all 8's and 9's at GCSE, ask me anything!

13

hi, year 11's! i'm maveline and i got all 8's and 9's at gcse. i'm more than happy to answer any questions regarding revision, how i found each subject, my mental health during y11 as well as offer any advice to those who need it! :smile:

here are my examboards / subjects / grades:

AQA English Language: 8
AQA English Literature: 9
OCR Maths: 9
AQA Combined Science: Trilogy: 9-9
AQA Geography: 9
AQA German: 8
Eduqas Sociology: 9
AQA Statistics: 8 (did this in Year 10)

i also took two btec subjects, so if anyone has any questions about them, feel free to ask.

Reply 1

cxcsgt

12

hi! congrats on your results, they’re great!! do you have any tips on how to revise for english lang? also, when do you think i should start revising, i have mocks in december so i wanna be prepared 😅 thanks !

Reply 2

maveline

OP

13

Original post by cxcsgt

hi! congrats on your results, they’re great!! do you have any tips on how to revise for english lang? also, when do you think i should start revising, i have mocks in december so i wanna be prepared 😅 thanks !

hey! thank you so much! i would honestly say start revising now - especially if you're aiming for the top grades. with the amount of subjects you do at GCSE, it makes everything a lot easier if you have your resources all made and ready to go over by the time exam season comes around.

for english lang, i practised questions and gave them to my teacher to mark!

Reply 3

cxcsgt

12

Original post by maveline

hey! thank you so much! i would honestly say start revising now - especially if you're aiming for the top grades. with the amount of subjects you do at GCSE, it makes everything a lot easier if you have your resources all made and ready to go over by the time exam season comes around.
for english lang, i practised questions and gave them to my teacher to mark!

thank you!! good luck this year :smile:

Reply 4

ABU DORY

8

Original post by maveline

hi, year 11's! i'm maveline and i got all 8's and 9's at gcse. i'm more than happy to answer any questions regarding revision, how i found each subject, my mental health during y11 as well as offer any advice to those who need it! :smile:

here are my examboards / subjects / grades:
AQA English Language: 8
AQA English Literature: 9
OCR Maths: 9
AQA Combined Science: Trilogy: 9-9
AQA Geography: 9
AQA German: 8
Eduqas Sociology: 9
AQA Statistics: 8 (did this in Year 10)
i also took two btec subjects, so if anyone has any questions about them, feel free to ask.

Good job on results👍️. How did you manage to get a 9 in maths and combined science?

Reply 5

Celinacelina0

Original post by maveline

hi, year 11's! i'm maveline and i got all 8's and 9's at gcse. i'm more than happy to answer any questions regarding revision, how i found each subject, my mental health during y11 as well as offer any advice to those who need it! :smile:

here are my examboards / subjects / grades:
AQA English Language: 8
AQA English Literature: 9
OCR Maths: 9
AQA Combined Science: Trilogy: 9-9
AQA Geography: 9
AQA German: 8
Eduqas Sociology: 9
AQA Statistics: 8 (did this in Year 10)
i also took two btec subjects, so if anyone has any questions about them, feel free to ask.

how did you revise for science cause i don't know how to revise effectively

Reply 6

maveline

OP

13

Original post by cxcsgt

thank you!! good luck this year :smile:

thanks a bunch!! you too!

Reply 7

maveline

OP

13

Original post by ABU DORY

Good job on results👍️. How did you manage to get a 9 in maths and combined science?

hiya! thanks a lot! :smile:

maths is all about practising a wide range of past papers / exam questions to explore the potential scenarios for certanin topics that your examboard could include when creating the current year's papers. it is crucial to become familiar with the phrasing and formatting of worded problems so that the language doesn't stump you during your mocks / gcse's. i would always practice a past paper, mark it afterwards, and then look up a walkthrough on youtube for the exact paper to see how to complete any questions that i got wrong. i would further advise watching videos and practising quesitons on the topics themselves so that it becomes a more familiar, comfortable concept in your mind.

personally, i believe that the differnece between those who get 6's - 7's and those who get 8's - 9's is the amount of practice they do of worded exam questions as well as the ability to adapt and remain calm when seeing an unfamiliar question. students can be extremely prone to exam stress, not just during the spring / start of summer, but throughout the entire year. learning to control these emotions can be very useful; especially in an exam. during my first gcse maths paper, there was a 7 marker - 7 markers hadn't appeared in ocr for a few years - so, naturally, i was quite stumped, however, remaining calm and level-headed really helped me work with the information i had been given and eventually get to the right answer. i believe that if it wasn't for the first paper, i would have gotten an 8.

my personal advice would be going into the exam knowing that there'll be a few questions that seem odd, or are worded strangely at first - it can be very daunting if you try to convince yourself that you know what to expect based off of teacher's predictions or past papers only to realise that there's a 5 marker that looks completely different to any other question you've completed before. keep calm and look at what you've been given, as well as look at what the question is asking for. are there any shapes you know certain formulae of? is it possible to work out any missing lengths? can trigonometry be used? what potential topics could be relevant to the method needed to work out the answer?

