The Student Room Group

I need gcse advise urgently

My issue is I always run out of time and this is stressing me out. I've not finished a single gcse paper so far and I've tried managing time by setting time limits for each section but I always run out of time. I've decided that biro slows me down so I'm getting an ink pen but idk what else could be the issue?? I don't think it's thought that takes time so idk what it is, maybe I write too much?? IDK I NEED HELP YALL 😭 please give me advise on how to write quick or whatever
I think a calm approach is the best approach. Just be calm and work at the best rate you feel comfortable with. Exams can impact people in all sorts of ways, but if you're calm and have control you'll feel better. Revise with confidence not panic, do what you can do to the best of your abilities, but don't overwork yourself, exams are really not worth the stress. Also please know that exams are NOT a be all and end all, they are tests of your ability. Yes, if you get good GCSEs they can set you up well to get a good job when you leave school, but they aren't essential to living a good prosperous life. Basically you can have the best life and not do well in GCSEs, but if you get good GCSEs things maybe a bit easier for you. Please do try your best, but don't stress over it they aren't worth the stress. I've had loads of exam stress when I was your age, but when you become an adult you'll see all the stress didn't amount to much at all. Over 90% of what you worry about won't actually happen in reality. Take away the pressures from others and from your mind about others, and lower your expectations because high expectations will leave to disappointment.

Sorry for all this wordiness-but basically stay calm, have control and do your best BUT DON'T STRESS OUT!!!
Reply 2
You could be writing too much- im not sure which papers you have taken but its important to be precise to save time. If you know youre waffling then you can stop yourself. GCSEs aren't super important (as long as u get at least a 5 on most subjects)
Reply 3
Original post by JDINCINERATOR
I think a calm approach is the best approach. Just be calm and work at the best rate you feel comfortable with. Exams can impact people in all sorts of ways, but if you're calm and have control you'll feel better. Revise with confidence not panic, do what you can do to the best of your abilities, but don't overwork yourself, exams are really not worth the stress. Also please know that exams are NOT a be all and end all, they are tests of your ability. Yes, if you get good GCSEs they can set you up well to get a good job when you leave school, but they aren't essential to living a good prosperous life. Basically you can have the best life and not do well in GCSEs, but if you get good GCSEs things maybe a bit easier for you. Please do try your best, but don't stress over it they aren't worth the stress. I've had loads of exam stress when I was your age, but when you become an adult you'll see all the stress didn't amount to much at all. Over 90% of what you worry about won't actually happen in reality. Take away the pressures from others and from your mind about others, and lower your expectations because high expectations will leave to disappointment.
Sorry for all this wordiness-but basically stay calm, have control and do your best BUT DON'T STRESS OUT!!!


I understand what you mean but I feel like I don't REALLY stress, only if I feel I did really bad post exam which is all the time. Generally I'm good at controlling my emotions and I feel like I'm too chill sometimes 😭 maybe over confidence or something idk. I wouldn't say i really struggle with content, it's more putting it into paper. I can do minimal revision for most subjects and know what to write but it's that part that I suck at! I know GCSEs aren't everything but at this stage it's a once in a life time and it determines whether I get into my chosen sixth form so it's quite a burden. Idk
Reply 4
Original post by ihatethisdunya
I understand what you mean but I feel like I don't REALLY stress, only if I feel I did really bad post exam which is all the time. Generally I'm good at controlling my emotions and I feel like I'm too chill sometimes 😭 maybe over confidence or something idk. I wouldn't say i really struggle with content, it's more putting it into paper. I can do minimal revision for most subjects and know what to write but it's that part that I suck at! I know GCSEs aren't everything but at this stage it's a once in a life time and it determines whether I get into my chosen sixth form so it's quite a burden. Idk

yep i get what you mean lol, before you start the exam just breaaathe, like deeply for 2 mins, go sit down early and just look at the clock, breath, and know that you're going to finish and blaze through the paper in x minutes so you have y minutes left to check
a levels will make you streeeeeeeeeesssssss
Reply 5
Original post by jad3msryann
You could be writing too much- im not sure which papers you have taken but its important to be precise to save time. If you know youre waffling then you can stop yourself. GCSEs aren't super important (as long as u get at least a 5 on most subjects)


Sciences and MFL are alright. It's freaking history, English and RE!!! Forget RE bc it's over and I jammed it but the other two I need to get good on. I take psychology and I don't think I struggle with time on it tbh more so knowing what to write which is rare for me. And maths is literally just not knowing how to do crap 😭 but revising for maths isn't deep . Paper 1 this year annihilated me 💀 I beg that the rest of the papers are good
Reply 6
Original post by too.lost
yep i get what you mean lol, before you start the exam just breaaathe, like deeply for 2 mins, go sit down early and just look at the clock, breath, and know that you're going to finish and blaze through the paper in x minutes so you have y minutes left to check
a levels will make you streeeeeeeeeesssssss


I tell myself I'll finish everytime but I think time is against me 😭 like time LITERALLY speeds up whilst I'm writing. No exaggeration
Original post by ihatethisdunya
I understand what you mean but I feel like I don't REALLY stress, only if I feel I did really bad post exam which is all the time. Generally I'm good at controlling my emotions and I feel like I'm too chill sometimes 😭 maybe over confidence or something idk. I wouldn't say i really struggle with content, it's more putting it into paper. I can do minimal revision for most subjects and know what to write but it's that part that I suck at! I know GCSEs aren't everything but at this stage it's a once in a life time and it determines whether I get into my chosen sixth form so it's quite a burden. Idk

