The Student Room Group

Four 9s and six 8s at GCSE - AMA

Feel free to ask me anything relevant about GCSEs or the transition from GCSE to A-Levels.
Hi,
i i rlly need help 4 m aqa gcse english language paper 1/2 question 5 and biology maths questions and tips???
ty and wd for those grades amazing x
OMGGGG congrats, that's amazing!
Can you recommend revision websites?
Also please answer honestly but do you think you were naturally smart or just worked super hard?! As I'm definitely not clever, and I do so much revision but am not sure if it's sticking and stuff?! I haven't got yr 11 mocks back yet though.
Where you at a grammar/private school?!
Advice about moving sixth forms?!
When did you start revising?!
WELL DONEEEE
Original post by bhavika123
Hi,
i i rlly need help 4 m aqa gcse english language paper 1/2 question 5 and biology maths questions and tips???
ty and wd for those grades amazing x

One of the things I found really helpful with preparing for the language question 5 (for both papers) was sample questions. You can either ask your teacher to give you a few examples, or search up online for writing prompt images (especially helpful with the paper 1 question). Set yourself a time limit and just run with it, because it really helps just getting your brain adjusted to that scenario. With paper 2 I'd say it's probably easier to ask your teacher for a few prompts, but even just asking a friend to give you a contraversial statement and writing an article/letter around that is useful. In class, we built a 'wordbank' of ambitious words we'd like to bring out in our writing and their definitions, and I stuck it up on my wall and made it my job to learn a new word every day.

Biology and maths, though you've most likely heard this all before unfortunately, are all about repetition and completing past papers. I asked my bio teacher for worksheets every other week on top of homework - we didn't really get a lot of formally set homework, so I used the time to do this instead - and handed them back to her to mark. Then she'd give it back, and I could check what I didn't know and needed to go over. Same goes for maths.

Above all, though, my biggest tip would be to take advantage of your teachers. They're there for a reason and want you to do as well as you can (even if only because it reflects well on their department). Go along to see them at lunches/the end of the day to go over stuff you didn't get, and above all show them that you care, because that'll motivate them to help you more.

Thanks :smile: x
Original post by maisiex10x
OMGGGG congrats, that's amazing!
Can you recommend revision websites?
Also please answer honestly but do you think you were naturally smart or just worked super hard?! As I'm definitely not clever, and I do so much revision but am not sure if it's sticking and stuff?! I haven't got yr 11 mocks back yet though.
Where you at a grammar/private school?!
Advice about moving sixth forms?!
When did you start revising?!
WELL DONEEEE

Thank you :smile:

Revision website wise, I'd say Quizlet was an absolute life-saver for me. Physics equations, English quotes, German vocab - you name it, I made a set. There's even a brand new edit now that allows you to merge sets, meaning you can make a set per idea or concept that you study, and once you've learnt these, you can merge them all to form one massive set of everything you need to know per subject. Memrise is also quite helpful, especially with foreign languages and science (I know we did a couple of chemistry sets back in Year 10), but personally I favoured the simplicity of Quizlet.

Honestly? A bit of both. I don't want to stand here and say it was 100% revision, because I know that it wasn't, and it wouldn't be fair to you to say that it was. I'd say there was a bit in me that had managed to pick basic concepts up from right at the start of Year 7, and this helped with understanding some stuff. However, that's not to say that revision didn't help me at all, because if I hadn't revised I wouldn't have got anywhere near as good as I got. Revision sessions were particularly helpful, even if you can pull your teacher away for a 1-to-1 session that's amazingly helpful, because sometimes it's as simple as the way you've written your notes doesn't quite make sense in your head and you need someone else to explain it to you. Please, please, please, don't be afraid to not understand, even if it means asking your teacher to repeat something 10 times in 10 different ways.

Nope, state school all the way!

Moving sixth forms: don't be afraid to be yourself, and stand for what you want. Despite my grades and to my parents' dismay (though they wouldn't admit it now, and I'm more than happy with the place I'm at) I made the decision to go to a college instead of a sixth form, mainly for the combination of subjects it allowed me to do, but also because of the laid back atmosphere it had in comparison to the rather strict (in terms of addressing teachers, uniform) secondary I went to. Go around to as many different sixth forms as you can get to, even if you've got your heart dead set on a particular place, because something in your heart might change later to the date. Above all else, though, this has got to suit you, so you need to be the biggest decision maker. But in terms of making new friends: throw yourself in there. If other people on the induction day/s or your initial lessons aren't starting conversations, start them yourself. The only way you're guarenteed to not make any new friends is if you don't socialise with anyone new at all.

I started most of the important stuff I knew I didn't understand early on, but my mind works better closer to the date so I did a lot of the actual studying from Feburary half-term of Year 11 (but many, many hours a night). Find what works best for you, but don't decide you're just going to leave it to the last minute too late, or you might find that you haven't left yourself enough time, and there's no going back at that point.

