Tombre's 100 or so day journey to all A*s!

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Oh my god, your devised piece actually sounds so cool and so creative! :biggrin:

I haven't heard of Steven Berkoff, but I'll be sure to check him out!

Really? No written exam? It's a bit of a pain, but I think it's included because there is no written portion to our Controlled Assessment like yours, ours is purely acting and taking notes to revise from for the written. Your "drama in the making" unit sounds really cool! I'm also a big fan of Noughts and Crosses!

Thanks! It's been good fun :smile:

I guess the written part is all included in the controlled assessments - there's no official sit-down-at-a-desk-while-being-watched-by-an-invigilator exam though. And yeah, Noughts and Crosses is so good - I really enjoyed performing it :smile:

Reply 141

Tombre

Original post by Shaaayxp

Sucks about being 1 mark off but 39/40 :eek:

Some amazing marks you have there!

Thank you! :biggrin:

Reply 142

Tombre

Original post by buzzyambee

Thanks! It's been good fun :smile:

No problem! :biggrin:

I think yours sounds a bit better, I find the the written element of AQA really tedious... Very repetitive.

Reply 143

Tombre

I have a Biology test next week (B3 Topics 1, 2 and 4 - I don't see why it couldn't have been 1-3. 1,2 and 4 are such annoying numbers but oh well). I have revised Topic 1 and half of Topic 2.
We also finished the Spanish course, so we'll be doing past papers next week, which I've been preparing for with Duolingo and Quizlet.

Today In School:

ENGLISH
English.Language.Is.So.Dry. Seriously, we analysed a passage about badgers - I was just so bored. I love the writing section of Language, but I find analysing non-fiction very very dull. :colonhash:

DRAMA
I had fun performing one of my favourite scenes, but I was a little bit annoyed. Basically, last night in rehearsals my teacher told my group "this scene is great, you need to show the class." And we showed the class and afterwards it was all "so what did they not do well?" which was a bit demoralising. :s-smilie:

CHEMISTRY
My teacher wasn't in, so we got on with a load of question on mole and concentration calculations. :smile:

STUDY HOUR
I got on with some Physics (Electromagnetism) and talked to some friends. :h:

PHYSICS
We are on the final topic of P3 :eek:

and it is so cool so far! We revised the Big Bang from P1, revised Nuclear Fusion from P2 and covered particles, antimatter, fundamental particles, nuclear equations and mass defect - this is the physics that I love. Next time we'll be doing the life cycle of stars, which sounds pretty darn cool. :biggrin:

If I'm 100% honest, I have done absolutely no revision the past few days, so I need to get revising tomorrow.

The plan is:

English Literature - Gerald Croft (An Inspector Calls)
Geography - What processes are associated with the sea?
Biology - Blood and circulation
English Language - Unit 3 (Argumentation, persuasion and instructional)
Spanish - Hometown and region

Reply 144

jdijx

Yeah I've done a mock but I didn't get the grade I wanted to get. I don't know what to do tbh and you seem to have gotten really good marks so I might give the videos a shot ! How are you planning to revise for English language unit 3? By watching videos from the playlist? Or things that your teacher has taught you? 😂

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Reply 145

Tombre

Original post by Jpijx

Don't worry, mocks don't mean much - if it helps I got A,C in Maths and Numeracy mocks and ended up with A*,A* two months later. :smile:

Definitely give the videos a shot and make sure you practise! You may be limiting yourself with your exam technique - you need to make sure you are answering "what?", "how?" or "why?" in the questions. In what, it is okay to make statements and expand a bit on your points, but in how or why questions you need to ANALYSE - you must find the subtext. And if you don't know, make it up! It helps to know a bunch of standard things e.g. alliteration is for emphasis, anecdotes are for making the text more relatable and to help the reader put things in perspective, dynamic verbs are to add action to the scene, imperatives are to command the reader - then you must say why the writer has done it: why is emphasis important here? Why does the reader need to be commanded? Do you see what I mean? :biggrin:

To revise Unit 3 I will do a combination of both. Also, there is a revision guide for these exams, which I use sometimes: https://www.amazon.co.uk/My-Revision-Notes-English-Language/dp/147186829X/ref=pd_sim_14_27?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=13JJYPMJFDFH3M0CT7KS

Reply 146

jdijx

Thank you so much! English has always been that subject where I don't particularly do well in. I really want to get an A:/ So do you reckon I should just go through how to do the types of q's by watching the videos and then practice by doing a past paper (for the how q) or do the mock questions that I didn't perform well in and hand it to my teacher to mark? Is the revision guide worth it, by the way?

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Reply 147

jdijx

Also I have my numeracy maths paper this year in may and mocks are next week! I can't believe that you went from a c to an a*, that's amazing!!! Had you covered all the spec by the time you had your mock? I am trying to go through the spec as we haven't fully covered it yet. I'm struggling with loci atm :s-smilie:

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Reply 148

Tombre

Original post by Jpijx

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I get you, English is one of those strange subjects where people either seem to do really well or they struggle with it. Well, honestly I'm not sure how much the videos will help with the types of questions, as I don't know how much overlap there is with WJEC and AQA in that respect, I mainly use them for the writing section, but I suggest you check out a bunch of reading section videos and see if they do talk about "how" and "why" etc questions (and if they do, please let me know :colondollar:

). I think you should definitely do sample papers and then when you've done most of them, retry the mock questions. You should see a massive improvement! I personally swear by the revision guide, it gives lots of tips from examiners and there are a bunch of practise questions! :biggrin:

