Will my grades improve mocks to real gcses

Hey! Im a little disappointed with my mocks- they arent bad grades -mainly 7s or As, but i actually did work for them , and i dont know how to improve, and they are lower than my predicted which id like to achieve-

Most people say that real ones go better cause you actually revise- but i studied for these and everyone else seems to have gotten the same grades and not worked at all...
Im really worried about the real things now and i feel im going to do worse than i want.

Anyone know if i can go up to an 8 or even 9 lmao for the real things? Like has anyone got experiences of mocks going worse than real things when you worked for them??

Reply 1

username3724334

To start with, the people that seem to have done no work could have done loads. You just can't tell from what people say. It's not even necessarily that they're lying, people just have a skewed perception of how hard they have or haven't worked and, at GCSE level particularly, people are afraid of letting other people know how much effort they've put in.
Secondly, people's real grades can vary hugely to their mock grades in either direction, there are so many factors that affect it. Also, as you're doing a new style set of exams your teachers don't necessarily know lots about how to mark them and in my experience people mark more harshly when they're not sure.
And finally, there's 4 more months til exams, that's a lot of time, if you work hard til then (make a plan, I love revision plans) and make sure you're revising in a way that works for you, you can go far.
Past papers are important. I know you're doing a new syllabus but the old syllabus papers are still extremely relevant (I'm doing a new syllabus for my physics and chemistry A levels and I'm doing ALL the old past papers). Just make sure you're aware what is on each of the old papers and what is on each of your new papers (ask your teachers, find the old and new specifications online) and find out what has been added on and make sure you write it down and revise it too as it will be missing from those past papers.
My final point is one that your teachers don't like to tell you because they're worried you'll get complacent.
GCSEs aren't THAT important. If you're going on to get further qualifications (I'm assuming with your grades you're thinking of A levels and university) the qualifications you get almost replace your GCSEs.
As long as you get what you need to get on to your chosen A level courses you're generally fine.
The only unis that seem to care about GCSEs are the very elite ones such as Oxbridge and even then they're probably the least important aspect of your application.

Reply 2

username3724334

I'm sorry if I'm telling you things you already know and do when I'm giving revision tips but I'm just hoping I can help as someone who's gone through both GCSEs and AS levels and while I was part of the last year to do the old GCSEs I'm also only the second year to do the new science a levels (to complicate things I'm the last year to do the old maths a levels though) so I also have some idea about what it's like trying to deal with syllabus and exam changes.
I was anxious about my GCSEs too because, even while everyone told me they didn't matter too much, I tend to base my self worth on exam results so the A*s mattered a lot to me. So I understand why you're fretting even though you're already getting 7s and so probably don't need to. Just try to remember that in a year or so it will seem a hell of a lot less important than it does now, your life doesn't depend on it!
But still work hard, it's important to do the best you can :smile:

Reply 3

stqrlord

At my school people tend to improve by one grade in each subject between mocks and the actual GCSEs although you could easily improve even more if you work hard enough.