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Getting Those Grades: That last-ditch attempt for a 9 (GYG)

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2 major and daily updates a week? Yay or nay?






:excited::excited::excited:WELCOME TO NSTAR12'S JOURNEY THROUGH GCSE'S:excited::excited::excited:






Hey everyone, thanks for joining me on my journey to get grade 9s in year 11! :smile: After a year-long hiatus from TSR, it sure does feel great to come back!

Subjects:
(AQA)English language
(Edexcel)Separate science (9-1)
(Edexcel)History (Medicine Through Time, The Western Front, King Henry VIII, The Cold War, and Weimar and Nazi Germany)
(Edexcel)Geography
(OCR)Computer Science
(OCR)Portuguese


Now I already did a few of my GCSE's last year (which is why some subjects are missing from the list above!:biggrin:) and after seeing the progress I had made in those ones, I decided it would be great to share the things I did to get my grades this time around!

Currently, my predicted grades vary from a 7 to a 9 depending on the subject, but I'm sure with a lot of effort and motivation, I'll be able to boost those grades up to 9's!

I do a have a little bit of a reputation for forgetting about certain routines and targets that I set for myself,:colondollar: which is why I'm hoping that with this thread, I'll be able to stick to this one (with, of course, a few reminders from my friends and fellow TSRians:smile:)

Grades that I want to get:
English language: 9
Separate science: 9
History: 9
Geography: 9
Computer Science: 9
Portuguese: A*

Previous grades:
Year 10:
(AQA)Additional Mathematics: A
(AQA)Spanish: 9
(AQA)English Literature: 9
(AQA)Religious Studies: 9
(Edexcel)ICT (BTEC): Distinction
Year 9:
(Edexcel)Higher Mathematics: 9

Well anyway, feel free to post down below if you want to be tagged!
I'll be happy to answer any question any of you all want to ask, and I'll do my best to update regularly.

Other than that, I just hope you'll all enjoy this, so just kick back, relax, and let this girl take the reins!:wink:
(edited 5 years ago)

Scroll to see replies

Ok, update no.1 of this forum! :woo:(I'll be doing weekly updates on Wednesday and Saturday/Sunday, depending on my schedule, so hopefully, I'll be able to stick to it!)

My school does a series of mocks in exam conditions for each of our subjects, known as 'Assessments', every half-term. :yep:
I figured it would be nice to share what I got in all of them since they usually help me understand which subjects I need to focus on more and where I'm slacking.:biggrin:

So, without further ado, here they are!:woo:

Pre-further maths: B (even though I've already done both maths and additional mathsGCSE's, it's still compulsory in my school to study maths)
English language: 8
Separate science: 7
History: 5 :getmecoat:
Geography: 9 :biggrin:
Computer Science: N/A (We're currently working on our Non-Exam Assessment in computer science, which means we don't have to do any assessments. Yay!)
Portuguese: 9 :woo:


So, from this, I can tell I've got to study History more (it's never really been my forte) and I feel like I should also place a little more priority on science since I know that it's a little too far away from a 9.
To be honest, I'm still quite bummed about my English and Maths results, since I usually achieve higher than that.:s-smilie:

For anyone who's curious, Science was topics 9-11 in physics, History was medicine through time and the Western Front, English Lanuage was paper 1 (minus question 5), and Geography was Paper 1 (changing cities and the urban world).


For me, these assessments are really useful, they can either give me aboost or a good slap in the face (depending on what I've got in them!) which is quite helpful to figure out where my weaknesses and strengths are. Especially since the tests are not full GCSE papers but only certain papers on certain topics, they help me focus my attention on a certain area of the subject.:h:


Another reason this is great for exam preparation is that it reduces the stress felt in exams. Our assessments are held in the actual exam halls where we will sit our real GCSE's. Last year, when i did a few of my GCSE's, I was less stressed because to me, it just felt like another boring old assessment. It helps normalise the feeling of exam conditions in an exam hall, which of course makes it around 10 times easier to feel relaxed in the actual exam.

Keep an eye out for more updates, and thanks for checking out this forum! :work::work::work:
Good luck!
Original post by emilynxlan
Good luck!


Thank you! I'm not really sure how much progress I'll make but I'm glad I have some people who support me!
Original post by nstar12
Thank you! I'm not really sure how much progress I'll make but I'm glad I have some people who support me!

