The Student Room Group

Advice for New Yr11 GCSE 2020

Hi everyone. Congratulations to all those Yr11's who passed their GCSEs. God bless everyone! I just want to ask all those people who got good grades to tell us the future yr11 any good advice we might need for the road ahead and also any regrets on revision or tips.

Also could you guys please share with us your GCSE results.
I think there's a thread where a year 11 gave a whole paragraph of advice but I can't find it :/
Its kinda bland advice but genuinely don't stress yourself out when the exams are close; revise as much as you need to but make sure you take breaks regularly so you don't get burnt out! Breaks are kinda more important than revision in my mind because I know so many people who didn't let themselves rest at all and ended up having breakdowns due to stress regularly, which nobody wants.

Its also really important not to compare yourself to others. I thought I was going to do really badly since apparently everyone around me was doing wayyyyy more revision than me, but I ended up doing much better than I ever thought I would (I only started revising properly in March lmao)! Just do however much feels right to you.

Good luck, it actually isn't as bad as you think its gonna be, just as long as you keep a clear head and make steady progress! You're gonna be fine :smile:

(EDIT: didn't realise u wanted my results lmao; I got two 9s, five 8s and two 6s)
(edited 4 years ago)
Original post by SmartUnicorn
I think there's a thread where a year 11 gave a whole paragraph of advice but I can't find it :/

I think this is the thread: https://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/showthread.php?t=6041100
Reply 4
I would 100% recommend free science lessons as this took me from a grade 55 in mocks to a 77 at GCSE and I started my revision in March. As well as this use past papers because the questions you get on GCSE’s tend to not be too adventurous so you end up answering lots of questions that you have pretty much answered before with slightly different context.

Original post by M4N12D33n472
Hi everyone. Congratulations to all those Yr11's who passed their GCSEs. God bless everyone! I just want to ask all those people who got good grades to tell us the future yr11 any good advice we might need for the road ahead and also any regrets on revision or tips.

Also could you guys please share with us your GCSE results.
(edited 4 years ago)
Hi,

Spoiler







GCSEs are (if you put the work in) straight forward. Not kidding, they are.

Honestly I could say so much, but it all depends what grades you want to come out with at the end.

Maths is all about practice and having a basic level of understanding of all methods and ways to solve problems. You need to forget about textbooks and start thinking about exam questions, especially this year. Please, do not stick to a textbook - problems in there aren't similar to ones that come up in the exam, you need to start doing past papers and exam questions directly from the exam board. This is the only way you are able to grasp the different types of problems you'll be faced with in the exam and it allows you to get a feel for the questions that could appear.

English Lit - if you know your stuff, you will do well. Its that, plain and simple. With English, there are no tricks. I always said this to my friends who struggled with English, if you sound sophisticated, you are sophisticated (meaning that, if you sound smart in your writing, you'll get a smart person grade). Always make sure what your saying has some sort of relation to the text or context for that matter (even if it is loosely associated). Imagine how many examiners read the same regurgitated nonsense from students all across the country (i.e. Romeo is lovesick "sycamore" pun). If you are original and find pieces of the texts that the majority don't recognise, the examiner will give you a better grade, simply because you stand out from the rest of the crowd.

Science - Now my favourite subjects :biggrin:. I did well in science because I have a genuine interest in all 3 subjects. The absolute best way to do science is to just know everything you possibly can. Best way to do this, is in lessons, use your book as a rough notepad and when at home, rewrite your notes, neater and more concise. Add to them using Freesciencelessons (honestly Shaun from FSL is an absolute legend, his videos are fantastic and straight to the point, no nonsense) But most importantly turn it into a revision resource understandable and usable in the future. When you're writing notes, think, will I understand that come April/May?

Exam technique

If you see a question you can't answer, there is no point in getting stressed over it, especially Maths. Leave it and move on and come back to it later with a fresh set of eyes, often helps a lot.

You will inevitably end up talking to your friends after the exam, you can't escape it. If you all disagree over answers or you think the other person is right, don't panic. Everyone thinks in the moment, if you get the final answer wrong you don't get any marks but you will get method marks. Also, you will have got questions right your friends got wrong so don't worry about others, worry about yourself.

Revision:
My March schedule looked something like this.
On the weekend, do HWK for Monday and Tuesday and then do, 1 hour of revision each day, so 2 hours revised.
On Monday do HWK for Wednesday
On Tuesday do HWK for Thursday
On Wednesday do HWK for Friday
Thursday Revise
Friday Revise

On Thurs and Fri, I probably revised 2 hours on each day so for each week in March I revised about 6 hours a week, not too bad at all.

April was the same but about 8 hours a week.

By May I was doing about 3-4 hours a day in the Holidays.

