All or Nothing... DeepInTheMeadow's road to A/A*s at GCSE
So I originally thought that you could only start a blog earlier on before the deadline, but now I've realised that I could've started it in Feb/March anyway. Oh well!
I'm DeepInTheMeadow and I'm here to start a very last minute blog about my GCSEs. I am taking 10 different subjects, with my first exam in just 40 days
! I really want to get at least 7 A*s, and 3 As for English language, English literature and P.E. In my January mocks I got 9 A*s, which was amazing, but some of them weren't full exams, so I'm not trusting those results.
Therefore, I want to be working really hard between now and my actual exams to get the grades that I want, and to be able to study four A levels at my chosen sixth form.
GCSEs I am taking:
English literature (9-1) AQA
English language (9-1) AQA
Maths (9-1) AQA
Chemistry OCR GATEWAY
Biology OCR GATEWAY
Physics OCR GATEWAY
Geography OCR
Religious Studies AQA
Spanish AQA
P.E EDEXCEL
A-levels I am planing on taking:
Maths
Further Maths
Spanish
Economics
Already took one A level in Year 10- Russian language. A*
My feelings about these new 9-1 GCSEs? Meh. I actually like the new maths one, I love a challenge; but English is driving me crazy! Any tips for that guys? I come up with interesting points, but I never write them down correctly, my essays are very jumbled and incoherent.
I'm DeepInTheMeadow and I'm here to start a very last minute blog about my GCSEs. I am taking 10 different subjects, with my first exam in just 40 days
! I really want to get at least 7 A*s, and 3 As for English language, English literature and P.E. In my January mocks I got 9 A*s, which was amazing, but some of them weren't full exams, so I'm not trusting those results. Therefore, I want to be working really hard between now and my actual exams to get the grades that I want, and to be able to study four A levels at my chosen sixth form.
GCSEs I am taking:
English literature (9-1) AQA
English language (9-1) AQA
Maths (9-1) AQA
Chemistry OCR GATEWAY
Biology OCR GATEWAY
Physics OCR GATEWAY
Geography OCR
Religious Studies AQA
Spanish AQA
P.E EDEXCEL
A-levels I am planing on taking:
Maths
Further Maths
Spanish
Economics
Already took one A level in Year 10- Russian language. A*
Spoiler
My feelings about these new 9-1 GCSEs? Meh. I actually like the new maths one, I love a challenge; but English is driving me crazy! Any tips for that guys? I come up with interesting points, but I never write them down correctly, my essays are very jumbled and incoherent.
Scroll to see replies
Day 1: 40 days until my first exam- Religious Studies AQA B Unit 2! Just seeing it written down freaks me out now end.
Tomorrow is the first day of my Easter holidays! Today was non-uniform at school, which was really fun and my friends and I messed out and played football during P.E.
My plan for Easter goes thusly:
I am going on holiday with my family to York from Sunday 9th April to Tuesday 11th. I will not be revising, I seriously need a break before I freak myself out about GCSEs. From then on, I am planning to revise most days a week, with one day off. One day per subject is essentially what I'm doing, because if I study a subject continuously I feel like I'm making more progress, and I really get into it and start enjoying learning. My school is also running revision sessions during the holidays, so some of my revision days correspond with that. E.g. R.S has a revision session 9am -12, so I'll go to that and then continue R.S revision at home! I'll be revising around 6 hours a day (10-1 and 2-5 being my sessions) on most of these days.
This afternoon, I mainly chilled out because hey-ho it's the holidays, but I did an hour of revision for R.S as well.
Tomorrow is the first day of my Easter holidays! Today was non-uniform at school, which was really fun and my friends and I messed out and played football during P.E.
My plan for Easter goes thusly:
I am going on holiday with my family to York from Sunday 9th April to Tuesday 11th. I will not be revising, I seriously need a break before I freak myself out about GCSEs. From then on, I am planning to revise most days a week, with one day off. One day per subject is essentially what I'm doing, because if I study a subject continuously I feel like I'm making more progress, and I really get into it and start enjoying learning. My school is also running revision sessions during the holidays, so some of my revision days correspond with that. E.g. R.S has a revision session 9am -12, so I'll go to that and then continue R.S revision at home! I'll be revising around 6 hours a day (10-1 and 2-5 being my sessions) on most of these days.
