Grow Your Grades 2020-2021 is here!

Welcome to GYG 2020-21 :woo:

We're super excited about the new blogging year and bringing some different things to GYG this year :excited:

What is GYG?
Grow your Grades is a blogging competition that has run on TSR for 6 years now. Each year we ask students from all levels to blog about their journey from wherever they start at the start of the academic year to the end, sharing the highs, the lows and everything inbetween. At the end of the year, we read them through and pick an overall winner among other prizes.

So, why should you enter?
Keeping a blog helps keep yourself motivated and accountable for your studying, plus the community spirit in GYG is always so encouraging and motivating for people! In this time when a lot of people haven't done much work since March, it may be difficult to get back into studying, but you can use GYG to challenge yourself and get back into the rhythm of studying :yep:

What's new/coming back this year?
We're bringing back featured blogs, where every few weeks we will have new recommended blogs for anyone to check out :gah:

We're also adding in some new categories for prizes, such as "best titles", see more info below. We'll also be offering more regular rep prizes, for everything from a really great blog post to being supportive in the forum on top of the usual spot prizes. Finally, we're adding directories for different qualification types so you can find other blogs from people at the same level as you.
If you have any other ideas for GYG then please post them, we love to hear them!

I want to start a blog, but I don't know how to make it look pretty.
Firstly, to be in a chance of winning, then your blog doesn't have to be pretty! But if you want it to be so, then look at our guide here on how to work the new TSR editor, this will help you edit your posts to perfection :yep:

Do my blog posts have to be a certain length?
No :nope:

This year in particular, we're aware students may have less time than normal, so we're encouraging you to keep your blogs short and sweet if that means you have more time for the slightly more important stuff like homework and school :wink:

Or even chilling. You may like to consider writing a few sentences each day on the way home from school rather than a bigger post at the weekend, or adding a picture to show your to do list rather than typing it all out again. It's about how you use the words, not the number you use!

Where can I find similar blogs to mine?
This thread has a list of directories, where you can select your study level/qualification and find other blogs in the category. If you haven't already then you can ask for your blog to be added to any relevant directory too.

What should I include in my blog?
Whatever you like! Your subjects is always a good start, and what subject level, but after that you can include anything from your timetable, homework struggles, pictures of your revision (or your snacks). Anything relevant to growing your grades. Remember you don't have to have super long blog posts, and a picture can tell a thousand words (and save you time too!)

What kinds of prizes are there?
We have a consultation on prizes for this year here: https://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/showthread.php?t=6674158
The main prizes are yet to be confirmed for 2021 :iiam:

, but we can confirm we will be having some extra rep prizes for categories such as "Best title", "Best blog from a newbie" and "Best use of photos in a blog". We'll also be running our usual prize for "Best supporter in GYG", and have a special bonus to this of a £10 amazon voucher for the person most supportive before October half term :yay:

As usual, we may run spot prizes, and also may be awarding random prizes throughout the year if we spot someone being super helpful, making great blog posts or for any other reason. We'll announce these on this thread so everyone can see :smile:

When does the competition close?
We'll be closing the competition the day after GCSE results day again this year :yep:

Currently this looks to be 27th August 2021 :eek:

If you have any other questions, then do say below, we're always happy to answer :heart:

(edited 4 years ago)

Scroll to see replies

Reply 60

18ahussain

then what do i do what label do i put
im in ks3 so gcse right??

Reply 61

18ahussain

please can you explain what i have to do alotoghether i really wanna sart a blog but i dont really know how to use this website

Reply 62

18ahussain

pleassseee hellpppp meeeeee

Reply 63

Lemur14

Volunteer Team

Original post by 18ahussain

then what do i do what label do i put
im in ks3 so gcse right??

I think there's a year 9 label, but if not GCSE will do :smile:

You don't have to put a label though if you don't want.
Firstly you'll need to be patient, I'm a volunteer doing this around my lectures so you can't expect an instant response :tongue:

To start a blog you click the link in the OP, fill out the details such as thread title and the content you want in your first post then click the orange button on the bottom right of the box to post/submit the post to the forums. Then you have a blog :smile:

Reply 64

18ahussain

so do i do the exact same each time i want to write a blog thanks for ur help btw

Reply 65

Lemur14

Volunteer Team

Original post by 18ahussain

so do i do the exact same each time i want to write a blog thanks for ur help btw

You do that for post 1, then for any posts after that you reply to that thread that was made from those instructions, like you're replying to this thread (but for the thread with you as the first post) :smile:

Reply 66

18ahussain

oh riiighhhhht thanks so much

Reply 67

18ahussain

i have started my blog its called living the year 9 life
i hope you enjoy it

Reply 68

username5710919

hi!

im new to TSR and stumbled upon this GYG thing and it sounds very interesting; im thinking of participating next year (2021-22) :biggrin:

i do have a question though: if a level schools in my country start around very late-august-ish (im not from the uk), would my blog be eligible to participate? im not sure when the start date is, if there even is one... (i would definitely finish the year before the typical british gcse results day though, so im not really worried about being able to finish blogging by the deadline).

also, sorry for reviving this dead-ish thread, hahahah.

Reply 69

user0645222

guyss how do you revise for maths as the worded long questions i always get wrong but do not know how to get them right... also how can i work them out??

i also need advice/tips on how to revise for english literature.....how could i get higher marks in the essays in texts /plays? please help as i am struggling to get high marks and i am not sure how to so please could someone tell me would be appreciated x

Reply 70

Lemur14

Volunteer Team

Original post by ClockingDocks

hi!

im new to TSR and stumbled upon this GYG thing and it sounds very interesting; im thinking of participating next year (2021-22) :biggrin:

Hiya

Usually we start the new GYG year around the last week of August, but we often have people who start a blog slightly before that and those threads can be moved into the forum when it is opened :smile:

Essentially anyone blogging about a school year can be eligible, whether that be September-August or Scotland do August-July for instance and other countries vary even more :yep:

Reply 71

username5710919

Original post by Lemur14

Hiya

Essentially anyone blogging about a school year can be eligible, whether that be September-August or Scotland do August-July for instance and other countries vary even more :yep:

ah, that's cool, thanks. super excited :biggrin:

Reply 72

Peachy23

hi! i think i've done one of these in the past but never really kept up with it. however, i'm really desperate to get some work done at this point and hoping this will keep me accountable. two questions: is it too late for me to start a blog now or would this still be allowed? also, i'm in my final year of uni - would i be eligible for this? or is this a gcses/a level thing? thank you!