The Student Room Group

Is it too late for me?

Knowing that there's only like 60 days until GCSEs scares me. I just got my second mocks back and even tho it's a very big improvement from my first mocks, it's still just a meh for me and I think you can tell how much I revised each of them based on the grades I got. Yet I can't tell if I'm in a good spot, or if it's too late for me, or if I've done enough for revision for anything, and I tried to do some revision today and I was so unmotivated that quite literally did nothing

October Mocks: Maths Higher - Grade 7
English Literature - Grade 3 (1 mark away from Grade 4)
English Language - Grade 5
Comb. Science Higher - 54
R.E. Short Course - Grade 3
Spanish Foundation - Grade 3
Psychology - Grade 3
Further Maths - Grade 6
DT - Grade 3

February Mocks: Maths Higher - Grade 7
English Literature - Grade 5 (1 mark away from Grade 6)
English Language - Grade 6
Comb. Science Higher - 66
Spanish Foundation - Grade 4 (2 marks away from Grade 5)
R.E. Short Course - Grade 3
Psychology - Grade 5
Further Maths - Grade 6
DT - Grade 2

I don't revise Math and Further Maths at all I just yolo it but every now and then I watch some revision videos and try out some exam questions

For English Lang I just practice with past papers

For English Lit I do Macbeth, A Christmas Carol, An Inspector Calls and the Power & Conflict Poems. I've got all of the key quotations for M, ACC, and AIC from https://www.savemyexams.com as flashcards but not the character quotations nor the themes. I use Past Papers and Practice Questions for more revision but I haven't revised P&C Poems in a while.

For Comb. Science I use Cognito, Flashcards that I copied and pasted from PMT's notes, Practice questions, and Past Papers

For R.E. I got a Revision Guide from my teacher and my current plan is to copy and paste everything on it into flashcards. I have done a little bit but I'm nowhere near finished.

For Spanish I've copied and pasted everything on a booklet my teacher gave me (according to her if I memorise all the words, I know every word the exam board is gonna ask me) into flashcards and I use Duolingo and Past Papers

For Psychology it's just flashcards, exam questions and Past Papers

For DT I've copied and pasted everything on a little revision guide my teacher gave me into flashcards and I also use Past Papers.

I've also got a stupid amount of notebooks and workbooks for pretty much all of them

Reply 1

Original post
by Unknown97537
Knowing that there's only like 60 days until GCSEs scares me. I just got my second mocks back and even tho it's a very big improvement from my first mocks, it's still just a meh for me and I think you can tell how much I revised each of them based on the grades I got. Yet I can't tell if I'm in a good spot, or if it's too late for me, or if I've done enough for revision for anything, and I tried to do some revision today and I was so unmotivated that quite literally did nothing
October Mocks: Maths Higher - Grade 7
English Literature - Grade 3 (1 mark away from Grade 4)
English Language - Grade 5
Comb. Science Higher - 54
R.E. Short Course - Grade 3
Spanish Foundation - Grade 3
Psychology - Grade 3
Further Maths - Grade 6
DT - Grade 3
February Mocks: Maths Higher - Grade 7
English Literature - Grade 5 (1 mark away from Grade 6)
English Language - Grade 6
Comb. Science Higher - 66
Spanish Foundation - Grade 4 (2 marks away from Grade 5)
R.E. Short Course - Grade 3
Psychology - Grade 5
Further Maths - Grade 6
DT - Grade 2
I don't revise Math and Further Maths at all I just yolo it but every now and then I watch some revision videos and try out some exam questions
For English Lang I just practice with past papers
For English Lit I do Macbeth, A Christmas Carol, An Inspector Calls and the Power & Conflict Poems. I've got all of the key quotations for M, ACC, and AIC from https://www.savemyexams.com as flashcards but not the character quotations nor the themes. I use Past Papers and Practice Questions for more revision but I haven't revised P&C Poems in a while.
For Comb. Science I use Cognito, Flashcards that I copied and pasted from PMT's notes, Practice questions, and Past Papers
For R.E. I got a Revision Guide from my teacher and my current plan is to copy and paste everything on it into flashcards. I have done a little bit but I'm nowhere near finished.
For Spanish I've copied and pasted everything on a booklet my teacher gave me (according to her if I memorise all the words, I know every word the exam board is gonna ask me) into flashcards and I use Duolingo and Past Papers
For Psychology it's just flashcards, exam questions and Past Papers
For DT I've copied and pasted everything on a little revision guide my teacher gave me into flashcards and I also use Past Papers.
I've also got a stupid amount of notebooks and workbooks for pretty much all of them

First of all, congratulations on your improvement and taking the initiative to come here and ask for advice.