This afternoon, I mainly chilled out because hey-ho it's the holidays, but I did an hour of revision for R.S as well.
Good luck! 
I bid you good luck
08/04/2017
Right so it's the first day of my holiday, which I will (unfortunately) spend revising (I'm such a nerd
). It's just because I'm going on holiday Sunday-Tuesday so I need to get some work done today.
Today's focus: Biology
Tasks: Full B4 notes (we have never been taught this unit because we've had so many supply teachers)
Full (but less detailed) B2 notes (which I'm just bad at)
Flashcards to summarise what I've learnt in B2
Past paper for B4 to check I've learnt it properly (need to print this off myself- my dad is already moaning at the amount of ink I'm using up!)Test myself on the B3 notes I made last week
So, that's actually not too much work, except for the whole teach-myself-a-whole-damn-unit thing. Will be revising 11-1, and then from 2-6 and then I'll be done and chill for the evening, maybe go for a run or watch a film.
Right so it's the first day of my holiday, which I will (unfortunately) spend revising (I'm such a nerd
). It's just because I'm going on holiday Sunday-Tuesday so I need to get some work done today.Today's focus: Biology
Tasks: Full B4 notes (we have never been taught this unit because we've had so many supply teachers)
Full (but less detailed) B2 notes (which I'm just bad at)
Flashcards to summarise what I've learnt in B2
Past paper for B4 to check I've learnt it properly (need to print this off myself- my dad is already moaning at the amount of ink I'm using up!)Test myself on the B3 notes I made last week
So, that's actually not too much work, except for the whole teach-myself-a-whole-damn-unit thing. Will be revising 11-1, and then from 2-6 and then I'll be done and chill for the evening, maybe go for a run or watch a film.
Best of luck with everything! You definitely seem very capable and I'm sure you'll be pleased on results day 
I sat my GCSEs last year and did incredibly similar subjects to you (the only difference is that I did German rather than Spanish!) so if you have any questions about specific subjects or GCSEs in general don't hesitate to ask!
Oh - and I currently do Maths and Further Maths at AS so happy to answer questions about those too!
I sat my GCSEs last year and did incredibly similar subjects to you (the only difference is that I did German rather than Spanish!) so if you have any questions about specific subjects or GCSEs in general don't hesitate to ask!
Oh - and I currently do Maths and Further Maths at AS so happy to answer questions about those too!
(edited 7 years ago)
Original post by NiamhM1801
Best of luck with everything! You definitely seem very capable and I'm sure you'll be pleased on results day
I sat my GCSEs last year and did incredibly similar subjects to you (the only difference is that I did German rather than Spanish!) so if you have any questions about specific subjects or GCSEs in general don't hesitate to ask!
Oh - and I currently do Maths and Further Maths at AS so happy to answer questions about those too!
I sat my GCSEs last year and did incredibly similar subjects to you (the only difference is that I did German rather than Spanish!) so if you have any questions about specific subjects or GCSEs in general don't hesitate to ask!
Oh - and I currently do Maths and Further Maths at AS so happy to answer questions about those too!
Haha that's so funny. I love German, did it at my old school but this one didn't offer it!😄
I do have a question about Further Maths- is it really difficult and/or Physics-y? I love maths but for some reason I dislike physics and I'm also worried about the level of difficulty at A level.
Original post by DeepInTheMeadow
Haha that's so funny. I love German, did it at my old school but this one didn't offer it!😄
I do have a question about Further Maths- is it really difficult and/or Physics-y? I love maths but for some reason I dislike physics and I'm also worried about the level of difficulty at A level.
I do have a question about Further Maths- is it really difficult and/or Physics-y? I love maths but for some reason I dislike physics and I'm also worried about the level of difficulty at A level.
If you have a passion in Maths, and from looking at your previous posts, you do seem to have a high amount of aptitude, it's not too bad. You may do mechanics in FM, separate from core, statistics and discrete/decisions, but it depends on the modules that your school does.
