Revision and learning, advice

Hey, I have GCSE Year 10 mocks in end of feb weeks. People say they’re not important, but for me, they’re really are because I’m kinda failing right now and I have already dropped one GCSE and my teachers are saying I’ll drop more or get like reports or other sht and my parents are kinda strict. Anyway I’m rambling, I go to a grammar school (posh as hell, idk what I’m doing) I take all higher, triple science (physics, chem, bio) OCR gateway, English languages and lit AQA, maths edexcell, FSMQ ocr level 3 add maths, French AQA, German AQA, Drama AQA.I love languages (foreign not English) and find them really easy but sciences or English I hate! I didn’t take any notes in year 9 or 10 or pay attention in lesson, so I’ll need to learn everything science says revise. I want all 8s and 9s if I can.
Right now
English: low 6
Maths: 8ish
French: 7 but high grade boundaries
German like 7 as well
Drams: 7/8
Chem: like a r
Biology:6
Physics: 6
English is inspector calls and Macbeth
Drama is noughts and crosses
Ifykyk

I really don’t know how to revise, make a revision timetable, understand the content or revise or anything, not procrastinate be lazy. Also how do I know what’s even gonna be on the mocks like? I literally have no clue like what my mock is gonna be about for any of my subjects? Please help me! Thank you x
(P.S. feel free to add any other advice about just lessons or anything random)

Reply 1

xiinan

Hello! I take only some of the subjects your taking ( chemistry, biology, maths, english, language (chinese) )

My best advice for science subjects and maths would be to do past papers, if you don't understand a question or didn't get it right, go search online, like on YouTube or ask a friend or teacher for advice or explanation to knowledge you don't understand. You won't learn if you don't ask questions!! That is reality. If you really don't have a clue and can't find the exact answer or explanation right for you to understand (that's okay, because everyone take in information differently) go and ask ChatGPT.

For English, write out the texts you need to know and first test yourself to see how much you can analyse and explain in detail and write them down. It is a good idea to create a mindmap for this. Go onto Youtube or notes your teacher has given you and see how they have analyse it. By the way, there is going to different interpretations, and so, if you have your own opinions and thoughts on analysis, try talking to your teacher and see if it is valid and if they agree with it. Often enough, you will understand better by analysing it yourself and having your own interpretations of it.

For languages, it is recommended to listen to the language more. There are so many beginner friendly videos on YouTube that you can just listen to in your free time. Slowly, you may be able to pick some up and you can use it in writing. Also, create some kind of vocabulary, grammer and sentence structure lists and stick them on your wall or somewhere where you will frequently pass it. Try to spend time every day, even if it is 10 minutes every morning before breakfast, to look at it and try test yourself on them. Trust me, it is very useful (especially for people who aren't native speakers).

To answer you question on mock exams, your school has no reason to make an assessment that has nothing to do with the content you have learnt. So my first advice is to fully understand the course specification, that is the bible to the examiner when they are making the exam. Secondly advice, again, would be to do past paper. You will slowly be able to figure out the exam board's way of asking and creating questions.

And, don't worry if you don't know how to make a revision timetable or revision. These things can be found on the internet, for example, go onto 'Pinterest' and search up 'study revision timetable'. You will get loads of ideas and inspirations on how to make them. There are so many ways to revise- you must find the best way for you to revise, and trust me, that is one of the most difficult things to do as a student. For me, I am a person who learns by diagrams and by hearing . I also have my own whiteboard. Over the years, i have found that I am really good at teaching myself by using the whiteboard and doing active recall (trying to force out information without notes), especially for biology. I also use the blurting out method.

I hope this helps in any way and good luck! This journey is tough but very fulfilling.
I wish you all the best in meeting your targets ❤️

(edited 3 months ago)

Reply 2

Takistakis

Aww thank you so much. Just one more question, like where do I start. For example, sciences. If I don’t understand or know any of the content but I still need to revise it so like what do I do first and then second and then third cause they say like do lots of recaps right but where do I start? This sounds sostupid 😭

Reply 3

xiinan

Original post by Takistakis

don’t worry, I was in the same position as you when i was revising for chemistry. I would recommend you go straight into past papers, only by doing so will you know where you struggle the most and then work you way up from there. Good Luck, you can do this!!

Reply 4

TTaylor.

Original post by Takistakis

Hiya! Wanted to join the convo since I had the same problem.

What I did was download/print the spec and highlight all the bits you have no clue on.
Then watch yt videos and make some notes.
Then like a day after I would make flashcards and learn those and do a technique called blurting it's great for consolidating knowledge.
Repeat this until you're confident on it and then start doing PPQs and analyse why you got it wrong.

Please please please do not just write notes and read the textbook since it's not very fun and it doesn't really help

Also find out fun ways of revising such as making matching up games and I even made a pretty powerpoint presentation and presented it to my friends and family for my psychology a level!

Obvs this is just my own experience so obviously adapt it to how you learn. And please remember to take a bunch of breaks to not get burned out (I liked the pomodoro technique) And you are right to treat ur mocks like the real thing as all the revision you do now will help go towards the real thing. Also, Y10 is early on and you have time to make mistakes and experiment with what works best.

Please lmk if you have any other questions

Reply 5

cyber_008

Original post by Takistakis

Hey, I have GCSE Year 10 mocks in end of feb weeks. People say they’re not important, but for me, they’re really are because I’m kinda failing right now and I have already dropped one GCSE and my teachers are saying I’ll drop more or get like reports or other sht and my parents are kinda strict. Anyway I’m rambling, I go to a grammar school (posh as hell, idk what I’m doing) I take all higher, triple science (physics, chem, bio) OCR gateway, English languages and lit AQA, maths edexcell, FSMQ ocr level 3 add maths, French AQA, German AQA, Drama AQA.I love languages (foreign not English) and find them really easy but sciences or English I hate! I didn’t take any notes in year 9 or 10 or pay attention in lesson, so I’ll need to learn everything science says revise. I want all 8s and 9s if I can.
Right now
English: low 6
Maths: 8ish
French: 7 but high grade boundaries
German like 7 as well
Drams: 7/8
Chem: like a r
Biology:6
Physics: 6
English is inspector calls and Macbeth
Drama is noughts and crosses
Ifykyk
I really don’t know how to revise, make a revision timetable, understand the content or revise or anything, not procrastinate be lazy. Also how do I know what’s even gonna be on the mocks like? I literally have no clue like what my mock is gonna be about for any of my subjects? Please help me! Thank you x
(P.S. feel free to add any other advice about just lessons or anything random)

I got all 9s in GCSE and I didn't stress too much about how I would do in year 10 mocks - the year 11 mocks are more important, these mocks would just give you a sense of the topics that you need to revise more and help you understand the tests more. I would just use physics and maths tutor to do past paper questions and use the syllabus to revise. Also I run an instagram page which posts content for GCSE maths, so feel free to follow it : prime_time_maths