For English Literature, I would recommend Mr Salles on Youtube, as he was really useful when I was revising those topics. Make mindmaps of key quotes - be strategic in the ones you choose and make sure they're ones that can overlap with multiple themes. Analyse them from different angles and link them to different themes, key moments, context and what you can infer from them. If you play your cards right, you'll only need a good handful and milk them for what they're worth, as well as being much easier to memorise.

For combined science, I recommend Dr de Bruin on Youtube - her videos are very straight to the point and easy to remember, she's a lifesaver. Make sure you thoroughly grasp the concepts, especially for physics as that knowledge is more applied than memorisation. Once you think you have, try as many past paper questions and practice questions. They don't even have to be from the same exam board half the time, as you're at GCSE level and they'll be covering the same content.

For Spanish, ngl I wouldn't recommend Duolingo as much. Try Seneca and just practice flashcards and writing for vocab. Get a grasp of basic grammar and phrases from each topic as best as you can. For listening, listen to practice audio clips online, potentially radio, shows in spanish dub with english subs or Bad Bunny lmao. You don't have a lot of time left to learn as thoroughly, so mastering the basics are crucial. Try speak Spanish as much as you can to family and friends and test yourself on potential topics and questions.

For RE, I'm not sure what method you tried before, but it doesn't seem to be yielding very good results. Instead of copy pasting individually, you might wanna utilise AI to make the flashcards for you or create exercises for you to best learn - this applies to your other subjects too.

Good luck and remember to take breaks, you got this

Reply 2

Seems like a very good improvement, so I would say to keep it up at good luck!

Reply 3

Original post
by Unknown97537
Knowing that there's only like 60 days until GCSEs scares me. I just got my second mocks back and even tho it's a very big improvement from my first mocks, it's still just a meh for me and I think you can tell how much I revised each of them based on the grades I got. Yet I can't tell if I'm in a good spot, or if it's too late for me, or if I've done enough for revision for anything, and I tried to do some revision today and I was so unmotivated that quite literally did nothing
October Mocks: Maths Higher - Grade 7
English Literature - Grade 3 (1 mark away from Grade 4)
English Language - Grade 5
Comb. Science Higher - 54
R.E. Short Course - Grade 3
Spanish Foundation - Grade 3
Psychology - Grade 3
Further Maths - Grade 6
DT - Grade 3
February Mocks: Maths Higher - Grade 7
English Literature - Grade 5 (1 mark away from Grade 6)
English Language - Grade 6
Comb. Science Higher - 66
Spanish Foundation - Grade 4 (2 marks away from Grade 5)
R.E. Short Course - Grade 3
Psychology - Grade 5
Further Maths - Grade 6
DT - Grade 2
I don't revise Math and Further Maths at all I just yolo it but every now and then I watch some revision videos and try out some exam questions
For English Lang I just practice with past papers
For English Lit I do Macbeth, A Christmas Carol, An Inspector Calls and the Power & Conflict Poems. I've got all of the key quotations for M, ACC, and AIC from https://www.savemyexams.com as flashcards but not the character quotations nor the themes. I use Past Papers and Practice Questions for more revision but I haven't revised P&C Poems in a while.
For Comb. Science I use Cognito, Flashcards that I copied and pasted from PMT's notes, Practice questions, and Past Papers
For R.E. I got a Revision Guide from my teacher and my current plan is to copy and paste everything on it into flashcards. I have done a little bit but I'm nowhere near finished.
For Spanish I've copied and pasted everything on a booklet my teacher gave me (according to her if I memorise all the words, I know every word the exam board is gonna ask me) into flashcards and I use Duolingo and Past Papers
For Psychology it's just flashcards, exam questions and Past Papers
For DT I've copied and pasted everything on a little revision guide my teacher gave me into flashcards and I also use Past Papers.
I've also got a stupid amount of notebooks and workbooks for pretty much all of them


