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catlover_'s Grow your Grades (GCSE)








Welcome to Catlover_'s Grow Your Grades blog!!!









Hi, I'm catlover_ and I'll be doing my GCSEs this year :grumble:
I can be pretty lazy, especially at weekends and school holidays so I hope that doing this blog will keep me motivated!

The subjects I am taking are (predicted grades in brackets):

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Last year I took:

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I sat mocks in November/December and these were my grades:

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For A level I hope to study:

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A bit about me:
I am a year 11 girl. I go to a grammar school so I have a lot of pressure from teachers to do well and sometimes I feel pressurised to compete with my high achieving peers. It can be quite downgrading sometimes because a grade that is good in terms of the whole country can make you feel like you've failed at a grammar school. But on the other hand, I've learnt to cope with it so I'm quite grateful that I'm being pushed to get the grades I desire.
Here are some random facts about me:

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Hobbies:
I enjoy running but not competitively. I find that I always feel really healthy and happy with myself after going on a run so I guess its my stress relief.
I also do drama and LAMDA exams.
I love watching netflix. My favourite series that I'm currently watching is The Vampire Diaries and Gossip Girl, but I do have to restrain from binge watching :tongue:


Here I will be regularly updating test/homework scores to keep track of my progress:

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(edited 7 years ago)
Reply 1
Hi catlover! You have really impressive predicted grades and you've done really well so far! Good luck!

I know what it's like at a grammar school lol, it's so competitive and tough but if you stay positive and keep working towards your goals, you'll achieve anything :smile:

And nothing wrong with a bit of Netflix to take a break with revision :biggrin:
Hiiii :turtle:

So each week from now up until exams I will be setting myself a goal so that I can revise effectively and be organised (and hopefully not stressed :unsure:).

This week I aim to: Create a revision timetable that I will be able to stick to!

So in the past I have attempted at following timetables but I always fail miserably. I set myself unrealistic targets and always start revising too late, but I am determined to change this in order to ace my GCSEs in the summer. I would ideally like to start revising this week, but if that does not happen due to having to actually create the timetable then I will not stress myself out about it. I will start next week instead.
I am going to have a go at using the Pomodoro technique because I have heard that it is really good for revising well. When I hear the word revision, alarm bells go off in my head because I don't think I've ever revised properly and been satisfied. I usually do late night cramming which leaves me very tired the next day. So hopefully this method will work for me.
If anyone has any revision tips or techniques I would really appreciate the support.

Thanks :dance:
(edited 7 years ago)
A good revision technique would be spaced repetition, where you test yourself on material at spaced intervals
: This video explains it well
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eVajQPuRmk8
An easy way to use this technique is through Anki, an app you download on Android phones for free ( on Apple I've heard you do have to pay for it) and on your computer- or if you don't want to do download it there is a web version.
This video from the same person also shows 8 effective ways of studying
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ad6grll-ak

Hope this helps.
Original post by BChemGee
A good revision technique would be spaced repetition, where you test yourself on material at spaced intervals
: This video explains it well
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eVajQPuRmk8
An easy way to use this technique is through Anki, an app you download on Android phones for free ( on Apple I've heard you do have to pay for it) and on your computer- or if you don't want to do download it there is a web version.
This video from the same person also shows 8 effective ways of studying
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ad6grll-ak

Hope this helps.


Thanks for your help!!
Weekly Goal Achieved!

This week my goal was to create a realistic revision timetable, which I have actually done!
I have decided to do 3 x 25min sessions a night (excluding Wed and Sat) with a 5min break between each. This means I will cover 3 subjects with high intensity revision each night but it will only take up an hour and a half of my time :top:
I think this will be a really good way to ease myself into revision over the next couple of months before increasing the amount I do nearer my exams. As I've mentioned before I usually fail at revising, but I think these short bursts of revision will stop me getting bored and procrastinating.

Within my timetable, I have planned how often I will do each subject:

A physics, bio or chem session each night.

2 x Maths per week

2 x English per week

2 x Geography per week

1 x R.S

1 x Computing

1 x Business

1 x Spanish every other week

1 x Drama every other week

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Here is my timetable for next week.
Although each session is one hour, I will only be doing 25mins for each subject starting whenever.
UPDATE
So I must admit I have been really lazy recently. I haven't updated this blog since January because I kinda forgot about it.
I haven't used my revision timetable yet although it began ages ago :angry:. I think that timetables just don't work for me because I panic if I don't stick to them and then I just procrastinate to avoid the stress and end up becoming more stressed :frown: But I have done some revision believe it or not! I have made flashcards for the whole of Chemistry and I am making my way through Physics now.
My plan is to make notes on flashcards so I can test myself over time. And then I'll do practice Qs by reading a section of the textbook and doing the summary Qs, and then after that I'll do past papers without looking at my notes at all. Hopefully this will work and I'll get good grades :biggrin:
(edited 7 years ago)
UPDATE
So quite a bit has changed for me recently since I have last been on here:

I dropped GCSE Drama! Greatest thing ever to be free from the burden of making a devised piece and having to do an impossible written exam! I've loved acting for ages but in recent months I felt so awkward in school drama. I spend most of my life feeling awkward and I couldn't bear to have a lesson where it was escalated so my school allowed me to drop it, wooooo!!! :tongue:

I have decided that I want to take A-Level Biology instead of Politics. I want to a Geography degree which will have elements of Biology in the physical part, therefore I think it will probably be more useful to me and help me understand my degree more than politics will benefit me. Also, Biology is a strong subject for me atm and I do really enjoy it so I have every reason to take it.

There are only about 11 weeks until exams!! I am absolutely terrified as my revision is lacking atm. I need to get cracking on some serious studying :s-smilie:

(edited 7 years ago)
UPDATE 05/03/17

So this week I have finally finished making flashcards for physics! Such a relief. I really don't enjoy the subject and I'm not very good at it so forcing myself to write out the whole subject was definitely a struggle!

This week I'm going to begin my notes for Biology. I quite like the subject so it shouldn't be too bad....I hope. I will try to remember to give an update during the week.:turtle:

I suppose I better get cracking on my Business and Maths homework now and focus on forcing myself to be more positive about doing work. :biggrin:
(edited 7 years ago)
In the future I want to work in finance so I'm currently trying to find some work experience for the summer.
I've applied for Kreston Reeves in London, and Hymans Robertson are going to get in touch nearer the time.

Does anyone know of anywhere in the London area that gives work experience to year 11s?
Anything finance related is good!

I know the big companies do year 12 programmes but obviously I can't do that yet.
Your help will be greatly appreciated! Thankssss :tongue:

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