I got all A* in my GCSEs - Ask me anything

Hi everyone, this is by no means me bragging about my results. I received them yesterday and got:

English lit: 9
English lang: 9
French: 9
Maths: 9
Chemistry: 9
Biology: 9
Physics: 9
History: 8 (getting remarked as I was 1 mark off and convinced I should’ve got a 9)
Spanish: 8
Classical Greek: 8
Additional maths: A (top grade)

I am very happy with my GCSE results and thought this might be a way to help other users to get similar grades to mine. This is mostly targeted as those moving into Y9-11 but anyone is welcome to post.

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Reply 1

always-anxious

What are your plans for post 16 education?

Reply 2

unequivocal

Original post by sdfj

I still believe the advice I can provide is valuable for other users. I suggest you be more respectful in the future.

That’s basically straight 9s, very impressive, massive well done. I can imagine you tried very hard so I’m glad it payed off! Were there any grades that shocked you?

Reply 3

sdfj

Original post by unequivocal

That’s basically straight 9s, very impressive, massive well done. I can imagine you tried very hard so I’m glad it payed off! Were there any grades that shocked you?

Thanks very much. I was super surprised to open the letter to see 9s in English. I thought they would both be solid 8s, with maybe a 9 in language. Scraped it with language and performed quite well in literature. I did kind of slack off around March of my GCSE year as I think I ran out of steam. So I’d say as my first piece of advice given, don’t work too hard too early, work consistently. If I did that, all 9s could’ve been very possible.

Reply 4

sdfj

Original post by always-anxious

What are your plans for post 16 education?

I’ll be staying at the same school and do A-Levels in:

Maths (possibly FM but I’ll decide by the start of term)
Chemistry
Economics
History

I’ll try and do 4 subjects but if it’s too much work or my grades are affected, I’ll willingly drop down to 3. Any advice from anyone for those A-Level subjects or A-Levels in general will be greatly appreciated by me.

Reply 5

dhqnyq

Original post by sdfj

Hi everyone, this is by no means me bragging about my results. I received them yesterday and got:
English lit: 9
English lang: 9
French: 9
Maths: 9
Chemistry: 9
Biology: 9
Physics: 9
History: 8 (getting remarked as I was 1 mark off and convinced I should’ve got a 9)
Spanish: 8
Classical Greek: 8
Additional maths: A (top grade)
I am very happy with my GCSE results and thought this might be a way to help other users to get similar grades to mine. This is mostly targeted as those moving into Y9-11 but anyone is welcome to post.

Congrats you've done really well! :biggrin:

Reply 6

sdfj

Original post by dhqnyq

Congrats you've done really well! :biggrin:

Thank you. Are you/have you done your GCSEs recently?

Reply 7

Jonjon7

Original post by sdfj

I’ll be staying at the same school and do A-Levels in:
Maths (possibly FM but I’ll decide by the start of term)
Chemistry
Economics
History
I’ll try and do 4 subjects but if it’s too much work or my grades are affected, I’ll willingly drop down to 3. Any advice from anyone for those A-Level subjects or A-Levels in general will be greatly appreciated by me.

So are you giving advice or taking advice??

Well done to your GCSE anyway.

Reply 8

sdfj

Original post by Jonjon7

So are you giving advice or taking advice??
Well done to your GCSE anyway.

A mix but this thread is mostly giving advice to pre-GCSE students. Have you done your GCSEs?

Reply 9

dhqnyq

Original post by sdfj

Thank you. Are you/have you done your GCSEs recently?

I'm going into Year 11 In September, So I'll do mine next year. Just trying to find advice from Y11s who've already done theirs

Reply 10

sdfj

Original post by dhqnyq

I'm going into Year 11 In September, So I'll do mine next year. Just trying to find advice from Y11s who've already done theirs

Well if you ever have a question, you know where to find me. Good luck for Y11 - the first public exams you do can be quite stressful.