Original post by DeepInTheMeadow
Haha that's so funny. I love German, did it at my old school but this one didn't offer it!😄
I do have a question about Further Maths- is it really difficult and/or Physics-y? I love maths but for some reason I dislike physics and I'm also worried about the level of difficulty at A level.
I do have a question about Further Maths- is it really difficult and/or Physics-y? I love maths but for some reason I dislike physics and I'm also worried about the level of difficulty at A level.
I love it too! Aw that's a shame, I'd still be doing it now but I was the only one who wanted to do it for A Level so they didn't run it
I'm not finding it that hard if I'm honest, it's definitely manageable! The only thing I'm struggling with is timing in the exams - the Decision modules are really time-consuming so I always find myself a bit pushed! And it's not physics-y at all, so there's no need to worry about that
Because you'll be doing new spec Maths and FM I'm not sure how much more difficult it'll be than the old one (what I'm sitting). However if you enjoy and are good at maths then you should be okay with it. A Levels are meant to be challenging - you do need to work hard but they won't completely take over your life if you're sensible and keep up with everything. Hope that's reassured you a bit!
Original post by _gcx
If you have a passion in Maths, and from looking at your previous posts, you do seem to have a high amount of aptitude, it's not too bad. You may do mechanics in FM, separate from core, statistics and discrete/decisions, but it depends on the modules that your school does.
Original post by NiamhM1801
Because you'll be doing new spec Maths and FM I'm not sure how much more difficult it'll be than the old one (what I'm sitting). However if you enjoy and are good at maths then you should be okay with it. A Levels are meant to be challenging - you do need to work hard but they won't completely take over your life if you're sensible and keep up with everything. Hope that's reassured you a bit!
Because you'll be doing new spec Maths and FM I'm not sure how much more difficult it'll be than the old one (what I'm sitting). However if you enjoy and are good at maths then you should be okay with it. A Levels are meant to be challenging - you do need to work hard but they won't completely take over your life if you're sensible and keep up with everything. Hope that's reassured you a bit!
Aww thanks for the encouragement guys! Sounds like A levels are gonna be pretty fun, even when they're difficult.
UPDATE:
It's 16:00 now and I haven't gotten nearly as much work as I'd have liked to, due to the fact that B4 took so much longer than I expected to teach myself- which is not surprising, but it is irritating. I decided to turn the whole unit into flashcards instead of wasting time making notes but it still took ages.
Even though it took me ages, I'm satisfied. I took a past paper and got 19/25 and when I checked the boundaries for that year, it would have been enough (combined with the other units) to get me an A* so I'm happy with that (even though the mark was low in my opinion)
I'm gonna work for two more hours- probably on B2, which I detest but still I want a good mark on it so...
And then blessed freedom!!!
It's 16:00 now and I haven't gotten nearly as much work as I'd have liked to, due to the fact that B4 took so much longer than I expected to teach myself- which is not surprising, but it is irritating. I decided to turn the whole unit into flashcards instead of wasting time making notes but it still took ages.
Spoiler
Even though it took me ages, I'm satisfied. I took a past paper and got 19/25 and when I checked the boundaries for that year, it would have been enough (combined with the other units) to get me an A* so I'm happy with that
(even though the mark was low in my opinion)I'm gonna work for two more hours- probably on B2, which I detest but still I want a good mark on it so...
And then blessed freedom!!!
11/04/2017
Sup guys, I'm back!! My family and I drove up to spend a couple of nights in a youth hostel in York, looking around the city, seeing the sites, eating ice-cream and visiting my mum's old university campus. Aside from a major lack of sleep due to those wretched bunk beds, I really enjoyed myself. I would really recommend taking a day off this holiday guys, just having a day when you do nothing at all. I found it really refreshing and I'm (kinda) ready to get back to work now!
However, having had a break, I'm now petrified about not being ready for the exams. I feel insanely guilty, I should've definitely started revision earlier, but I didn't because I thought it would be 'weird and nerdy'- to quote my beloved classmates. Now I am regretting it, because the people who told me I shouldn't be revising, are the ones who are going to do badly anyway. I want those As and A*s, and I think that I've been slacking a bit, because people keep telling me I'm clever and don't need to revise. Those people do not know me at all.
