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GCSE Study techniques

Hey guys i’m going into year 11 now and before I start revision, what are the best study techniques to get 8s and 9s that I don’t need to spend too long doing but still get those top grades?
It’s quite person and subject dependent.
I would suggest making flashcards for subjects like History and English lit. Do these often (spaced repetition) and them when in comes to revision, blurting and mindmaps worked the best for me. Also watch YouTube videos to get themes and context and stuff for different periods and types of text which will help you a lot in English and in history source questions. Do a lot of practice essays, even if theyre just essay plans and learn the markschemes or paragraph structures that fulfil them every time.
For subjects like English language and maths do lots of practice questions and mark them using the markscheme or for English language get someone else to do it (friend, teacher, someone on tsr). Also if you’re struggling on one thing like terminology for a question or a skill in maths go do a blooket on it.
For languages, vocab spaced repetition flashcards are essential. Also practice everyday (Duolingo works well for this!) and closer to exams do past papers to familiarise yourself with question types and command words- also make more flashcards from the words you dont know from the past papers.
For creatives, make sure to do your coursework as you go not have to be in a mad rush at the end of the year near your other exams to get stuff finished.
For Sciences do lots of questions! Cognito, CGP books, Seneca etc are all good for this and watch videos on stuff you dont understand.
Hope this helps, have a great day :smile:

Reply 2

Original post
by DerDracologe
It’s quite person and subject dependent.
I would suggest making flashcards for subjects like History and English lit. Do these often (spaced repetition) and them when in comes to revision, blurting and mindmaps worked the best for me. Also watch YouTube videos to get themes and context and stuff for different periods and types of text which will help you a lot in English and in history source questions. Do a lot of practice essays, even if theyre just essay plans and learn the markschemes or paragraph structures that fulfil them every time.
For subjects like English language and maths do lots of practice questions and mark them using the markscheme or for English language get someone else to do it (friend, teacher, someone on tsr). Also if you’re struggling on one thing like terminology for a question or a skill in maths go do a blooket on it.
For languages, vocab spaced repetition flashcards are essential. Also practice everyday (Duolingo works well for this!) and closer to exams do past papers to familiarise yourself with question types and command words- also make more flashcards from the words you dont know from the past papers.
For creatives, make sure to do your coursework as you go not have to be in a mad rush at the end of the year near your other exams to get stuff finished.
For Sciences do lots of questions! Cognito, CGP books, Seneca etc are all good for this and watch videos on stuff you dont understand.
Hope this helps, have a great day :smile:

Thank you so much!!! One more thing do you have a recommended amount of time i should be revising per day from september to december to get these top grades?
Original post
by Joelhjfg
Thank you so much!!! One more thing do you have a recommended amount of time i should be revising per day from september to december to get these top grades?

Here’s what I did per week for revision before Christmas time in year 11:

1 maths past paper per week

At least 1 English ‘essay’ per week (basically half a practice paper)

Reviewed any lesson content I didnt understand

Focused on my coursework a lot

Did daily vocab flashcards and Duolingo for languages

Did a couple of history practice questions per week (totalling 15-25 marks)

Flashcards on English quotations

Homework

Reviewed flashcards for a lot of my subjects on StudySmarter

To be fair, some of this stuff was set as homework for me but its still a good idea to start doing a little bit of exam practice early on so you can get exam technique nailed and also do flashcards for subjects with quotations or vocab or a lot of facts.

Reply 4

Original post
by DerDracologe
Here’s what I did per week for revision before Christmas time in year 11:

1 maths past paper per week

1 English ‘essay’ per week (basically half a practice paper)

Reviewed any lesson content I didnt understand

Focused on my coursework a lot

Did daily vocab flashcards and Duolingo for languages

Did a couple of history practice questions per week (totalling 15-25 marks)

Flashcards on English quotations

Homework

Reviewed flashcards for a lot of my subjects on StudySmarter

To be fair, some of this stuff was set as homework for me but its still a good idea to start doing a little bit of exam practice early on so you can get exam technique nailed and also do flashcards for subjects with quotations or vocab or a lot of facts.

Do you mind me asking what grades you got at the final gcse doing this amount of revision before Christmas?
Original post
by Joelhjfg
Do you mind me asking what grades you got at the final gcse doing this amount of revision before Christmas?

9999998886A 🙂 6 was in art which obviously is a bit different
Also i realised that my original post doesn’t match what i replied to you with so sorry about that! Most my revision was actually set as homework as my school preferred to set revision tasks than typical homework stuff in year 11. The version i sent to reply to your pm is more detailed and accurate :smile:
(edited 1 year ago)

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