Reply 11

pretty_in_purple

Heyy
Impressive grades, congrats bro
So im giving biology exam this november, and I really want an 9 and right now lets say im at a 7/8.
You got any tips??

Reply 12

elareare

Original post by sdfj

Hi everyone, this is by no means me bragging about my results. I received them yesterday and got:
English lit: 9
English lang: 9
French: 9
Maths: 9
Chemistry: 9
Biology: 9
Physics: 9
History: 8 (getting remarked as I was 1 mark off and convinced I should’ve got a 9)
Spanish: 8
Classical Greek: 8
Additional maths: A (top grade)
I am very happy with my GCSE results and thought this might be a way to help other users to get similar grades to mine. This is mostly targeted as those moving into Y9-11 but anyone is welcome to post.

u gonna do uni and if so what will u study

Reply 13

sdfj

Original post by pretty_in_purple

Heyy
Impressive grades, congrats bro
So im giving biology exam this november, and I really want an 9 and right now lets say im at a 7/8.
You got any tips??

Would you mind telling me which board. Is it Edexcel iGCSE?

Reply 14

sdfj

Original post by elareare

u gonna do uni and if so what will u study

Planning to go to one of the London unis hopefully. Thinking along the lines of history or law, but maybe economics if I enjoy it. That’s a way away for me though.

Reply 15

sdfj

Original post by pretty_in_purple

Heyy
Impressive grades, congrats bro
So im giving biology exam this november, and I really want an 9 and right now lets say im at a 7/8.
You got any tips??

If it Edexcel iGCSE, I would 100% recommend buying the CGP revision guide. I’ve heard it’s good for other boards too. If you do CIE, then sorry, I’m not too sure. Make sure you buy the one for the right board if you can - it’s only like 8 pounds sterling. If you confirm the board, I can give more specific advice (especially for Edexcel).

Reply 16

pretty_in_purple

Original post by sdfj

Would you mind telling me which board. Is it Edexcel iGCSE?

Yep its edexcel igcse

Reply 17

Jonjon7

Original post by sdfj

A mix but this thread is mostly giving advice to pre-GCSE students. Have you done your GCSEs?

Good to give guidance to others. There are students whose results are lower than yours and many still whose results are better than yours. Stay humble.

I've past your time, applying to med school, hopefully, this Oct.

(edited 3 weeks ago)

Reply 18

sdfj

Original post by pretty_in_purple

Yep its edexcel igcse

Ok, so look above for some of the advice. So CGP revision guide is absolutely amazing and practically gave me a 9 in physics and bio. If that’s possible to buy, then I’d recommend it greatly. I’d also say, make sure you understand how to nail those discuss and evaluate questions. They’re difficult to master at first but once you get there, your grade just shoots up. My bio teacher made it seem quite simple to tackle those questions: Write an argument and counter argument. Consider reliability, validity and accuracy. Write one more point than the number of marks available. Gives you straight 5/5 every single time, but you do need to know the biology. That’s where you can gain a lot of marks over other students. Also, for the ‘CORMS’ experimental design question, not much knowledge is required, but you do need to be able to apply the structure to the situation in that question. Practicing those questions in particular will help greatly. Also, knowing your key experiments is crucial - the CGP guide helps organise this quite nicely for you. But there’s 20% of the paper on experiments so focus a lot of revision there. Also, practicing the comprehension questions at the start of paper 2 (assuming you are doing biology and not double science) is important - but again, knowing the biology is still needed. Hope this helps.

Reply 19

sdfj

Original post by Jonjon7

Good to give guidance to others. There are students whose results are lower than yours and many still whose results are better than yours. Stay humble.
I've past your time, applying to med school, hopefully, this Oct.

I’m happy but not at all bragging. There’s a lot of people on TSR here with like 12 9s which is frankly incredible. I’m just trying to help those who need it more.

Good luck with your application 🍀