all 8's and 9's at GCSE, ask me anything!
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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! 
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.
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.
Hii congrats on your results!! I aim to achieve results similar to yours and I especially need a 9 in English Lit. I am not doing great in English Lang as well so any advice on both subjects would be greatly appreciated 🙂 also if you have any tips on how to stay calm during an exam, manage your time (or anything you would recommend doing during the exam or on the day of the exam) I'd love to hear them as well!!! Best of luck this year to you and any other Year 11s this year 🙂
Original post by Salatalik
Hii congrats on your results!! I aim to achieve results similar to yours and I especially need a 9 in English Lit. I am not doing great in English Lang as well so any advice on both subjects would be greatly appreciated 🙂 also if you have any tips on how to stay calm during an exam, manage your time (or anything you would recommend doing during the exam or on the day of the exam) I'd love to hear them as well!!! Best of luck this year to you and any other Year 11s this year 🙂
my personal tips for english literature would to plan responses and revise high-level inferences of good quotes for a range of potential themes / character questions. personally, i believe that i got extremely lucky in my english literature exams this year because every question on my literature papers (other than the unseen poetry section) was everything i had previously written essays for / wanted. perhaps that was main reason i achieved that 9, but not everyone will be that lucky this year.
i would definitely advise for you to practise writing responses to past questions to begin with and then give them to your teacher to mark and provide feedback. always try to incorporate their feedback into your next work, as they will always try to look for little things that can send your work up to the next grade / marking level band. as i mentioned previously, planning your quotes for your responses out for a certain theme or character on a flashcard and memorising it might be very beneficial - especially if you're abe to adapt and alter these plans if necessary in the exam. tl;dr: memorising plans for high-level responses will be a good call.
as for english language, as ashamed as i am to admit it, i didn't really revise it much because i didn't know how to. a week or two before each english language exam, i did watch "mr salles teaches english" on youtube to hear his pre-exam advice, but in the end, i'm not too sure if that benefitted me much. (but always feel free to give him a shot and see if his advice benefits you. different things work for everyone)
i think that what i truly needed was to practise writing responses tot he first half of the paper; i found that it wasn't the creative / persuasive writing that cost me marks, but rather the entire reading section of the paper. especially in language paper 2, where you have two extracts to read and subsequently compare in some of the questions, time is a major contributing factor to your exam marks if you don't finish your responses. the entirety of language paper 2 other than Q5, i was dissastisfied with. the ending to my Q4 was rushed, i didn't properly finish Q2 or Q3, and i was 4 marks off of a grade 9. alas, i can't complain, as it was my own fault for not putting in much effort to revise it.
i believe the key thing to do for language is practise writing responses. the examboard will never give you an extract / paragraph that is too difficult to find and dig out inferences. it's just a matter of writing timed responses and handing them into your teachers for feedback. once again, incorporating that feedback into your next practice paper will help increase the number of marks you get on each question.
i hope this helps!
Original post by maveline
hiya! thanks a lot!
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!!
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!!
Thank you so much💯. I will start doing this now since my mocks aren't for a while
Original post by ABU DORY
Thank you so much💯. I will start doing this now since my mocks aren't for a while
no problem! let me know how it goes
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!
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.
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.
i need the best way to revise!! ]
comb science higher
maths higher
english
history
ty
Original post by Olaseni
i need the best way to revise!! ]
comb science higher
maths higher
english
history
ty
comb science higher
maths higher
english
history
ty
)MATHS:
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 difference 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 overall.
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?
maths channels i recommend would be The GCSE Maths Tutor, 1st Class Maths and CorbettMaths
COMBINED SCIENCE: TRILOGY (HIGHER):
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. 🙂)
ENGLISH LITERATURE:
my personal tips for english literature would to plan responses and revise high-level inferences of good quotes for a range of potential themes / character questions. personally, i believe that i got extremely lucky in my english literature exams this year because every question on my literature papers (other than the unseen poetry section) was everything i had previously written essays for / wanted. perhaps that was main reason i achieved that 9, but not everyone will be that lucky this year.
i would definitely advise for you to practise writing responses to past questions to begin with and then give them to your teacher to mark and provide feedback. always try to incorporate their feedback into your next work, as they will always try to look for little things that can send your work up to the next grade / marking level band. as i mentioned previously, planning your quotes for your responses out for a certain theme or character on a flashcard and memorising it might be very beneficial - especially if you're abe to adapt and alter these plans if necessary in the exam. tl;dr: memorising plans for high-level responses will be a good call.
