GCSE Help/Tips to Y10s/11s (8A*s, 4As)

1) My favourite subject at GCSE? Oooh tough question, honestly I'd say either Physics or Chemistry, mostly because of my teacher than for the GCSE curriculum itself, as well as having a passion for it, probably Computing as well because I just enjoy programming.

2) Favourite A Level? Well it's too early to make a definitive decision, but I'd definitely say Chemistry, don't get me wrong, the step up from GCSE to A Level, is HUGE, because they're essentially corrected all the lies they taught at GCSE, but it's very very interesting, I'm glad I took it.

3) Aspirations, honestly, I have no clue: Ideally Chemical Engineering, or some form of Engineering, or maybe straight Chemistry/Computer Science, at a top uni like Cambridge or RG like Bristol.

4) Y10? Honestly, I'm not gonna high road this one, I did s***. I got a 9 in Maths, A* in Computing, Geography, Chem and Physics but besides that, I got 6 in both Englishs, a C in RE, a C in Biology, and a low C in French, I only really decided to tryhard in Y11

5) If we're talking free time in A Levels? Virtually 0. Free time in GCSES? If I wasn't gaming, or programming, I would be playing Table Tennis, I was, (and still am) captain of the school team of Table Tennis, and was frequently at competitions and tournaments, especially during the later half of Y10 and beginning of Y11, so basically I missed a lot of the first month of Y11

I'm finding it ok but there's a lot more homework than at GCSE My subjects are Maths, Further Maths, Economics and Geography. How are you finding your a-levels?

Hi,
I'm REALLY struggling at physics, I'm not naturally great at it and find it a bit dull so am falling behind. The more I stress the harder it becomes and I just can't seem to get any better at it?!
Any tips for improving at physics?
Lol plz help me :'))

I got an A* in biology, and I think that was simply because in the old spec it was way more content-applied ratio than in the other sciences, so most of the GCSE exam was just recalling what you know.

Trust me, there's a reason why I didn't do this for A Level, in Y10/11, I SUCKED at Biology, i.e, I was the most inconsistent little **** ever when it came to the mock tests, I'd go from A* to C real quick, mostly the latter. How I managed to turn around was just, extremely dumbing down my notes, i.e I'd take notes from my textbook/exercise notes, then find ways to make that even dumber, and even dumber, to the point where it's just a couple of words on a flashcard, the result of this is that by recalling just words, words that crop up in exam questions, you'll come to remember the more complex stuff that it represents.

English Literature, that's a whole different ballgame, I did An Inspector Calls, Macbeth, Jekyll and Hyde, and the Poetry Anthology on AQA. For Macbeth, the one thing I made sure to revise were the key themes (at least for me), ambition ambition ambition, supernatural supernatural supernatural, good and evil, kingship, religion/divine right, etc. The CGP textbooks I used for Macbeth were great, because they picked apart every bit of the text, and managed to connect it to each theme. Because I'm a bit of a history nerd, I excelled at the context side of things, I.e religion, kingship/divine right, witchcraft relating to evil, gender roles (lady macbeth/macbeth exerting dominance on macbeth, which was probably a weird concept back then), etc, also I spammed 'A Jacobean audience would....', for extra marks.

As opposed to structure? I'd simply recommend MrBruff, he is amazing for both Lit and Lang as he picks apart each question and gives tailored strategies for how you should present each answer to attain maximum marks, he was the difference for me that caused me to get a 9, that, and a natural ability to waffle in the exam. You clearly have the ability to analyse, so if it's just how you present the answer that worries you, he's your guy,

Anything else?

Thanks for replying!
Im absolutely LOVING physics and chemistry! I've got really high grades in both exams which im pleased with! Im also loving maths and attained 81% in my previous test which im quite disappointed with since the marks i lost were all silly mistakes! Still very thankful for the mark though! I aspire to study Medicine at Cambridge Xxxx

Thanks dude I really appreciate it. I guess If you have any help with languages I'll be extremely grateful, because I have just given up on Spanish, I don't even care if I fail it anymore I'm just that bad. I guess if i have no motivation no revision techniques will help, but maybe ill get some in the future...with what little time I have till my GCSE's xD

Oh languages,

I still don't know how I managed to clutch the A in French, but I didn't revise until the week before for the actual exam, so.

Is it speaking, writing, reading/listening or all of the above you need help with?

LOOOOOOL oh dear i'm really bad at this subject. Mainly writing and reading/listening. You see I'm predicted 4 in Spanish which is barely a pass, however in all the mocks I have been getting 2's and 3's...I feel like I should just go over vocab and basic grammatical structures and phrases, and maybe the three main tenses in order to scrape a 4 but I don't feel like I should put any effort into that language at all. If you any websites that could help I'll also appreciate.

For reading/listening! Just past papers, I understand that it's new spec, but it never hurts to do old spec past papers to test your exam skills/technique. I literally just memorised some common vocabulary in the vocab book I was given, just the more practice the better for that one really, as well for reading, picking out certain words, verbs, etc that stick out to you in past papers and looking them up, in the exam, pick out key words that give meaning and you construct a rough meaning of a sentence which develops.

For writing,
write out your sentence
over
and over
and over
and over
and over
and over
and over
and over
and over
and over
and over
and over
and over
and over
and over
and over
and over


Until you remember every bit until you have trigger words.

Hi,@AryanGh


I'm Mo and I'm in Year 11,how do you pass Maths? Your grades is so amazing! I'm doing 9-1 Edexcel Maths (Foundation tier because I'm a bit slow at it).

Hi Mo! I appreciate your kind comments! Honestly, if you're aiming for top grades in foundation (a 5 I think), the only real substitute I can offer to you is just plain practice, Maths isn't one of those subjects where at GCSE you can just flashcard and cram to success (though I did manage that comfortably with some other subjects! ), use places like khanacademy, or examsolutions, they can be really beneficial, if you can't remember things like circle theorems or trig formulas, perhaps write it on a sticky so it can linger in the mind.

How did you do well in English Literature and Biology. I'm simply naturally **** at biology but excel at the other two sciences. Furthermore, Eng Lit is always my worst out of the Englishes, I can provide deep connotations etc. But can never write it in a way that is convincing.

How did your deal with the two? How did you revise for the two especially English Lit. Im doing Lord of the Flies and Macbeth for it.

How are you finding a level chemistry? And could you give me any tips for physics please as i have chosen to do a level physics next year without maths?

Hi
So I m currently doing foundation in maths and I really want to do higher what shall I do?


How do you revise for English language and literature ?

How did you revise for all the subject and how long did u spend ?



Sorry for so many question.

I actually self taught most of AS Chem in Y10 and 11, I'm doing AS and A2 this year, I'm finding it highly enjoyable, if it's natural to you at GCSE, and have a passion, you'll love it at A Level.

A Level Physics requires no big maths you wouldn't have been taught at higher level GCSE, the most advanced it might get is logs, that's about it. The course is specifically designed so that people who don't take Maths have an equal likelihood of succeeding.

Hii, those are great results

Can you give me a brief overview of how to revise the following: English Language, English Literature, Maths, Biology, Chemistry, Physics, Geography, French and Religious Studies? Mostly English because, being more STEM-oriented, I struggle with it.

I'm considering the A levels you're doing - would you recommend?

Thanks in advance