The New GCSEs are way to hard
I will be sitting my GCSEs in 2018 and I am already struggling. I am not finding gography, history and RE that bad, but it is more the other subjects.
German is almost impossible to remember everything. We have a massive booklet if words to remember and a lot of them aren't that useful if you were actually wanting to learn a language. We also have to speak for around 10 minutes (I think) in German for the actual GCSE. I didn't even want to do German, but I will probably fail it.
English you now have to remember 15 poems and I think you have to remember the quotes from the other literature books as well. This isn't really testing skill, it's testing memory.
Maths I don't find that bad, but it is the remembering the formula that I will stuggle with a lot. They are expected us to have super memory.
I took triple science and I think I will fail it. They have given us old A Level stuff to try to do and again you have to remember most of the formula. We had a test recently and most people in the year got less than half marks. I think that shows how hard this is now.
Why does it seem like they are testing our memory rather than our skill?
German is almost impossible to remember everything. We have a massive booklet if words to remember and a lot of them aren't that useful if you were actually wanting to learn a language. We also have to speak for around 10 minutes (I think) in German for the actual GCSE. I didn't even want to do German, but I will probably fail it.
English you now have to remember 15 poems and I think you have to remember the quotes from the other literature books as well. This isn't really testing skill, it's testing memory.
Maths I don't find that bad, but it is the remembering the formula that I will stuggle with a lot. They are expected us to have super memory.
I took triple science and I think I will fail it. They have given us old A Level stuff to try to do and again you have to remember most of the formula. We had a test recently and most people in the year got less than half marks. I think that shows how hard this is now.
Why does it seem like they are testing our memory rather than our skill?
Scroll to see replies
The reason why the new GCSEs are harder is because the government is trying to attack grade inflation. Essentially, they have made AS-levels irrelevant by teaching half of the content at GCSE level, and also, they've decoupled AS-levels and A-levels, meaning that most people are going to be studying a full A-level course.
However, note these points from Ofqual:
This points to how the government is trying to reduce grade inflation, by making the curricula harder. This is good for high achievers (like me), and it is also good for universities, as they are likely to reduce their entry requirements (right now, in order to study a scientific degree at Cambridge, you need A*A*A in your A-levels, and it used to be A*AA)
It may seem unbelievable, but Qfqual are deliberately screwing you over so that the best of the best can actually be identified.
However, note these points from Ofqual:
Spoiler
This points to how the government is trying to reduce grade inflation, by making the curricula harder. This is good for high achievers (like me), and it is also good for universities, as they are likely to reduce their entry requirements (right now, in order to study a scientific degree at Cambridge, you need A*A*A in your A-levels, and it used to be A*AA)
It may seem unbelievable, but Qfqual are deliberately screwing you over so that the best of the best can actually be identified.
Original post by Goldfish4343
I will be sitting my GCSEs in 2018 and I am already struggling. I am not finding gography, history and RE that bad, but it is more the other subjects.
German is almost impossible to remember everything. We have a massive booklet if words to remember and a lot of them aren't that useful if you were actually wanting to learn a language. We also have to speak for around 10 minutes (I think) in German for the actual GCSE. I didn't even want to do German, but I will probably fail it.
English you now have to remember 15 poems and I think you have to remember the quotes from the other literature books as well. This isn't really testing skill, it's testing memory.
Maths I don't find that bad, but it is the remembering the formula that I will stuggle with a lot. They are expected us to have super memory.
I took triple science and I think I will fail it. They have given us old A Level stuff to try to do and again you have to remember most of the formula. We had a test recently and most people in the year got less than half marks. I think that shows how hard this is now.
Why does it seem like they are testing our memory rather than our skill?
German is almost impossible to remember everything. We have a massive booklet if words to remember and a lot of them aren't that useful if you were actually wanting to learn a language. We also have to speak for around 10 minutes (I think) in German for the actual GCSE. I didn't even want to do German, but I will probably fail it.
English you now have to remember 15 poems and I think you have to remember the quotes from the other literature books as well. This isn't really testing skill, it's testing memory.
