What's the most useful tip you could give to a Year 11, GCSE student?

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Don't rely on your teachers for anything. Self-teach and make sure your coursework is up to scratch using the exam boards' resources.

Reply 21

Chessie.123

Start revising early! I mainly focused on the important subjects which got me into sixth form, and when revising use cards, mind maps or quick fire questions... for the cards and mind maps use colour and trigger words!

Reply 22

iivwsk

Original post by annas73

Revise regularly from after Christmas. GCSE's are essentially just a memory test so repetition is key! I find spider diagrams and using a whiteboard to write things out helps!

This is wrong... Start revising now and get easy A*s/9s for everything.

IMPORTATNT

Find out the right way to revise, if you don't you'll fail everything/get crap grades. Also, make a timetable until January, and for the following week, make another timetable which says what you're going to do for each hour of the day.
Get 10 hours of sleep minimum and 12 hours maximum Be strict on the sleep rule
Everyday, take a 30 minute walk around the block you live in.

Reply 23

12ksmith

Original post by sxhxl

Work hard. Natural ability can only get you so far. Trust me when it gets to within a couple months off the exams, you can really tell who’s putting the hours in and who’s not.

Reply 24

roronoa1zoro

Start revising now with the impression that your taking your gcse exams in December (mocks). During this time practice different revision techniques. Your mocks are vital as it indicates on where your working at and what you need to improve on. In addition, after receiving your mock grades, you will have some knowledge of what revision technique works for you. Maths is simple - get a topic list and go through it (make sure your confident with all the topics from grade E-A*) After that it's just about practicing.

Reply 25

FutureUoBstudent

REVISE THE WAY THAT SUITS YOU. I did my GCSE’s last year and I didn’t revise until the day before and I read the textbooks (not because I wasn’t prepared or didn’t care-but because it was the only way I could revise). I would get told off by my teachers and told I would fail by fellow students when I told them that’s how I revised but any other way I tried would result in my getting a C or less. By results day, I came out with grades from A*-B (and grade 6 for maths and English). Some of the people that told me I was revising wrong and they were doing it the right failed so that was fun. Lol the point of my story is do what suits you. Don’t change it if it doesn’t help you.

Reply 26

phatshame9

KNOW THE SPECIFICATION

don't just blindly follow the textbook, link what you're writing to where it applies in the spec, it also ensures that you don't accidentally forget to revise a section if you're ticking off the spec as you go.

second piece of advice is doing practice papers in exam conditions and marking them accordingly, by this i mean looking up the mark scheme and going 'oh yeah, in the real exam i would've known that' and giving yourself false confidence will not help you at all. preparing this way meant that in the real exams i not only was way better at time-management and gathering my thoughts but i also generally finished significantly earlier than most (due to prior discipline and the effects of exam anxiety makes me write quicker lmao)

also starting super early isn't the best idea, but since your mocks will be coming up soon I assume you'll need to be consistently working throughout the year anyway. i started revising lightly in February, and started going hardcore maybe mid-march and onward; worked for me :smile:

this of course depends on what type of learner you are (i personally am the type of person to bulk-study 8 hours a day 4 times a week rather than do a couple of hours worth of studying everyday)

these are all things your teachers tell you all year, but i just wanted to stress the importance of appropriate preparation.

(edited 6 years ago)

Reply 27

pancake_seal

Don't revise too early. But don't leave it too late either. I started in March, but it's a personal thing and its up to you. I also found that a weekly timetable of when I was going to revise certain subjects and topics really helped me get motivated and organised :smile:

Reply 28

Spratty

GCSE's are a walk in the park. Take it easy

Reply 29

T0ucan

Try and get full marks or near full marks in any coursework.

Reply 30

leverarch

Start early and work consistently even if it's not much but still make sure you do at least something everyday so when it comes to exam season you're not having to relearn everything from the beginning again and you'll have some decent base knowledge

Reply 31

ray44

Read the specifications for every single subject you are taking, not just a skim read, make sure you know exactly what can come up on any exam. Then make notes on it all. Textbooks can sometimes miss out a few bits,but the specification is all that the exam board can test you on. Once you are satisfied with your notes, keep doing pps, as many as possible. Learn how to exam questions for higher marks. Good luck

Dont smoke

time management. revise from early on, i.e. now, not just in May!

Reply 34

Cod3tte

Forget the beef.
Forget who said what to who last night.
And study.

Reply 35

malk1515

Work hard, play later.

Reply 36

12ksmith

Original post by VirgoStrain

Natural ability is what makes it so easy to get A*'s. I flat out didn't revise for German and French reading/listening tests and I aced them with A*'s.

By any chance are you fluent in these languages?

Reply 37

12ksmith

Original post by VirgoStrain

No. I wasn't raised speaking them. I started learning French very early on in primary school though. My French is near fluent though but my German is weaker. Still, during the listening tests I concentrated really hard on key words, and even those I didn't know I managed to make good guesses and eliminate what wasn't the answer.

The old specification which meant speaking/writing tests are basically essays you write and memorise at home before coming in to do them was probably what allowed me to do well.

You got that natural ability by working hard learning languages from such a young age.

You then worked hard at home memorising your essays.

You only found the exam easy because of the amount of hard work you put in.

Reply 38

12ksmith

Original post by VirgoStrain

Fair enough. But I was super lazy in lessons and I felt like I had screwed up my reading / listening tests in French (turns out I got 99% UMS). I guess I already knew more than enough.