I think this concern should be discussed with teachers or friends at school. I think having like-minded people around you can help you get the best out of yourself, in this case your revision. I understand the sense of stakes that GCSEs can put on people, yet I think that desiring one path is what can cause stress. I'm sure you'll do well, the fact the topic of GCSEs is on your mind is already a good start- I know it's exams season, but some people don't bother with them at all.
Reply 8
Original post by JDINCINERATOR
I think this concern should be discussed with teachers or friends at school. I think having like-minded people around you can help you get the best out of yourself, in this case your revision. I understand the sense of stakes that GCSEs can put on people, yet I think that desiring one path is what can cause stress. I'm sure you'll do well, the fact the topic of GCSEs is on your mind is already a good start- I know it's exams season, but some people don't bother with them at all.


Firstly ty for your replies!!!
But the thing is that my friends are really really smart, esp one of them who is an overachiever in every field and I feel like being around them actually makes me feel worse about myself bc their complaining abt the tests that they probably got full marks on really agitates me. I know this is a me problem and I appreciate your advice but I think I'm better off limiting contact with my friends during this time so I can focus on myself and improving my grades. I've thought about going to teachers but I thought maybe these chats would be better bc students can more accurately empathise with the worries of other students if you get what I mean.
Reply 9
Original post by ihatethisdunya
Sciences and MFL are alright. It's freaking history, English and RE!!! Forget RE bc it's over and I jammed it but the other two I need to get good on. I take psychology and I don't think I struggle with time on it tbh more so knowing what to write which is rare for me. And maths is literally just not knowing how to do crap 😭 but revising for maths isn't deep . Paper 1 this year annihilated me 💀 I beg that the rest of the papers are good

Yeah, RE I could just about finish both papers, but was left with fairly severe hand cramps (they're still hurting, and I had paper 2 at 2:00)
Original post by ihatethisdunya
My issue is I always run out of time and this is stressing me out. I've not finished a single gcse paper so far and I've tried managing time by setting time limits for each section but I always run out of time. I've decided that biro slows me down so I'm getting an ink pen but idk what else could be the issue?? I don't think it's thought that takes time so idk what it is, maybe I write too much?? IDK I NEED HELP YALL 😭 please give me advise on how to write quick or whatever

Quality over quantity just because you see many people writing hundreds of page most of it won’t even get any marks so please just write key points that answer the question directly. ☺️
Reply 11
Original post by ihatethisdunya
Firstly ty for your replies!!!
But the thing is that my friends are really really smart, esp one of them who is an overachiever in every field and I feel like being around them actually makes me feel worse about myself bc their complaining abt the tests that they probably got full marks on really agitates me. I know this is a me problem and I appreciate your advice but I think I'm better off limiting contact with my friends during this time so I can focus on myself and improving my grades. I've thought about going to teachers but I thought maybe these chats would be better bc students can more accurately empathise with the worries of other students if you get what I mean.

Honestly, don't cut off connection, rather learn from them (I'm trying not to sound too cliché), especially if they are overachievers. I can tell you from personal experience - all my friends are Y9 (I'm Y11 but skipped two years), but they are really distracting, cause they are not very smart (take a Grade 3 level pupil for English), so I try to cut off from them, but with Y11 friends, I try to bother them so I can improve.
Original post by Supermaths23
Quality over quantity just because you see many people writing hundreds of page most of it won’t even get any marks so please just write key points that answer the question directly. ☺️


It just happens like Idrc abt other plp, I just tend to be write whatever comes up in my mind bc I unconsciously think that I need to write this much to get all the marks but I'll try to limit how much I write but get all the points in, I guess through practice and recognising what I'm doing wrong
Original post by ihatethisdunya
Firstly ty for your replies!!!
But the thing is that my friends are really really smart, esp one of them who is an overachiever in every field and I feel like being around them actually makes me feel worse about myself bc their complaining abt the tests that they probably got full marks on really agitates me. I know this is a me problem and I appreciate your advice but I think I'm better off limiting contact with my friends during this time so I can focus on myself and improving my grades. I've thought about going to teachers but I thought maybe these chats would be better bc students can more accurately empathise with the worries of other students if you get what I mean.
Thank you for acknowledging my responses!
I think you shouldn't focus on your mates and their grades, just because they achieve higher grades than you doesn't mean they are better than you. Some people flourish in education and some aren't so fortunate, but if you work hard you can achieve far greater than any letter with a grade stamped on it. As for writing the exam, what fumbles you exactly? Yes, other students can empathize with you, so I'm sure there might be a few of them you can get advice from. I admire that you are focusing on yourself for these exams, that is the ideal approach I think everyone should do.
Original post by JDINCINERATOR
Thank you for acknowledging my responses!
I think you shouldn't focus on your mates and their grades, just because they achieve higher grades than you doesn't mean they are better than you. Some people flourish in education and some aren't so fortunate, but if you work hard you can achieve far greater than any letter with a grade stamped on it. As for writing the exam, what fumbles you exactly? Yes, other students can empathize with you, so I'm sure there might be a few of them you can get advice from. I admire that you are focusing on yourself for these exams, that is the ideal approach I think everyone should do.


It's literally just time management, I take too much time writing about one point or section and don't have enough time to do anything else 😭 i think it might be that I unconsciously waffle in times conditions and break the structure of my paragraphs

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