Maths I don't find that bad, but it is the remembering the formula that I will stuggle with a lot. They are expected us to have super memory.
I took triple science and I think I will fail it. They have given us old A Level stuff to try to do and again you have to remember most of the formula. We had a test recently and most people in the year got less than half marks. I think that shows how hard this is now.
Why does it seem like they are testing our memory rather than our skill?
Sounds very similar to my GCSEs actually, and you think it is a lot more difficult than it is. Despite what anyone says, you don't have to learn every word of that German booklet. You just need to learn the key, most important and basic words so you can understand and construct basic sentences.
The speaking assessment isn't as hard as you think either, because you will get a lot of help and guidance for it and it is actually quite straightforward. If I'm right in my understanding, you can write a piece out to begin with and rehearse it and then speak it. You will definitely get a lot of help with this.
In English, you don't have to remember whole poems. I know for a fact there is no "write this poem out" section, again you should just learn the key bits about each poem. And you should learn key quotes from the literature books that you are reading/have read. Keep going over them again and again.
If you are wanting to do A Levels after this, you need to get your head in the game and accept the workload. Set targets and make sure they are achievable. Let me reiterate that you do not have to learn every single thing. In lessons like German and English, you can learn the key things and build on them. But don't let this be an excuse for you to slack, you should always try to learn as much as you can so you are prepared.
Original post by Goldfish4343
I will be sitting my GCSEs in 2018 and I am already struggling. I am not finding gography, history and RE that bad, but it is more the other subjects.
German is almost impossible to remember everything. We have a massive booklet if words to remember and a lot of them aren't that useful if you were actually wanting to learn a language. We also have to speak for around 10 minutes (I think) in German for the actual GCSE. I didn't even want to do German, but I will probably fail it.
English you now have to remember 15 poems and I think you have to remember the quotes from the other literature books as well. This isn't really testing skill, it's testing memory.
Maths I don't find that bad, but it is the remembering the formula that I will stuggle with a lot. They are expected us to have super memory.
I took triple science and I think I will fail it. They have given us old A Level stuff to try to do and again you have to remember most of the formula. We had a test recently and most people in the year got less than half marks. I think that shows how hard this is now.
Why does it seem like they are testing our memory rather than our skill?
German is almost impossible to remember everything. We have a massive booklet if words to remember and a lot of them aren't that useful if you were actually wanting to learn a language. We also have to speak for around 10 minutes (I think) in German for the actual GCSE. I didn't even want to do German, but I will probably fail it.
English you now have to remember 15 poems and I think you have to remember the quotes from the other literature books as well. This isn't really testing skill, it's testing memory.
Maths I don't find that bad, but it is the remembering the formula that I will stuggle with a lot. They are expected us to have super memory.
I took triple science and I think I will fail it. They have given us old A Level stuff to try to do and again you have to remember most of the formula. We had a test recently and most people in the year got less than half marks. I think that shows how hard this is now.
Why does it seem like they are testing our memory rather than our skill?
They want us to know a lot more than there predecessors and since I am the first year to do it in my School they believe that we will get the best GCSE grades the school has ever received but that is way too much pressure on us pupils and the government are making it too difficult, especially with the new grading system. 9 is now like a A*+ and there are two C grades its just too much for us.
If you're struggling with learning the formulae, perhaps you should take a different approach to one that is normally given in class.
Instead of just memorising a bunch of letters in a given order, try to understand why that formula exists, and all of the whys behind it - for me that makes it a lot easier (and same goes for other things other than formulae - if you understand the reasons behind something, it usually sticks better than just being told to memorise the whats without the whys).
For English, maybe get revision guides? They usually split the texts/poems up into topics and then give relevant quotes that you can use to support your points. By memorising the key quotes and the rough positions of them in the books, you should be able to have enough quotes to use in the exams. Even though I did the old GCSE, I still just memorised quotations and you are encouraged to, because the books can be quite long (I had Pride and Prejudice as one of my four) and it wastes time in the exam looking for them. I have no clue about the poetry because my school chose to do Poetry as the controlled assessment and 4 texts in the exams so sorry.
