3 to 9 in GCSE English AMA

OP

Original post by Littlegeekgirl_

How much revision did you do and what did you do to revise? Also, do you feel as though you neglected your other subjects by focusing on the core subjects?

For Maths I just did practice question after practice question. As it was the first year of new GCSE there were no past papers so I only had online resources and a practice paper my school made.

With English Literature it was really just about knowing the texts inside out. I re read the texts and created my own quote banks. Doing a mind map for every chapter/scene/poem with context, themes, dates etc really helps reduce revision later as you don’t have to keep flicking back through the texts. I still use this for A-Level English Lit and it’s a lifesaver.

For English Lang just make sure you know the question structure really well. You want to have as much time as possible to focus on the big questions that get the most marks and if you can’t fly through the smaller questions you’ll struggle to write all that you want to later on. Also revise a few advanced language techniques that school don’t teach you. It will really impress the marker who will be getting tired of just seeing similes and alliteration in every sentence.

I will admit that focusing on core did mean I neglected my others. I didn’t really make any improvements from mocks in some subjects and I went from an A to a B in Biology. I don’t regret that decision though as I couldn’t face the prospect of failing Maths and great grades in the cores really impress unis and employers.

I did a lot of revision for subjects like Maths and Literature but for English Lang I didn’t do much at all. Just re familiarised myself with structure and techniques and my imagination did the rest.

Reply 3

AngelStarfire

15

That's amazing! For Maths when you said you did past papers, what did you start? Like what topic of maths did you start with? I don't know what topic I should start doing past papers for. I'm struggling in most of the topics for Maths.

For English Literature could you explain in detail what you did to revise and how you improved your exam technique plus how you revised for the poems?

For English Lang I suck horribly and my imagination isn't that great as I always spend a good 30 mins thinking of a silly plot to write. Plus how did you improve on writing letters, reports etc?

Reply 4

OP

Original post by AngelStarfire

That's amazing! For Maths when you said you did past papers, what did you start? Like what topic of maths did you start with? I don't know what topic I should start doing past papers for. I'm struggling in most of the topics for Maths.

For English Literature could you explain in detail what you did to revise and how you improved your exam technique plus how you revised for the poems?

For English Lang I suck horribly and my imagination isn't that great as I always spend a good 30 mins thinking of a silly plot to write. Plus how did you improve on writing letters, reports etc?

I generally just really sucked at Algebra so I tried to master simultaneous equations which help with the more complex parts of the topics. I mostly just found really complex questions, solved the basic bits of it and then had to dig deeper to try and solve the harder bits. It wasn’t easy but fortunately I got free tuition from a family friend who’s a maths teacher and he explained algebra in really basic terms which made me more confident with it.

To find out what my main flaws with Eng Lit technique were, I just confronted my teacher and asked for a really honest review of my current structure. In the end I just realised I needed to include more quotes. As mentioned above, creating mind maps that cover the key info and quotes really helped me. Poems were hard but I picked 5 of my favourites and did them in incredible depth.

I actually started writing a story in my spare time in the run up to the exams which really helped my creativity and imagination. It took time away but was relaxing and helps improve your writing style across all subjects. This is what, in my opinion, got me the 9 in Eng Lang.

(edited 5 years ago)

Reply 5

Notnek

Original post by GeniusOfEarl100

So a bit of context. In my GCSE mocks I did shockingly bad. 1 in Maths, 4 in English Literature and a 3 in English Literature. The rest of my grades were old GCSEs and were actually ok.

The next few months were hell to say the least. My mock results really scared me yet provided the ultimate motivation. I only needed 5s to get into sixth form but I had Oxbridge hopes and thought with 1s and 3s it might not even be possible to get the 5s I needed, especially as school said they expect most students to only make 1 grades worth of improvement between now and exam season.

I revise harder than I thought was possible and go into my exams feeling slightly more confident but still terrified. I walk out thinking I’ve done terribly.