Just use Seneca

Reply 4

Original post
by Unknown97537
Knowing that there's only like 60 days until GCSEs scares me. I just got my second mocks back and even tho it's a very big improvement from my first mocks, it's still just a meh for me and I think you can tell how much I revised each of them based on the grades I got. Yet I can't tell if I'm in a good spot, or if it's too late for me, or if I've done enough for revision for anything, and I tried to do some revision today and I was so unmotivated that quite literally did nothing
October Mocks: Maths Higher - Grade 7
English Literature - Grade 3 (1 mark away from Grade 4)
English Language - Grade 5
Comb. Science Higher - 54
R.E. Short Course - Grade 3
Spanish Foundation - Grade 3
Psychology - Grade 3
Further Maths - Grade 6
DT - Grade 3
February Mocks: Maths Higher - Grade 7
English Literature - Grade 5 (1 mark away from Grade 6)
English Language - Grade 6
Comb. Science Higher - 66
Spanish Foundation - Grade 4 (2 marks away from Grade 5)
R.E. Short Course - Grade 3
Psychology - Grade 5
Further Maths - Grade 6
DT - Grade 2
I don't revise Math and Further Maths at all I just yolo it but every now and then I watch some revision videos and try out some exam questions
For English Lang I just practice with past papers
For English Lit I do Macbeth, A Christmas Carol, An Inspector Calls and the Power & Conflict Poems. I've got all of the key quotations for M, ACC, and AIC from https://www.savemyexams.com as flashcards but not the character quotations nor the themes. I use Past Papers and Practice Questions for more revision but I haven't revised P&C Poems in a while.
For Comb. Science I use Cognito, Flashcards that I copied and pasted from PMT's notes, Practice questions, and Past Papers
For R.E. I got a Revision Guide from my teacher and my current plan is to copy and paste everything on it into flashcards. I have done a little bit but I'm nowhere near finished.
For Spanish I've copied and pasted everything on a booklet my teacher gave me (according to her if I memorise all the words, I know every word the exam board is gonna ask me) into flashcards and I use Duolingo and Past Papers
For Psychology it's just flashcards, exam questions and Past Papers
For DT I've copied and pasted everything on a little revision guide my teacher gave me into flashcards and I also use Past Papers.
I've also got a stupid amount of notebooks and workbooks for pretty much all of them

it's never too late. You are doing really well and have clearly worked hard to improve so keep using those flashcards. For maths just do lots of past exam papers and exam questions. For english get on youtube there are some great resources, look for teachers who've done videos on how to get a 9 for great tips especially for English and and English lit for your exam board (poetry in particular is handled well on youtube) but all subjects you can find as it gives you a different way to take information in as it will just add to the work you are already doing and give you a real boost. In summary - Good luck, just keep going, its never too late.

Reply 5

Original post
by Unknown97537
Knowing that there's only like 60 days until GCSEs scares me. I just got my second mocks back and even tho it's a very big improvement from my first mocks, it's still just a meh for me and I think you can tell how much I revised each of them based on the grades I got. Yet I can't tell if I'm in a good spot, or if it's too late for me, or if I've done enough for revision for anything, and I tried to do some revision today and I was so unmotivated that quite literally did nothing
October Mocks: Maths Higher - Grade 7
English Literature - Grade 3 (1 mark away from Grade 4)
English Language - Grade 5
Comb. Science Higher - 54
R.E. Short Course - Grade 3
Spanish Foundation - Grade 3
Psychology - Grade 3
Further Maths - Grade 6
DT - Grade 3
February Mocks: Maths Higher - Grade 7
English Literature - Grade 5 (1 mark away from Grade 6)
English Language - Grade 6
Comb. Science Higher - 66
Spanish Foundation - Grade 4 (2 marks away from Grade 5)
R.E. Short Course - Grade 3
Psychology - Grade 5
Further Maths - Grade 6
DT - Grade 2
I don't revise Math and Further Maths at all I just yolo it but every now and then I watch some revision videos and try out some exam questions
For English Lang I just practice with past papers
For English Lit I do Macbeth, A Christmas Carol, An Inspector Calls and the Power & Conflict Poems. I've got all of the key quotations for M, ACC, and AIC from https://www.savemyexams.com as flashcards but not the character quotations nor the themes. I use Past Papers and Practice Questions for more revision but I haven't revised P&C Poems in a while.
For Comb. Science I use Cognito, Flashcards that I copied and pasted from PMT's notes, Practice questions, and Past Papers
For R.E. I got a Revision Guide from my teacher and my current plan is to copy and paste everything on it into flashcards. I have done a little bit but I'm nowhere near finished.
For Spanish I've copied and pasted everything on a booklet my teacher gave me (according to her if I memorise all the words, I know every word the exam board is gonna ask me) into flashcards and I use Duolingo and Past Papers
For Psychology it's just flashcards, exam questions and Past Papers
For DT I've copied and pasted everything on a little revision guide my teacher gave me into flashcards and I also use Past Papers.
I've also got a stupid amount of notebooks and workbooks for pretty much all of them