Thank you! I don't think we had covered everything, there were still a few things to go, also the mocks were the second week back after the summer (and they did not pre-warn us in July :angry:

- we literally found out first day back), so that may have been a factor, as I only did a small amount of revision over the summer. Definitely go through the spec and do every single specimen paper you can find - you'll find questions in Numeracy repeat all of the time, pretty much all of them finish with a long tax question. I struggled so much with the wording of the questions in Numeracy, so if you can crack that now, it'd benefit you so much! Ahh really? I actually really like loci (I would offer to help you out, but I can't remember much about it now haha). The CGP maths revision guide (https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/1841465364/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o04_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1) is generally amazing (this was probably 50% of all of my revision) and had a great section on loci. Additionally, the WJEC have recently released a maths revision guide for the new spec https://www.amazon.co.uk/d/Books/Maths-Higher-Mastering-Mathematics-Revision-Guide-Notes/1471882535/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1490479018&sr=1-2&keywords=wjec+maths I can't comment on this one, as it wasn't released until only a few weeks ago, so I have no experience.

Reply 149

Tombre

OKAY - I NEED SOME OPINIONS

This is relating to my Physics GCSE:

I got my Physics controlled assessment mark today and it was an A :biggrin:

I am thrilled, especially considering I despise controlled assessments.

BUT, I really wanted an A* overall in Physics, as it's one of my favourites, but this grade wasn't enough to pull my As in P1 and P2 up. Basically in P3 I would need 84 UMS, which is impossible - 80 is the max with my exam board.

So, I'm considering resitting P2 and have discussed this with my teacher.

P1 - A - 71/80
P2 - A - 67/80
CA - A - 66/80

I only need 52 UMS (which is a C) in P3 to get an A overall, but I would like an A*. I can't resit the controlled assessment, which is my lowest unit. My next lowest unit is P2. In P1 I was one mark off an A*, so if I get a high A* in P2 and P3, I can comfortably get an A* overall.

P1 was lower than I would have wanted as I did it so early (Year 10 January) and P2 was a nasty paper. I'm really strong with P3 and I'm confident that I can easily relearn P2 and now that I'm older and have more experience with exams, be ready to take on any paper.

But, the cons are that it is at the same time as P3, so that's a bit inconvenient. It's also an extra exam to learn for.

I'm 99% sure I will resit, but I would like to hear some opinions.

Thanks :biggrin:

Reply 150

?Hannah?

Original post by Tombre

OKAY - I NEED SOME OPINIONS

This is relating to my Physics GCSE:

I got my Physics controlled assessment mark today and it was an A :biggrin:

hello,
if you believe that you can achieve the A* and wish to get this grade then i would definitely recommend resisting certain sections of your physics.
good luck!
remember that your exam results are permanent and you don't want to regret anything in the years to come!

Reply 151

Tombre

Original post by ?Hannah?

Thank you! I definitely think it will be worth it, so yes I'll get it another shot! :biggrin:

(edited 7 years ago)

Reply 152

niamhdoesmaths

Original post by Tombre

Thank you! I definitely think it will be worth it, so yes I'll get it another shot! :biggrin:

I agree with Hannah - if you think you've got a much better chance of doing well in P2 this year and getting your A* overall then resitting seems like the best idea :smile:

(Also, I had to edit your post - hope you don't mind! :redface:

)

Reply 153

?Hannah?

you have a great blog here! ill follow it and i hope you check mine out too. (;

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Reply 154

Tombre

Original post by NiamhM1801

I agree with Hannah - if you think you've got a much better chance of doing well in P2 this year and getting your A* overall then resitting seems like the best idea :smile:

(Also, I had to edit your post - hope you don't mind! :redface:

)

Thank you! I'm getting the resit form tomorrow! :h:

(I don't mind, I'm just wondering what you had to edit? Did I not proofread properly? haha)

Reply 155

Tombre

Original post by ?Hannah?

you have a great blog here! ill follow it and i hope you check mine out too. (;

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Thank you so much! I'll check yours out now :biggrin:

Reply 156

niamhdoesmaths

Original post by Tombre

Thank you! I'm getting the resit form tomorrow! :h:

(I don't mind, I'm just wondering what you had to edit? Did I not proofread properly? haha)

Ah that's good! :smile:

You mistyped "shot" that's all...sure you can guess what the result of that was? :lol:

Reply 157

Tombre

Original post by NiamhM1801

Ah that's good! :smile:

You mistyped "shot" that's all...sure you can guess what the result of that was? :lol:

Whoops... Sorry about that :biggrin:

Thanks for sorting it out!

Reply 158

jdijx

Thanks for the advise! I will try to get the CGP maths revision book. I sat the maths numeracy non calc and I wasn't all pleased with my result considering maths has always been my thing :/ what did you do for the other 50% of your maths revision? I really want to get an a or a* :/ I've also been considering to get an English tutor ¿ do you think it's worth it ? I'm struggling with it atm and I'm doing wjec exam board, any help is appreciated

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Reply 159

Tombre

Original post by Jpijx

I wouldn't worry, I think everyone struggles with Numeracy at first, but you will get the hang of it! Most people in my class got Cs in the Numeracy mock, yet when the results came, the class average was an A*!

The rest of my maths revision was PRACTISE, also I had a maths tutor and my school took us of timetable for 6 days to prepare.

I definitely think it's worth getting an English tutor if you think it'll help!