Mariam's gcse journey 2024 😭

Okay so I've got gcse's in 3 weeks and I'm honestly freaking out. Tbh my mock results weren't good at all compared to the first set of mocks.

My mock results:

English lang: 5 (I could've so much better my predicted went down from an 8 to a 6)

English lit: 3 (😭 because of my timing my predicted went down from an 8 to a 6)

Maths: U (Don't even wanna talk about this one tbh but I'm proving a lot I think)

Business: 4 (I got a 2 last time so I'm not too fussed about business but it would be nice to get a 5 or 6)

History: 6 (icl Idk how I did it)

RS: 3 ( WE DONT EVEN HAVE A TEACHER SO PLS HELP)

Music: L2M

Science: 4-3 (IM TRYING DONT JUDGE 😭)

any tips would be appreciated and good luck to anyone else doing their GCSEs this year x

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Reply 1

itsadara

i just wanna say good luck to you too!! because honestly gcses are dragging the life out of me right now and i dont want to do anything but sleep. to be fair, i think your biggest issue is probably time management, especially in like those long essay exams like english which is exactly what my problem is too 😭. i also struggle a lot with time so the one thing i would say is time yourself doing practice questions. and FOLLOW that timing, dont give yourself any cheat extra minutes because you wont get that in the exam. the more you strictly do past paper questions or practice questions in timed conditions, the more you'll get used to writing fast- and you'll also get a gist of how much you could get away with writing. also, try and do papers at home for revision and get your teacher to mark them and give you feedback. that can help A LOT. because now you have feedback specifically tailored to you, and because it's not a classroom test or anything, your teachers are more likely to devote time to make sure you understand what you can do to improve your answers next time.

also read the mark scheme model answers. PLEASE. they help so much, and they also help with the length and the specific things they expect you to include in your work. for example, the model answers on the mark schemes can be A LOT shorter than what they usually expect you to write in school, so look out for that and key structural techniques. if you can, try and find past exam model answers- sometimes exam boards take papers that students have written and gotten a good grade on and then publish it as a source for teachers/ students to use. PAST PAPERS ARE YOUR FRIEND.

in my school rs was compulsory, and i did the main exam in year 10 and got a 9 so ask any questions (i did aqa i don't know about you) because i'm happy to help!!

i don't have anything else on the top of my mind rn, but if anything else comes up or u jst wanna talk about school its all good <3

(edited 1 year ago)

Reply 2

fffhjtf

hiii i'm doing my gcses too
it's so scary how soon they are

Reply 3

maveline

heya. here's some advice i'd offer for some of our similar subjects

science: make flashcards from freesciencelessons videos and review them routinely. (would highly recommend the leitner method to revise with flashcards.) i'd also heavily recommend you practise some past papers and copy down the mark schemes on your flashcards as well to certain questions in order to get used to what kind of language the examiners are looking for.

maths: corbettmaths 5 a day, mathsgenie, GCSEMathsTutor (on YouTube) and past papers help a lot with maths. past papers / exam style questions are crucial; a fair amount of the exams are about applying your knowledge in worded problems.

wish i'd be able to give some advice on english, however, i'm slightly struggling with revising them myself. i hope - at least - my advice for maths and science help a bit. 🤍

Reply 4

nhiyaa6

Original post by itsadara

i just wanna say good luck to you too!! because honestly gcses are dragging the life out of me right now and i dont want to do anything but sleep. to be fair, i think your biggest issue is probably time management, especially in like those long essay exams like english which is exactly what my problem is too 😭. i also struggle a lot with time so the one thing i would say is time yourself doing practice questions. and FOLLOW that timing, dont give yourself any cheat extra minutes because you wont get that in the exam. the more you strictly do past paper questions or practice questions in timed conditions, the more you'll get used to writing fast- and you'll also get a gist of how much you could get away with writing. also, try and do papers at home for revision and get your teacher to mark them and give you feedback. that can help A LOT. because now you have feedback specifically tailored to you, and because it's not a classroom test or anything, your teachers are more likely to devote time to make sure you understand what you can do to improve your answers next time.
also read the mark scheme model answers. PLEASE. they help so much, and they also help with the length and the specific things they expect you to include in your work. for example, the model answers on the mark schemes can be A LOT shorter than what they usually expect you to write in school, so look out for that and key structural techniques. if you can, try and find past exam model answers- sometimes exam boards take papers that students have written and gotten a good grade on and then publish it as a source for teachers/ students to use. PAST PAPERS ARE YOUR FRIEND.
in my school rs was compulsory, and i did the main exam in year 10 and got a 9 so ask any questions (i did aqa i don't know about you) because i'm happy to help!!
i don't have anything else on the top of my mind rn, but if anything else comes up or u jst wanna talk about school its all good <3