The other thing that is stressing me out, just a teeny bit, is how bad my school is. It's 'Needs Improvement' Ofsted, and it just all-round sucks tbh. No-one studies, the teachers barely care, I have to tell them about stuff like using the specifications etc. And then you look at someone like Eve Bennett, who got 11 A*s, and her school is pretty great. So I'm scared as heck about that.
Anyway, enough about my moaning and freaking out, I have got stuff to do. Today is still like a half-holiday for me, we only got back from York a couple of hours ago, so I'm definitely still chilling, but I'm also going to finish off my B2 notes that I didn't finish last session, and review everything I learnt in Biology (probs from about 4:30-6).
Good luck and may the examiner's be ever in your favour!
Sup guys, I'm back!! My family and I drove up to spend a couple of nights in a youth hostel in York, looking around the city, seeing the sites, eating ice-cream and visiting my mum's old university campus. Aside from a major lack of sleep due to those wretched bunk beds, I really enjoyed myself. I would really recommend taking a day off this holiday guys, just having a day when you do nothing at all. I found it really refreshing and I'm (kinda) ready to get back to work now!
However, having had a break, I'm now petrified about not being ready for the exams. I feel insanely guilty, I should've definitely started revision earlier, but I didn't because I thought it would be 'weird and nerdy'- to quote my beloved classmates. Now I am regretting it, because the people who told me I shouldn't be revising, are the ones who are going to do badly anyway. I want those As and A*s, and I think that I've been slacking a bit, because people keep telling me I'm clever and don't need to revise. Those people do not know me at all.
The other thing that is stressing me out, just a teeny bit, is how bad my school is. It's 'Needs Improvement' Ofsted, and it just all-round sucks tbh. No-one studies, the teachers barely care, I have to tell them about stuff like using the specifications etc. And then you look at someone like Eve Bennett, who got 11 A*s, and her school is pretty great. So I'm scared as heck about that.
Anyway, enough about my moaning and freaking out, I have got stuff to do. Today is still like a half-holiday for me, we only got back from York a couple of hours ago, so I'm definitely still chilling, but I'm also going to finish off my B2 notes that I didn't finish last session, and review everything I learnt in Biology (probs from about 4:30-6).
Good luck and may the examiner's be ever in your favour!
Original post by DeepInTheMeadow
UPDATE:
It's 16:00 now and I haven't gotten nearly as much work as I'd have liked to, due to the fact that B4 took so much longer than I expected to teach myself- which is not surprising, but it is irritating. I decided to turn the whole unit into flashcards instead of wasting time making notes but it still took ages.
Even though it took me ages, I'm satisfied. I took a past paper and got 19/25 and when I checked the boundaries for that year, it would have been enough (combined with the other units) to get me an A* so I'm happy with that (even though the mark was low in my opinion)
I'm gonna work for two more hours- probably on B2, which I detest but still I want a good mark on it so...
And then blessed freedom!!!
It's 16:00 now and I haven't gotten nearly as much work as I'd have liked to, due to the fact that B4 took so much longer than I expected to teach myself- which is not surprising, but it is irritating. I decided to turn the whole unit into flashcards instead of wasting time making notes but it still took ages.
Spoiler
Even though it took me ages, I'm satisfied. I took a past paper and got 19/25 and when I checked the boundaries for that year, it would have been enough (combined with the other units) to get me an A* so I'm happy with that
(even though the mark was low in my opinion)I'm gonna work for two more hours- probably on B2, which I detest but still I want a good mark on it so...
And then blessed freedom!!!
Your B4 revision flashcards are great. Thanks!
Original post by Samosa and Vada
Your B4 revision flashcards are great. Thanks!
Aww I'm really glad that they helped you
Like, haven't you found that there are a lot of AQA science things, but very little for this exam board?Original post by DeepInTheMeadow
Aww I'm really glad that they helped you Like, haven't you found that there are a lot of AQA science things, but very little for this exam board?