For German, get the app Memrise. It's really good for learning vocabulary and hopefully you are fortunate enough to have a course for your exam board (because I did AQA iGCSEs in French and Spanish and there were only courses for the normal GCSE). I'm not sure what you have to do in your speaking exam but I had to speak about a photo card given and then have a 9 minute conversation afterwards. My advice would be to just memorise some key phrases that you can apply to every situation and try to use 'impressive' vocabulary - always using connectives and adverbs, perhaps including a phrase or two in a more advanced tense, such as the subjunctive if that's a thing in German (you don't need to learn the actual tense but just a few phrases)?
Instead of just memorising a bunch of letters in a given order, try to understand why that formula exists, and all of the whys behind it - for me that makes it a lot easier (and same goes for other things other than formulae - if you understand the reasons behind something, it usually sticks better than just being told to memorise the whats without the whys).
For English, maybe get revision guides? They usually split the texts/poems up into topics and then give relevant quotes that you can use to support your points. By memorising the key quotes and the rough positions of them in the books, you should be able to have enough quotes to use in the exams. Even though I did the old GCSE, I still just memorised quotations and you are encouraged to, because the books can be quite long (I had Pride and Prejudice as one of my four) and it wastes time in the exam looking for them. I have no clue about the poetry because my school chose to do Poetry as the controlled assessment and 4 texts in the exams so sorry.
For German, get the app Memrise. It's really good for learning vocabulary and hopefully you are fortunate enough to have a course for your exam board (because I did AQA iGCSEs in French and Spanish and there were only courses for the normal GCSE). I'm not sure what you have to do in your speaking exam but I had to speak about a photo card given and then have a 9 minute conversation afterwards. My advice would be to just memorise some key phrases that you can apply to every situation and try to use 'impressive' vocabulary - always using connectives and adverbs, perhaps including a phrase or two in a more advanced tense, such as the subjunctive if that's a thing in German (you don't need to learn the actual tense but just a few phrases)?
Original post by Goldfish4343
German is almost impossible to remember everything. We have a massive booklet if words to remember and a lot of them aren't that useful if you were actually wanting to learn a language. We also have to speak for around 10 minutes (I think) in German for the actual GCSE. I didn't even want to do German, but I will probably fail it.
You need to find out what the exam will test. For example, my GCSE French (before the new GCSE), there was a talking, listening and writing part. The talking part involved a discussion around a topic in French. Writing part was a letter to friend in France. Learn the vocab round these topics, and several complete sentences to help you speak/write it more fluently. Listening part -- make a mp3 of bits of spoken French and sentences and try to write down what you hear. make sure you cover the vocab list & you'll be OK.
Your German sounds interesting. How much vocab is in the booklet? I didn't get a booklet when I did French.
Original post by Goldfish4343
English you now have to remember 15 poems and I think you have to remember the quotes from the other literature books as well. This isn't really testing skill, it's testing memory.
Maths I don't find that bad, but it is the remembering the formula that I will stuggle with a lot. They are expected us to have super memory.
English you now have to remember 15 poems and I think you have to remember the quotes from the other literature books as well. This isn't really testing skill, it's testing memory.
Maths I don't find that bad, but it is the remembering the formula that I will stuggle with a lot. They are expected us to have super memory.
Stick the poems in a pocket book, allow enough space add the quotes/any notes. Revise whenever you got a moment spare until you can recite the important bits of the poem off by heart and your notes relating to the bits. Do a bjt every day and then do it more intensively 2 weeks b4 your exam & you will pass.
For your Maths, do the same a add a Q and A (with full working out) of model questions to test yourself to make sure you not only know the formulas but how to use them to answer the questions in the exam.
I had to memorize different cables, & sockets serial numbers, IT specs and commands for routers for technical exams. At the time I needed to revise for this exam, I was very ill and couldn't even remember one page off a text book after I've read it. Using the method above, I passed the exam scoring a distinction (passmark threshold was at 80%)
Original post by Goldfish4343
Why does it seem like they are testing our memory rather than our skill?
It is very unfair.
