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How to get straight A*'s at GCSE? (Tips from top grade students)

I'm starting year 11 next week and want straight a*'s or at least close.

1) What grades did you get?
2)How long before the exams did you start revising?
3) How long did you revise for?
4) Any tips you would give yourself to get better grades?

I'm also considering doing the school play this year which take up A LOT of time after school, would i have time to do it if I worked hard after rehearsals? I really want to get top grades and simultaneously do the school play.

The subjects I'm doing this year are:
Triple science
English Lang
English lit
RE
History
Psychology
German
AS Maths(which makes me think I'm going ​to really struggle with time)

I did maths and sociology in year 10 and got an a* in both.
Thanks:smile:
(edited 9 years ago)

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I got 10 A*s at GCSE. The 'secret' for me was to use the specifications and past exam papers to full effect. I also can't emphasise enough the importance of generic skills, if you're well practicised in maths and read a lot of books these will translate to effective technique for handling all sorts of information. Just enjoy the opportunity to learn about lots of different things in life, its rare that you will have this sort of diversity before you start to specialise at A level
Original post by STUDYREVISE
I myself am starting year 11 and came out with 3 A*'s in year 10, and 2 B's which I am resitting.
Doing the school play at the same time will be difficult...
- how did you find additional science? - revision tips?
- also, I am very weak at maths - how do you revise?
I did English Literature in year 10 and came out with an A*. I made spider diagrams and practised LOTS of exam papers.
I also got an A* in R.E - learn your keywords and think out of the box. buy a useful textbook and answer all past paper questions. I unfortunately crammed most of it in the night before but almost got full marks :smile: phew. pay attention in class and your fine.


Well done on the 3a*s!
1) I didn't do additional science since we do all three units for each science at the end of this year. However, I would say do past papers, mark them yourself with mark schemes and look at the examiners reports- it really tells you the things you need to write in the exam. Mind maps with drawings and diagrams(in colour) also really help in science.


2) Also, for maths, I just did a crap load of past papers in the year and focused on my weaker subjects. When I did a past paper and didn't know a question, I would look at the mark scheme so I understand the question and what to do( that really work because questions each year are basically recycled). But doing that many past papers won't work for everyone since in year 10 I had a lot of time. Also don't be afraid to ask your maths teachers for any help with topics because they are there to help and it really does contribute to your grade. Ask them until you finally get the topic!
For me it was always probability:')


And ah thankyou, that's a lot of help haha
Good luck for year 11
Reply 3
1) What grades did you get?
12 A*s, 2 As

2)How long before the exams did you start revising?
Biology, Chemistry, Physics - just before Easter holidays
Maths - 2 weeks before
English language - night before
English literature - Easter holidays
History - Easter holidays
Geography- night before
Latin - Easter holidays
French - night before
Spanish - night before
ICT - night before
RS - morning of the exam

It all depends on how confident you are about the exam, how good your teacher is and how important the exam is to you!

3) How long did you revise for?
3 hours a day weekends, two hours school days (maybe a little less?)

4) Any tips you would give yourself to get better grades?
Don't stress out too much!

You should totally do your play! It will give you some time to enjoy something other than revision. Don't stress about revision either - you'll perform worse. Don't listen to people saying they are starting to revise now because you won't remember it by the time your exams come around. Just relax for now, do a little revision for your mocks, and have fun. Revision is tough at GCSE since it's the first time you've revised properly for public exams. Enjoy the relaxation time you have now and don't think about revision just yet - at least not until your mocks. :smile:

Good luck!
Reply 4
1) What grades did you get?
6A*s in Maths, Double award science, History, Geography, French
2As in English language and literature

2)How long before the exams did you start revising?
Maths: The morning on the day we had the exam to remember the formulae.
Sciences: The night before to remember all the formulae, names
History: 2 weeks before
Geography: The night before to remember certain names
French: Absolutely none
English language: lol what is revision?
Literature: The night before

3) How long did you revise for?
Maths: 40 mins?
Sciences: 4 hours the night before
History: No idea but this definitely is the only subject I revised properly for. I stayed at school after school to stay in a quiet, distraction-free environment
Geography: an hour?
French: uhhhhh...none....or 3 years
English language: so tell me, what is revision
Literature: 3 hours the night before

4) Any tips you would give yourself to get better grades?
Well....maybe become first language English speaker with same or more intelligence as me so that I could get a bit better grade in language but I couldn't care less about literature :ahee:

Advice to you (Almost copy&paste from my posts in other threads)
1) Pay maximum attention in every class to take in as much information as possible IN the class so that you won't have to spend ages revising at home
2) Do every homework (I didn't for literature so here you go the A instead of A* :P)
3)Don't be shy to ask questions to teachers in or after class and make sure you have understood everything that's been taught on that very same day.
Hi I wondered if someone could give me some tips or something.. im from spain and i came here in march and its alredy January... I dont feel very good about my grades
English=2D
Maths=3D
Science=3S
Art=2S
History=2D
Re=3D
Sociology=3E
Soo....maybe some of you can give me your opinions and some advice on how to do better! Thanks! β™‘
Original post by Kurttttttt
Hi I wondered if someone could give me some tips or something.. im from spain and i came here in march and its alredy January... I dont feel very good about my grades
English=2D
Maths=3D
Science=3S
Art=2S
History=2D
Re=3D
Sociology=3E
Soo....maybe some of you can give me your opinions and some advice on how to do better! Thanks! β™‘


