The Student Room Group

If I revise 3 hours a day for a year, will i be able to get all 9s in my GCSEs?

I'm in year 10 and these are my grades. How do i improve on the subjects I'm predicted 6s and 7s. Thanks. (L - low, M - Medium, H - High)
Maths - 9H
English language-8l
English Language-8l
Physics-9M
Geography-6H
Computer Science-7H
Chemistry-6L
Biology-7M
Economics-9L
Statistics-9L

Reply 1

Practise past paper questions often. And yes. 3 hours a day is plenty

Reply 2

I don’t know if it’ll give you “all” 9s tho since I got it in the range of 7-9s

Reply 3

Quality not quantity. Also you don't want to burn out.

Reply 4

Original post by arzav.1
I'm in year 10 and these are my grades. How do i improve on the subjects I'm predicted 6s and 7s. Thanks. (L - low, M - Medium, H - High)
Maths - 9H
English language-8l
English Language-8l
Physics-9M
Geography-6H
Computer Science-7H
Chemistry-6L
Biology-7M
Economics-9L
Statistics-9L

Firstly to respond to your title, no, revising 3 hours a day won’t make it a guarantee you’d get 9s in all subjects, because there’s a difference between revising aimlessly for 3 hours and revising effectively for 1 hour. You just have to make sure that when you revise, it’s really effective and you should have a way to measure it quantitatively (via practice papers you sit).

Now to improve your grade for Geography (since I did AQA, I’m gonna give AQA context though other exam boards may be different), for the big markers make sure you have a structure, and a good one. A common structure is the classic PEE, and since the biggest mark I had was 9 markers, I wrote 3 paragraphs with separate points. Case studies are where the big marks come in, so my suggestion is make a mind map of the different case studies and make sure to know at least 3 statistics, since they love seeing numbers. The small mark questions are mainly recall which can be fixed with revision, but the big markers, even with good content knowledge, structure is required so when doing those big markers, send them to your geo teachers for them to mark!

For Chemistry (again did AQA), knowing simple chemical equations, tests and common structures will help you out, as well as knowing the reactivity series. Furthermore, ensure that you are comfortable with mole calculations and titrations as those come up quite a bit. Best way to practice chemistry for me was to quickly skim over what I wanna revise and do some questions specific to that topic (pmt is pretty good)

For biology, make sure your content knowledge is also good, and if you struggle on content knowledge, try practising active recall as that can help you! Furthermore, learn what the mark schemes want you to say, as biology is a lotta waffle, and knowing what and what not to include in your answer will help a lot, and makes you time efficient!

It goes without saying exam practice is a must for all the subjects, as you’ll familiarise with what the exams want you to say, all the best! I didn’t do computing so can’t provide any input sorry!

Reply 5

Original post by Flors
Quality not quantity. Also you don't want to burn out.

Yea i get this, and the three hours would be split into three sessions of one hours each. All replies much appreciated :smile:

Reply 6

My GCSEs weren’t perfect (9999876665A from exams in 2019), you don’t need all 9s. 9s are reserved for the very best and are obviously difficult to get. Remember to look after yourself 3 hours a day probably is a little excessive and might lead to you just burning out. Make sure you take breaks and do active revision so you don’t waste your time. I would recommend focusing on your weaker subjects as well as maths and English.

Possible ideas

Maths - obviously you know what you’re doing just keep practicing using past papers.

English - I have no idea I got a 5 and 6 :blushing:

Geography - know your case studies (make flashcards and mind maps or whatever works for you). Make sure you know how structure answers to longer questions PEE & mini conclusions at the end of each paragraph works well. Make flashcards for content or use the ones from cool geography on quizlet to actively recall information (cool geography is great for content). Seneca is good for quick revision when on the bus or something.

Chemistry and biology - make sure you can recall and understand everything on the physics and maths tutor summary notes/ on freesciencelessons videos on YouTube. Seneca is amazing for GCSE science just make sure you read the initial information and don’t speed run it. Chemrevise has good notes for chemistry too. Make sure you practice how to answer questions using past papers once you’ve cover enough of the course.

Reply 7

Original post by UrFellowMedic
Firstly to respond to your title, no, revising 3 hours a day won’t make it a guarantee you’d get 9s in all subjects, because there’s a difference between revising aimlessly for 3 hours and revising effectively for 1 hour. You just have to make sure that when you revise, it’s really effective and you should have a way to measure it quantitatively (via practice papers you sit).

Now to improve your grade for Geography (since I did AQA, I’m gonna give AQA context though other exam boards may be different), for the big markers make sure you have a structure, and a good one. A common structure is the classic PEE, and since the biggest mark I had was 9 markers, I wrote 3 paragraphs with separate points. Case studies are where the big marks come in, so my suggestion is make a mind map of the different case studies and make sure to know at least 3 statistics, since they love seeing numbers. The small mark questions are mainly recall which can be fixed with revision, but the big markers, even with good content knowledge, structure is required so when doing those big markers, send them to your geo teachers for them to mark!