The day before every exam I did 6 hours cram (Which genuinely helped so much I can't tell you, I definitely recommend cramming no matter what anyone says, I found it so beneficial, otherwise there was stuff I didn't even know existed)

Stay healthy, eat well and work hard.

That's it :biggrin:. Sorry for the lengthy read, if you need any notes or anything for the subjects let me know and I'll see what I can do. :smile:



Cheers


yes, Thankyou so much!! ❤️
Original post by lollolokjob
Hi,

Spoiler







GCSEs are (if you put the work in) straight forward. Not kidding, they are.

Honestly I could say so much, but it all depends what grades you want to come out with at the end.

Maths is all about practice and having a basic level of understanding of all methods and ways to solve problems. You need to forget about textbooks and start thinking about exam questions, especially this year. Please, do not stick to a textbook - problems in there aren't similar to ones that come up in the exam, you need to start doing past papers and exam questions directly from the exam board. This is the only way you are able to grasp the different types of problems you'll be faced with in the exam and it allows you to get a feel for the questions that could appear.

English Lit - if you know your stuff, you will do well. Its that, plain and simple. With English, there are no tricks. I always said this to my friends who struggled with English, if you sound sophisticated, you are sophisticated (meaning that, if you sound smart in your writing, you'll get a smart person grade). Always make sure what your saying has some sort of relation to the text or context for that matter (even if it is loosely associated). Imagine how many examiners read the same regurgitated nonsense from students all across the country (i.e. Romeo is lovesick "sycamore" pun). If you are original and find pieces of the texts that the majority don't recognise, the examiner will give you a better grade, simply because you stand out from the rest of the crowd.

Science - Now my favourite subjects :biggrin:. I did well in science because I have a genuine interest in all 3 subjects. The absolute best way to do science is to just know everything you possibly can. Best way to do this, is in lessons, use your book as a rough notepad and when at home, rewrite your notes, neater and more concise. Add to them using Freesciencelessons (honestly Shaun from FSL is an absolute legend, his videos are fantastic and straight to the point, no nonsense) But most importantly turn it into a revision resource understandable and usable in the future. When you're writing notes, think, will I understand that come April/May?

Exam technique

If you see a question you can't answer, there is no point in getting stressed over it, especially Maths. Leave it and move on and come back to it later with a fresh set of eyes, often helps a lot.

You will inevitably end up talking to your friends after the exam, you can't escape it. If you all disagree over answers or you think the other person is right, don't panic. Everyone thinks in the moment, if you get the final answer wrong you don't get any marks but you will get method marks. Also, you will have got questions right your friends got wrong so don't worry about others, worry about yourself.

Revision:
My March schedule looked something like this.
On the weekend, do HWK for Monday and Tuesday and then do, 1 hour of revision each day, so 2 hours revised.
On Monday do HWK for Wednesday
On Tuesday do HWK for Thursday
On Wednesday do HWK for Friday
Thursday Revise
Friday Revise

On Thurs and Fri, I probably revised 2 hours on each day so for each week in March I revised about 6 hours a week, not too bad at all.

April was the same but about 8 hours a week.

By May I was doing about 3-4 hours a day in the Holidays.

The day before every exam I did 6 hours cram (Which genuinely helped so much I can't tell you, I definitely recommend cramming no matter what anyone says, I found it so beneficial, otherwise there was stuff I didn't even know existed)

Stay healthy, eat well and work hard.

That's it :biggrin:. Sorry for the lengthy read, if you need any notes or anything for the subjects let me know and I'll see what I can do. :smile:



Cheers


THANKYOU so much !!! this is sooo helpful !! <333
Thank you everyone. I need people to give real advice for getting 9s and 8s. Please I am really pressured to.
Original post by M4N12D33n472
Thank you everyone. I need people to give real advice for getting 9s and 8s. Please I am really pressured to.

Honestly just to keep it plain and simple, learn your strengths and weaknesses, and prioritise the right things. I tended to revise more for the subjects I liked, which wasn't always the right choice! Everyone revises differently, so I just did all the courses on Seneca and then past papers for all the sciences. Learning what the mark scheme wants is so important and makes the real exams so much easier! I couldn't be bothered practicing for english lit cause it bored the hell out of me, and didn't really do much work for subjects I knew I'd be fine with, such as english lang, rs and maths. So basically when you're making a revision timetable, give yourself more time for the most important/hardest subjects, and don't do as much work for ones you find really easy - it sounds lazy, but it does save a lot of time!

Overall I regret not putting effort into german & english lit (even though they were my weakest subjects), but I find it really hard to get myself to revise subjects that I'm not interested in. Maybe try to find some way to make your least favourite subjects more fun and interesting! However, I was still really pleased with my grades, and think it's important to focus on the subjects you want to take at A level!

Good luck for your exams! Hope this year goes well for you :smile:

My results:

Spoiler

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