus on learning everything well before doing some/most of past papers. Cheers!


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Today I've completed a Psychology Unit 1 paper and have begun to revise poems for English literature. @brainzistheword I'm so grateful for your revision cards at the moment, they've helped so much with revision, I've been using them everyday and the app is especially useful on the bus and in the school canteen when I don't want to be pulling revision guides out. Thank you so much!

On another note I was feeling very stressed going back to school last week with the looming exams, but I feel much more on track. I'm just trying to maintain perspective and not get too caught up in it all, because the only thing that's really going to jeopardise my grades in the real things is me getting stressed! I just keep telling myself that if I got this grade in the mock, it can only improve.

Hi! I'm also sitting my GCSE exams this year and am aiming to get As and Bs, with the majority being As!

Any tips on revision? I can't stick to timetables. And how do you revise for German? I do Spanish and I am brilliant in class and achieve decent coursework grades but I can't do tests! Help!
Thank you!

From a passer by (on the web)

How do you revise for languages? In everything, my grades are basically Bs or higher and I usually achieve those grades but Spanish drags me down! Love the language but it's hard to revise for it!
Also, what's your timetable like?

Today I've completed a Psychology Unit 1 paper and have begun to revise poems for English literature. @brainzistheword I'm so grateful for your revision cards at the moment, they've helped so much with revision, I've been using them everyday and the app is especially useful on the bus and in the school canteen when I don't want to be pulling revision guides out. Thank you so much!

On another note I was feeling very stressed going back to school last week with the looming exams, but I feel much more on track. I'm just trying to maintain perspective and not get too caught up in it all, because the only thing that's really going to jeopardise my grades in the real things is me getting stressed! I just keep telling myself that if I got this grade in the mock, it can only improve.

Wow! This really helps thank you for taking the time to write this

Yes my school too emphasise how big the jump is which is something I've been worrying about. As for maths, I really wish my school had let me take GCSE early so I could look ahead to AS because they always talked about doing it in Year 10 but never actually went through with it.

Would you say it's worth looking at some of the content for AS during my summer break? And will any of my notes from GCSE help me next year (i.e. should I keep them)?

Thank you again you've been so helpful

Hi, you seem to be really organised and well on your way to achieving your goals - just to give you some context, I did similar GCSEs last year and got 9A*s so it's definitely not impossible! I'm currently studying Maths, Further Maths, Physics and Chemistry at AS so if you have any questions I'd be glad to answer them. Good luck with your revision, I know this was a while ago, but if you need any help with English Language, go on MrBruff's youtube channel, I can safely say I wouldn't have got an A* without it!

Well done on your Psychology and English revision today. I'm really glad the flashcards have helped you, you don't understand how happy it makes me feel to know I am actually helping someone

I'm really stressing out too - as I go back to school tomorrow for the first lot of teachers remidining us how exams are looming!! If you ever need to talk you can always PM me



Hi thanks for passing by

If you can't stick to timetables have you tried the pomodoro technique or a variation of it? If you don't know what it is I'll explain it for you - just let me know.

For German, I do as many past papers as I can find and mark it, but then also go back and find any new vocab out of it, so that I can build up a bank of familiar words. Flashcards are useful fort his. For Listening exams watching videos or listening to audios in that language will get you used to the speed and fluency of the lnaguge - as well as doing past papers to get you used to the format.

I really hope this helps but if you need nanything else do let me know and I'll be more than happy to help
Good luck

Hi, you seem to be really organised and well on your way to achieving your goals - just to give you some context, I did similar GCSEs last year and got 9A*s so it's definitely not impossible! I'm currently studying Maths, Further Maths, Physics and Chemistry at AS so if you have any questions I'd be glad to answer them. Good luck with your revision, I know this was a while ago, but if you need any help with English Language, go on MrBruff's youtube channel, I can safely say I wouldn't have got an A* without it!