Kinda the same boat here. I genuinely don't know what I'm doing most of the time :rofl:
I like your motivation! Keep it up and you'll definitely get those 9s :smile:
Original post by Infinite Series
I like your motivation! Keep it up and you'll definitely get those 9s :smile:

thank you! it's my aim to fill this forum with motivation and tips to help other students get through their GCSEs and so I'm glad you think so :smile:
also thanks for having faith in me!
Hello, everyone!
I'm sorry for the late update, my schedule has flown out of the window since the half-term break has started. :colondollar:
But, anyway, I'm back with some more tips for A-grade (or 9-grade:wink:) revision! Now, to be honest, your senile old teacher who yells at an empty classroom for misbehavior is actually right when he says it's never too early to start revising, no matter how crazy he looks. But that doesn't mean you have to go all-out with your revision, at least not this soon. By starting revision early, you'll save time because you won't have to spend a good week and a half writing up all your notes. :reaper:

For me, these things work best for start-of-the-year revision:

1. Summary sheets. These work best when you're studying subjects such as science, geography, history and English literature- the subjects where there are certain modules and topics involved. This method basically involves writing out a summary sheet for each of the topics you've gone over so far in school.
The contents of these sheets can vary with each subject, from key quotes, to time periods and medical breakthroughs, to certain keywords, to important equations to revise.
Then, just get some simple file binders (or folders if you've got the shelving space for it) and assign each folder/binder by subject. And when you start learning more topics, you just need to add each new summary sheet to the folder!:biggrin:

2. Flashcards. (LEAVE YOUR 'THE FLASH' REFERENCES AT THE DOORSTEP!):s-smilie: Ok, so this one pretty much links to the above method, but create separate sets of flashcards for quotes, equations, and keywords.
One thing which I found really fun (wow, revision can be fun?!) is making a little 'Pictionary' set of flashcards: you simply have a drawing on one side, and you have to guess the quote or keyword that it links to on the other side. I used to play this game with my friends last year in class for my RS and English literature exam, and it really paid off.
You could do the same with this for learning languages: have the English on one side, and the other language (whichever one you're studying) on the other side. And as with the method above, it's really easy to add in more cards to the pack.:biggrin:

3. Timelines. For anyone studying history, I'd recommend making a huge timeline for each period you're studying.
Then, using a block of post-its, write down a date and the event that occurred on that date, and then just stick it up onto the timeline in the right spot.
You don't need to stick the timeline onto your bedroom wall immediately, but save it for when exam season actually begins.:tumble:

Spoiler

Spoiler


Well, anyway, I hope you enjoy your holiday and keep up with the revision! Once again, keep an eye out for new updates and thank you for checking this forum out! :rave:

:work::work::work:
(edited 5 years ago)
Okay, so! Hello all, and Happy Halloween to you all!:hide:
Well, so far, I've been thinking about Sixth Form applications; our school has been putting a lot of emphasis on the importance of them lately, which means I haven't really done much revision this week. (I swear I'm NOT making excuses. No, really)

Well, anyway, I've finished studying all the topics in physics, which means I can finally, finally throw my exercise book straight in the bin. (jk, of course I'm going to keep it. Well, only until the actual exam date.) What does it really mean??:iiam:

Spoiler



Aside from that, I've also begun the jewel of English language: DESCRIPTIVE WRITING!! Yes, I live for that stuff (and cake, but cake isn't allowed in exam halls, so we have to make do with what we've got.) So, the only notes I have for English language so far are two separate lists of language and structure devices, sentence structures for 'perceptive band' writing, and a bunch of fancy words which mean 'the writer is very clever'. So. Not much, I guess. :getmecoat:

I've also been spending the past few weeks working on my Non-Exam Assessment in computer science, which is very frustrating. :s-smilie:
I spent a whole weekend trying to fix a syntax error in my code. And it was all because of a bracket. A BRACKET, I say! (I hereby announce that the use of brackets is now banned, henceforth and forever!):biggrin:

Spoiler


Well, anyway, Enjoy your Halloween and keep up with the revision! Once again, keep an eye out for new updates and thank you for checking this forum out!

(edited 5 years ago)
Hello everyone! :woo::unsure:

Well, once again, I haven't done much, but I did realise that I have a lot of study methods which I didn't upload onto here, so I figured I should before an angry horde or TSRians runs me over (although that's not very likely considering this basically is non-existent).

SO! For Portuguese, my teacher has set up study sets on Quizlet. They may be long but it's a fast way to cram vocab into your head the day before a vocab test. (notice how I'm using it??? It must say something about me...:colondollar:) There's a mode called 'learn' where you can learn the vocab, but also some game-type ways of learning the words, too. It also has lists of the vocab that each study set teaches you, which comes in very useful when writing out flashcards.

