I got all 9s in GCSE-here's how

for maths, did you use an official list of all the topics plus practice papers? im just doing practice papers but i feel like i need a list of some sort to confirm im learning everything for the exam. i've looked at the spec but unlike science its really confusing. thank you and well done! x

https://1drv.ms/w/s!Aqqu_GxFTiaLixn8VMhkJ1TyLRGd here 😃

Well I don’t want to risk my GCSEs by not revising and no one does! If it worked for u congrats but we all want to succeed and get aim for the highest grade possible in each subject!

thank you! xxx

@FloralPrints There are topics in maths they’re separated into Number,Algebra, Geometry etc if I was you I’d learn the content then do past papers last so you know how to answer the questions 👍

To start off, by no means do I want this to be a bragging post or acclamation of how 'smart' I am, I have received several PMs and have decided to make a post about how I actually did it- how I got a clean sweep of 9s in GCSE.
You may not believe me and that is fair enough, but hopefully you'll at least acknowledge some of the stuff I advise anyway.

Background: I did the following at GCSE-
English literature (AQA), English language(AQA), Maths(Edexcel) Religious Studies (Eduqas), French (AQA) History (Edexcel) Triple science (AQA) and Polish (AQA). I'm currently in Year 12 doing 3 A Levels: Chemistry, Biology and English Literature.
I want to study medicine or something healthcare/science related in the future so if you have any questions about that, do PM me.

The main piece of advice I would give is start early. Whilst for Year 11s the time is nearing at a scarily fast pace, Year 10s, I would urge you to start at least some sort of proper revision around Christmas time when you get to Year 11, of course revising throughout Year 10 as well.
Year 11- you should be consistently and regularly revising at this point. January is basically over and February half term will come around in no time where you really should place a lot of focus on getting some good quality studying done. During the exams and in between them, I did very minimal revision, as I had covered all my content and revision earlier in the year.

What I did: I revised throughout the school year each night- not hardcore by any means, but doing something-a set of practice questions, mindmaps, flashcards, and in this way I gradually built up a bank of good resources. I started revising more solidly at Christmas time and by Easter, I was putting in a lot of hours- Easter is really, your final chance to really give it that big push.

Techniques: First, find out what kind of learner you are. I am a visual learner, hence my techniques make sense: I made loads of flash cards. Loads. They worked particularly well for science because they ensured I knew all the content. I have attached the link to my quizlet cards: https://quizlet.com/FrenchFries26 Just go on the GCSE folders and I have plenty of flashcards with key info, model answers, etc.
Practice questions and papers. Our year group was the first to do all the new GCSEs so past papers were becoming less useful but here's the thing- examiners can't really come up with new questions, so they reuse and recycle old ones- therefore the more you practice questions, the more familiar you will be. I used physics and maths tutor: https://www.physicsandmathstutor.com/ and still swear by it for A Level.

Maths is similar to the sciences: you can't really revise it, you have to practice it.
Essay subjects: You need to plan essays. For English, plan essays for each of the themes and characters, and then write the essays in timed conditions, hand them in to your teacher to mark, and repeat. Act upon the feedback they give you, because it is vital. Once you plan as many essays as you can, you will virtually be fully prepared. The essay which came up for me in the Shakespeare section was one I planned a while back, so all I did was I rewrote the essay from as much memory as I could, obviously changing up some parts which my teacher earlier marked a 9.
For history, you will need to know content extremely well, however most of your marks are based not on evidence, but on explanations, and so making sure you use convincing language and are not just describing will ensure you let the examiner you know what you're talking about. Practice questions.

Languages: I have a natural knack for languages, so French did not prove to be too much of a challenge for me- I saw a word, I remembered it. However what I did do, was I spent a lot of break times with my teacher practising for the spoken exam to ensure pronunciation was on point, and I consistently learned vocab, writing pieces using the words I had revised.

Exam technique is important. You need to play the examiner's game. Once you've seen all the evolution and series circuit questions there are, and planned all the essays, there is nothing that can surprise you- and you will do well.

Plan: I personally prefer todo lists rather than timetables for revision because I don't like a strict time scale, but if timetables motivate you more, use them to plan your study.

Your health, however, is also very important. Do not neglect your wellbeing for your grades, because both end up going downhill if you do.

If you have any more questions, PM me and I'll be happy to answer.

Good luck!

@floralprints if you have any questions feel free to ask 🤗 When did you start your revision?

First off, congratulations! That’s an incredible achievement that will help keep so many doors open for you. In the future you will be so grateful to past you for putting aside a little bit of time each day to revise, working hard for a year and a bit and now having those grades for life.
Also ignore the losers who are trying to make you feel bad about achieving.
1. It’s not their life. You aren’t harming anyone so they have no reason to put you down.
2. They probably don’t realise that the medicines which keep them alive, the cars and planes that make the world accessible to them, the TVs, satellites, the internet, everything that makes their life so comfortable and exciting was designed by people who have a strong work ethic like you. I’m not saying you can’t go far in life if you have bad GCSEs - you really can! But the very thing they mock is something they value more than they realise.
3. GCSEs are important. When I went to uni they judged your academic performance potential primarily on your AS level grades. Now you don’t have those they will have to look to your GCSE grades and your predicted grades. Doing so well on your GCSEs will open so many doors for you and make getting into uni so much easier
4. You have done yourself such a favour by learning how to revise. You have probably learnt what works for you, what doesn’t, how long some things (like making good notes) really take, how effective revising can actually be, etc. All of this will put you in a good place for revising for your A levels and help give you the motivation to keep doing it. Plus having a firm basis in each subject to build off of will help you as well.

Well done and best of luck to you!

Thanks for making this thread!

Are there any Quizlet sets you would recommend for French GCSE? Quizlet seems like the best way to learn all the specification vocab, but there are so many sets and some of them are so humongous (thousands of terms) that I just don't know where to start.

After writing your notes what did you do either hem in rveision? Did you just read them or draw rough mindmaps or what?

You could also not do that, and have friends.

for maths, did you use an official list of all the topics plus practice papers? im just doing practice papers but i feel like i need a list of some sort to confirm im learning everything for the exam. i've looked at the spec but unlike science its really confusing. thank you and well done! x

how did you remember and revise for the history exam?! there's so much content I can't remember it all!!