Help me on how to revise for science.

Without a doubt, Science is probably the subject that I struggle with the most, but wish to do really well when it comes to the GCSE exams.

For my mock results, I got a C in Biology, and a D in Physics and a D in Chemistry.. I was very upset with these grades as I spent a lot of time revising. I wasn't too mad as I know I did put in work, I just guess my revision technique wasn't good for me. I would watch videos to do with the topics, write notes and then read over the notes. This obviously didn't work for me as I came out with a C and 2 D's. Ideally I would like all A's in Science, please everyone share revision techniques with me, thank you very much :smile:

(edited 9 years ago)

Reply 1

turn-to-page394

16

Past papers!!
Past papers!

Reply 2

fmalik99

OP

Original post by turn-to-page394

Past papers!!
Past papers!

Yeah but what to do? I printed a few past papers, I just got stuck, do I just go through one instead of answering one?? I need to know how to get the knowledge first ://

Reply 3

Magistl

9

Original post by fmalik99

Yeah but what to do? I printed a few past papers, I just got stuck, do I just go through one instead of answering one?? I need to know how to get the knowledge first ://

The idea is that you'd get those past papers, answer them to the best of your ability and see the mark scheme to see how many marks you've obtained and translate it to UMS for a realistic grade. Additionally, I'd suggest you see the examiners notes which helps an insight into the sort of mentalities that are present during the marking process for each subject and their individual branches.

A nice trick I was told about by a friend of mine in Uni is to go over the notes you revised half an hour before you go off to sleep, that way they're the last thing you register and thus heighten the chance of you remembering the notes. It has worked for me.

Best of luck, nonetheless :smile:

Reply 4

fmalik99

OP

Original post by Magistl

The idea is that you'd get those past papers, answer them to the best of your ability and see the mark scheme to see how many marks you've obtained and translate it to UMS for a realistic grade. Additionally, I'd suggest you see the examiners notes which helps an insight into the sort of mentalities that are present during the marking process for each subject and their individual branches.

A nice trick I was told about by a friend of mine in Uni is to go over the notes you revised half an hour before you go off to sleep, that way they're the last thing you register and thus heighten the chance of you remembering the notes. It has worked for me.

Best of luck, nonetheless :smile:

Okay, Thanks a lot for the tip, I'll definitely try this :smile:

Reply 5

Dancer32014

Do you have access to the App Store? I've started using 2 apps that you might like one is called Revision Ace and you put in the date of the exam, your target grade and the hours of revision you want to do a week and then keep updating it to monitor your progress. The other is called Quiz Maker and you make quizzes from your notes then use them for revision. Hope this helps :smile:

Reply 6

jayceedee

2

I tutor science and make all my students do as many past papers as they can. You don't even need to write the answers down - sit with the paper in front of you and the mark scheme available - every time you read a question, think what you would say then check the mark scheme. After a while you will see what they keep asking for and what they want to see in the answers :smile:

There are older papers available but as the syllabus has changed they are trickier to use. If you are doing AQA and would like to use the older papers pm me and I'm happy to email you what you can use.

Give it a go - I had one student who eventually got bored as she said the questions were so predictable ... she got an A though!

Reply 7

SlowlorisIncognito

16

Have you spoken to your teachers about why you didn't do well in your mocks? Was it exam technique or lack of knowledge or something else letting you down? I do think practicing past papers is a really good idea, but if you don't know the content, you won't be able to answer the questions.

It might be a good idea to do some past papers under exam conditions, and see if you are consistently making mistakes in the same few areas. If you are, go back and read your notes for those areas- don't rely on online videos, as they may not cover all the points you need to mention. I would also consider getting a GCSE revision guide for your exam board to refer to if there are any areas where your notes are weak or confusing.

Reply 8

fmalik99

OP

Original post by SlowlorisIncognito

Have you spoken to your teachers about why you didn't do well in your mocks? Was it exam technique or lack of knowledge or something else letting you down? I do think practicing past papers is a really good idea, but if you don't know the content, you won't be able to answer the questions.

It might be a good idea to do some past papers under exam conditions, and see if you are consistently making mistakes in the same few areas. If you are, go back and read your notes for those areas- don't rely on online videos, as they may not cover all the points you need to mention. I would also consider getting a GCSE revision guide for your exam board to refer to if there are any areas where your notes are weak or confusing.

Hi, thanks for the tip, I have spoken to my teacher and she said it was lack of knowledge, thats when I realized my revision technique must have sucked. I have a revision guide for my exam board, what shall I do though ? Just read through it and then do past papers with markscheme at hand? :smile:

)

Reply 9

fmalik99

OP

Original post by jayceedee

I tutor science and make all my students do as many past papers as they can. You don't even need to write the answers down - sit with the paper in front of you and the mark scheme available - every time you read a question, think what you would say then check the mark scheme. After a while you will see what they keep asking for and what they want to see in the answers :smile:

There are older papers available but as the syllabus has changed they are trickier to use. If you are doing AQA and would like to use the older papers pm me and I'm happy to email you what you can use.

Give it a go - I had one student who eventually got bored as she said the questions were so predictable ... she got an A though!

Thank you, sounds great I will do that.

Reply 10

TheMadHatteress

15

Ah GCSEs- the good old days. :u:

Back on topic- Past papers-a lot of them, and youtube helped me.

Reply 11

turn-to-page394

16

Original post by fmalik99

Yeah but what to do? I printed a few past papers, I just got stuck, do I just go through one instead of answering one?? I need to know how to get the knowledge first ://

Ok, sorry for my vagueness. :/

What works for me is if I go through a past paper and when I get to a question I'm stuck on, I go back to my notes/textbooks/classwork then I work out what I would write if I had revised the topic properly - using my notes to help - after that, I look at the mark scheme for the question, add to my own answer the points I've missed to create a 'model answer' for future reference.

And when you make notes, e.g. for biology, highlight the key terms - for example, the movement of water from the soil to the leaves: I'd keep it short and concise - 1. root hair cells by osmosis 2. diffuse into xylem 3. travel up the xylem to leaves - due to transpiration stream
Basically make sure your notes aren't just writing out stuff again - summarise it, put it in your own words and refer to past papers/mark schemes to see what you should be including in your answers for that topic/question so that it's really to the point.

:smile:

Hope my rambling makes sense...

Reply 12

SlowlorisIncognito

16

Original post by fmalik99

Hi, thanks for the tip, I have spoken to my teacher and she said it was lack of knowledge, thats when I realized my revision technique must have sucked. I have a revision guide for my exam board, what shall I do though ? Just read through it and then do past papers with markscheme at hand? :smile:

)

I think it's better to do something a bit more active than reading. Reading through and making notes, especially on sections you're a bit weaker on would be a good start, then maybe the next day try and make a mind-map/write down what you can remember. Past papers are good, but there's not much point using them until you're clear on all the content imo. I would start going over topics now, and maybe start doing past papers around Easter time.

Science at GCSE is essentially learning facts, if you don't know the facts, you won't get a good grade regardless of exam technique.

Help me on how to revise for science.

Quick Reply

Related discussions

Latest

Trending

Trending

Articles for you