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Need gcse help on achieving grade 9s

I figured now that most year 11 have got their results it would be a good time to ask around if any students who got a 8/9 grade in a subject would share their revision techniques
I plan to start revising early (by the start of year 11)

Any advice for any subject is massively appreciated (in particular core subjects and business studies)
Thanks in advance!

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Reply 1
whats subjects and specifications do you do?
Reply 2
Original post by Amrak
whats subjects and specifications do you do?


oh I should of said: English AQA // maths (Higher) Edexcel // triple science AQA// business studies wjec eduqas// history edexcel // religeous studies edexcel// french edexcel
Reply 3
Heya! I achieved a 9 in Edexcel History, and my number one recommendation for it is using the myrevisionnotes books. They are so concise yet they still remain detailed and I basically memorised them cover to cover. You can find them on Amazon. Do you know what components you are doing for History?
Reply 4
Original post by bunnisuh
Heya! I achieved a 9 in Edexcel History, and my number one recommendation for it is using the myrevisionnotes books. They are so concise yet they still remain detailed and I basically memorised them cover to cover. You can find them on Amazon. Do you know what components you are doing for History?


yes but on amazon there was only an aqa version :/ did you do any exam practice or something other than just memorising?? thanks.
Original post by Junak_J
I figured now that most year 11 have got their results it would be a good time to ask around if any students who got a 8/9 grade in a subject would share their revision techniques
I plan to start revising early (by the start of year 11)

Any advice for any subject is massively appreciated (in particular core subjects and business studies)
Thanks in advance!


I got 9s in AQA English Language (which I did in Year 10), AQA English Literature, AQA History and Edexcel French, I have so much advice for you for these subjects but don't have time at the moment - pm me if you wanna talk! :smile:
(edited 5 years ago)
This is what i got in GCSE
Grade 9 in: maths, biology, chemistry, physics, geography, R.E
Grade 8 in: german, english lang & lit, history

feel free to send any pms throughout the year if you need help with anything

First thing REVISE FOR MOCKS- trust me if you revise properly you can find out easily what revision methods work for you and what don't- in mocks i realised that note taking wasn't working for me anymore, i still did it but not as intensively, i realised that flashcards were best for me and began making them for GCSE.

LANGUAGES- Revise using quizlet for vocab, make flashcards on grammar, practice on grammar and listen in class, trust me listening in class instead of talking will save you a heap load of work to do as home cos you would understand things better

SCIENCES- flashcard and note making works best here, constantly test yourself on content,(do not forget to review past chapters consistently) read ahead in the revision guide if you can, use CGP- they are a life saver. As the year goes, trust me chemistry is gonna start to look confusing but when you constantly review it, it becomes easier to understand- practice is key as well here

MATHS - practice asf- do not keep doing the topics that you find most easy, spend as much time as possible doing topics that you find challenging. do not keep doing 1 mark questions- try as much as possible to do long wordy questions because those are the ones that trip people the most. Do as many practice papers as possible

English lang and lit- for Lit, you need to know the books that you are studying well so that for examples if an extract from Macbeth came up you would know instantly where it came from without looking at the blurb that they put before the extract. Make mind maps on each theme if you can and each character (if you start now then you should defo have time to do it)- try to make as many essay plans as possible throughout the year and do some of them and ask your teacher to mark it- if you are scared of looking like a neek or geek just ask your teacher to check it after school or something or at lunch

AQA Geography - this subject really rewards those who know how to answer questions- every 6 and 9 mark question answer it with social, environmental and economical impact unless it asks you to only think of two of them. You need to learn the case study- not completely but you should learn at least 2 stats on each for social, economic and environmental for physical and for human geography you need to be aware of the different schemes that they have for the countries they ask you to study- like Nigeria and Brazil. Also when they ask about NEEs make sure you are aware which example to use- cos in Nigeria you should study about the economy there and for Brazil it should be about the social lifestyle there
I got 9s in edexcel maths, french, history, biology and physics -if you’ve got any questions let me know:wink:
Reply 8
For history buy the ACTUAL Pearson Edexcel textbook for each unit and do EVERY exam style question in them.
For science make as many flashcards as you can.
For Lit PRACTICE PRACTICE PRACTICE.
for geog read the OUP revision guide.
For RS read around the subject.
PM me for personalised advice.
Reply 9
Original post by Junak_J
yes but on amazon there was only an aqa version :/ did you do any exam practice or something other than just memorising?? thanks.


https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/151040323X/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

https://www.hoddereducation.co.uk/myrevisionnotesdownloads

Yeah they are a little difficult to find but here's one of the Edexcel ones on Amazon and also the website link.

