I'm a failing year 10 student

Hi there.
I'm in year 10 and I'm really really worried about my GCSE exams.
I barely know stuff that I should have learnt in year 8 and I get really low test results. However, my parents have high expectations for me and expect 7s and above- minimum grade for them is 6
What can I do to improve my grades?
Are there any free apps that I can use?
Do you have any tips?

Thanks in advance

Hi there.
I'm in year 10 and I'm really really worried about my GCSE exams.
I barely know stuff that I should have learnt in year 8 and I get really low test results. However, my parents have high expectations for me and expect 7s and above- minimum grade for them is 6
What can I do to improve my grades?
Are there any free apps that I can use?
Do you have any tips?

Thanks in advance

Hi there

Worrying shows you care which is a good sign. It's important to know how to manage your concerns though by taking regular breaks from revision by doing something you enjoy.

For Science I highly recommend Free science lessons on Youtube.
Quizlet may be useful for languages too.

Past papers are generally a good way to revise all subjects as you can work on exam technique whilst identifying weaknesses and strengths to direct your revision accordingly.

Hope this helps
Best wishes.

Maths genie for maths
science -free science lessons videos he has covered the whole 9-1 although i would strongly suggest you do exam questions
English -you just need to get the structure down there are videos that go over that on youtube

Good luck the fact that you are concerned now is a good sign

Savemyexams is very helpful. Try setting up a study schedule, where you study certain subjects on certain days. Always always revise info taken from before. That info you took at the beginning of the year needs to be fresh in your mind. PAST PAPERS PAST PAPERS PAST PAPERs.

Other than that, don't stress out

Hi there.
I'm in year 10 and I'm really really worried about my GCSE exams.
I barely know stuff that I should have learnt in year 8 and I get really low test results. However, my parents have high expectations for me and expect 7s and above- minimum grade for them is 6
What can I do to improve my grades?
Are there any free apps that I can use?
Do you have any tips?

Thanks in advance

Heyy, honestly first of all let me tell you that I 100% believe that you can achieve your desired grades. I did my GCSEs last year and I got four 8s, two 9s and one 7. Istg if I can get these grades anyone can because I was barely working at 5s and 6s near the end of yr 9. The GCSEs I took were the following:

English literature (Grade 9)
- Macbeth, An Inspector Calls, Jekyll and Hyde, Power and conflict poems
- Resources: Honestly so many resources online for GCSE English lit! My personal favourites were the videos on YouTube (MrSalles, Mr everything English, Mr Bruff). Watching these YouTube videos I would say are the main reasons I got a grade 9 because they give you a range of points to talk about in your essays that you are not likely to cover in class. Use the CGP revision guides and any other revision materials you can get your hands on. Using all these resources will allow you to get so many different points and you can show off your knowledge in your essays. This will make you stand out from all the other students and show that you have in depth knowledge
- Practice writing loads and loads and loads of essays! even if its open book because first you need to find out what format of essay you like to write. I understand it can be so overwhelming to write essays but trust me you'll get better as you practice them. I highly recommend you get your teacher to mark your essays and get detailed feedback, but if you want I would be more than happy to read your essays and give you some feedback.
- find what revision technique works for you! whether that's flashcards, mind maps, blurting etc. personally for me it was mind maps with English lit. What I did was I would write the poem for example in the middle and around it have separate branches for context, themes, key quotes etc. Then every now and then I would do the blurting technique to see what I knew and what I didn't.
Here is a video that explains what blurting is incase you don't know: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CgrCo1J9A44
- DROP IN QUOTATIONS>>>>>> students spend so much time trying to learn long quotes but trust me learning short quotes and dropping them in your essays is THE BEST thing to do. my teacher literally loved it when I did this and always pointed it out. Plus its so much easier to remember short quotes.
- Don't just write the context point for the sake of it try and link it to the actual quote, character or theme because it shows to the examiner that you actually have thought about what you're writing.
- pay attention to your word choice. I literally refused to use the word shows in my essays. There are so many words to use instead and this really indicated to the examiner that you are thinking about what you are writing and in my opinion makes the essay more fun to read
- Learn an introduction paragraph that you can you for all your essays. I literally had a set intro paragraph for my Macbeth essays, I will try and look to see if I can find it and pm it to you. its really good to do this because if you have a solid intro paragraph it will entice the examiner. so you can write one amazing, detailed paragraph coating context points and then moderate paragraphs- this should get you a solid 7 but it you do all high quality paragraphs fingers crossed a grade 9
- Oh and theres also this podcast on Spotify called GCSE English RevisionPod and I listened to this and its acc amazing so I highly recommend you take a look at that as well
- Print blank poems and annotate them- this was so helpful and reduced my anxiety for the unseen poetry part

