The Road to Success (hopefully!)

Clealy you have very good writing techniques as you got such good grades in both your english's and history! Do you have any tips for getting such high grades in those two subjects?x

UPDATE - Sunday 12th June

Wowee, it really has been a while since I've updated! Revision has got the better of me and I've hardly had time to do anything, but in this final stretch of exam season I thought I'd try to update this again. I'm going to try and give a brief update on each exam I've had since my last update and how it's gone.

Monday 6th June - History (Medicine & Public Health)
I actually think this exam went okay! The only thing I struggled on was Question 1, Source Comparison, but I've always struggled on that and it's only worth 8 marks. Hopefully it went okay.

Tuesday 7th June - English Language
I believe that the reading side of this went well, but the writing side not so well. I've always been less confident on writing, but for this I was unsure of how to layout a report so yeah...

Wednesday 9th June - German
Definitely not the best exam I've sat. In fact, I think it's been the worst so far...the room was extremely hot so I automatically lost some focus. The listening seemed to be on fast forward and I honestly struggled to understand the majority of it. The reading wasn't as bad, but was still very challenging. So unfortunately, not so good.

Thursday 10th June - Maths Calculator
I think this exam went okay! It was an improvement from the non calculator paper, although I no longer think I'll be able to get that A* unfortunately. I was really ill during this exam with hay fever so I made some silly mistakes.

Friday 11th June - Biology Unit 2
This exam wasn't bad, except for the stomach tissue questions which I forgot to revise and the layout of the genetic diagram. I was always confident on genetics, but the way they set that diagram out really confused me!

Friday 11th June - Business Unit 3
This exam went well in my opinion. There were only a few questions that I struggled on, and I think the 10 and 8 mark questions were quite nice.


So I now only have 4 exams left. My motivation has really hit rock bottom, but today I managed to do about 2 hours of revision. I seriously thought that towards the end of exams I'd start to become more motivated, but nope. I've just gotta keep going because there's only 9 days left and then I have ages off for summer!! (except I really am already dreading results day)

I really do hope everyones exams are going well and please stay motivated! It'll all be worth it in the end

-Grace

Well done - I'm sure all your hard work will pay off!


Posted from TSR Mobile

Thank you! I hope your exams are going well!

Hey how have your exams been ?

Heya! They've not been too bad, just a couple that I'd say haven't exactly gone well but they're in the past so I guess there's nothing I can do

What about you? How have yours been, and how many have you got left?

They've been good so far Although some weren't so good e.g AQA physics 2 and 3 .
I've got one more left - Stats on the 27th

I'm so late at replying, oops! I found physics unit 2 really hard too I hope stats went well!

What are your plans for after GCSE?

Haha it's fine

Do you mean during the summer ? Or A-levels and stuff ?

A month later and I finally manage to reply, haha!
Both! I know summer is nearly over but I hope you had a good one And what do you plan to do for a levels?

Haha no worries
Aw thank you. You too Biology,Chemistry,Economics and Maths you ?
I'm so nervous for results day !! AHH !! 13 DAYS

UPDATE - Wednesday 31st August

So, its nearly been a week since results day! Its crazy how time flies. This is gonna be a really detailed account of my results, my opinions and the breakdowns etc, so if you're interested grab a cup of tea and a snack or something because this is most likely going to be long.

I got to school just after 9 and I had to walk past people both crying and expressionless which just made me even more nervous. I collected mine and my best friends results and found a bench to sit down with my mum to open my results (she filmed it, it was embarrassing). When I first opened them I was over the moon, it didn't seem real. But the further down my results I got, the less ecstatic I was and I started to get a little bit disappointed.

I've had time to think about it now, and I am still over the moon. My results are mostly higher than I expected, I got the grades to get into sixth form and even had a few (good) surprises. No, my results aren't up to TSR standard, and I'm sure a lot of people would be really disappointed with results like mine, but I'm happy and that's all that matters.

Overall, I got 1A*, 7A's, 1B and 1C. In many of my subjects I was very close to the next grade, which does bother me, but I'm happy enough with what I got so I don't think I'll be sending any off for remarks.

I'm going to talk about each subject individually and break it down now, in no particular order and just reading down my sheet.

Mathematics: A*
The grade I am 100% the most proud of. If you've read my journey at all, you know this is the subject I loved the most, worked the hardest for, and most of the time never expected anything higher than an A in, which was my target grade anyway. There was literally blood, sweat and tears, and seeing the grade boundaries the night before results day topped it all off for me and I knew I had no chance of getting that A*.
But I did. I went from a B to an A* in a year and all of the work was worth it. Basically, I'm over the moon with this result and I still can't believe it's real

(There aren't splits for the papers or any marks for Maths unfortunately)

Business Studies: A
Super happy with this grade, too. I admit I didn't work as much as I should have and probably could have gotten an A* (I was 9 UMS away) but I'm happy for an A and I knew I could do it. Even though I was predicted a C, I put that past me and proved my teachers wrong!
I got 45 UMS on Paper 1 which was 39/40 and an A*(the highest I've ever gotten before), 40 UMS on my coursework which was an A and 89 UMS on my paper 3 which was also an A. Overall, I got 171 UMS out of 200 which is good!

