will i be able to get the grades?

thank you so much, i wish you all the best also, and i literally nodded my head as i read each sentence( basically i feel the exact same way) but what do you mean by 3 years is a lot of time for revision? im in year 11, i have 4-5 months till gcses and 1 month till mocks. are you in year9?

oh my gosh, i said '3 years'? i'm such an idiot *face palm* i meant 3 hours, sorry.
i'm in year 11, too, aha x

For GCSE I'd say now is the perfect time to start revision, definitely not too late. When I did mine I did about 2 hours on a school night and 4 hours on a weekend or holiday day (but I do double that for a level and tbh my GCSE revision was terrible and I got by on natural ability).
I'd recommend about 2.5 hours on school nights and 6 on weekends and holidays.
I personally believe that the key is planning and using your revision time effectively (as opposed to doing 4 hours with the tv on, do 3 with the radio on and you'll get much more done and then have an hour free).
I've always particularly struggled to be productive on weekends. I combat that by planning and setting 'work hours'. I pretend it's like an actual job and I have to be in the office working from 9-1 then from 2-5 and then I can have a whole evening of guilt free leisure time.
I'd also make a timetable that repeats every two weeks, add up the total hours you'll do in two weeks and decide how to split it per subject. It's important to do a mixture of notes/flash cards and past papers. Some more content heavy subjects like biology or history will need a greater amount of notes/flash card revision while more concept based subjects like maths, physics and English will need a greater amount of past paper revision.
For essay subjects like English and history do a past paper and ask your teacher to mark it and give you detailed feedback. Then use the feedback to see if you can do another one better. Ask for feedback again. You're not going to annoy a teacher by working hard!
Mix up your techniques, it's easy to keep doing the same thing without realising it's not working.
Most of this advice is based upon my a level revision because, as I said, my GCSE revision was pants.

haha, i was so worried ther for a sec, phew, thought this was the wrong chat or someting, anyway, im so glad im not alone, all my friends are like bloody revision masters and im here feeling like death as i keep wasting anothr hour. ughhh i dunno what to doooo, i am literally expected to get 9s and here i am still on my laptop.

Well I’m in the same boat, I got 56677778 in my mocks this year without revision. The 5 was in french (I’m no linguist) and my English grade was actually a 7 (instead of the listed 6) but the school made their own mark scheme and reduced me. -_- Anyway, those grades are decent but they’re not quite enough for me so it’s time to put in the work.

What I’ve found helpful is just read those CGP books. A topic or half a topic every day starting now, it takes so little time but it’s a good refresher. I’ve also downloaded apps with quizzes and can use resources like Temple GCSE and kerboodle for science and languages. If factual knowledge is what you need to go over, that will help.

If you need help on exam technique it gets harder. Not more difficult, but more work and effort! Answer questions from textbooks and revision guides and get teachers to mark them and give you pointers. You’ll also do well doing past papers (from school or online) and finding the mark schemes and studying them - you’ll work out what they want for each question and how to check each box for every mark.

I’ve found an app called GCSE 9-1, and it only has half the exams now but it gives you a hardcore revision timetable for the month before exams. It looks brilliant and you can adapt it how you’d like but it gives you ideal topics and durations to revise for.

Good luck and keep me updated! How did your mocks go?

hi! thank you so much for taking the time out to reply- it means SO much to me!

you know what the crazy thing is? i literally read the CGP revision guides for my october mocks, and i'm doing the same this time, aha.
i am planning on using kerboodle for my revision (if it gets anywhere), to make notes.
in my october mocks, i got 5/6s in my sciences, 6s in my English, and (very shockingly, as i am completely useless in maths) 6s in my maths. in spanish, i got a 4 overall, as the teachers have put the grade boundaries so high. in geography, i think my overall was a 6/7- i can't remember exactly.
nonetheless, your grades are amazing! well done, you should be really proud!
i am definitely going to put your advice into practice, and even though i hate doing practice papers, i'll do them too, aha. also, i'll definitely download that 9-1 app- it sounds great!
thank you so, so much for the help, it honestly means so much to me, and i'm so grateful for you taking the time out to reply.

i will definitely keep you posted; you should do, too! maybe we can pm on TSR? i wish you all te best with all your exams- good luck! xx

yep, i'm definitely in year 11- i did not give a crap about my GCSEs in year 9, haha.
but, i'm on my laptop, too! and my friends have been revising since septemeber, and it's stressing me out, aha.
and, i tend to waste all my time on TSR, aha.
i literally relate to you so much!

saaaaaameee, hahaha, we must do something about this right now.
we both want grades 7-9 in all our gcses and this procrastination needs to stop. though i find it easier if theres someone there to do it with me.
how about we both do an hours revision in a a weak subject: right here rigt now. what do you say?