Memory isn't knowledge.(edited 7 years ago)
Original post by Goldfish4343
I will be sitting my GCSEs in 2018 and I am already struggling. I am not finding gography, history and RE that bad, but it is more the other subjects.
German is almost impossible to remember everything. We have a massive booklet if words to remember and a lot of them aren't that useful if you were actually wanting to learn a language. We also have to speak for around 10 minutes (I think) in German for the actual GCSE. I didn't even want to do German, but I will probably fail it.
English you now have to remember 15 poems and I think you have to remember the quotes from the other literature books as well. This isn't really testing skill, it's testing memory.
Maths I don't find that bad, but it is the remembering the formula that I will stuggle with a lot. They are expected us to have super memory.
I took triple science and I think I will fail it. They have given us old A Level stuff to try to do and again you have to remember most of the formula. We had a test recently and most people in the year got less than half marks. I think that shows how hard this is now.
Why does it seem like they are testing our memory rather than our skill?
German is almost impossible to remember everything. We have a massive booklet if words to remember and a lot of them aren't that useful if you were actually wanting to learn a language. We also have to speak for around 10 minutes (I think) in German for the actual GCSE. I didn't even want to do German, but I will probably fail it.
English you now have to remember 15 poems and I think you have to remember the quotes from the other literature books as well. This isn't really testing skill, it's testing memory.
Maths I don't find that bad, but it is the remembering the formula that I will stuggle with a lot. They are expected us to have super memory.
I took triple science and I think I will fail it. They have given us old A Level stuff to try to do and again you have to remember most of the formula. We had a test recently and most people in the year got less than half marks. I think that shows how hard this is now.
Why does it seem like they are testing our memory rather than our skill?
Put more effort and revision into it.
Firstly, stop worrying, youve got ages to sort stuff out and freaking out now is just going to make it worse, of that means studying slightly less, fine, do that.
A copule of more specific tips i exploited:
For languages, be like a politician. By that I mean find a few things you are comfortable with and work out how to deflect an answer towards that. For example for my French GCSE speaking I spent nearly every question deflecting to 'i like to play football' no matter what the question was. Sure you wont get top marks but it simplifies what you have to kearn massively.
For maths/science formula as someone else said, learn what they mean, that should help. What I did however was learn to manipulate a few key formula into telling you something else entirely. Doing this I managed to about half the amount of things i needed to remember for a physics module at uni.
A copule of more specific tips i exploited:
For languages, be like a politician. By that I mean find a few things you are comfortable with and work out how to deflect an answer towards that. For example for my French GCSE speaking I spent nearly every question deflecting to 'i like to play football' no matter what the question was. Sure you wont get top marks but it simplifies what you have to kearn massively.
For maths/science formula as someone else said, learn what they mean, that should help. What I did however was learn to manipulate a few key formula into telling you something else entirely. Doing this I managed to about half the amount of things i needed to remember for a physics module at uni.
Original post by mojojojo101
For example for my French GCSE speaking I spent nearly every question deflecting to 'i like to play football' no matter what the question was..
I'm laughing my a** off!
This reminded of my French GCSE exam. There was this guy who did this deflection technique. He deflected everything he was asked in his French oral exam to 'Je suis une pomme de terre' (I am a potato). He didn't pass.
There was also this Russian who was shy and stuttered a lot when tried to speak English. But he spoke it fluently when he drank 1/2 of a large bottle of vodka.
The new English GCSE is hell: we have to remember quotes, context, and analysis of 3 whole books and 15 poems. It's insane.
Original post by ThePricklyOne
I'm laughing my a** off!
This reminded of my French GCSE exam. There was this guy who did this deflection technique. He deflected everything he was asked in his French oral exam to 'Je suis une pomme de terre' (I am a potato). He didn't pass.
There was also this Russian who was shy and stuttered a lot when tried to speak English. But he spoke it fluently when he drank 1/2 of a large bottle of vodka.
This reminded of my French GCSE exam. There was this guy who did this deflection technique. He deflected everything he was asked in his French oral exam to 'Je suis une pomme de terre' (I am a potato). He didn't pass.