German: A
Can you believe it?! I sure can't. After that exam I was fully expecting a B, maybe even a C, but no! I got an A!!!
I got 40 UMS on the listening paper which was a C, and that's totally understandable because to be honest I thought I would get a U. I got 84 UMS on my speaking which was an A*, 51 UMS on my reading which was an A, and somehow (I have no idea how this was even possible when I was told it was an A) I got 90 UMS (full marks) and an A* in my writing??? Crazy! Overall, I got 265/300 UMS which was only 5 away from the next grade but there you go.

History: A
I expected this really. I've never gotten lower than an A since year 10, although after the exams I did expect a B. Surprisingly, the exam I thought I did the worst in I did the best in, which was Surgery. I got 90 UMS which was an A*. On my Medicine exam I got 88 UMS which was an A, and on American West I got 80 UMS which was also an A. I got 95 UMS on my coursework and an A*.
Overall, I got 353/400 UMS, only 7 UMS away from an A*!

ICT: B
I'm disappointed. Again, if you kept up to date with this for whatever reason, you'd have read about how shocking our GCSE ICT experience was. Only 1 hour a week for a full GCSE course, the teachers all misinterpreted the coursework, and they didn't teach us the theory. So for how it went, a B is a very good grade. But here's why I'm annoyed. I spent countless hours doing my coursework, and my teacher told me that it was a good A. It didn't get sent off for moderation, grades were not altered, yet when I got my results back it said that in my coursework I got 85 UMS which is a very low B. Now, I'm not saying my coursework was of perfect A* standard, it wasn't, but it was definitely better than a low B. After finding out that I had a high C back in March, I came back for at least 20 hours to push that up to an A. In my exam I got 67 UMS which was an A, that'd great, but because I was seemingly 'lied to' about my coursework, I got a B overall.
I emailed the Head of ICT about it and he wasn't exactly polite, but he said he'd look into it for me and get back to me. So we'll see what happens. Overall I got 152 UMS which was only 8 UMS off of an A.

English Language: A
Really happy with this grade. I knew I could get it, and I did! I got 56 UMS on the reading which was an A*, 50 UMS on the writing which was an A, 55 UMS on one of my coursework pieces which was an A* and 17 UMS on the other which was an A. (I also got a 5 on S&L but who even cares?!). Not much to say about this one, but I'm happy!

English Literature: A
No words. I am in so much shock. Me, getting an A in English Literature? HOW?! Much like German, this was a huge shock to me. I did feel that the OMAM and Poetry paper went okay, but I thought that Blood Brothers and Pride and Prejudice was awful. Yet somehow, I did better in BB and P&P! I got 50 UMS on Paper 1 which was a B, 69 UMS on paper 2 which was an A, and 44 UMS on my controlled assessment which was an A. Overall, I got 163 UMS I put in more work for English than I give myself credit for, and overall I'm ecstatic with this grade.

Core Science: A
I was praying to get an A in core, and I knew I could do it but after the exams I wasn't so sure. I'm really happy though! I got 80 UMS in Biology U1 which was an A, 81 UMS in Chemistry U1 which was an A, and in Physics U1 I got 87 UMS which was also an A! In my controlled assessment I got 100 UMS (full marks) which was an A*. Overall, I got 348 UMS! So yeah, super happy because it means I can do Physics at A level!

Additional Science: A
Now this one I was hella proud of. I honestly thought after the exams that I had gotten a B, but nope! In Biology U2 I got 86 UMS which was an A, in Chemistry U2 I got 87 UMS which was an A, and in Physics U2 (what I felt was the hardest science exam of them all) I somehow got 94 UMS which was an A*?! I also got 88 UMS in my controlled assessment which was an A. Overall, I got 355 UMS. I'm really pleased, and with Physics especially, because it shows that it's my strongest science and I understand it the best (even though it used to be Biology) and it's given me the confidence for a level now!

Art & Design - Photography: C
I hate to end on a sad note, but what the heck. I worked my butt off for this. I spent hours and hours on my portfolio and my exam, and to get a C? It's safe to say I'm disappointed. My teacher had somewhat convinced me that I was going to get a safe B, and I believed her. Although I always said "hahahaha I probably won't even pass, I'll be happy with a C" I'm not, at all. But honestly, Photography wasn't the best subject I did and the teaching was pretty awful. In lessons, I didn't do the most work but I was always back at lunch and after school. I practically lived in the photography room. I got 79 UMS on my portfolio which was a C, and 58 UMS on my exam which was a B. I'm happy with the exam, but not the portfolio. It is what it is though, and overall I got 137 UMS.


So, they are my GCSE Results. Although I'm upset with a couple, the positives outweigh the negatives and I am happy. In the back of my head I do think "What if I had revised just a little bit more?" or "What if I didn't spend my time doing ICT and Photography and did more important subject revision instead??" but what's done is done, and it is an experience I'm going to learn from for sure. I'm sorry for this extremely long, unnecessary detail, but it's for my benefit as well as anyone else who wanted to see it.

Well done to everyone else who survived GCSE's, got the grades they wanted and are getting ready for the future. I'm proud of everybody for just trying their best.
Also, thank you to everyone who stuck with me during this weird few months and helped keep me motivated, and to anyone who actually read any of this. You're awesome.

Now, onto the next journey. A Levels, here I come...