Hey there,
WOW well done on the 9A*. How did you revise for English Literature? Also, what was you exam board?Also, how much did you revise a day and how did you revise ? It would be really helpful for me and other people on this thread Thank you

Ive kinda done the same, went from 7-8 hours to 4-5 hours a day on weekend and 5 on schoolday to 2-3... Think a way to motivate is to do a past paper and when you do bad it'll motivate you to work cos you're like woah imagine if I do this bad irl and then if you actually do well it'll make you feel better. At least you're actually revising even if it's just a bit. I think you can afford to not do so much rn cos you worked so hard before so you can afford to relax, it's just a surprise that you don't have to work loads in order to learn everything before the exams.


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Don't worry about it, I've done GCSEs and I know how stressful they can be! At my sixth form we were set summer bridging work - CGP release special "bridging the gap" revision guides covering essential GCSE knowledge and basic A Level concepts for Physics and Chemistry, so its definitely worth keeping your GCSE notes. In Maths, we were given a surprise test on the first day back on A and A* GCSE topics - anyone who didn't get more than 50% wasn't allowed to continue the course, so it's worth keeping your notes and revising some of the harder topics (mainly algebraic manipulation and equations) before you go back. In terms of looking at some of the AS content, it certainly wouldn't do you any harm, but by no means is it necessary. My one tip for the summer is enjoy it, because you won't believe how fast year 12 goes!

Please explain what the pomodoro method is!
Really appreciate this, this is brilliant, thank you!

Brilliant! Well done, you! I'm going to be sitting mine next month! How did you revise timetable wise?

Ah right I never knew CGP released those so I will definitely keep an eye out for them. And wow a surprise test that seems harsh but I'm going to try and look over some of the content briefly just so I have a vague idea what to expect.

And that's a very good tip I will certainly try my best to - I never expected Year 11 to fly as it has done!!

You've been ever so helpful and I'm really greatful for your time. Good luck wiht your AS levels and A Levels

Well they told the normal maths students about it but then told the further maths students that we wouldn't have it so pretty harsh yeah don't worry, there was a girl in the year above me who got 8A*s in her GCSEs and I found her advice invaluable, so I'm happy to help. Thanks, I'm hoping to apply to study maths in September so fingers crossed, you too

Oooh that's sneaky!

And that's great - I've found your advice invaluable too.

I know Nisha has already asked you but do you have any advice for English Literature in terms of characters and quotes - are they really as important as teachers make out or is it better to know about the small details in chapters?

Thank you

Thanks, I never really thought I would do that well but all the hard work pays off! I found one most daunting things when revising GCSEs was the number of different subjects (something which is far more relaxing at sixth form). Obviously, revising French was very different to revising Science! I found a timetable really useful as it gives you much needed structure in your revision - I downloaded a revision timetable and then allotted at least an hour a week to each subject, prioritising which subjects I felt needed the most work (i.e. English) You can find the revision timetable Jake Wright's "Organisation" video on youtube (He studied Computer Science at Cambridge) Hope this helps, good luck!

Thanks, it was a bit surreal on results day I did AQA English literature, and we studied conflict poetry, An inspector calls and of mice and men for our texts. Well I'm a bit of a control freak so for the poetry, I made posters for all of the poems with what I thought were good points for analysis on language and structure, along with basic ideas for talking points, and then pretty much memorised these. It wasn't as hard as it sounds because you're allowed a clean copy of the anthology in the exam so if you forget any points, you can just check the poem for which line it was. For unseen poetry, by the time I got to the exam I was just able to "see" points which I could talk about, so my biggest tip is basically read as many poems and poetry essays as you can, and the ability to write about them comes naturally. I probably spent the most time revising English literature because I found it the hardest - its not so much about time revising, but what you do. I did lots of timed essays which my teacher marked and gave feedback on. I would also try and write a PEA paragraph a day running up to the exam. It all paid off though, as I got full marks on this exam

Hey there,
I also do Psychology is your board Edexcel? If, so how are you finding it because i haven't found anyone doing Psychology on TSR !! Well done for today

Is this for the non poetry exam? (I can't remember what it's called)

WOW well done and thank you so much for these tips No wonder why you got A*'s for your exams you seem to be really hardworking and very organised. Well done to you, you must be really proud of yourself How did you revise for science? I'm so sorry i'm asking you too much but your a real inspiration Thanks

Yeah I think so - I do WJEC so they might have been set out differently