For Chemistry (again did AQA), knowing simple chemical equations, tests and common structures will help you out, as well as knowing the reactivity series. Furthermore, ensure that you are comfortable with mole calculations and titrations as those come up quite a bit. Best way to practice chemistry for me was to quickly skim over what I wanna revise and do some questions specific to that topic (pmt is pretty good)

For biology, make sure your content knowledge is also good, and if you struggle on content knowledge, try practising active recall as that can help you! Furthermore, learn what the mark schemes want you to say, as biology is a lotta waffle, and knowing what and what not to include in your answer will help a lot, and makes you time efficient!

It goes without saying exam practice is a must for all the subjects, as you’ll familiarise with what the exams want you to say, all the best! I didn’t do computing so can’t provide any input sorry!

Thanks for this, its really helpful. Also im aware of the active recall method and i use it frequently! thanks!

Reply 8

Original post by Studylearner
the answer to your question is yes basically, but considering that your GCSEs are next year and you are in year 10 I am sure you would be fine with any amount of time you do revision every day so there is no pressure to revise for that long every day, but it really depends on how much you wanna revise every day, but just make sure it is effective and you take breaks in between so you don't burn yourself out.

Yeah, i will make sure to take constant breaks and find time to do things i enjoy! Thanks!

Reply 9

Original post by Hellllpppp
My GCSEs weren’t perfect (9999876665A from exams in 2019), you don’t need all 9s. 9s are reserved for the very best and are obviously difficult to get. Remember to look after yourself 3 hours a day probably is a little excessive and might lead to you just burning out. Make sure you take breaks and do active revision so you don’t waste your time. I would recommend focusing on your weaker subjects as well as maths and English.

Possible ideas

Maths - obviously you know what you’re doing just keep practicing using past papers.

English - I have no idea I got a 5 and 6 :blushing:

Geography - know your case studies (make flashcards and mind maps or whatever works for you). Make sure you know how structure answers to longer questions PEE & mini conclusions at the end of each paragraph works well. Make flashcards for content or use the ones from cool geography on quizlet to actively recall information (cool geography is great for content). Seneca is good for quick revision when on the bus or something.

Chemistry and biology - make sure you can recall and understand everything on the physics and maths tutor summary notes/ on freesciencelessons videos on YouTube. Seneca is amazing for GCSE science just make sure you read the initial information and don’t speed run it. Chemrevise has good notes for chemistry too. Make sure you practice how to answer questions using past papers once you’ve cover enough of the course.

Yeah thanks. Im not so great at english too, im not sure why but im getting 8s and 9s in my assesments, thanks for all the advice!!

Reply 10

No, you wont.
Revision is only going to get you 9's if you do it correctly. You practise papers, revise efficiently and fill gaps with outside knowledge; if you did this badly for a year, you would not get all 9's.

Reply 11

Original post by V℮rsions
No, you wont.
Revision is only going to get you 9's if you do it correctly. You practise papers, revise efficiently and fill gaps with outside knowledge; if you did this badly for a year, you would not get all 9's.

totally understand this! I have been researching and experimenting revision techniques since the first lockdown and i would say that ive found the techniques best suited to me and work wll. Thanks for the reply!!

Reply 12

Original post by arzav.1
totally understand this! I have been researching and experimenting revision techniques since the first lockdown and i would say that ive found the techniques best suited to me and work wll. Thanks for the reply!!

No worries, and if you are doing it as efficiently and effectively as possible, then I can near guarantee you it wont take a year. Make sure to have rest days since the law of diminishing returns shows that if you work day after day with no rest, you'll only get worse over time :yy:

Reply 13

Original post by arzav.1
I'm in year 10 and these are my grades. How do i improve on the subjects I'm predicted 6s and 7s. Thanks. (L - low, M - Medium, H - High)
Maths - 9H
English language-8l
English Language-8l
Physics-9M
Geography-6H
Computer Science-7H
Chemistry-6L
Biology-7M
Economics-9L
Statistics-9L


Ok your looking good ngl but u dont want to revise alot if u arent getting any work done like u can spend 10 hours revising but if the revision is ineffective and like ur being distracted there is no point

Reply 14

Original post by V℮rsions
No worries, and if you are doing it as efficiently and effectively as possible, then I can near guarantee you it wont take a year. Make sure to have rest days since the law of diminishing returns shows that if you work day after day with no rest, you'll only get worse over time :yy:

Thanks i was not aware of this!

Reply 15

Original post by the_pharaoh
Ok your looking good ngl but u dont want to revise alot if u arent getting any work done like u can spend 10 hours revising but if the revision is ineffective and like ur being distracted there is no point

Ok thanks!!

Reply 16

Yeah, 3 hours a day will give you a great chance of getting all 9s as long as you are doing quality revision.

People often say quality over quantity when it comes to revision, but imo a combination of both is best. Studying hard and doing as much revision as you can will give you the best chance of achieving all 9s.

3 hours is perfect for a school night and then similar hours on weekends as well. In terms of achieving 9s, I’d say the biggest mistake people make is focusing just on past papers. You need to learn and understand the content for each subject as well so that you can instantly recall it in the exam.

Reply 17

Original post by arzav.1
Yea i get this, and the three hours would be split into three sessions of one hours each. All replies much appreciated :smile:

what did u get for ur gsces

Quick Reply