seneca for gcses

if i use seneca for gcse (particularly science) followed by exam questions, is it enough to get grade 9s?

personally i think seneca is quite trash. depends on the subject for studying techniques tho. if ur still yr10 then i highly recommend making ur own notes for all subjects. for maths, just do lots and lots of papers. use textbook and youtube (i didnt use videos much) for sciences and make sure u understand concepts well. doing a few papers is definitely important but for sciences, don't do papers until u understand the content. many people love cognito and it works for them (i mainly used textbooks throughout my gcses) so u can look into that too.
for context i did gcses last yr. i got all 9s except an 8 in eng lang

woah congrats on ur results!! thats litrally amazing!
ty for your advice. i am in yr10 but started learning content last yr so i have covered paper 1 content for bio and chem as well as some paper 2 content. how do u recommend i should use notes? because for me reading oveer them does NOT help at all, epecially if i see like long pages filled w billions of words i j cba to read it. and do u hv any opinions on the cgp book bcs thats what ive been using since year 9 and ig its pretty concise? also one more question (sorry) how do you suggesst how should i make notes and what should i use to make them? bc i lose motivation for making notes very easily bcs i think whats the point of writing everything on a separate piece of paper when all the info is alr there in the book / yt video.
sorry for asking so much questions and tysm for ur help and once again well done for achieving those grades you ate fr

i think the most useful bit is making the notes. making sure u understand how x works and putting them into your own way of visualising (more so for sciences). people say "put it into ur own words" but i disagree to an extent. a lot of the time textbook gives the better phrasing/definition. personally i didn't revise too much by reading notes but occasionally used them for like revising for a topic test at school (reading them again while revising with friends during break just before etc)
cgp books are pretty good from what i've seen around other people (im at one of the most academic schools in the uk so when i say people, they are people getting 8/9s) . don't fully rely on them but for revising i think they can do u well. but i have never used them because preference i guess.
with making notes, i think very few people do it this way but i do 100% on paper. people say devices can be distracting or whatever reason but i just feel like writing it down on paper will stick with u more than using a stylus (and definitely typing, never make typed notes ). the best way to do it is to print out/have the online specification and as u make the notes, tick off the points. specification is ur best friend it literally tells u everything u need to know. i dont think enough people realise this. yeah motivation is a tough one too i had that a looot. i actually didn't start making notes until year 11 which is a little later but i was a strong student already so the earlier the better.

actually my school started teaching gcse content in yr 9 lol and we had mocks at the end of yr 9 as well as having a test at the end of every term (3x per yr) on everything learnt since the start of the course. i do usually end up getting a decent score at the end in sciences, but i have to go through the stressful process of cramming in ordr to achieve that, and its difficult especiall when u dont understand how to revise efficiently and effectively. thank you so so much for your advice, it definitely reassured me, i rlly apreciate it, wishing you success in all your academics!

np, good luck in gcses when they come around. u seem like a smart kid so i'm sure u will do amazing. another thing for sciences mainly is physicsandmathstutor is a really good website for exam style questions by topic (also has lots of detailed notes which might be worth looking at but i personally didnt use it)

For your main question a lot of people thing senca is trash but it is really not i used senca so much during my GCSE's and i still do use it a lot in a levels, i used it for all the sciences in GCSE and i take all the sciences for a levels as well and i think senca is a great way to memorise the content as it is more fun and interacting to learn form it and the cram mode is literally so good, the amount of content you can revise with it is so good!
Plus the cgp books are literally a lifesaver i literally used them to get 9's in all three of those sciences, there is like not irrelevant info on the cgp book, and it directly links to the way the papers want the answers like if you revise the content on the cgp book the way it is written you will get good marks on the exam questions.
My way off learning is a lot different to people, i am a reader and hate making these "stupid" flash cards and mindmaps they are actually useless to me,(people say those flashcards and mindmaps help but i reality your making them and wasting your time trying to make them look pretty and such rather that actually taking in the info),(plu if you want mind maps there are pre made flash cards and mind maps on https://www.physicsandmathstutor.com/ , there is flash cards for each topic and mindmaps), i love just reading over my content and then coming back to it and reading it again and again and after like a few days that content will be stuck in my head, by using a space repetition method like even my teachers dont credit me for my method they allways say dont just read its not good method, but i always prove them wrong. But the main part with reading, is the thing you do after this is want got me 85+ marks on all the science gcse's i did this year. You need to do LOTS of past paper question i did EVERYTHING i could find, because every year the questions are very similar and just the wording is a bit different if you learn the content and how to write the answers like the way the markscheme wants you to, the questions are so easy!, literally as soon as you see the question you will know exactly what to write! hope that helps!

thank you so much for all ur help and advice (on all ur posts). now i feel much more relaxed. yes i definitely agree with your point that ppl waste too much time trying to make notes and mindmaps look aesthetic instead of actually learning the information. tysm for ur help as it rlly means a lot to me and it was rlly helpful. once again congrats on achieving all 9s and i hope u have success in all ur academics! (sorry i hv rep limit rn)

if i use seneca for gcse (particularly science) followed by exam questions, is it enough to get grade 9s?

Hello,
I would suggest that by using Seneca and doing lots of exam questions and past papers there is a high liklihood that you will get the top grades, grade 7 or above.
However, when it comes to grade 9 it is more than just remembering information. You must be able to think outside the box and solve complicated questions.
GCSEs and even A Levels can be very stressful and so I would advise you not to aim for grade 9 as this will put lots of pressure on you which long term can have a negative impact such as burnout. Instead, you should aim for the higher grades, grades 7, 8 and 9 as this is much more realistic. For instance, on the day of an exam you may be having a bad day for whatever reason which means you get a grade 8 rather than 9. It is not fair on yourself to blame yourself for not getting a 9 in such circumstances.
By aiming to achieve the higher grades you will be more likely to get a 9.
I hope this helps, if you have any further questions please do let me know.
Charlie
Law LLB Student

if i use seneca for gcse (particularly science) followed by exam questions, is it enough to get grade 9s?