GCSE help! - im bad at exams :(

Hello!

so basically im always being told by my teachers that I am good at the school work, but really bad at exams... (especially in sciences)

I have a few questions :smile:

1) when my teachers say "look at the markscheme" as a way to revise - what does that actually mean? what am I meant to do with it except look at the answers?

2) My mocks are in 2 weeks - should I start properly revising now, even though im still getting normal homework.

3) roughly when does study leave start?

4) is just copying the revision guides out in short a bad way to revise?

5) any other revision techniques that people do?

I really want to get the high end of the grades, so any help would be sooo apreciated :smile:

Reply 1

RuthieG101

in regards to the mark scheme, it's more than looking at the answers. there's notes on where the marks are, there's different types of marks too. I'm maths so there is marks for method as well as accuracy.
reading the examiners marks are good too. they state where students made mistakes so you can look out for them (avoid the mistakes in your own)

Reply 2

alexmsinclair

with the markschemes they mean more look at the kind of language and key words examiners are looking for because a lot of the time youll completely understand what youve written but when it comes to the actual marking, you can lose a lot of marks for not putting in certain key words (in essence, thats all your marked on)
OF COURSE YOU SHOULD START REVISING! I mean, dont stress yourself as they are mocks after all and at GCSE level they dont really matter but its a great way to figure out which revision methods work for you and see what you need to work on reflected in your results.
Honestly, copying out of the guide can work for a minority of people but personally Im very visual so I'd suggest using whiteboards and post-it notes and - I know its cheesy- revision songs really really work, I made one for my history GCSE and I still know it to this day

Good luck!! :smile:

Reply 3

Jarryjam

Yeah matk schemes are good cuz they show you how you can get the marks as the exams are really picky. Soz if that obvious idk. And i thjnk doing past papers is good especially maths. I like revision cards best and mind maps on computer. Also the actually process of making revision stuff is better that just looking at it when its done. Lol i really should start revising!! 😁😅 some school dont even do study leave. We dont! Coping is bad as you may not remember info, try getting tested by siblings or something

(edited 6 years ago)

Reply 4

Mosssy

Original post by alexmsinclair

Thanks for all the answers :smile:

I am not that stressed weirdly (I thought I would be freaking out haha) I know they don't matter too much, but the 6th form I want to go to is quite strict with the grades and all that. I am going to go look at mark schemes now thanks :wink:

and back to revision I go!...

Reply 5

Mosssy

Thanks for your help :smile:

I have been doing loads of past papers in maths so hopefully that will come in handy!

Reply 6

aleenaxoxo

Original post by Mosssy

Hello!

so basically im always being told by my teachers that I am good at the school work, but really bad at exams... (especially in sciences)

I have a few questions :smile:

1) By looking at the mark scheme you see what the examiners are looking for exactly and what the best ways to answer the questions are.

2) The one thing I always regret with my mocks is that I never start revising early enough and then I try and cram everything in the last couple of days.

3) Study leave depends on each school as far as I know. I don't think my school is doing a study leave this year and are just going to do revision.

4) If it helps you then it's okay but lots of people have different ways of learning. I would personally recommend doing practise questions to properly understand what you know.