Biggest study mistakes

I'm currently doing GCSEs, but to anyone who has done any exams, what were the biggest mistakes you made or things you regret doing, things that wasted time, or things you wish you did?

Reply 1

lingyan

...if you have any subjects that require coursework, do as much as you can now, save yourself the pain later on. It's not fun. learned that the hard way.

Reply 2

larkspurs

Original post by annabeld

I'm currently doing GCSEs, but to anyone who has done any exams, what were the biggest mistakes you made or things you regret doing, things that wasted time, or things you wish you did?

Test yourself constantly and use the brain dump method!

Reply 3

UWS

Procrastinating on TSR.

Reply 4

yepitsanne

Original post by lingyan

...if you have any subjects that require coursework, do as much as you can now, save yourself the pain later on. It's not fun. learned that the hard way.

Definitely agree with this one as my coursework grades either pulled my grades up or down. And I suggest that you start revising little by little rather than doing your revision down to the last few weeks. Good luck! x

Reply 5

Yasmin_S

make sure that you do a lot of past papers the more you do the better your exams will be
I wish I did more for certain subjects

Reply 6

Yasmin_S

Original post by annabeld

I'm currently doing GCSEs, but to anyone who has done any exams, what were the biggest mistakes you made or things you regret doing, things that wasted time, or things you wish you did?

make sure that you do a lot of past papers the more you do the better your exams will be
I wish I did more for certain subjects

(edited 6 years ago)

Reply 7

ralph9694

Not using the after school revision sessions right from the start of year 11, I started going to them all around March and they were really useful for catching upon everything I had missed. (I moved to England at the start of year 11)

Reply 8

unamusedhyena

Past papers! For some subjects (especially sciences) they have specific questions formats that they repeat, just phrased slightly differently. You just need to do papers galore until you learn the mark scheme for it. In the exam, all you have to do is apply the basic structure of the mark scheme whilst acknowledging whatever example they give in the question.

E.g.: a basic mark scheme for titration would include
1.add indicator (some questions want you to specify)
2.add [example chemical] from burette until temporary colour change
3.add [chemical] drop by drop (aka slowly) until permanent colour change
4.repeat and calculate average titre

you can essentially apply this to any question asking you to describe the process of titration

honestly, these questions are a god-send because if you do enough past papers you can rattle them off super quick(with the assurance that you're getting the marks), leaving you time for questions you may not have seen before

Reply 9

matteocatilo

do your notes as you go along i.e flashcards. but ensure you have utter understanding of the topic before you do your notes or your notes will not be good

Reply 10

amycarton

Making flash cards helped me and doing past papers were really good, I wish that I had done more practice papers, because a lot of the questions repeat in exams.

Reply 11

Cor395

Original post by annabeld

I'm currently doing GCSEs, but to anyone who has done any exams, what were the biggest mistakes you made or things you regret doing, things that wasted time, or things you wish you did?

Don't spend too much time on english lit/language. ngl i read my notes the evening before the exam and that was enough. as long as you've listened in class english revision should be minimal (unless they changed the curriculum of the new english gcse drastically in which case i have no idea what im talking about).

Reply 12

username3302112

Don't just read your notes make sure you are able to understand them and recall them

Reply 13

username2940194

i regret spending ages making revision timetables and to do lists. organisation is great but not when you're mind tricks you into thinking that you're being productive by doing that. Make them, but set a time limit on how long you spend doing so. Good luck!