as for combined science, there is a lot of content to memorise. so much so that, personally, i believe that you won't be able to achieve a 9-9 if you don't start making your resources now. to learn the content, my school paid for a website called "mygcsescience." although the videos were long, i believed they were very useful and covered all of the content i needed to know about; there were hardly any instances in past papers where i looked at a question and thought "i haven't learned this." i also practised a lot of past papers and memorised the mark scheme for a few of the questions - you can do this for practical methods, fact-based 1 or 2 markers and even "explain" questions.

some general advice that isn't necessarily restricted to just science, but to memorise the content for science, i used something called the "leitner method." this video explains it: https://youtu.be/C20EvKtdJwQ?si=bTdW1MvsOTUKL038

(note: i ended up using more than three envelopes for my flashcards because there were just so many by the time exam season came around that i had to improvise. it still worked though; for every subject i consistently used the leitner method in, i achieved a grade 9. 🙂)

i hope this helps!! :smile:

Reply 8

emily_jsten

2

Jealous so jealous

Reply 9

maveline

OP

13

Original post by Celinacelina0

how did you revise for science cause i don't know how to revise effectively

hiya! thanks a lot! gonna be repeating a lot of what i said in my previous comment to the user above you :smile:

for combined science, there is a lot of content to memorise. so much so that, personally, i believe that you won't be able to achieve a 9-9 / 9-8 if you don't start making your resources now. to learn the content, my school paid for a website called "mygcsescience." although the videos were long, i believed they were very useful and covered all of the content i needed to know about; there were hardly any instances in past papers where i looked at a question and thought "i haven't learned this." i know a lot of people often revised for science with a channel on youtube called "freesciencelessons," and based on general impressions, he seems like a very reliable content creator, so using him as an alternative to revise shouldn't be an issue at all. 🙂

i also practised a lot of past papers and memorised the mark scheme for a few of the questions - you can do this for practical methods, fact-based 1 or 2 markers and even "explain" questions. in my opinion, you can't go wrong with this, because writing down the exact wording and steps of a required practical that the examboard states in the mark scheme means that you are not only memorising the points that guarantee you marks, but you also subconsciously adapt to the wording and formatting they use in your answers in the rest of the papers.

the method i used to memorise the subject content - that isn't necessarily restricted to just science - i used a very effective system called the "leitner method." this video explains it shortly / briefly: https://youtu.be/C20EvKtdJwQ?si=bTdW1MvsOTUKL038

(note: i ended up using more than three envelopes for my flashcards because there were just so many by the time exam season came around that i had to improvise. it still worked though; for every subject i consistently used the leitner method in, i achieved a grade 9. 🙂)

i hope this helps!! best of luck if you're taking your gcse's this year. :smile:

Reply 10

ABU DORY

8

Original post by maveline

hi, year 11's! i'm maveline and i got all 8's and 9's at gcse. i'm more than happy to answer any questions regarding revision, how i found each subject, my mental health during y11 as well as offer any advice to those who need it! :smile:

here are my examboards / subjects / grades:
AQA English Language: 8
AQA English Literature: 9
OCR Maths: 9
AQA Combined Science: Trilogy: 9-9
AQA Geography: 9
AQA German: 8
Eduqas Sociology: 9
AQA Statistics: 8 (did this in Year 10)
i also took two btec subjects, so if anyone has any questions about them, feel free to ask.

Did you do BTEC sport/sports science?

Reply 11

frlt2324

9

Original post by maveline

hi, year 11's! i'm maveline and i got all 8's and 9's at gcse. i'm more than happy to answer any questions regarding revision, how i found each subject, my mental health during y11 as well as offer any advice to those who need it! :smile:

here are my examboards / subjects / grades:
AQA English Language: 8
AQA English Literature: 9
OCR Maths: 9
AQA Combined Science: Trilogy: 9-9
AQA Geography: 9
AQA German: 8
Eduqas Sociology: 9
AQA Statistics: 8 (did this in Year 10)
i also took two btec subjects, so if anyone has any questions about them, feel free to ask.

what did you use to revise geography. I understand the stuff but i don't know how to write it properly so don't get as much marks as i could. Any websites to go over 6 markers and 12 markers and how to answer them?

Reply 12

maveline

OP

13

Original post by ABU DORY

Did you do BTEC sport/sports science?

hiya! no, i'm afraid not. i did BTEC DIT and BTEC music. 🙂

Reply 13

maveline

OP

13

Original post by frlt2324

what did you use to revise geography. I understand the stuff but i don't know how to write it properly so don't get as much marks as i could. Any websites to go over 6 markers and 12 markers and how to answer them?

hi! in all honesty, to revise geography, i used the google slides created by my teachers to revise all of the content. each school does different case studies, so i would advise asking your teachers to create a website or google drive folder containing information all of the content and case studies that you cover if you ever need to revise that.

in terms of the 9 / 9 +3 SPaG mark questions, it took a little experimenting and practising at the start of the year before i found a format to stick to that i could comfortably achieve most of the marks in.

i would recommend following this format of 3 detailed paragraphs:

1.

Paragraph 1: Point One

2.