Come August I open my results to find a 9 in English Language, 8 in Literature and a 7 in Maths. To this day I still don’t know how I did it but all of my teachers told me such an improvement wouldn’t be possible.

The moral of this story is it is possible and it’s not too late to GYG. Feel free to ask me anything and best of luck with your GCSEs.

Those increases are amazing and I'm not sure I've heard of anything as big as that before. Clearly you had the ability to do very well so why do you think you did so poorly in the mocks? Was it lack of work in school, revision? Can I ask what mark you got in maths to get a 1?

This may not be the right place for your thread but I'll check with @Lemur14 :smile:

Reply 6

username3444162

Yeh you've got the grade boundaries to thank for that.

Reply 7

OP

Original post by Notnek

Those increases are amazing and I'm not sure I've heard of anything as big as that before. Clearly you had the ability to do very well so why do you think you did so poorly in the mocks? Was it lack of work in school, revision? Can I ask what mark you got in maths to get a 1?

This may not be the right place for your thread but I'll check with @Lemur14 :smile:

I did struggle in the early part of Year 11 as I had an operation scheduled but it was cancelled. I can’t remember what mark it was but in the majority of questions I had no idea. Also it was a paper my school made and not official so the grade boundaries weren’t realistic and the questions were harder there than they were in the actual exam. Some of it is definitely going to be teachers not understanding the new GCSEs, particularly in English which is very subjective. Thanks for checking. I mostly use TSR for MHOC lol.

Reply 8

OP

Original post by Oneiropólos

Yeh you've got the grade boundaries to thank for that.

Definitely! They were a godsend.

Reply 9

Notnek

Original post by GeniusOfEarl100

I did struggle in the early part of Year 11 as I had an operation scheduled but it was cancelled. I can’t remember what mark it was but in the majority of questions I had no idea. Also it was a paper my school made and not official so the grade boundaries weren’t realistic and the questions were harder there than they were in the actual exam. Some of it is definitely going to be teachers not understanding the new GCSEs, particularly in English which is very subjective. Thanks for checking. I mostly use TSR for MHOC lol.

Was this 2018? The school would have had no excuse to set hard papers and unrealistic grade boundaries.

Reply 10

OP

Original post by Notnek

Was this 2018? The school would have had no excuse to set hard papers and unrealistic grade boundaries.

No 2017. Nobody really knew what was going on.

Reply 11

Notnek

Original post by GeniusOfEarl100

No 2017. Nobody really knew what was going on.

Okay now everything makes a bit more sense. I heard about a school giving a whole top set class U's in their mocks because they used a new style paper with old style boundaries. I hope everyone learns from this - the government/exam boards need to come up with a better plan to avoid this kind of thing when any new exams are introduced.

Reply 12

1102ha11

10

Wow thanks so much for posting this, you have honestly given me a lot of motivation really grateful :smile:

Reply 13

OP

Original post by 1102ha11

Wow thanks so much for posting this, you have honestly given me a lot of motivation really grateful :smile:

Best of luck! You’ll smash it!

Reply 14

Lemur14

Volunteer Section Leader

Moved to English exams and study help so hopefully more people who need help with English will see it :smile:

GYG is a blogging competition so more about currently growing your grades than past growth (although those are impressive improvements!)

Reply 15

Tolgash

Yes, I have a few.

1. What awarding bodies were you with for the two English subjects?

2. What prescribed tests did you study?

3. What are you studying at A-level now?

4. Dud you receive any raw marks?

Reply 16

OP

Original post by Tolgarda

Yes, I have a few.

1. What awarding bodies were you with for the two English subjects?

2. What prescribed tests did you study?

3. What are you studying at A-level now?

4. Dud you receive any raw marks?

1. I was with AQA for both.

2. I did Inspector Calls, Romeo and Juliet, Power and Conflict Poetry and Jekyll and Hyde.

3. I currently do History, Classical Civilisation, English Literature and EPQ for A-Levels.

4. No I didn’t actually. Just the grade.

Reply 17

Tolgash