Like, haven't you found that there are a lot of AQA science things, but very little for this exam board?Yes, AQA seems to be popular when it comes to Science. Thanks again for the flashcards!
Update:
Yay! So I've finished B2 unit and will just test myself on B4 and B2 before I finish completely. So pleased with what I have accomplished today, even though it wasn't much, it was all I wanted. I even had time to go for a run with my dad
Talk to you guys tomorrow, I'm not 100% sure, but I think I'm focusing on Physics then, so see ya'll around, when I'll be having mini-breakdowns over Diodes and Full-wave rectification or whatever it is.
Yay! So I've finished B2 unit and will just test myself on B4 and B2 before I finish completely. So pleased with what I have accomplished today, even though it wasn't much, it was all I wanted. I even had time to go for a run with my dad
Talk to you guys tomorrow, I'm not 100% sure, but I think I'm focusing on Physics then, so see ya'll around, when I'll be having mini-breakdowns over Diodes and Full-wave rectification or whatever it is.
12/04/17:
Morning all! It's 10:00, which means I need to start revising in a couple of minutes, but I'm just gonna drop a line in here first, because I find it really motivating to have to tell you guys whether I've actually done the work I plan to do.
So today is Physics day! Bleurgh, I hate Physics, but anyway, I want an A* in it, just to prove to myself that I can.
The plan for today is:
Today I'm going to revise 10-1, and 2-5. I would revise for longer, but I'm going out for Chinese with some friends and need to leave at 5:15. I guess if I don't finish all my work, I'll wake up a little earlier tomorrow, to finish off Physics.
See ya!
Morning all! It's 10:00, which means I need to start revising in a couple of minutes, but I'm just gonna drop a line in here first, because I find it really motivating to have to tell you guys whether I've actually done the work I plan to do.
So today is Physics day! Bleurgh, I hate Physics, but anyway, I want an A* in it, just to prove to myself that I can.
The plan for today is:
•
Full P6- making full notes, flashcards, and answering practice questions. It's my weak spot so I'm gonna put 3 hours into learning the wretched thing.
•
P5- making full notes, also a weakness of mine. Giving myself 2 hours of this.
•
P1/2- gonna run through these and make as many flashcards as is possible in an hour.
Today I'm going to revise 10-1, and 2-5. I would revise for longer, but I'm going out for Chinese with some friends and need to leave at 5:15. I guess if I don't finish all my work, I'll wake up a little earlier tomorrow, to finish off Physics.
See ya!
Original post by DeepInTheMeadow
My feelings about these new 9-1 GCSEs? Meh. I actually like the new maths one, I love a challenge; but English is driving me crazy! Any tips for that guys? I come up with interesting points, but I never write them down correctly, my essays are very jumbled and incoherent.
My feelings about these new 9-1 GCSEs? Meh. I actually like the new maths one, I love a challenge; but English is driving me crazy! Any tips for that guys? I come up with interesting points, but I never write them down correctly, my essays are very jumbled and incoherent.
THIS IS LITERALLY ME. The new maths gcse isn't bad but revising for english lit is driving me insane
I'm also AQA for english lit
what poem cluster are you doing?Original post by urgurlbecca
THIS IS LITERALLY ME. The new maths gcse isn't bad but revising for english lit is driving me insane
I'm also AQA for english lit what poem cluster are you doing?
I'm also AQA for english lit
what poem cluster are you doing?I know right!!!! The new maths is only worrying me because I need an 8/9 to do Further Maths, but english....urgh. We are doing Power and Conflict, which is fairly interestingbut it's the unseen poetry which I am underprepared for. Our school gave us a mock with barely any instructions, but I did manage 19/24 and 6/8, trouble is, my teacher hasn't helped me on how to gain those few marks. Luckily, my inspector calls essay dragged that thing up. English language is currently worrying me more than English lit, just because it's so weird! I normally would like creative writing and writing to argue, but I hate doing it under timed conditions and within the confines of a mark scheme. The last argumentative essay we had to do was on snow, for heaven's sake!!!!
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