For RE just read the revision guide to grasp the concepts and just practice as many 12 markers. In my opinion there's not much of a point to make flashcards in r.e becuase one of the biggest thing that's going to determine your grade is how good you are at thinking of arguments

Reply 6

Original post
by Yusra..
For RE just read the revision guide to grasp the concepts and just practice as many 12 markers. In my opinion there's not much of a point to make flashcards in r.e becuase one of the biggest thing that's going to determine your grade is how good you are at thinking of arguments
Thank youuuuuu. I used to be good at RE but then I became mid and now I'm just bad

Reply 7

Original post
by squashedpanda
it's never too late. You are doing really well and have clearly worked hard to improve so keep using those flashcards. For maths just do lots of past exam papers and exam questions. For english get on youtube there are some great resources, look for teachers who've done videos on how to get a 9 for great tips especially for English and and English lit for your exam board (poetry in particular is handled well on youtube) but all subjects you can find as it gives you a different way to take information in as it will just add to the work you are already doing and give you a real boost. In summary - Good luck, just keep going, its never too late.

Thanks for the help

Reply 8

sarah1-64£
Just use Seneca

I have tried but most of its resources cost money and a lot of people are saying it's overrated and stuff

Reply 9

Original post
by uygsdjh
First of all, congratulations on your improvement and taking the initiative to come here and ask for advice.
For English Literature, I would recommend Mr Salles on Youtube, as he was really useful when I was revising those topics. Make mindmaps of key quotes - be strategic in the ones you choose and make sure they're ones that can overlap with multiple themes. Analyse them from different angles and link them to different themes, key moments, context and what you can infer from them. If you play your cards right, you'll only need a good handful and milk them for what they're worth, as well as being much easier to memorise.
For combined science, I recommend Dr de Bruin on Youtube - her videos are very straight to the point and easy to remember, she's a lifesaver. Make sure you thoroughly grasp the concepts, especially for physics as that knowledge is more applied than memorisation. Once you think you have, try as many past paper questions and practice questions. They don't even have to be from the same exam board half the time, as you're at GCSE level and they'll be covering the same content.
For Spanish, ngl I wouldn't recommend Duolingo as much. Try Seneca and just practice flashcards and writing for vocab. Get a grasp of basic grammar and phrases from each topic as best as you can. For listening, listen to practice audio clips online, potentially radio, shows in spanish dub with english subs or Bad Bunny lmao. You don't have a lot of time left to learn as thoroughly, so mastering the basics are crucial. Try speak Spanish as much as you can to family and friends and test yourself on potential topics and questions.
For RE, I'm not sure what method you tried before, but it doesn't seem to be yielding very good results. Instead of copy pasting individually, you might wanna utilise AI to make the flashcards for you or create exercises for you to best learn - this applies to your other subjects too.
Good luck and remember to take breaks, you got this

Thank you for the advice

Reply 10

Original post
by PRMX
Seems like a very good improvement, so I would say to keep it up at good luck!

Cheers

Reply 11

Original post
by Unknown97537
I have tried but most of its resources cost money and a lot of people are saying it's overrated and stuff

As far as I remember, while some features of seneca are paywalled, the main features aren't. Check out the website again and see how it is, it's a good free resource

Reply 12

Hello it’s look like you’re burnt out from all the studying. Congratulations on your improvement. I personally find using flashcards and doing past papers very boring and tiring. During my exam, I started revising 2 months before. I did not make any flashcards or do any past papers (except for math). Rather, I read and annotate my already existing notes. I used resources like save my exam to add the annotation to strengthen my understanding. I find this way effective and low effort. I also look at the mark scheme for the sciences to look for keywords that would gain me marks.

Hope this helps. Good luck in your exams

Reply 13

Original post
by illustrated-expo
Hello it’s look like you’re burnt out from all the studying. Congratulations on your improvement. I personally find using flashcards and doing past papers very boring and tiring. During my exam, I started revising 2 months before. I did not make any flashcards or do any past papers (except for math). Rather, I read and annotate my already existing notes. I used resources like save my exam to add the annotation to strengthen my understanding. I find this way effective and low effort. I also look at the mark scheme for the sciences to look for keywords that would gain me marks.
Hope this helps. Good luck in your exams