ENGLISH LANGUAGE:
as for english language, as ashamed as i am to admit it, i didn't really revise it much because i didn't know how to. a week or two before each english language exam, i did watch this channel called "Mr Salles Teaches English" on YouTube to hear his pre-exam advice, but in the end, i'm not too sure if that benefitted me much. (but always feel free to give him a shot and see if his advice benefits you - different things work for everyone.)
i think that what i truly needed was to practise writing responses tot he first half of the paper; i found that it wasn't the creative / persuasive writing that cost me marks, but rather the entire reading section of the paper. especially in language paper 2, where you have two extracts to read and subsequently compare in some of the questions, time is a major contributing factor to your exam marks if you don't finish your responses. the entirety of language paper 2 other than Q5, i was dissastisfied with. the ending to my Q4 was rushed, i didn't properly finish Q2 or Q3, and i was 4 marks off of a grade 9. alas, i can't complain, as it was my own fault for not putting in much effort to revise it.i believe the key thing to do for language is practise writing responses. the examboard will never give you an extract / paragraph that is too difficult to find and dig out inferences. it's just a matter of writing timed responses and handing them into your teachers for feedback. once again, incorporating that feedback into your next practice paper will help increase the number of marks you get on each question.
hope this all helps!
Original post by maveline
hi! i didn't do history, however, i can offer advice on the rest of the listed subjects. (i'll be copying and pasting everything i said in previous replies to other students )
MATHS:
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 difference 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 overall.
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?
maths channels i recommend would be The GCSE Maths Tutor, 1st Class Maths and CorbettMaths
COMBINED SCIENCE: TRILOGY (HIGHER):
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. 🙂)
ENGLISH LITERATURE:
my personal tips for english literature would to plan responses and revise high-level inferences of good quotes for a range of potential themes / character questions. personally, i believe that i got extremely lucky in my english literature exams this year because every question on my literature papers (other than the unseen poetry section) was everything i had previously written essays for / wanted. perhaps that was main reason i achieved that 9, but not everyone will be that lucky this year.
i would definitely advise for you to practise writing responses to past questions to begin with and then give them to your teacher to mark and provide feedback. always try to incorporate their feedback into your next work, as they will always try to look for little things that can send your work up to the next grade / marking level band. as i mentioned previously, planning your quotes for your responses out for a certain theme or character on a flashcard and memorising it might be very beneficial - especially if you're abe to adapt and alter these plans if necessary in the exam. tl;dr: memorising plans for high-level responses will be a good call.
ENGLISH LANGUAGE:
as for english language, as ashamed as i am to admit it, i didn't really revise it much because i didn't know how to. a week or two before each english language exam, i did watch this channel called "Mr Salles Teaches English" on YouTube to hear his pre-exam advice, but in the end, i'm not too sure if that benefitted me much. (but always feel free to give him a shot and see if his advice benefits you - different things work for everyone.)
i think that what i truly needed was to practise writing responses tot he first half of the paper; i found that it wasn't the creative / persuasive writing that cost me marks, but rather the entire reading section of the paper. especially in language paper 2, where you have two extracts to read and subsequently compare in some of the questions, time is a major contributing factor to your exam marks if you don't finish your responses. the entirety of language paper 2 other than Q5, i was dissastisfied with. the ending to my Q4 was rushed, i didn't properly finish Q2 or Q3, and i was 4 marks off of a grade 9. alas, i can't complain, as it was my own fault for not putting in much effort to revise it.i believe the key thing to do for language is practise writing responses. the examboard will never give you an extract / paragraph that is too difficult to find and dig out inferences. it's just a matter of writing timed responses and handing them into your teachers for feedback. once again, incorporating that feedback into your next practice paper will help increase the number of marks you get on each question.
hope this all helps!
)MATHS:
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 difference 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 overall.
