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Burnt Toast's road to GCSEs

Hi all,

For years GCSEs have been a distant thought, but with year 11 only around the corner GCSEs feel closer than ever.
I've been told by countless current year 11's and older family members to start early with my preparation for the exams, so for once in my life I think I might just listen to the advice and start early. Like all of us I've suffered from PRD (procrastinating revision disorder) and since I'm not planning on messing up my GCSEs anytime soon I've decided to start the revision process now.
I'm hoping that these GYG posts will help to motivate me while possibly sharing the journey with other year 11's starting the journey early. On top of this, I've seen loads of these GYG threads and it can't be pure coincidence that everybody who makes these threads does great in their GCSE/A-level results.
I'm going to try to post every day and I'll mainly be talking about my revision experiences but I may throw in some fitness stuff in there too.

My GCSE subjects:

OCR Maths
OCR Additional Maths
AQA German
AQA Biology
AQA Chemistry
AQA Physics
AQA History
AQA English Literature
AQA English Language
Edexcel-B Geography

My Predicted Grades:

OCR Maths-9
AQA German-7
AQA Biology-7
AQA Chemistry-8
AQA Physics-8
AQA History-9
AQA English Literature-7
AQA English Language-7
Edexcel-B Geography-9


What I'm hoping to get:

OCR Maths-8/9
AQA German-7/8
AQA Biology-8/9
AQA Chemistry-8/9
AQA Physics-8/9
AQA History-8/9
AQA English Literature-7/8
AQA English Language-7/8
Edexcel-B Geography-8/9
(I haven't started additional maths yet so I don't know what to expect for a grade but I've heard that it's pretty hard)



I'd appreciate any help, feedback and revision tips from current and past GCSE students and I hope you stay for the journey straight up to results day
(edited 5 years ago)

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Reply 1
Sounds like you have a good work ethic, just dont stress yourself out and revision little and often and you'll be fine!
Original post by Gus_4
Sounds like you have a good work ethic, just dont stress yourself out and revision little and often and you'll be fine!


Thanks, have you got any tips on how to manage stress and revision techniques?
Day 1-16/8/18


Wasn't planning to post anything else today, but while looking at threads I came across 'Quizlet's going to college.'
I soon learned that Quizlet passed away last month due to cancer and its safe to say that I'm devastated even though I didn't know him. I can't imagine what it would be like for someone to have an illness like cancer at our age, let alone being as ill as Quizlet was. It's a testament to Quizlet that even though he had such terrible circumstances he still came out with outstanding A-level grades. I honestly can't put into words how sad I am that Quizlet passed at such an early age.
Days 2/3/4


I've been really busy this weekend with my cousin's wedding so I probs won't post anything, but my goal is to get a revision plan together for mocks this weekend
Revision Plan Outline for Mocks

I want to have note taking done by October so I can start past papers in November and then December is just overviewing notes.

Maths- Make notes from the spec and do lots of practice. There are a few key formulas too so I'll use flashcards for those.

Additional Maths- As I'm not taking a mock in December my main goal is just to understand the content and maybe make a few notes/make flashcards.....

English Literature- Re-write my class notes on the three books I'm studying, write notes for the poetry and look at analysing unseen poetry.

English Language-Look closer at each of the questions I'll be asked,focus on analysing unseen passages and do lots of work widening my vocabulary while practicing the different styles of writing

Biology- Focusing on making notes from the spec/flashcards then do lots of practice

Chemistry-Same as Bio

Physics-Likewise

German- Lots of work to be done here:
1. Learn 96 general conversation Q
2. Learn all the vocabulary from the AQA
3. Learn all verbs and tenses stated by the AQA
Then if I have time ( very very unlikely) start listening, reading, writing and speaking practice.

As there is so much to learn I'm aiming to learn 1Q on a school night and 2Q on the weekends/holidays.
On top of this I'll divide the vocabulary up so I can learn about 10 words a day
I'll also try to learn a verb a day.

History- Write notes based on my teacher's recommendations- as the spec is pretty vague and use LOTS of flashcards.
Then I'll look in depth into each of the questions I'll be asked and then learning the best way to attack the question

Geography- As the spec is quite well detailed I'll be making notes based on it, I'll also be making case study posters( or something like that)

Lots of work to do tho, I'll be getting started properly on Monday
please tag me in this! it looks like you have an exciting and yet understandably big year in front of you and i can't wait to hear all about it!
good luck!!
Just wondering what books your doing for lit. Im doing Macbeth, Jane Eyre and Lord of the Flies.
Original post by stalkingsilence
please tag me in this! it looks like you have an exciting and yet understandably big year in front of you and i can't wait to hear all about it!
good luck!!