Thank you

Reply 14

Original post
by Unknown97537
Knowing that there's only like 60 days until GCSEs scares me. I just got my second mocks back and even tho it's a very big improvement from my first mocks, it's still just a meh for me and I think you can tell how much I revised each of them based on the grades I got. Yet I can't tell if I'm in a good spot, or if it's too late for me, or if I've done enough for revision for anything, and I tried to do some revision today and I was so unmotivated that quite literally did nothing
October Mocks: Maths Higher - Grade 7
English Literature - Grade 3 (1 mark away from Grade 4)
English Language - Grade 5
Comb. Science Higher - 54
R.E. Short Course - Grade 3
Spanish Foundation - Grade 3
Psychology - Grade 3
Further Maths - Grade 6
DT - Grade 3
February Mocks: Maths Higher - Grade 7
English Literature - Grade 5 (1 mark away from Grade 6)
English Language - Grade 6
Comb. Science Higher - 66
Spanish Foundation - Grade 4 (2 marks away from Grade 5)
R.E. Short Course - Grade 3
Psychology - Grade 5
Further Maths - Grade 6
DT - Grade 2
I don't revise Math and Further Maths at all I just yolo it but every now and then I watch some revision videos and try out some exam questions
For English Lang I just practice with past papers
For English Lit I do Macbeth, A Christmas Carol, An Inspector Calls and the Power & Conflict Poems. I've got all of the key quotations for M, ACC, and AIC from https://www.savemyexams.com as flashcards but not the character quotations nor the themes. I use Past Papers and Practice Questions for more revision but I haven't revised P&C Poems in a while.
For Comb. Science I use Cognito, Flashcards that I copied and pasted from PMT's notes, Practice questions, and Past Papers
For R.E. I got a Revision Guide from my teacher and my current plan is to copy and paste everything on it into flashcards. I have done a little bit but I'm nowhere near finished.
For Spanish I've copied and pasted everything on a booklet my teacher gave me (according to her if I memorise all the words, I know every word the exam board is gonna ask me) into flashcards and I use Duolingo and Past Papers
For Psychology it's just flashcards, exam questions and Past Papers
For DT I've copied and pasted everything on a little revision guide my teacher gave me into flashcards and I also use Past Papers.
I've also got a stupid amount of notebooks and workbooks for pretty much all of them

honestly i think you will do amazing for your exams good luck :smile:

Reply 15

Original post
by oddfox
honestly i think you will do amazing for your exams good luck :smile:

Thankssssssss

Reply 16

For your 12 markers in RE, focus on evaluating your points whether it’s agree or disagree. You also HAVE to state your authority for your quotes or else you will not get the marks. Try to use denominations where possible but if you really can’t think of any just say ‘some (religion you do)’. If you’re unsure about the exact quote you can paraphrase (don’t put it in quotes) as long as you again state your sources. Structurally you should use:
T- thesis(do you agree or disagree)
Ax2- agree(who would agree with you)
Dx2- disagree(who would disagree with you)
C- summarise your points

I don’t know what religions you do but evaluation is thinking about why the point is strong or weak. For the quote ‘love your neighbour’ you could say it strengthens the argument as it was said by Jesus who is an authoritative figure in Christianity and Christians aspire to be like him OR you could say it’s weak as the Bible was written a long time ago so is not relevant to today’s culture.

Reply 17

Maths do Corbett maths 5-a-Day Higher and Higher+ every day then highlight your weak areas and revise the topic on Corbett Maths 5-a-day. Then do past papers and highlight weak areas

Reply 18

Original post
by Toomanyenny
For your 12 markers in RE, focus on evaluating your points whether it’s agree or disagree. You also HAVE to state your authority for your quotes or else you will not get the marks. Try to use denominations where possible but if you really can’t think of any just say ‘some (religion you do)’. If you’re unsure about the exact quote you can paraphrase (don’t put it in quotes) as long as you again state your sources. Structurally you should use:
T- thesis(do you agree or disagree)
Ax2- agree(who would agree with you)
Dx2- disagree(who would disagree with you)
C- summarise your points
I don’t know what religions you do but evaluation is thinking about why the point is strong or weak. For the quote ‘love your neighbour’ you could say it strengthens the argument as it was said by Jesus who is an authoritative figure in Christianity and Christians aspire to be like him OR you could say it’s weak as the Bible was written a long time ago so is not relevant to today’s culture.

Yeah, the way I structure my essay is an intro where I just waffle about the statement, 2 points on agree and 2 points in disagree, then my opinion. I do try to put some quotes in there too. I think it's the content itself that really catches me off guard in the exam. I remember in my mock a question popped up that was like "........salvation" and about 80% of my class didn't know what it was. The way I'm revising R.E. right now is just past papers. I tried using a revision guide and turn it into flashcards but I really cannot be arsed

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