Make a point that is relevant to the question - you can literally quote parts of the question. E.g. if it asks you if there are more economic opportunities or challenges created by an extreme environment, your opening point can be "One economic opportunity created by [case study] is __"

3.

Explain this point and then make it clear how this is relevant to the question - throw in some facts if you can too! (If it asks for a case study, use this opportunity to name that case study!)

4.

Criticise / evaluate your point - find a flaw in your own reasoning, or something to strengthen it. Most 9 markers are "to what extent questions;" by considering the other side of the argument, you are showing a wide range of knowledge around the subject and showing that you understand what the question is asking of you.

5.

Paragraph 2: Point Two

6.

Make another point that is relevant to the question. Focus on something different - you don't want to spend two paragraphs building on one single point. "One economic challenge created by [case study] is ___"

7.

Explain this point and then make it clear how this is relevant to the question - throw in some facts about it if you can too!

8.

Criticise / evaluate your point again - find a flaw in your own reasoning, or something to strengthen it. Again, showing that you know what the quesiton is asking you to do: to evaluate.

9.

Paragraph 3: Conclusion

10.

End off with a final, evaluative conclusion. Make it clear that you are answering the question given to you.

11.

"Although some economic challenges are created by [case study] such as __, economic opportunities such as __ ultimately compensate for any financial losses of the afforementioned issues. Thus, one can comfortably say that [case study] provides more economic opportunities over challenges."

I wasn't the best at writing 6 markers, in all honesty. However, no conclusions are needed for them unless they state that they want some form of evaluation. Two explained, linked, detailed points will be enough.

I hope this helps! Keep in mind, this might be a bit time-consuming when writing a response following this format. However, it's good to use if you want to secure some good marks. If you would rather explore alternatives, please talk to your teachers! Practise questions and hand them in to request feedback from them. They will always give you feedback to improve your work and send your responses to the top level band. 🙂

Reply 14

frlt2324

9

Original post by maveline

hi! in all honesty, to revise geography, i used the google slides created by my teachers to revise all of the content. each school does different case studies, so i would advise asking your teachers to create a website or google drive folder containing information all of the content and case studies that you cover if you ever need to revise that.
in terms of the 9 / 9 +3 SPaG mark questions, it took a little experimenting and practising at the start of the year before i found a format to stick to that i could comfortably achieve most of the marks in.
i would recommend following this format of 3 detailed paragraphs:

1.

Paragraph 1: Point One

2.

Make a point that is relevant to the question - you can literally quote parts of the question. E.g. if it asks you if there are more economic opportunities or challenges created by an extreme environment, your opening point can be "One economic opportunity created by [case study] is __"

3.

Explain this point and then make it clear how this is relevant to the question - throw in some facts if you can too! (If it asks for a case study, use this opportunity to name that case study!)

4.

Criticise / evaluate your point - find a flaw in your own reasoning, or something to strengthen it. Most 9 markers are "to what extent questions;" by considering the other side of the argument, you are showing a wide range of knowledge around the subject and showing that you understand what the question is asking of you.

5.

Paragraph 2: Point Two

6.

Make another point that is relevant to the question. Focus on something different - you don't want to spend two paragraphs building on one single point. "One economic challenge created by [case study] is ___"

7.

Explain this point and then make it clear how this is relevant to the question - throw in some facts about it if you can too!

8.

Criticise / evaluate your point again - find a flaw in your own reasoning, or something to strengthen it. Again, showing that you know what the quesiton is asking you to do: to evaluate.

9.

Paragraph 3: Conclusion

10.

End off with a final, evaluative conclusion. Make it clear that you are answering the question given to you.

11.

"Although some economic challenges are created by [case study] such as __, economic opportunities such as __ ultimately compensate for any financial losses of the afforementioned issues. Thus, one can comfortably say that [case study] provides more economic opportunities over challenges."

I wasn't the best at writing 6 markers, in all honesty. However, no conclusions are needed for them unless they state that they want some form of evaluation. Two explained, linked, detailed points will be enough.
I hope this helps! Keep in mind, this might be a bit time-consuming when writing a response following this format. However, it's good to use if you want to secure some good marks. If you would rather explore alternatives, please talk to your teachers! Practise questions and hand them in to request feedback from them. They will always give you feedback to improve your work and send your responses to the top level band. 🙂

Thank you so much i will have to try this out!

Reply 15

maveline

OP

13

Original post by frlt2324

Thank you so much i will have to try this out!

no problem! let me know how it goes for you :smile:

Reply 16

lopsyloo

9

What are some good websites for german??

Reply 17

maveline

OP

13

Original post by lopsyloo

What are some good websites for german??

hii, i mainly used duolingo for practising German, (and i didn’t really use any other websites to revise the language itself,) but i've heard that Deutsche Welle is also a pretty good website for learning the German language

Reply 18

lopsyloo

9

Original post by maveline

hii, i mainly used duolingo for practising German, (and i didn’t really use any other websites to revise the language itself,) but i've heard that Deutsche Welle is also a pretty good website for learning the German language

Thanks! x

Reply 19

maveline

OP

13

Original post by lopsyloo

Thanks! x

no problem! :smile:

all 8's and 9's at GCSE, ask me anything!

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