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?
maths channels i recommend would be The GCSE Maths Tutor, 1st Class Maths and CorbettMaths
COMBINED SCIENCE: TRILOGY (HIGHER):
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. 🙂)
ENGLISH LITERATURE:
my personal tips for english literature would to plan responses and revise high-level inferences of good quotes for a range of potential themes / character questions. personally, i believe that i got extremely lucky in my english literature exams this year because every question on my literature papers (other than the unseen poetry section) was everything i had previously written essays for / wanted. perhaps that was main reason i achieved that 9, but not everyone will be that lucky this year.
i would definitely advise for you to practise writing responses to past questions to begin with and then give them to your teacher to mark and provide feedback. always try to incorporate their feedback into your next work, as they will always try to look for little things that can send your work up to the next grade / marking level band. as i mentioned previously, planning your quotes for your responses out for a certain theme or character on a flashcard and memorising it might be very beneficial - especially if you're abe to adapt and alter these plans if necessary in the exam. tl;dr: memorising plans for high-level responses will be a good call.
ENGLISH LANGUAGE:
as for english language, as ashamed as i am to admit it, i didn't really revise it much because i didn't know how to. a week or two before each english language exam, i did watch this channel called "Mr Salles Teaches English" on YouTube to hear his pre-exam advice, but in the end, i'm not too sure if that benefitted me much. (but always feel free to give him a shot and see if his advice benefits you - different things work for everyone.)
i think that what i truly needed was to practise writing responses tot he first half of the paper; i found that it wasn't the creative / persuasive writing that cost me marks, but rather the entire reading section of the paper. especially in language paper 2, where you have two extracts to read and subsequently compare in some of the questions, time is a major contributing factor to your exam marks if you don't finish your responses. the entirety of language paper 2 other than Q5, i was dissastisfied with. the ending to my Q4 was rushed, i didn't properly finish Q2 or Q3, and i was 4 marks off of a grade 9. alas, i can't complain, as it was my own fault for not putting in much effort to revise it.i believe the key thing to do for language is practise writing responses. the examboard will never give you an extract / paragraph that is too difficult to find and dig out inferences. it's just a matter of writing timed responses and handing them into your teachers for feedback. once again, incorporating that feedback into your next practice paper will help increase the number of marks you get on each question.
hope this all helps!
It did. I only moved up to higher maths in the summer of y10 after i got a grade 4 a few of a 5 soo i need to dust up maths.
Original post by Olaseni
It did. I only moved up to higher maths in the summer of y10 after i got a grade 4 a few of a 5 soo i need to dust up maths.
Do you think these posts are more about an arrogant boast than anything else? You got great grades and that's lovely, but it's not like you're a celebrity.
Original post by JDINCINERATOR
Do you think these posts are more about an arrogant boast than anything else? You got great grades and that's lovely, but it's not like you're a celebrity.
Ok sybau lil bro. maybe get good grades. She's just smart and rlly helpful. and ur jus jelous.😢
Original post by maveline
fair enough, it'll probably be a little daunting completing the first few higher maths papers for the first time since a lot more of the questions are centred around worded problems / scenario-based questions, but that's natural! a matter of time, dedicationa nd practice will all help to improve your grades. hoping it all goes well for you!
idk y ppl r hatin on u
Original post by JDINCINERATOR
Do you think these posts are more about an arrogant boast than anything else? You got great grades and that's lovely, but it's not like you're a celebrity.
hi! i can understand the viewpoint on this, and you're right about me not being a celebrity of any form.
however, if i was blinded by arrogance and overconfidence, i would not be taking the time out of my day to type these honest paragraphs of advice and revision methods i used to achieve these grades in the first place.
my intention here is to offer support to any year 11 who needs it because i understand how stressful it is to enter year 11: you suddenly have the pressure of 20+ exams between may and june; you immediately start wondering how to revise and where to begin, what methods to use, etc. some students do not feel confident in confiding in their teachers for advice, perhaps because of their status in school, their relationships with the staff or the school system itself. so, i wanted to offer my own kind of support: the support of a now year 12 student who has been through the most recent sets of GCSE's and experienced all the ups and downs of it.
yes, perhaps to some people, including my grades in the title + description of the post seems unnecessary, and thus presents myself as a bragger, however, i believed it would be somewhat reassuring to anyone who is looking for advice from previous year 11's / just anyone on this app in general to see that there are people out there with these grades who are willing to share their advice and experiences with them instead of gatekeeping.
if i was only here to boast about my grades, i would not have even thought about including the aspect of my mental health throughout year 11 in my original post; there would be nothing for me to say about it.
tl;dr: i am here to offer support to anyone who asks for it, and including my grades in the title was simply a means of encouraging anyone in doubt on this app that they can always feel free to confide in and seek support from even those with exceptional grades. i am not here to gatekeep, and sharing my revision methods / experience with others is the most important thing to me.