There was also this Russian who was shy and stuttered a lot when tried to speak English. But he spoke it fluently when he drank 1/2 of a large bottle of vodka.
I got a B. Although to be fair I have always been a particularly good ******** merchant.
Original post by _b_e_n_
The new English GCSE is hell: we have to remember quotes, context, and analysis of 3 whole books and 15 poems. It's insane.
Sound's exactly like the old english lit, what's changed?
Original post by HopelessMedic
Sound's exactly like the old english lit, what's changed?
We don't even recieve a blank copy of the text any more. We literally have to memorise entire books and poems.
Original post by _b_e_n_
We don't even recieve a blank copy of the text any more. We literally have to memorise entire books and poems.
Not that hard. Chances are you'd be able to recall the important parts of the texts, whenever they do pop on the exams. Provided that you've studied each text well.
Original post by _b_e_n_
We don't even recieve a blank copy of the text any more. We literally have to memorise entire books and poems.
Slightly harder, Tbf you should know the book's pretty well so that when you come to answering a question you don't have to go searching for quotes. I barely used mine in the exams.
*too, not 'to'
I can see why you might find them hard
I can see why you might find them hard
Original post by _b_e_n_
We don't even recieve a blank copy of the text any more. We literally have to memorise entire books and poems.
Fair enough, it's to stop people like me who never read the book from cover to cover - from getting A grades...
Original post by Goldfish4343
Why does it seem like they are testing our memory rather than our skill?
Because GCSEs have always been about memory. My A*s came from reading textbooks and mark schemes over and over.
Quick Reply
Related discussions
- The hard grade 9 maths questions thread 2023
- Advice on how to get an A* in French A level?
- new school
- Is computer science gcse hard?
- A-level English Literature essay writing help
- Help for Pschology gcse
- Polish Language
- Physician Associate Studies at Worcester University
- GCSE Computer Science Study Group 2023-2024
- Am I good enough for medicine or shall I just change paths
- GCSE Computer Science Study Group 2022-2023
- A* OCR A Level Biology notes
- Maths advice
- Shall I move schools or not?
- Starting year 9.
- tips for aqa a level biology:)
- I've Had Enough and Don't Know What To Do
- What should I do?
- OCR Computer Science Paper 2 GCSE 2023
- Geog vs business which is easier????
Latest
Last reply 2 minutes ago
Official: University of Leicester A100 2024 Entry ApplicantsLast reply 3 minutes ago
can any people who are studying at exeter's penryn campus please answer this?Last reply 4 minutes ago
Official Cambridge Postgraduate Applicants 2024 ThreadLast reply 4 minutes ago
Can I drop out of college once I have an unconditional uni offer?Last reply 5 minutes ago
Official: University of Manchester A106 2024 Entry ApplicantsMedical Schools
1250
Last reply 6 minutes ago
Official University of Edinburgh Offer Holders Thread for 2024 entryLast reply 6 minutes ago
Accomodation in UK for Royal Holloway student - Sep 2024Last reply 10 minutes ago
GCSE AQA FRENCH SPEAKING - General conversation and what theme to choose?Last reply 10 minutes ago
BAE systems degree apprenticeships September 2024Last reply 11 minutes ago
LSE Undergraduate Politics and IR 2024Posted 14 minutes ago
Chances of switching from LSE Acc and Fin to Econ and Maths or Fin Maths and StatsLast reply 14 minutes ago
Official: Aston University A100 2024 Entry Applicant threadMedical Schools
1120
Last reply 14 minutes ago
Amazon Project management apprenticeship 2024Last reply 15 minutes ago
BBC General Election 2024 Poll Tracker - 17th April 2024Last reply 17 minutes ago
Applying for a job that’s North but living SouthLast reply 18 minutes ago
fujitsu degree apprenticeship 2024Trending
Last reply 1 day ago
went from 3s to 9s with (literally) night before revision - ask me anythingGCSEs
27
Trending
Last reply 1 day ago
went from 3s to 9s with (literally) night before revision - ask me anythingGCSEs
27