But other than that, something which I used last year to memorise quotes for English Literature was an app called Memrise. :yep:It also came with browser forms and all you had to do was type in the quotes you wanted to memorise and it would show you a jumbled-up version of the quote which you would have to reorder (it got very difficult when doing Shakespeare, trust me). :s-smilie: I'll put the link for it down below, in a spoiler.

To be honest, the majority of my time is used to finish homework and actually type up notes. I prefer to type up notes and then print out a hard copy of them so that you'll always have a backup of it in case something happens to it - something I learnt from experience.:colondollar:

Spoiler


And if you type up your notes you can print out lots of copies, and you can stick them up around the house- on your walls, doors, toilet, dining table, dressing table, your brother's face, your wardrobe, your phone, your ceiling, your dog.... just make sure you don't go crazy with the sticking. :yep:

Besides that, I've nothing else to offer you guys. It's been a very unproductive week.:frown:

Well, anyway, keep up with the revision! Once again, keep an eye out for new updates and thank you for checking this forum out!



Spoiler

(edited 5 years ago)
Reply 10
Original post by nstar12
Hello everyone! :woo::unsure:

Well, once again, I haven't done much, but I did realise that I have a lot of study methods which I didn't upload onto here, so I figured I should before an angry horde or TSRians runs me over (although that's not very likely considering this basically is non-existent).

SO! For Portuguese, my teacher has set up study sets on Quizlet. They may be long but it's a fast way to cram vocab into your head the day before a vocab test. (notice how I'm using it??? It must say something about me...:colondollar:) There's a mode called 'learn' where you can learn the vocab, but also some game-type ways of learning the words, too. It also has lists of the vocab that each study set teaches you, which comes in very useful when writing out flashcards.

But other than that, something which I used last year to memorise quotes for English Literature was an app called Memrise. :yep:It also came with browser forms and all you had to do was type in the quotes you wanted to memorise and it would show you a jumbled-up version of the quote which you would have to reorder (it got very difficult when doing Shakespeare, trust me). :s-smilie: I'll put the link for it down below, in a spoiler.

To be honest, the majority of my time is used to finish homework and actually type up notes. I prefer to type up notes and then print out a hard copy of them so that you'll always have a backup of it in case something happens to it - something I learnt from experience.:colondollar:

Spoiler


And if you type up your notes you can print out lots of copies, and you can stick them up around the house- on your walls, doors, toilet, dining table, dressing table, your brother's face, your wardrobe, your phone, your ceiling, your dog.... just make sure you don't go crazy with the sticking. :yep:

Besides that, I've nothing else to offer you guys. It's been a very unproductive week.:frown:

Well, anyway, keep up with the revision! Once again, keep an eye out for new updates and thank you for checking this forum out!



Spoiler



Why was I tagged!?
Original post by ajsar
Why was I tagged!?


It was an accident, don't worry, if you don't want to be tagged in here, I'll take note of that and you won't receive any more notifications.
(edited 5 years ago)
aw dont worry about unproductiveness, thats my middle name haha
keep going, you're doing amazing!
and noo long posts are fine
keep me tagged x
Original post by mez_merising
aw dont worry about unproductiveness, thats my middle name haha
keep going, you're doing amazing!
and noo long posts are fine
keep me tagged x

mez_unproductive_merising :tongue:
Reply 14
Original post by nstar12
It was an accident, don't worry, if you don't want to be tagged in here, I'll take note of that and you won't receive any more notifications.

Keep me in pls I’m actually gaining motivation to study from this!
Original post by ajsar
Keep me in pls I’m actually gaining motivation to study from this!

If that's what you'd like, I have no problems with that! Of course you can stay, everyone's welcome here :smile:
Reply 16
Original post by nstar12
If that's what you'd like, I have no problems with that! Of course you can stay, everyone's welcome here :smile:

Thanks! Btw could you check out my most recent post and give me some tips if you can?
Original post by emilynxlan
mez_unproductive_merising :tongue:


hahahahaaa
Original post by ajsar
Thanks! Btw could you check out my most recent post and give me some tips if you can?

Of course! I'll be happy to help anyway I can :smile:
Original post by mez_merising
aw dont worry about unproductiveness, thats my middle name haha
keep going, you're doing amazing!
and noo long posts are fine
keep me tagged x

Sure, I'll do that! My posts kind of end up being long anyways, I don't know if I'll have able to stop haha!

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