Original post by Olaseni
idk y ppl r hatin on u
haha, that's okay. i half expected for at least one person to get the impression that this post was supposed to be some kind of excuse to show off. it doesn't bother me though; i doubt they truly had any kind of ill intentions.
i'll keep continuing to reply to people and answer any questions people have, since that's the point of this post!
Original post by maveline
hi! i can understand the viewpoint on this, and you're right about me not being a celebrity of any form.
however, if i was blinded by arrogance and overconfidence, i would not be taking the time out of my day to type these honest paragraphs of advice and revision methods i used to achieve these grades in the first place.
my intention here is to offer support to any year 11 who needs it because i understand how stressful it is to enter year 11: you suddenly have the pressure of 20+ exams between may and june; you immediately start wondering how to revise and where to begin, what methods to use, etc. some students do not feel confident in confiding in their teachers for advice, perhaps because of their status in school, their relationships with the staff or the school system itself. so, i wanted to offer my own kind of support: the support of a now year 12 student who has been through the most recent sets of GCSE's and experienced all the ups and downs of it.
yes, perhaps to some people, including my grades in the title + description of the post seems unnecessary, and thus presents myself as a bragger, however, i believed it would be somewhat reassuring to anyone who is looking for advice from previous year 11's / just anyone on this app in general to see that there are people out there with these grades who are willing to share their advice and experiences with them instead of gatekeeping.
if i was only here to boast about my grades, i would not have even thought about including the aspect of my mental health throughout year 11 in my original post; there would be nothing for me to say about it.
tl;dr: i am here to offer support to anyone who asks for it, and including my grades in the title was simply a means of encouraging anyone in doubt on this app that they can always feel free to confide in and seek support from even those with exceptional grades. i am not here to gatekeep, and sharing my revision methods / experience with others is the most important thing to me.
however, if i was blinded by arrogance and overconfidence, i would not be taking the time out of my day to type these honest paragraphs of advice and revision methods i used to achieve these grades in the first place.
my intention here is to offer support to any year 11 who needs it because i understand how stressful it is to enter year 11: you suddenly have the pressure of 20+ exams between may and june; you immediately start wondering how to revise and where to begin, what methods to use, etc. some students do not feel confident in confiding in their teachers for advice, perhaps because of their status in school, their relationships with the staff or the school system itself. so, i wanted to offer my own kind of support: the support of a now year 12 student who has been through the most recent sets of GCSE's and experienced all the ups and downs of it.
yes, perhaps to some people, including my grades in the title + description of the post seems unnecessary, and thus presents myself as a bragger, however, i believed it would be somewhat reassuring to anyone who is looking for advice from previous year 11's / just anyone on this app in general to see that there are people out there with these grades who are willing to share their advice and experiences with them instead of gatekeeping.
if i was only here to boast about my grades, i would not have even thought about including the aspect of my mental health throughout year 11 in my original post; there would be nothing for me to say about it.
tl;dr: i am here to offer support to anyone who asks for it, and including my grades in the title was simply a means of encouraging anyone in doubt on this app that they can always feel free to confide in and seek support from even those with exceptional grades. i am not here to gatekeep, and sharing my revision methods / experience with others is the most important thing to me.
I appreciate your response. It's just I see many people on TSR make these kinds of posts and they always seem rather boastful. However, I think the title is a way to promote help and support on TSR. Sorry if I came across a bit harsh, that's not my intention, it's just an inner feeling about these kinds of posts that I just felt I had to let out, nothing against you at all.
I'm glad you've achieved wonderful grades and are looking to help others boost their grades, shows how wonderful of a personality you are.
Sorry again for being a bit sharp.
Original post by JDINCINERATOR
I appreciate your response. It's just I see many people on TSR make these kinds of posts and they always seem rather boastful. However, I think the title is a way to promote help and support on TSR. Sorry if I came across a bit harsh, that's not my intention, it's just an inner feeling about these kinds of posts that I just felt I had to let out, nothing against you at all.