Ultimately: keep up what you're doing! Take advantage of your teachers, and keep putting in the hard work, but don't burn yourself out. Hope this helps :smile:
Reply 5
hi, first of all congrats.can you plzz tell me that how were you able to get this good grades, im super bad at revision like once ill revise and the next hour ill forget everything. my teachers do not motivate me at all when i say 'o miss how can i achieve my grades' and they are lyk 'no u cant get these grades because they are to hard or i cants because they r too high for me blah blah'. i really need help right now. it would be really helpful if you could tell me how to achieve this. im so worried about my gcse's right now bcz i have them in next 3 months and right now im doing my ppe's nd if i do good in the than ill be able to do higher. so plzz help me
(edited 5 years ago)
Original post by alainarenton
Thank you :smile:

Revision website wise, I'd say Quizlet was an absolute life-saver for me. Physics equations, English quotes, German vocab - you name it, I made a set. There's even a brand new edit now that allows you to merge sets, meaning you can make a set per idea or concept that you study, and once you've learnt these, you can merge them all to form one massive set of everything you need to know per subject. Memrise is also quite helpful, especially with foreign languages and science (I know we did a couple of chemistry sets back in Year 10), but personally I favoured the simplicity of Quizlet.

Honestly? A bit of both. I don't want to stand here and say it was 100% revision, because I know that it wasn't, and it wouldn't be fair to you to say that it was. I'd say there was a bit in me that had managed to pick basic concepts up from right at the start of Year 7, and this helped with understanding some stuff. However, that's not to say that revision didn't help me at all, because if I hadn't revised I wouldn't have got anywhere near as good as I got. Revision sessions were particularly helpful, even if you can pull your teacher away for a 1-to-1 session that's amazingly helpful, because sometimes it's as simple as the way you've written your notes doesn't quite make sense in your head and you need someone else to explain it to you. Please, please, please, don't be afraid to not understand, even if it means asking your teacher to repeat something 10 times in 10 different ways.

Nope, state school all the way!

Moving sixth forms: don't be afraid to be yourself, and stand for what you want. Despite my grades and to my parents' dismay (though they wouldn't admit it now, and I'm more than happy with the place I'm at) I made the decision to go to a college instead of a sixth form, mainly for the combination of subjects it allowed me to do, but also because of the laid back atmosphere it had in comparison to the rather strict (in terms of addressing teachers, uniform) secondary I went to. Go around to as many different sixth forms as you can get to, even if you've got your heart dead set on a particular place, because something in your heart might change later to the date. Above all else, though, this has got to suit you, so you need to be the biggest decision maker. But in terms of making new friends: throw yourself in there. If other people on the induction day/s or your initial lessons aren't starting conversations, start them yourself. The only way you're guarenteed to not make any new friends is if you don't socialise with anyone new at all.

I started most of the important stuff I knew I didn't understand early on, but my mind works better closer to the date so I did a lot of the actual studying from Feburary half-term of Year 11 (but many, many hours a night). Find what works best for you, but don't decide you're just going to leave it to the last minute too late, or you might find that you haven't left yourself enough time, and there's no going back at that point.

Ultimately: keep up what you're doing! Take advantage of your teachers, and keep putting in the hard work, but don't burn yourself out. Hope this helps :smile:

Thank you so so much for this!!!
Gives me more motivation, I'm aiming for 7's really, but am at a terrible school, and am desperate to move for the sixth form, even though I do have really good friends. I'm not naturally smart by any means, like really not, but I'm gonna just work super hard and see where I go from there! Thanks again, what are you hoping to do in the future?!
you know that's nothing special right
Original post by D3DS DET
hi, first of all congrats.can you plzz tell me that how were you able to get this good grades, im super bad at revision like once ill revise and the next hour ill forget everything. my teachers do not motivate me at all when i say 'o miss how can i achieve my grades' and they are lyk 'no u cant get these grades because they are to hard or i cants because they r too high for me blah blah'. i really need help right now. it would be really helpful if you could tell me how to achieve this. im so worried about my gcse's right now bcz i have them in next 3 months and right now im doing my ppe's nd if i do good in the than ill be able to do higher. so plzz help me

Discipline, discipline, discipline!

If you're finding that you can't remember stuff after revising, your best way of doing things is to just go over them again and again, but in only short blocks at a time (maybe only 5 or 10 minutes, and then break - check out the Pomodoro method). I got my mum to test me with cue cards, then we had separate piles for ones I got right, and ones I got wrong. We kept going over the wrong ones until they all reached the 'right' pile, then did the full set again. As long as you're focusing more on the content than the aesthetic, I'd say this is the best way. Hope this helps :smile:
Original post by Merry Xmas
you know that's nothing special right

Yep, thanks for the contribution :smile:

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