Hello! I have just received my CIE IGCSE results, my advice and grades are as seen below (ones in brackets are my predicted grades) :
Bio 0610 - A (A)
Chem 0620 - A (B)
French 0520 - A (A)
Mathematics 0607 - B (B)
First Language English 0500 - A* (A)
English Literature 0475 - A (C)
Geography 0460 - A (A)
History - A (B)
Chinese As A Second Language 0523 - A (A)
I am pleased with these grades, and it can also prove that you can get even better grades in just under a year! One of the biggest things I've learned is that every teacher grades differently, e.g. your teacher grading your paper can grade much harsher than your examiner.
For English Literature, this sounds very harsh and rigorous, but I tried to do as many practice essays under timed conditions as possible (I literally used up 5 A4-sized notebooks!). Not only does this give you an idea of how actually writing the paper is like, but also gives you some possible points to use in your essays as the essay questions used are pretty repetitive.
For English Language, I did a lot of past papers. My biggest piece of advice is to bring a minimum of 3 differently coloured pens/highlighters, this way, it will be much easier to spot and differentiate your different points. Further, utilise AI wisely for paper 2; I used it to generate synonyms for various adjectives in the descriptive writing essay.
Lastly, for Geography, try studying with a buddy, it is much easier to memorise geographical processes and other steps of using geographical tools. Additionally, if you forgot to memorise a case study, use your place of residence. I remember one of my essay questions was about the weather and I answered without a case study memorised, so I used Hong Kong (my place of residence), since there was a lot to talk about: tourism, weather (the typhoons here)... .
I would like to wish you the best of luck in your future exams! You got this