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Gcse study help

I have a few questions. I’m on mostly 6s (a B). I didn’t revise much for the mocks. In two and a half months, is it possible to get 8s ( an A*) with a lot of revision? That’s my target so that’s why I ask.

Also, what is the best way to revise? I have bought cgp books for almost every subject, and I buy a5 notepads for each paper in the GCSEs eg. An a5 book for chem paper 1 , another for paper 2, and then I write notes .The only notes I’ve fully wrote from the guides are all of chemistry, some of physics and that’s it. I’m unsure if this is a good way to revise. Should I carry on doing this with every other subject - I feel comfortable doing this but I’m unsure if it’s effective enough. I tried to do other methods ie flash cards, but I was unsure exactly what to write on these flash cards. And mindmaps don’t appeal to me tbh. Since I have two full a5 books on chemistry I’ve spent like 8 hours on, what do I do with these? Just read over them? If I make flash cards, then on what? I’m unsure what I’m meant to write since I’ve already written any info needed in these books.

So basically I’m asking, is writing a full a5 book of notes for a paper effective? What do I do after i’ve written an entire notebook worth of notes? Just read over them? And if I make flash cards, what do I write on them? And also, is an 8 achievable with heavy revision? And if you could name any other revision methods to help get these grades that’d help.

Any help is appreciated.
Reply 1
Original post by DaLifeofPablo
I have a few questions. I’m on mostly 6s (a B). I didn’t revise much for the mocks. In two and a half months, is it possible to get 8s ( an A*) with a lot of revision? That’s my target so that’s why I ask.

Also, what is the best way to revise? I have bought cgp books for almost every subject, and I buy a5 notepads for each paper in the GCSEs eg. An a5 book for chem paper 1 , another for paper 2, and then I write notes .The only notes I’ve fully wrote from the guides are all of chemistry, some of physics and that’s it. I’m unsure if this is a good way to revise. Should I carry on doing this with every other subject - I feel comfortable doing this but I’m unsure if it’s effective enough. I tried to do other methods ie flash cards, but I was unsure exactly what to write on these flash cards. And mindmaps don’t appeal to me tbh. Since I have two full a5 books on chemistry I’ve spent like 8 hours on, what do I do with these? Just read over them? If I make flash cards, then on what? I’m unsure what I’m meant to write since I’ve already written any info needed in these books.

So basically I’m asking, is writing a full a5 book of notes for a paper effective? What do I do after i’ve written an entire notebook worth of notes? Just read over them? And if I make flash cards, what do I write on them? And also, is an 8 achievable with heavy revision? And if you could name any other revision methods to help get these grades that’d help.

Any help is appreciated.


If you have all the info, do all questions from books first, then any paper you can get, but it is achievable, just requires for you to work harder. But try understanding rather than memorising, and try to shorten your notes, so rewrite them and make them shorter every time, until you can fit them into a couple pages etc, flash cards you can write a question on one side, answer it on the other etc
Reply 2
Past papers work like magic, I think that’s the best way to revise. Also, don’t revise every day because there’s going to be a point where you just can’t take it in and you’ll forget it. Remember to take breaks when revising.
Reply 3
Agree on shortening your notes.

Think that relying solely on notes, though, can be ineffective. They just don't go into your brain as well. Try using different medium - youtube channels (eg. freesciencelessons, khan academy), online sites that explain the concepts (eg BBC bitesize does this quite well) and testing sites (eg quizlet). I've also recently found Seneca - https://app.senecalearning.com/ - which does the explaining and the testing all in one, so I quite like it.

Also, it's much better if you don't do one subject as a time. Instead of focussing on writing all the notes on one topic and then moving on, try and do a few subjects at once. Short chunks of time on each and then move on. This means you remember more of the facts, and gives your brain longer to process and understand it.

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