I memorised the facts and then did practice questions. I answered practice questions mainly by doing bullet points. Its important to devise a good exam technique for History as the exams are very formulaic.

I made a massive word document of practice questions and I also made my own practice papers using these questions. If you are doing the Crime and Punishment, Anglo-Saxon and Norman England, American West or Weimar and Nazi Germany components I can give you links to these :smile:
Reply 10
Original post by bunnisuh
https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/151040323X/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

https://www.hoddereducation.co.uk/myrevisionnotesdownloads

Yeah they are a little difficult to find but here's one of the Edexcel ones on Amazon and also the website link.

I memorised the facts and then did practice questions. I answered practice questions mainly by doing bullet points. Its important to devise a good exam technique for History as the exams are very formulaic.

I made a massive word document of practice questions and I also made my own practice papers using these questions. If you are doing the Crime and Punishment, Anglo-Saxon and Norman England, American West or Weimar and Nazi Germany components I can give you links to these :smile:


sure please do! i do all of those apart from american west
Original post by Junak_J
sure please do! i do all of those apart from american west


https://docs.google.com/document/d/1YuvmGzEpCkA0fibzBglhky4F3MJRe45koiIJaciZgBs/edit?usp=sharing

Here are all the practice questions! Not all of them are very detailed and some are fairly similar but just pick out the questions that you think would be useful

https://1drv.ms/w/s!AkdmGMn6uyiQshyng1YOJz26rvsf

Here is a link to a practice paper I made for Crime and Punishment, using the best practice questions I could find

https://1drv.ms/w/s!AkdmGMn6uyiQshQFx5ozDVMnHReu

Here is a Weimar and Nazi Germany one.

https://1drv.ms/w/s!AkdmGMn6uyiQshDa8x_IZM_QSbgP
https://1drv.ms/w/s!AkdmGMn6uyiQsg6T0WSs3KBvnHUx

Here are two ones for Anglo-Saxon and Norman England (the first bit is American West so just skip that)

https://www.cdarwin.com/attachments/download.asp?file=464&type=docx

Here is a great document to help with the study of Anglo-Saxon and Norman England (not my own).

file:///C:/Users/bluel/OneDrive/Documents/‏‏‎/History/GERMANYQUESTIONS'18.pdf

Here are LOADS of Weimar and Nazi Germany questions, including source questions (again, not my own.)

There you are! I hope these help. Lmk if any of the links don't work.
Reply 12
Original post by bunnisuh
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1YuvmGzEpCkA0fibzBglhky4F3MJRe45koiIJaciZgBs/edit?usp=sharing

Here are all the practice questions! Not all of them are very detailed and some are fairly similar but just pick out the questions that you think would be useful

https://1drv.ms/w/s!AkdmGMn6uyiQshyng1YOJz26rvsf

Here is a link to a practice paper I made for Crime and Punishment, using the best practice questions I could find

https://1drv.ms/w/s!AkdmGMn6uyiQshQFx5ozDVMnHReu

Here is a Weimar and Nazi Germany one.

https://1drv.ms/w/s!AkdmGMn6uyiQshDa8x_IZM_QSbgP
https://1drv.ms/w/s!AkdmGMn6uyiQsg6T0WSs3KBvnHUx

Here are two ones for Anglo-Saxon and Norman England (the first bit is American West so just skip that)

https://www.cdarwin.com/attachments/download.asp?file=464&type=docx

Here is a great document to help with the study of Anglo-Saxon and Norman England (not my own).

file:///C:/Users/bluel/OneDrive/Documents/‏‏‎/History/GERMANYQUESTIONS'18.pdf

Here are LOADS of Weimar and Nazi Germany questions, including source questions (again, not my own.)

There you are! I hope these help. Lmk if any of the links don't work.


