Help me get back on track

Recently sat my prelims and I've just became aware that I've failed all of them, I tried studying for about 3 hours each day for a month before them but nothing goes in, I've never been very intelligent but it's dawned on me now that failing in high school could mean that I won't be able to get my dream job, any help or advice would be greatly appreciated, the GCSE I need are Maths, English, Physics and PE (PE is not a problem at all.)

Thank you

Reply 1

Tbarker1

10

Based on you saying you've studied for 3 hours straight for a month id say you need to change how you study. It might be good to take a step back and look at what you are doing. How are you revising are you just reading?. Or doing more proactive revision such as making mindmaps or practising exam questions? I would also talk to your teachers to see if they have any advice for you.

Reply 2

Johnalford03

OP

3

yeah mainly just reading over stuff, We've never really been taught to study to be honest, just told to do it and expected to know how. I don't know what I'm doing when I'm studying suppose that's why I've never found it effective

Reply 3

Tbarker1

10

I think that you need some structure to your revision really.a nice simple thing to do is to write all your topics out in a subject that kinda mark which ones you get and don't. then you'd work through the list of topics. effectively like a check list. whilst revising itself I'd read through the content first then look at a question related to it. If you can't do it that's fine look at the content again.id you still don't get it look for something online then after this ask your teacher to explain it do you.by doing this your learning the content then reinforcing it by looking at the questions after. once you've been through a topic I'd do a kind of topic test so you can evaluate how you understand the topic.

Original post by Johnalford03

Recently sat my prelims and I've just became aware that I've failed all of them, I tried studying for about 3 hours each day for a month before them but nothing goes in, I've never been very intelligent but it's dawned on me now that failing in high school could mean that I won't be able to get my dream job, any help or advice would be greatly appreciated, the GCSE I need are Maths, English, Physics and PE (PE is not a problem at all.)

Thank you

You've mentioned both prelims (Scottish name for mocks) and GCSEs...Are you doing Nat 5s, or GCSEs?

Either way, for maths and physics in particular practice questions is the main way you are going to get better- reading over notes is unlikely to be enough. In English, again it comes down to knowing your texts inside out and lots of practice for the different types of question.

Reply 5

Soph58

12

Original post by Johnalford03

Recently sat my prelims and I've just became aware that I've failed all of them, I tried studying for about 3 hours each day for a month before them but nothing goes in, I've never been very intelligent but it's dawned on me now that failing in high school could mean that I won't be able to get my dream job, any help or advice would be greatly appreciated, the GCSE I need are Maths, English, Physics and PE (PE is not a problem at all.)

Thank you

First things first, don't panic. You still have plenty of time to get up to speed :rave:

. My first step when revising was finding out what kind of learner I was - this was extremely helpful to me as I was in a similar postion to you just over a year ago. :h:

Are you a Visual, Auditory or Kinesthetic learner, in other words how do you recall something. Is it a sound, an image or a hands-on activity? Sometimes it may just be the method you're using rather than the time spent. Experiment with different methods. For example:
- Flashcards - good for definitions or key concepts
- Mindmaps - good for a condensing topics into sub-topcs
- Watching Videos/Tutorials (Mr Bruff, Primrose Kitten and even Study Youtubers can help)
- Practice Questions - practice make perfect :biggrin:

Try have a go with different techniques and find the ones that stick. As long as you're doing *effective* revision with regular breaks I have no doubt you'll smash your exams.

Good luck! :thumbsup:

Reply 6

ROUNDER

5

Hi,
I also found reading and studying for hours on end pretty fruitless but then after I researched different study techniques when I came across Anki. It's a flashcard program which is really easy to use and unlike most it selects the cards you need to be tested on everyday depending on how hard you found answering it. This means that you're using active recall and spaced repetition which are two of the most effective studying techniques and the program organises it for you - and its FREE! I was able to learn 3 out of the 8 Geography topics inside out in under three hours which was much faster than re-reading and notetaking.
Best of luck

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