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when to start revising for gcse exams?

Hiya
I was wondering when i should revise for my GCSE exams, I want to achieve the highest possible grades A*/As
I have some coursework up until January that I want to complete and then I should have 4 months to revise
Do you think this is enough time?
I have 23 exams to do between May/June
I have my mocks at the end of November/ December that i'll be doing light revision for so that i can aim to get Bs/ As
any tips you might want to share?
Thank you so much.

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Reply 1
Original post by noshahmad
Hiya
I was wondering when i should revise for my GCSE exams, I want to achieve the highest possible grades A*/As
I have some coursework up until January that I want to complete and then I should have 4 months to revise
Do you think this is enough time?
I have 23 exams to do between May/June
I have my mocks at the end of November/ December that i'll be doing light revision for so that i can aim to get Bs/ As
any tips you might want to share?
Thank you so much.


As soon as possible
I revised quite late for my exams which I regret although with GCSE's you can get away with leaving revision last minute and cramming depending on what type of learner you are. Cramming was the best way for me since I forget stuff easily but I sort of wish I had started revision around January and then still crammed right before the exam.
Im in the same situation, exactly 23 exams too...
what I try to do is atleast 3 or 4 nights a week, revise over certain topics that have been taught during the day so you know that you fully understand them. By January or February, it's probably likely that you'll start forgetting some topics so I suggest you start revising a bit every week, from then on all the way to may/june time :smile:
Reply 3
I started revision around mid march, I had a few less exams - between 18 and 20 I think. Don't start revising too early, I know some people who did and they just burned out by the time exams came around. It's better to start a bit later as you can keep your motivation up as your end goal is closer - obviously don't start too late! Also, make sure you know what type of revision works for you. Hope this helps! (In case you want to know- I got 11 a*s)

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Reply 4
Original post by noshahmad
I have my mocks at the end of November/ December that i'll be doing light revision for so that i can aim to get Bs/ As
any tips you might want to share?


I'd recommend doing a lot of revision for your mocks and taking them as seriously as possible. Then you can see the areas you genuinely don't know and can work on them. You'll also have learnt most of the stuff before the revision for the summer exams so will make it easier for you then too!

Wouldn't recommend cramming either, learn the stuff as early as possible and keep coming back to it!

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(edited 10 years ago)
Reply 5
Try revising 3-4 months before your exam, it helps out. It also depends on the way that you're revising, if you're a visual learner, then mind-maps- might be something to think about?? :smile:
Reply 6
I would startin January if i was you...

do light stuff before hand... e.g understand everything in lessons and stuff up until then - making sure your teacher covers everything in th topic before moving on

but if they dont (like mine didnt -- they only went upto grade C stuff) ... then start in november ishhh...and work hard --it works

me? -

Spoiler




Ryan
Reply 7
Cramming in everything is not a good idea, considering that you have so many exams to take, and if you want to do well in every exam effort needs to be put in otherwise it will be harder to achieve the best possible grades x
Reply 8
I say start at the beginning of March/end of February. I wouldn't recommend you going flat out now as you will get bored of it and just completely lose motivation. Do your homework and stuff now and do some mild revision, like for Maths make sure you are confident with what you are learning and always read ahead so you get a better understanding when you are being taught. Good luck :biggrin:
if you are a quick learner then 3 days is the max you need per exam, 1.5-2 days to learn the content and the rest is for past papers, and for some exams you dont even need to do revise (e.g. English as the skills you need are usually learnt throughout the year). The key is to at least learn the exam technique (past paper answers etc....) and then to learn the content around it (since many questions come over and over again in different forms, this is particularly true for maths and sciences), this only works for GCSE btw not for a levels. So I would suggest starting around 2 months before exams, atlhough you could start now and compress all your notes into something which you could read over a day or two before the exam. Good Luck!
Reply 10
Original post by noshahmad
Hiya
I was wondering when i should revise for my GCSE exams, I want to achieve the highest possible grades A*/As
I have some coursework up until January that I want to complete and then I should have 4 months to revise
Do you think this is enough time?
I have 23 exams to do between May/June
I have my mocks at the end of November/ December that i'll be doing light revision for so that i can aim to get Bs/ As
any tips you might want to share?
Thank you so much.