I'm glad you've achieved wonderful grades and are looking to help others boost their grades, shows how wonderful of a personality you are.
Sorry again for being a bit sharp.
I'm glad you've achieved wonderful grades and are looking to help others boost their grades, shows how wonderful of a personality you are.
Sorry again for being a bit sharp.
no worries and no hard feelings! i understand where you were coming from and figured you had no ill intentions. have a good rest of your day / night.
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!
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.
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.
Hi!!!! How would you make your revision timetable?
how did you revise stats? i can’t find anything to help for aqa and i don’t know what notes to make🫠
Original post by nehar0008
Hi!!!! How would you make your revision timetable?
•
The lessons I had each weekday
•
Which day I wanted to have a break on
•
The after school revision sessions that were offered each weekday
•
The subjects I wanted to prioritise (for reasons such as liking the subject, wanting to continue it in college / university)
•
The subjects I needed to catch up on / focus more time on
On Monday, say if I had three lessons - Maths, Science and Geography - and after school, they offered a revision session for either Sociology or English, I would resort to choosing a different subject from all of these to revise at home the following evening. However, of course, if you feel the need to finish or polish some notes from earlier in the day, feel free to dedicate a part of your evening / day to that!
With time, you’ll find your priorities changing; perhaps you’ll have caught up on all the missing content for Geography. So, there’s no harm in occasionally remaking / making reasonable adjustments to your timetable, if deemed necessary. Managing your time effectively during Year 11 is very important, especially if you want to end up with the best grades! (It’s a miracle I actually managed to get a 9-9 in Combined Science - I didn’t revise Physics 2 until the final week of exams!)
TIPS:
•
Instead of sticking to time frames - e.g. “I’ll revise Maths for 2 hours tonight” - set tasks that you’re going to complete within your revision session - e.g. “I’m going to complete and mark a past paper within a time limit tonight.” Be specific with yourself about what you are going to do, and make sure that you’re setting tasks that will be beneficial to your learning. Time is an incredibly abstract term, and is discussed amongst many philosophers; to us, it seems limitless, making it sound draining in our mindset. So, you may find yourself very unmotivated after saying that you’ll spend 2 whole hours revising a subject. Therefore, you may find it more beneficial to set tasks instead! It might motivate you to complete your revision for the night efficiently, or put forward your full attention to this task. Either way, time might go by quicker.
•
Don’t spend too much time on one subject in one day. You’ll be exhausted by the end of it, and potentially unmotivated to revise it for the same period of time again. Instead, hold multiple study sessions over a long period of time. You’ll hear from your teachers that active recall is a very effective method of memorising content, and I can confirm! (I can still remember the food tests from Biology Paper 1 four months after not revising them!)
•
Have one full day on the weekend where you take a break - I did this for myself, where Saturday was my break day. It is so important to take breaks! Your brain needs that rest and you do not need exams consuming your life any more than they already do / will. Make sure to take short breaks every so often while you’re revising too if necessary!
Original post by whoscrystalx
how did you revise stats? i can’t find anything to help for aqa and i don’t know what notes to make🫠
Hiya! I was given an Edexcel Statistics revision guide + question booklet by my school. I found them quite useful. On Amazon, they're £7.50, but some sellers on eBay are selling used ones for £2.30 - £4.
I also practised past papers; I think that practising Edexcel and AQA Statistics papers helped a lot! My advice for Maths in general is to practise past papers to get accustomed to the phrasing of certain questions and to see the scenarios certain topics are applied to. The same goes for Statistics.
Some of GCSE Statistics is in GCSE Maths, such as box plots, (cumulative) frequency, histograms and sampling. This channel called "The GCSE Maths Tutor" has a playlist of Stats topics that come up in GCSE Maths, so feel free to check them out!
Unfortunately, there aren't many channels on YouTube that focus purely on GCSE Stats - which frustrated me in Year 10 too. However, there are channels called "The GCSE Statistics Guy" and "DTaylor Maths." Check them out!
I only had around 2.5 months to revise for statistics, so I never really managed to find many strong, reliable resources. However, as some general advice, I would focus less on taking notes for maths and focus more on practising questions.
I hope this helps! Best of luck, feel free to ask any other questions and tell me how it all goes.
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