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Failing GCSE mocks

I am in year 10 and these past few weeks I’ve been doing my GCSE mocks and I’ve definitely screwed them all up. I’ve cried every morning before the exams, and the night before. I started revising too late, and I knew nothing. In my physics exam, i skipped/didn't finish every single question involving maths, which totalled to about over a quarter of the paper gone. I couldn’t remember any formulas, and i literally blanked.
My parents keep saying it’s okay, and then the next thing they’re saying is they are disappointed in me. I know they’re just mocks, but i am so upset. I feel like I’m running out of time to catch up. My parents have such high hopes, because all my predicted grades are 7/8s.
I still have exams left and I’m dreading them, i haven’t finished all the content and I’m only doing revision the day before because I started wayyyy too late :frown:

. How can i get over this whole exam period? I know my parents will keep on bringing up how disappointed they are, and i feel like throwing up every time :frown:

. Its not the end of the world, but it feels like my teachers and my classmates are going to judge me because I’m in top set, and I’m doing so badly.

Reply 1

dam_kh1

I am sorry to hear about your situation and I can relate to you as I went through a similar experience as well. It's ok to feel this way but please don't compromise your mental health over mocks. The hard truth is as you started revision late and are only revising the night before, you can't expect to understand every topic to the required level and demonstrate your knowledge in the exams. On the bright side though, you are in Year 10 so it's not too late to improve and get back up! After your mocks are finished, take a few days off to re-evaluate your revision strategy and create a plan for yourself.

I would recommend creating a revision plan for every subject or the main subjects you struggled in and go through every topic and do past papers. It's gonna be time-consuming but you need to push yourself. Maybe spend an hour each day revising a single topic from any subject and do past paper questions on it the next day. Continue this revision plan in the summer as well so you don't forget the content from Y10. I would also recommend you to not spend too much time reading or rewriting your notes because GCSEs are all about exam technique which you will only master by doing past paper questions. The more past paper questions you do, the better you will get at the topic (I am saying this from experience!).

As for your classmates judging you, I think what matters is what you think about yourself, the circumstances you were in, and your potential. From my understanding, you seem like a good student who wants to work hard and improve. So, focus on improving yourself going forward and because you know these grades aren't a true reflection of what you're capable of, you will be so impressed with yourself when you ace the next set of mocks/tests!

Hope that helps and please don't worry because these grades aren't the real deal.