thank you sm for the helpful tips, I printed out the marks schemes today and so far they've been really helpful. If I may ask how did you revise RS?

Reply 5

nhiyaa6

Original post by fffhjtf

hiii i'm doing my gcses too
it's so scary how soon they are

fr 😭 gl tho x

Reply 6

nhiyaa6

Original post by maveline

heya. Here's some advice i'd offer for some of our similar subjects
science: Make flashcards from freesciencelessons videos and review them routinely. (would highly recommend the leitner method to revise with flashcards.) i'd also heavily recommend you practise some past papers and copy down the mark schemes on your flashcards as well to certain questions in order to get used to what kind of language the examiners are looking for.
Maths: Corbettmaths 5 a day, mathsgenie, gcsemathstutor (on youtube) and past papers help a lot with maths. Past papers / exam style questions are crucial; a fair amount of the exams are about applying your knowledge in worded problems.
Wish i'd be able to give some advice on english, however, i'm slightly struggling with revising them myself. I hope - at least - my advice for maths and science help a bit. 🤍

aaaaah tysm this was rlly helpfull especially for science x

Reply 7

itsadara

Original post by nhiyaa6

thank you sm for the helpful tips, I printed out the marks schemes today and so far they've been really helpful. If I may ask how did you revise RS?

for RS, i'm not gonna lie i didn't revise a MASSIVE amount. since for some reason since we did the exam in year 10, it was kind of never that deep for me because i still had my 4 other gcse options and rs was just compulsory. but, what i did do is i watched this guy's channel (his name is ben wardle if you're interested and i swear my whole year was OBSESSED with his RS walkthroughs) and that helped. i also did a lot of past paper questions. past paper questions really, really help (ive already said this sorry 😭). i also had a list of "made up" exam questions by my teacher- i can try and send them through to you just pm me, which helped a lot. I did AQA RS, so i'm not sure whether it would help, but I can still send some over if that would mean anything. erm, i made sure to know like basic information. like definitions of things- that will help with understanding when you read the questions. I also timed myself a lot with questions to get used to the timing and having to write a lot in a short space of time. try going through an exam paper and write notes on each question (not in full) just of what you would have written- and then do the paper again but time yourself and write it out in full. sometimes that helped with like retaining info because when you write things down it can be easier to remember it. i hope that helps, but because i have adhd my revision tactics are a bit different so what doesn't work for me may work for you and vice versa. but if i didn't explain something well please just tell me because sometimes i'm not very good at explaining myself 💀

Reply 8

maveline

Original post by nhiyaa6

aaaaah tysm this was rlly helpfull especially for science x

course!! 🤍

Reply 9

mayarpapayar

Study Forum Helper

Original post by nhiyaa6

Okay so I've got gcse's in 3 weeks and I'm honestly freaking out. Tbh my mock results weren't good at all compared to the first set of mocks.
My mock results:
English lang: 5 (I could've so much better my predicted went down from an 8 to a 6)
English lit: 3 (😭 because of my timing my predicted went down from an 8 to a 6)
Maths: U (Don't even wanna talk about this one tbh but I'm proving a lot I think)
Business: 4 (I got a 2 last time so I'm not too fussed about business but it would be nice to get a 5 or 6)
History: 6 (icl Idk how I did it)
RS: 3 ( WE DONT EVEN HAVE A TEACHER SO PLS HELP)
Music: L2M
Science: 4-3 (IM TRYING DONT JUDGE 😭)
any tips would be appreciated and good luck to anyone else doing their GCSEs this year x