Sure thing! And no problem, I like talking on here and it’s nice to see someone I can relate to!
I welcome PMs aha, I’m new to this though so I might have to figure it out first. Good luck to you too! X

deal! i totally agree with you- we need to get our lives together, else we'll never get the grades!
i find it much easier to do it with someone, too!
but, yes, let's both do one hour in a weak subject- i'm definitely doing maths, aha.
but, after an hour, we'll check up on each other on PM to make sure we actually did something productive, and didn't waste another hour on TSR, aha x

wow 8A*, that's literally my dream, how did you do it? so 2-4 hours on a weekday- i get that, but how did you manage to stay on track on weekends? its Saturday today and i planned to revise "all day" instead i did about 2 hours of good revision, 1 hour of pointless revision and the rest of the day watching Netflix. how can i break from this treacherous habit???

haha, i was so worried ther for a sec, phew, thought this was the wrong chat or someting, anyway, im so glad im not alone, all my friends are like bloody revision masters and im here feeling like death as i keep wasting anothr hour. ughhh i dunno what to doooo, i am literally expected to get 9s and here i am still on my laptop.

I have never related more, since y10 one of my friends has done a minimum of 3 hours a day plus 6 during school holidays. Yes, even the easter holidays of y10.

wow i wish i was like that u know- being able to study like that

thank you so, so much for taking the time out to reply! it really means alot!
your advice is SO helpful! thank you for being so specific, too, it is so heplful, and i'm so grateful.
i will definitely be putting your advice in to practice!
(also, side note, but how did you know i 'revise' with the tv on?? haha, i should really stop that).
thank you, again, so much! xx

I'm in year 12 so I completely get where you're coming from. Good news is, that you've realised it now and not like a month before the actual exams like I did. I'm assuming, based on your predicted grades of 8's, you're currently doing higher and are quite intellegent like myself. As such you should have plenty of time to study for your GCSEs. I suggest prioritising. Not completely though. Just find one subject that is not only your lowest current grade but also the subject you find hardest. Place this subject at the top. For me that was maths. Like you I was predicted a Grade 8/9. And let me also tell you that at the beginning of year 10/11 (I can't remember which), My report said that I was on a Grade 2. In fact about this time last year, I was on a Grade 6. Luckily I was already on the UniTracks programme from year 10, and they invited my to an intense 3 day, 4 night bootcamp for easter to work on a subject of my choice. Naturally I choose maths. But that wasn't until Easter. I didn't want to ask my parents for a tutor (for money purposes) so I took it to my maths teacher. She was hard to deal with as aperson but a very good teacher. I asked for worksheets on things I didn't get and asked her after school to re-explain things I didn't understand in class. And, as I'm sure you've heard milllions of times, my true saviour were past papers. That means applying the knowledge and than targeting the types of questions that you frequently got wrong. Literally two weeks before the actual maths exams I learnt about three or four topics that I had gotten wrong in three past papers. And I don't mean re-learnt. I mean I had no clue as to what this was. It was completely new. And thankfully I did, because it came up. So if you can do some kind of bootcamp, or worksheets. And past papers and then use your teachers to learn from the papers. Try not to panic. I know it's difficult but plan some kind of event as stress relief in advance about half way through your exams of a huge celebration after the exams. That's how I survived. I had planned to go to (my first) comic-con about half way through my exams. So when I started dying from the stress and lack of sleep I just told myself "just a little bit more. A bit more and then you can have a break. Do it for comic-con."
That being said don't ditch all of the other subjects too. Just try to get them to a suitable level. A level that you find acceptable. For me that was a Grade B, or at least a C. For those don't force yourself to go overboard. Just try to maintain that level. If you can find extra time for them, then great. I'd suggest splitting up your study times. Say you had planned to do 16 hours a week of studying (excluding breaks). And you have 5 subjects. For maths (the prioritised subject) do 4 hours. And then you have 12 hours left, that 3 hours for each of the other four subjects. But do add in breaks too. I try to stick to the 20 mins work, 10 mins play. If you go over, don't beat yourself up over it. Somestimes I'll do 25 mins work and 5 mins play if I'm on a roll, but do get at least a 3 min break for every 20-30 min work. And once every two weeks, of even once a week, schedule a day off to just relax and unwind. Because I promise it will get really nasty if that stress builds up too much, like mine did. Anyways. Focus on the hardest, level off the others and take breaks and have rewards. Don't overwork yourself. Sleep as much as you possibly can (6-7 hours minimum), eat, and vent to your friends and classmates. (They're in the same boat as you, even if that boat is the Titanic) also sorry this is soo long.

Hey, there's no need to worry at all! I remember having the same thoughts: I wasn't convinced that my prediction would come true. I didn't do revision on a daily basis - instead, I made sure that I was an expert in every single thing I learned in every subject on that day. That way, when it came to revision, it was much easier because all I had to do was to pick up what I already understood fully.

Best of luck with your exams; hope it all goes well for you! And stop worrying. You'll surprise yourself!

so, i only just started revising for my GCSEs, and i am so confused- i don't know how much to do a day, how many subjects to do a day, whether i'm doing enough, etc.
i'm really scared that i won't be able to get the grades i am predicted.
do you think i'll be able to get 8s even though i just started revision?
also, how much do i need to do a day to get those grades?

thank you so much for any replies, it is very muh appreciated x