Astronomy GCSE.

Woo results are out online I got an A... but anyone thinking to take it, do not be as risky as I was!!!
Tips:
- Try and finish one piece of coursework by December if doing it from September- June in one academic year.. And finish the other piece later... it helps. Although I did all of mine the day before the deadline... not advised, because I nearly withdrew due to the stress and sleepless night...
-Revise for your exam!!! No cramming!! Well, you can if you really want... I got the Thursday off, because I didn't get usual study leave, as I was in Year 10... I studied the whole specification in that day... it was the first time I opened the textbook to learn... I learnt it all on Thursday... DO NOT DO THAT IF YOU STILL WANT TO BE SANE ON THE DAY OF THE EXAM!!
-Take it calm... there was one girl who stressed out a lot but still got an A*. She was a wreck after the exam... she almost regretted taking it... Stressing is not good for the short term...
-Answer everything, even if it means making up answers that sound vaguely right!! Someone who got A*didn't even answer all the questions, so imagine how the grade could've been boosted if they did. Could've got a higher A* and beaten the teacher.

Overall, it was a great experience, although I never realy took the exam seriously, and only the coursework seemed to matter to me, for some really absurd reason.

Have fun if you take it, and I am willing to help... altough now the GCSE has changed... there's an ISA and everything.. might take that in sixth form, depending on whether or not I meet my a* predictions for all my subjects.
Before you say, yes, my life depends on A*s... I have been brought up that way. 8-)

Well done on your A!

Congrats for your A!

I did my Astronomy GCSE when I was in Year 10, and I got an A* I reeeally enjoyed the course - basically because I was interested it in the first place, so it made it slightly easier to retain the information.

For our first piece of coursework we had to complete a Moon Diary, which tracked the path and stages of the moon's appearance in the night sky, over 2 months. And the second piece was to produce a Moon Map, where we had to identify different features of the Moon e.g. craters, lunar maria, mascons, domes, wrinkle ridges and rilles etc.

With hard work and effort, it's quite easy to get near to full marks in coursework, which relieves a bit of pressure coming up to the exam - for sure!

Thanks, and wow!! Well done on your A* .
I have always had an interest in Astronomy, but it's more of a hobby kind of interest than something I'd like to pursue in later life, but after having taken the course, it sounds even more interesting..
We got to pick whatever coursework we wanted to do. It was cool, and it was definitely fun in my opinion... although it was stressful when I tried to map the moon and realised the amount of time it took. When I gave it in, apparently, I had drawn too much detail compared to what was needed, although my labelling was fine.

Thanks so much!

Same here, mine was always like a pass-time kinda thing that I thought would be interesting - and it certainly was! Like you, I really enjoyed doing the coursework... but yeah, when it'd be overcast for 5 days in a row & you couldn't see the moon for my moon observations - I got a little stressed out Hahaha!

Ahh deadly! I used little coloured spot stickers, a different colour for a different moon landing, then numbered them so that I could explain each on the back. I drew every freaking crater on the moon haha! It took me 2 solid days :P Then I only chose the main other features to put on, and I guess my judgement was right, I was so chuffed with my marks Well done you!

Hello... Reviving this thread again

I could see all of you did really well in the coursework so congrats but can you please tell me what the grade boundaries for an a* were?

Thanks

http://www.edexcel.com/iwantto/I%20want%20to%20%20Tasks/1106%20GCSE%20Full%20Course%20(Unitised%20Specification)%20Grade%20Boundaries.pdf

180/200 UMS I got 176 -hangs head-

not sure of actual marks, let me check for you

89/120 for the paper

34/40 for the coursework

But 2012 is a new specification so this is just an idea of how they were from last year.

Thank you very much! Congrats on your A! I'm just worried about the exam coming up... Much more difficult than I thought when I joined the course

I did Astronomy GCSE.

There's two pieces of coursework, worth 25% and an exam of 2-hours covering A* - G that you take in the summer. I personally found it harder than my other GCSEs, and certainly harder than Science GCSE - but much much more interesting and rewarding. If you've no interest in it, you'll struggle a lot to do well, especially if you're teachng yourself. Patrick Moore and Chris Lintott's 'Astronomy for GCSE' is a good textbook for it. Also another good book for the course is Nigel Marshall's 'GCSE Astronomy: A guide for pupils and teachers'. Good luck and let me know if you want to know anything else