If you have 23 exams, do what I did last year. This was to make a revision schedule of what you need to revise. Do one topic/page a day and start your revision accordingly. However, double the amount of time you give yourself so that you have time to go over what you have learned.


For example: I had 23 topics to revise for physics, so double that (46) and begin your revision 46 days before your exam. This worked for me as I came out with 100 UMS in my sciences in unit 3s, if only I had worked this method out earlier I would have a few A*s :frown:
Reply 11
I would say 2 months before the exam. Really, if you've covered everything over the past year, you should at least know vast majority of them. It also depends on the subjects. If you're feeling that in one subject you're far behind than others in the class, then you should revise everyday maybe 3 months beforehand. But revision should really take 30 minutes overall.
I am in year 10 but need to start revising light (how long for?) and how long should I revise later on start of year ish heavier?
hi, i just wanted to know how you got 11A*s, like how did you revise for you're gcse exams to get results like yours. My exams are just under 4 months away and I have just started revising. Thanks so much and well done for you're results.
Original post by Liv_97
I started revision around mid march, I had a few less exams - between 18 and 20 I think. Don't start revising too early, I know some people who did and they just burned out by the time exams came around. It's better to start a bit later as you can keep your motivation up as your end goal is closer - obviously don't start too late! Also, make sure you know what type of revision works for you. Hope this helps! (In case you want to know- I got 11 a*s)

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hi, i just wanted to know how you got 11A*s, like how did you revise for you're gcse exams to get results like yours. My exams are just under 4 months away and I have just started revising. Thanks so much and well done for you're results.
Original post by ryanb97
I would startin January if i was you...

do light stuff before hand... e.g understand everything in lessons and stuff up until then - making sure your teacher covers everything in th topic before moving on

but if they dont (like mine didnt -- they only went upto grade C stuff) ... then start in november ishhh...and work hard --it works

me? -

Spoiler



hi, i just wanted to know how you got grades like those, like how did you revise for you're gcse exams to get results like yours. My exams are just under 4 months away and I have just started revising. Thanks so much and well done for you're results...
Original post by Liv_97
I started revision around mid march, I had a few less exams - between 18 and 20 I think. Don't start revising too early, I know some people who did and they just burned out by the time exams came around. It's better to start a bit later as you can keep your motivation up as your end goal is closer - obviously don't start too late! Also, make sure you know what type of revision works for you. Hope this helps! (In case you want to know- I got 11 a*s)

Posted from TSR Mobile




what did u get for your mock examinations? your grades are amazing
I did cramming for 23 exams, and I can tell you that it wasn't the best option on its own.

But I reckon revising 2 months (maybe 3 if you can) before your first exam is the best, and if you're motivated enough, also cram beforehand. Get the best of both worlds :tongue:
Original post by AstroNandos
I did cramming for 23 exams, and I can tell you that it wasn't the best option on its own.

But I reckon revising 2 months (maybe 3 if you can) before your first exam is the best, and if you're motivated enough, also cram beforehand. Get the best of both worlds :tongue:



I'm the queen of procrastination!!!! LITERALLY

I was planning to start revision in september, that failed, october for mock exams in nov/dec failed

tried to start in dec - failed

said id start in jan - failed

now its half way through january im stressing!!!!!!

thinking to start from tomorrow, freshy start :frown:

what grades did you get? my first exams on 11th may :'(
Original post by sumi99
I'm the queen of procrastination!!!! LITERALLY

I was planning to start revision in september, that failed, october for mock exams in nov/dec failed

tried to start in dec - failed

said id start in jan - failed

now its half way through january im stressing!!!!!!

thinking to start from tomorrow, freshy start :frown:

what grades did you get? my first exams on 11th may :'(

You may think you're the queen of procrastination, but you've got nothing on me :wink:

But if your exams are in May then you shouldn't be stressing now, I didn't start revision until part way through May a few days before exams!

I did manage 4A*s, 5As and 2Bs though, so I'm not too bothered haha :tongue:

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