Thanks they work great. That must have been a lot of hard work to put together so good on you :smile:
Reply 13
Hello

Here is a very detailed resource that I made for AQA English Lit. Feel free to download and distribute. Hope it helps.

https://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/aqa-gcse-literature-power-and-conflict-cluster-detailed-revision-guide-11908929
For sciences:
I used Seneca learning, grade gorilla/gorilla physics, bbc bitesize, primrose kitten:gah: and quizlet as online resources alongside my cgp textbooks:smile: I never found a perfect method for revising sciences: I tried loads of different things. Sometimes I’d whizz through the topic on seneca or scribble notes from seneca. I also did questions from the end of each chapter in the cgp textbooks, tested friends on topics, made songs for topics and tried to come up with acronyms to remember different things e.g: parts of the heart:heart: I also kept all old test papers from school and went over old answers I’d got wrong:wink:
For maths:
I practiced so much normally doing a few questions a day which if I was stuck on I’d pester my maths teacher into helping me with:teehee: I’d also go over old test papers comprehensively finding areas where I had gaps in knowledge and then answering loads of questions on them which I found online or in my textbook from school:thumbsup: and yeah I did lots of practice papers in the week leading up to each exam:lol:
Good luck y’all:hugs:
Reply 15
Original post by Amrak
Hello

Here is a very detailed resource that I made for AQA English Lit. Feel free to download and distribute. Hope it helps.

https://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/aqa-gcse-literature-power-and-conflict-cluster-detailed-revision-guide-11908929

Thanks this looks great :biggrin: what grade did you achieve using these
Reply 16
Original post by Toastiekid
For sciences:
I used Seneca learning, grade gorilla/gorilla physics, bbc bitesize, primrose kitten:gah: and quizlet as online resources alongside my cgp textbooks:smile: I never found a perfect method for revising sciences: I tried loads of different things. Sometimes I’d whizz through the topic on seneca or scribble notes from seneca. I also did questions from the end of each chapter in the cgp textbooks, tested friends on topics, made songs for topics and tried to come up with acronyms to remember different things e.g: parts of the heart:heart: I also kept all old test papers from school and went over old answers I’d got wrong:wink:
For maths:
I practiced so much normally doing a few questions a day which if I was stuck on I’d pester my maths teacher into helping me with:teehee: I’d also go over old test papers comprehensively finding areas where I had gaps in knowledge and then answering loads of questions on them which I found online or in my textbook from school:thumbsup: and yeah I did lots of practice papers in the week leading up to each exam:lol:
Good luck y’all:hugs:

Thanks for the advice! That program seneca seems really good for a quick recap! Did you use it for anything other than science?
also, was that your main source or revision or did you use cgp books more?
i got 9s in my sciences and what worked for me is writing out my own flashcards and using them but!!! don't wait until like a month before the exams to make them all, make them as you go (e.g. start making them at the start of the year) because I was starting to get my exams and still hadn't finished making them all, but they really helped me memorise key facts and definitions.

Another tip I would say is write out questions and answers so you can quiz yourself rather than just write notes that you read back to yourself because then you have to actively remember content rather than just keep staring at a page until it goes in.

of course this might not work for everyone but it worked well for me :smile:
Reply 18
Original post by shalomjackie
i got 9s in my sciences and what worked for me is writing out my own flashcards and using them but!!! don't wait until like a month before the exams to make them all, make them as you go (e.g. start making them at the start of the year) because I was starting to get my exams and still hadn't finished making them all, but they really helped me memorise key facts and definitions.

Another tip I would say is write out questions and answers so you can quiz yourself rather than just write notes that you read back to yourself because then you have to actively remember content rather than just keep staring at a page until it goes in.

of course this might not work for everyone but it worked well for me :smile:

Thanks for the advice
what textbooks or sources did u use to make the flashcards as you know exminers are picky with the language you use when you write answers and i dont want to use something out dated or innacurate when using flahcards
also the q and a thing you mentioned isnt that just the same as flashcards?
thanks again:smile:
Original post by Junak_J
Thanks for the advice
what textbooks or sources did u use to make the flashcards as you know exminers are picky with the language you use when you write answers and i dont want to use something out dated or innacurate when using flahcards
also the q and a thing you mentioned isnt that just the same as flashcards?
thanks again:smile:


I used the textbooks that school recommended to me, but there were a couple mistakes in them so make sure to fact check another source if you're unsure on anything e.g. bbc bitesize or something. but also I forgot to mention primrose kitten and myfreesciencelessons are literal lifesavers for last minute revision because I watched them and they explain things really well imo.

and yeah the flashcards are the same as the questions sorry I meant to say don't just write out notes on the flashcards write out questions because I know some people who basically wrote out the syllabus on flashcards but it didn't really help. good luck with your gcses and I hope you get what you want! :smile:

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