Thanks for the support!!!
Of course I'll tag you 🤗
Original post by Grace.lewis18
Just wondering what books your doing for lit. Im doing Macbeth, Jane Eyre and Lord of the Flies.


I'm doing LOTF and Macbeth too, but instead of Jane Eyre I'm doing Great Expectations.
Best of luck my fellow toastie!:hugs:
What’s your favourite subject?
Personally I find add maths quite easy. But the grade boundaries this year were 56% for an A
Original post by Toastiekid
Best of luck my fellow toastie!:hugs:
What’s your favourite subject?


There's only space for one toasty here 😂
No, in all seriousness I probably like Geography the most as I love the blend of economics, the sciences and history
Original post by pinkbacon1437
Personally I find add maths quite easy. But the grade boundaries this year were 56% for an A

Yh, tbh I find most of it ok but calculus is a bit of a struggle
Original post by Burnt Toast
There's only space for one toasty here 😂
No, in all seriousness I probably like Geography the most as I love the blend of economics, the sciences and history


*sobs, runs out of room*:sadnod:
oooh cool:thumbsup: I quite liked geography (I was obsessed with volcanoes back in the day:teehee:) but I didn’t take it for gcse:dontknow:
Day 4

First of all, thank you to everyone who has been replying to the thread it really means alot.
@SomMC1, thanks for the advice + I love your GYG thread too!
Anyway, onto what I did today/ the past few days. As I mentioned before I've been really busy with my cousin's wedding and thankfully I can now say it is finished. The months of planning have paid off and the wedding was great. I had a great time, although I think that I may have injured my shoulder through a dance move that I can only compare to ring a ring o roses on steroids where everyone lifts one of their legs up and spins around as fast as they can. This move is dangerous when the participants are sober, so when you mix in a few hours of vodka shots you soon start fearing for your life.
Other than my shoulder my legs aren't too good either, I'm telling you now that a mix of sitting down in the temple,cross-legged, for 3 hours and then participating in dance competitions where you see who can squat the lowest while bouncing up and down is not very good for your legs.
But, enough of my moaning, overall I had a great time and I look forward to doing it again in 4 weeks for my other cousin, who I just realized made me best man :frown:
I literally have no clue what to do and I'm bricking it tbh, even with my dad insisting that best men do nothing.
Work starts tomorrow, the Grind life BEGINS.

Tag list

Spoiler

Original post by SomMC1
I know that it feels great when people interact onthe GYG:biggrin:
You are very welcome and thank you, you're rather kind😊
I just prefer sipping on Henny rather than vodka tbh; vodka tastes too strange for my liking!! The described dance move and subsequent complaining are so ridiculous that they made me burst laughing lmao
good luck tomorrow and enjoy your next wedding ulalla:wink:


Thanks, the drinking at Indian weddings is out of control, my 13 year old cousin was having shots with us😆
The dance moves are something else too, there's nothing more funny than watching a 'sensible' uncle tear up the dance floor with his dodgy 80's moves with his kids looking on in disbelief.
Original post by Burnt Toast
Thanks, the drinking at Indian weddings is out of control, my 13 year old cousin was having shots with us😆
The dance moves are something else too, there's nothing more funny than watching a 'sensible' uncle tear up the dance floor with his dodgy 80's moves with his kids looking on in disbelief.


😂😂😂
Day 5

Today was the kind of day where all you want to do is just lie in bed and do nothing.
However, since my room was looking like a bomb hit it I decided to clean it for the first time in about a month. Tbh I instantly regretted the desision and subsequently my room is now littered with everything from pieces of Lego to my school clothes.

Also it looks like me and @Koalifications have something in common.
While I was cleaning my room my parents decided to watch some old VHS tapes but in order to do so needed to fish out the ancient VHS player out of the loft ( that I was told hadn't been used since I was born) I should have expected what came next.
Soon after they began to attempt to play the tapes, it started to rain and as the resident slave of the household I took the clothes off the line. Once I came back inside I was met with an acrid smell, the VHS player had nearly caught on fire 🤦*♂️.

The house still stinks of the plasticy smoke, even through my best attempts to get rid of it.
At least the player didn't even work properly in the first place.
On the work front I've been transferring my year 10 notes and the subject specific specifications to folders, this may take some time tho because there is so much content.
Reply 19
Providing you have decent intelligence, but as long as you listen on class you can start revising a week before each exam and you will be fine, GCSEs aren’t that bad. Not what people want you to be hearing but it’s the truth

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