English lang (Grade 7- so proud of myself because I was so bad at descriptive writing in year 9)
- all you can do is practice papers tbh
- learn what you need to do for all the questions so you don't make silly mistakes like writing about the wrong part of the text
- At my school we did descriptive writing and I literally learnt a few solid paragraphs that I knew I could repeat in any question like a paragraph about each type of weather (sunny, thunder etc.)
- I also asked my teacher to give a random picture every 2 weeks and I would make and essay plan and would sometimes write a whole answer

Maths (Grade 8- never ever ever thought I would ever get this!)
- I owe my whole grade to these resources:
- maths genie (so many end of topic questions that are so useful)
- Hegarty maths (WATCH ALL HIS VIDEOS!!)
- mathsmadeeasy
EXAM QUESTIONS- if you get any question wrong please don't just leave it ask your teacher to explain it to you or ask on here and at least someone will help you out.

Science (Grade 8)
- freescincelessons is literally all you need!!!!!!
all I did was watch his videos, make flashcards and then do exam questions. at my school we also had this app called Tassomai and honestly I did all the questions on there and since we had that I didn't have to make my own flashcards. I did them all day long until I knew the answers and could explain all the topics.
the cgp books are good and but I didn't rlly benefit from them that much tbh

if you do any of the following subjects I can give you some revision tips as well.
Spanish (Grade 8)
Geography (Grade 8)
Religious Studies (Grade 9)

I really hope this has helped you even a bit and trust me you've got this. If you start now I bet you'll smash your GCSEs and trust me I fully understand how stressful it can be especially when your parents expect so much from you. Please feel free to pm me if I can help you in any way and honestly its all about your mindset, if you fully put in the effort and believe in yourself you will be able to get the grades you want and deserve.

Good luck

Hi there.
I'm in year 10 and I'm really really worried about my GCSE exams.
I barely know stuff that I should have learnt in year 8 and I get really low test results. However, my parents have high expectations for me and expect 7s and above- minimum grade for them is 6
What can I do to improve my grades?
Are there any free apps that I can use?
Do you have any tips?

Thanks in advance

Hi there.
I'm in year 10 and I'm really really worried about my GCSE exams.
I barely know stuff that I should have learnt in year 8 and I get really low test results. However, my parents have high expectations for me and expect 7s and above- minimum grade for them is 6
What can I do to improve my grades?
Are there any free apps that I can use?
Do you have any tips?

Thanks in advance

Hi there.
I'm in year 10 and I'm really really worried about my GCSE exams.
I barely know stuff that I should have learnt in year 8 and I get really low test results. However, my parents have high expectations for me and expect 7s and above- minimum grade for them is 6
What can I do to improve my grades?
Are there any free apps that I can use?
Do you have any tips?

Thanks in advance

Hi there.
I'm in year 10 and I'm really really worried about my GCSE exams.
I barely know stuff that I should have learnt in year 8 and I get really low test results. However, my parents have high expectations for me and expect 7s and above- minimum grade for them is 6
What can I do to improve my grades?
Are there any free apps that I can use?
Do you have any tips?

Thanks in advance

Hi there.
I'm in year 10 and I'm really really worried about my GCSE exams.
I barely know stuff that I should have learnt in year 8 and I get really low test results. However, my parents have high expectations for me and expect 7s and above- minimum grade for them is 6
What can I do to improve my grades?
Are there any free apps that I can use?
Do you have any tips?

Thanks in advance

Firstly, i wouldn't worry too much about year 8, in lockdown i barely did any of my work and to what i can see a lot of the GCSE content is new, and only a few core maths and english things are needed. What subjects are u taking with which exam boards ?

Hi there.
I'm in year 10 and I'm really really worried about my GCSE exams.
I barely know stuff that I should have learnt in year 8 and I get really low test results. However, my parents have high expectations for me and expect 7s and above- minimum grade for them is 6
What can I do to improve my grades?
Are there any free apps that I can use?
Do you have any tips?

Thanks in advance

Science- AQA
Maths-AQA
English-AQA
Geography-AQA
Enterprise & Marketing- I'm not sure but i think Pearsons??
Health & Social Care-Pearsons