GCSE 9s/A*s all round?

How do people get 9s for every subject at GCSE? I've wasted so much time and am on solid 7/8/9s at the moment but if I can, I'd like to get the best grades possible. I don't want to spend my life thinking I could have done better, just... didn't?

Any revision tips for a grade 9 procrastinator like me?

(Triple Science, History, Fine Art, Computer Science, Maths, English, French)

Reply 1

JazzRabb

8

Have you tried to focus more on the quality of revision you're getting rather than the amount? I think when you're already at the 7/8/9 level it's probably more to do with standing out from the crowd with your ideas and knowledge (in English, History, Fine Art) as well as absolutely nailing exam technique. I did GCSEs in 2017 where only English and Maths had the new grading system so it might have changed now? Either way I hope this helps! :smile:

Reply 2

myst451

13

I got all 9s at GCSE and the reason I did was luck. I got 9s throughout year 10 adn 11 but when it got to the final exams i did really badly compared to how I normally do. long story short the grade boundaries were really low and that saved me. No joke i got less than 80% in maths and still got a 9 :confused:

trust me there are bigger things than gcses. get 7 A*s and thats more than enough to get you to oxbridge if you wanted to.

its all about work. work hard and you can basically garuntee your grades particularly in sciences and history and english language and maths and french
learn your french orals and that will make your writing a piece of cake as well
go through your science specs and make notes on every single point on each checklist
make flashcards for all your history dates adn teach someone else about all the events. concentrate on how different factors affect each other and interlink - thats where the high marks are.

Reply 3

screepadeep

12

If you're working hard already and getting solid 7/8/9 grades I don't think you should be stressing TOO much about whether those 8s become 9s! Universities (Including Oxbridge) have stated that they aren't going to inherently discriminate 8 and 9 grades from each other. Sure, it might give you an edge if you have a 9 in the subject you wish to study but your focus should be getting those 7s up to 8s. Getting, say, five 9s and five 7s isn't as impressive as ten 8s (ESPECIALLY when you put it into the context of A*A*A*A*A*AAAAA vs A*A*A*A*A*A*A*A*A*A*)

To up those grades though, keep analysing where you're losing marks on practise papers and mocks etc and just work on finding the best revision method for you. You can't do anything better than your best so keep that motivation :smile:

ALSO!! A note for fine art: If you're dedicated to it you will almost definitely get an 8 or 9 (probably 9) Due to the amount of people who take it as an easy option or don't put the effort in ! I didn't do much work at all for the whole of year 10 and got straight 6s but kicked my butt into gear for the exam coursework and came out with an 8 when my friends who didnt put the same work into it got a 5 and a 6. Basically, if you're already predicted high for it you will succeed

(edited 5 years ago)

Cramming.

OP

Original post by JazzRabb

Have you tried to focus more on the quality of revision you're getting rather than the amount? I think when you're already at the 7/8/9 level it's probably more to do with standing out from the crowd with your ideas and knowledge (in English, History, Fine Art) as well as absolutely nailing exam technique. I did GCSEs in 2017 where only English and Maths had the new grading system so it might have changed now? Either way I hope this helps! :smile:

Thank you

It's more like I don't really know how to revise on schedule? I watch Youtube videos, do a few exam papers, look over stuff but it's soooo much easier to understand things in class. When I learn outside of school, it never really seems as effective as if I were in school.

I don't really know how to stand out when I don't understand how I get my grades in the first place. TT^TT

Reply 6

Oli9050

13

To be quite honest, as soon as you get to the next stage of education after GCSEs (college, apprenticeship, whatever) what you got in GCSEs becomes almost totally irrelevant. As long as you got the grades you needed to get onto what you wanted to do next, you'll never have to worry.

Reply 7

rlewa

13

Original post by Xiahyung

How do people get 9s for every subject at GCSE? I've wasted so much time and am on solid 7/8/9s at the moment but if I can, I'd like to get the best grades possible. I don't want to spend my life thinking I could have done better, just... didn't?

Any revision tips for a grade 9 procrastinator like me?

(Triple Science, History, Fine Art, Computer Science, Maths, English, French)

I got all 9s and A* and quite frankly a lot of it was luck. Everyone has good and bad days in exams and if you end up with a mix of 6,7,8&9s then you should call it a job well done and not try and get too worked up about it. In terms of revision, doing a little a lot is really useful. I made tonnes of flashcards and got my brother to test me on them so that I knew the content more or less before the exams started. During the exam period I did as many past papers as I possibly could so I knew what style of questions they'd ask and what the mark scheme wanted in the answers. Also if you start to dislike a subject then just try and suck it up and force yourself to enjoy it. Having a negative attitude towards a subject is really really not helpful and would probably make you drop a grade or two. I moved up from being predicted a B to getting an almost perfect A* in French because I forced myself to enjoy it and now I'm doing it at A level and will do it at university.

So basically
-it's luck
-revise a little each day
-past papers!
-enthusiasm
-don't try to get all 9s because it's effectively impossible. Aim to get 8s and then count any 9s as bonus victories

Reply 8

x.emilye

10

Original post by Xiahyung

How do people get 9s for every subject at GCSE? I've wasted so much time and am on solid 7/8/9s at the moment but if I can, I'd like to get the best grades possible. I don't want to spend my life thinking I could have done better, just... didn't?

Any revision tips for a grade 9 procrastinator like me?

(Triple Science, History, Fine Art, Computer Science, Maths, English, French)

https://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/revision/gcse/revision-advice-my-journey-to-11-grade-9s-and-how-to-stay-motivated
I got the grades you want, and took all those subjects apart from Fine Art. First of all, do not be disheartened if you don't get all 9s. In my main 11 GCSEs I got a clean sweep of 9s but my other additional qualifications were the second highest grade. When you're a lot older, people won't even ask you about them and there are people who don't get the best GCSEs who do a lot better during A Levels and later on in life. They really aren't everything and I hope you don't dwell on them once you've done them. I think you need to make sure you revise in an distraction free zone and prioritise your time so that you can focus on your weaker subjects more. Whenever you find yourself wasting time, remind yourself that you don't want to have that feeling of regret. Maybe make a quote your lock screen or put one on your bedroom wall so you have a constant reminder of why you want to do well. A lot of the time, I think motivation is the most important thing

Reply 9

Jdarch

3

Just don’t worry about it. Target getting 8s and then view the 9s as pleasant surprises. Also revise lots but not so much that it feels pointless.

Reply 10

x.emilye

10

Original post by Jdarch

Just don’t worry about it. Target getting 8s and then view the 9s as pleasant surprises. Also revise lots but not so much that it feels pointless.

Sometimes I think if you aim higher you end up doing better than you would've done if you didn't have that goal. But 9s really aren't everything and you shouldn't feel disheartened if you don't get them as long as you try your hardest and yeah sometimes people spend a lot of time doing revision that really isn't effective

Reply 11

Xiahyung

OP

10

Thank you all so much!

I got 9,9,9,9,9,9,9,9,9,7 :biggrin:

GCSE 9s/A*s all round?

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