Heyyy I’m doing my gcses too, welcome to gyg and we got this ong🙏💯

Reply 10

emm4nuella

Debate & Current Affairs Helper, Study Forum Helper

Original post by nhiyaa6

Okay so I've got gcse's in 3 weeks and I'm honestly freaking out. Tbh my mock results weren't good at all compared to the first set of mocks.
My mock results:
English lang: 5 (I could've so much better my predicted went down from an 8 to a 6)
English lit: 3 (😭 because of my timing my predicted went down from an 8 to a 6)
Maths: U (Don't even wanna talk about this one tbh but I'm proving a lot I think)
Business: 4 (I got a 2 last time so I'm not too fussed about business but it would be nice to get a 5 or 6)
History: 6 (icl Idk how I did it)
RS: 3 ( WE DONT EVEN HAVE A TEACHER SO PLS HELP)
Music: L2M
Science: 4-3 (IM TRYING DONT JUDGE 😭)
any tips would be appreciated and good luck to anyone else doing their GCSEs this year x

hello @nhiyaa6 i am tagging in some other gyg bloggers who can also support you & give you some advice!!

Spoiler

Reply 11

orb22

Debate & Current Affairs Helper

Hiiii I could definitely help with English and re

Reply 12

jelllyfiiish

Life & Style Forum Helper

Original post by nhiyaa6

Okay so I've got gcse's in 3 weeks and I'm honestly freaking out. Tbh my mock results weren't good at all compared to the first set of mocks.
My mock results:
English lang: 5 (I could've so much better my predicted went down from an 8 to a 6)
English lit: 3 (😭 because of my timing my predicted went down from an 8 to a 6)
Maths: U (Don't even wanna talk about this one tbh but I'm proving a lot I think)
Business: 4 (I got a 2 last time so I'm not too fussed about business but it would be nice to get a 5 or 6)
History: 6 (icl Idk how I did it)
RS: 3 ( WE DONT EVEN HAVE A TEACHER SO PLS HELP)
Music: L2M
Science: 4-3 (IM TRYING DONT JUDGE 😭)
any tips would be appreciated and good luck to anyone else doing their GCSEs this year x

Hey! Good luck with your GCSEs. I'm also doing GCSEs this year!
I can help with all the core subjects and RS. :smile:

Reply 13

miss_nia

Original post by nhiyaa6

Okay so I've got gcse's in 3 weeks and I'm honestly freaking out. Tbh my mock results weren't good at all compared to the first set of mocks.
My mock results:
English lang: 5 (I could've so much better my predicted went down from an 8 to a 6)
English lit: 3 (😭 because of my timing my predicted went down from an 8 to a 6)
Maths: U (Don't even wanna talk about this one tbh but I'm proving a lot I think)
Business: 4 (I got a 2 last time so I'm not too fussed about business but it would be nice to get a 5 or 6)
History: 6 (icl Idk how I did it)
RS: 3 ( WE DONT EVEN HAVE A TEACHER SO PLS HELP)
Music: L2M
Science: 4-3 (IM TRYING DONT JUDGE 😭)
any tips would be appreciated and good luck to anyone else doing their GCSEs this year x

hii! welcome to gyg!! ❤️

i can't exactly give tips for all your subjects, but heres what i can say (i did gcses in 2022 btw): for english, really understand what the examiners want, and rather than memorising analysis (i know there's some you HAVE to memorise), think about how specific texts make you feel, like have some sort of personal connection with it that will actually drive you to write something authentic rather than some sparksnotes copy type thing (i HATED english so this was also my motivation to learn quotes for language). also for english literature, since i wasn't the fastest writer (for instance, most people wrote 6-7 paragraphs where i wrote 5), i made sure that i wrote at least 5 quality paragraphs. 5 good paragraphs are sm better than 7 rushed ones! for maths: before you practice, make sure you understand everything, and where everything is coming from, (you know how to do specific things but try to understand why you're doing them) so if you come across a question you don't fully understand in your exam, you can use your knowledge to fill in the gaps and answer it!! but most importantly, practice practice practice. for sciences, literally as many exam questions as you can (you've gotta be sick of them by the end) and flashcards are good too! i can't really speak for the others but do past paper questions honestly that's my biggest tip !!

glad to follow along on your journey <33

ps: if you need any help with maths questions my inbox is open <33 (this goes for anyone who sees this btw)