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GCSE science

I am in Year 9 and have started making notes for Gcse science as I was told to make notes now so it will be easier later, I am using cgp book and pearson revision higher books to make my notes and also freesciencelessons at the end, should I make notes on exam questions as their are lots of them online, shall I write the down, also is this a good strategy
Original post by og-icon
I am in Year 9 and have started making notes for Gcse science as I was told to make notes now so it will be easier later, I am using cgp book and pearson revision higher books to make my notes and also freesciencelessons at the end, should I make notes on exam questions as their are lots of them online, shall I write the down, also is this a good strategy


Hiya, Year 13 here! (I got 9 in bio, 9 in chem and 7 in physics). For biology I just learnt the specification. Mine was AQA so I printed the spec off and turned it into bullet points and learnt it. You really don't need to make notes on exam questions because it should be stuff you've already learnt (if it's not then as you do them, feel free to add to your revision notes). Chemistry, I did the same thing but physics I more used my class notes and revision books. Tbh, you've never revised for external exams before so you're bound to learn through the next 3 years what you're revision style is. See how you get on with what you're doing and if it doesn't work, don't be afraid to change it up! I started GCSE science in december of year 9 (that was how my school did it) and I didn't start making revision notes til half way through year 10. You've certainly got a good work ethic but remember that by the time you get to yr 11, you'll probably realise different things e.g. don't write everything down and learn it, you don't need to know all the extra stuff that textbooks give you (that's why I liked to revise the stuff directly from the spec)
Hope this helps X
Reply 2
Original post by AelinGalanythius
Hiya, Year 13 here! (I got 9 in bio, 9 in chem and 7 in physics). For biology I just learnt the specification. Mine was AQA so I printed the spec off and turned it into bullet points and learnt it. You really don't need to make notes on exam questions because it should be stuff you've already learnt (if it's not then as you do them, feel free to add to your revision notes). Chemistry, I did the same thing but physics I more used my class notes and revision books. Tbh, you've never revised for external exams before so you're bound to learn through the next 3 years what you're revision style is. See how you get on with what you're doing and if it doesn't work, don't be afraid to change it up! I started GCSE science in december of year 9 (that was how my school did it) and I didn't start making revision notes til half way through year 10. You've certainly got a good work ethic but remember that by the time you get to yr 11, you'll probably realise different things e.g. don't write everything down and learn it, you don't need to know all the extra stuff that textbooks give you (that's why I liked to revise the stuff directly from the spec)
Hope this helps X

Yes it helps, so if I make my notes on the spec so everything the spec says, I will write it down and answer the questions, is that going to give me grade 9 in science if I learn everything the specification says?
Original post by og-icon
Yes it helps, so if I make my notes on the spec so everything the spec says, I will write it down and answer the questions, is that going to give me grade 9 in science if I learn everything the specification says?

An element of it is of course being able to answer questions in the right way but this comes with practice. Personally I never struggled with getting the right wording and I didn't do practice questions outside of the classroom but revision is very subjective. It is all about finding what works for you. I was getting 6s in year 9 then I dropped to 4s and 5s at the start of year 10 (however, I suspect this was strongly due to other reasons). I moved classes and suddenly I was getting 7s and 8s. I only got about 2 9s in practice tests. I would love to tell you yes, but in many ways, it depends on whether you have the right technique for answering questions. However, it is a good start to know everything. (I didn't actually finish my revision and barely revised the last two topics because I spent so long on the first paper content.

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