What does 3S etc. mean?
Reply 7
your smart
Original post by sunnydespair
I got 10 A*s at GCSE. The 'secret' for me was to use the specifications and past exam papers to full effect. I also can't emphasise enough the importance of generic skills, if you're well practicised in maths and read a lot of books these will translate to effective technique for handling all sorts of information. Just enjoy the opportunity to learn about lots of different things in life, its rare that you will have this sort of diversity before you start to specialise at A level


hi, im in yr 10 and im not in the highest sets, can you give me advise on any ways I could improve. I find it really hard with to deal with my social media interactions and my school education, I think I let social things take over me, im not just talking out social media but also friendships. I also think its laziness which is why I hardly revise. please help me pursue my goals. all I want is grades to get into an outstanding uni, to be a vet. my dream is Cambridge, even to me I find it impossible because of my current efforts, I desperately need tips. thanks.
I got all A*s in my GCSE last year, I took 12.
I started light revision before the Easter holidays and really started revising seriously in the Easter holidays.
I’m one of those people who won’t stop working until I make progress in some way so the time taken for each subject varied greatly, I spent the most time on essay subjects which are my weakest ones.
I finished my notes that I had been making since year 9 and then read through them, finding areas which I do t understand. I asked teachers and friends about the parts I didn’t understand and then worked on committing my notes to memory. My notes were made in bullet point form so it was easy to memorise things. I have a garbage short term memory but a great long term one so I just repeated that frequently with flash cards. I left practise papers to the week or so before the actual exam and just got through as many as possible, making notes on my mistakes and working out what the exam board wants as ultimately, the exam board doesn’t care that you know things, they only care about you mentioning what they want you to write in your answer. Time wise, it was ok, I do a ton of orchestras and choirs inside and outside school and I managed. I think it’s a great idea to take part in the school play, it gives you the time to wind down and take your mind off exams, so I say go for it! Personally, I cannot revise in silence, nor can I revise with others talking to me so I listen to a podcast or something from YouTube just in the background and not really pay attention to it.

Good luck this year, I hope you achieve the grades you want to get! If you want any help or advice, just PM me, I’ll be happy to help! :smile:
hey can you tell me a secret on how to get A* for all of my GCSEs especially computer science (Computing) and science
hi you are basically melly me
Hi I’m going into year 11 and I’m really nervous and panicking. I struggle a lot with revision , can anyone give me some tips/ideas on how I can revise and get ready without stressing too much? I suffer really bad from anxiety and if possible does anyone have any strategies for helping relax myself for GCSE year ? Thank you !
Hi can you please help give advise ASAP
I got 7 9s and 2 8s and honestly the most important thing is to PLAN all your revision and to chill as well as revise - I was bingeing gossip girl the whole way through exam season and doing maths questions to calm down
Do you have any specific advice on sciences and English as I really need them at the moment. Could you please let me know if you had any more tips?
Hi, I wanted to know how did you revise as I can't understand how you can revise for 3 hours and i struggle to do 1 at times!thanks
Original post by MsTyrell
1) What grades did you get?
12 A*s, 2 As

2)How long before the exams did you start revising?
Biology, Chemistry, Physics - just before Easter holidays
Maths - 2 weeks before
English language - night before
English literature - Easter holidays
History - Easter holidays
Geography- night before
Latin - Easter holidays
French - night before
Spanish - night before
ICT - night before
RS - morning of the exam

It all depends on how confident you are about the exam, how good your teacher is and how important the exam is to you!

3) How long did you revise for?
3 hours a day weekends, two hours school days (maybe a little less?)

4) Any tips you would give yourself to get better grades?
Don't stress out too much!

You should totally do your play! It will give you some time to enjoy something other than revision. Don't stress about revision either - you'll perform worse. Don't listen to people saying they are starting to revise now because you won't remember it by the time your exams come around. Just relax for now, do a little revision for your mocks, and have fun. Revision is tough at GCSE since it's the first time you've revised properly for public exams. Enjoy the relaxation time you have now and don't think about revision just yet - at least not until your mocks. :smile:

Good luck!

Well done on the grades! Can you tell us how you revised each subject
Reply 18
Original post by sha_suteria
Hi, I wanted to know how did you revise as I can't understand how you can revise for 3 hours and i struggle to do 1 at times!thanks


Just grind through it haha. If you want it enough you'll be able to do it.
Original post by (3.1415926535)
I got 7 9s and 2 8s and honestly the most important thing is to PLAN all your revision and to chill as well as revise - I was bingeing gossip girl the whole way through exam season and doing maths questions to calm down

Is it possible for me to do well in 6/7 weeks of hardcore recision i havent made any notes im going to make active recall questions to past papers hoepfully i get good results. I really want to do higher tier for maths and science before my gcses i dont kow if that is possible i always end up binge watching yt

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